I don't if this will show up in anyone's notifications but, just in case, I'm going to add filler here because *this post will have Ember's End spoilers in it*. I know we have the locked category now, etc. but I'm still going to proclaim this loudly. Okay, I'm done.
Ugh, this already hard and I haven't even started yet!
Ember's End was such a rollercoaster for me, what with the nostalgia and the deaths and the twists and the SHIPS (hehe, #peezie/#wicket!). To start, I think I'll share with you my earlier memory of The Green Ember Series.
It was November 2017. My family was in the middle of the Chronicles of Narnia, so when my mother introduced us to the book we'd be reading over the Christmas holidays, I protested heavily. It was a strange book. It had rabbits on the cover. It was called "The Green Ember". Initial response: I was not thrilled.
But when we actually started reading it, I was in a hotel room in Manitoba, Canada, on Christmas vacation. I lay there, staring at the ceiling, as my mom started reading. By the end of the prologue, I was in tears. Those words, "My place beside you, my blood for yours, 'till the Green Ember rises or the end of the world," touched my heart. And I fell in love.
And now, here I am, just newly finished Ember's End and logging onto a fan website that I and my friends created together, dressed in black (#helmerpact) and wearing a torch pendant around my neck. I've come so far with it, practically grown up with it, and now it's finished.
This is going to be a very emotional post for me and I'll probably analyze the actual writing itself later, after work through... everything. But just know, overall, I thought Ember's End was a good conclusion. Maybe not as good as Ember Rising, but definitely quality.
Okay, here we go!
Predictions that came true...
- The dragons, dragon eggs, forbidden island, etc.
- Smalls is alive!
- #Peezie, #Smaller, and even the incredibly elusive #Swarten (#TheTraitorsLove, hahaha!)
- Helmer died...
Things I wished were included...
- At least *one* proposal of marriage: Actually seeing Picket and Weezie get together would have been sweet. Not necessary, but sweet.
- Fay's book: I was hoping Heather would get her hands on Fay's book.
- More quotable Helmer lines!!
I cried a lot in this book. A lot. Almost constantly, actually. The highlights...
1. SMALLS IS ALIVE! Yes, I hoped it was true but to see it there on paper after A YEAR of debate and internal pain, I felt a weight lifted from my shoulder... and I also sobbed really hard.
2. "First lesson... Everything is a weapon." The chapter, Picket's Apprentice, got me so hard. Probably the best chapter in the book. THE NOSTALGIA, UGH!
3. Heather and Smalls in the collapsing cave. That picture was so beautiful and terrifying! I couldn't help it.
4. HELMER DIED! Oh, the pain! I don't even want to talk about it, except that I think it was the way he would've wanted. So beautiful. So hard. So brave.
5. At the end... Ugh, The Farmer and the Queen Catch a Star and that last line... Great, I'm crying again!
In the end, at midnight last night, when I finished my last ever first-time read of a Green Ember book (main series only, hopefully!), I found myself lying in bed, staring at the ceiling again, this time at the end and not the beginning. It hurts, you know? It's like I've invested so much of myself into this series and now it's over. Thankfully, memories and rereads last forever.
That's all for now. Maybe more some other time. I can't handle it right now.
I thought Heather did get Fay's book. Is it just me, or did she pick up a book in the tomb? (I could be wrong of course...)
RANDDDDOM, but I prefer #Wicket that you used over #Peezie
YUB NUB!
Agree with everything - a serious emotional rollercoster. (And yes, it would have been wonderful to have a marriage proposal, I won't lie.) :)
I was listening to my mom reading this with my siblings, and I had to fight back tears a lot. Especially Helmer's death, having just heard his backstory. Picket lost his arm, and Helmer lost his all...😠And I was basically crying from the chapter The Beginning all the way through the end. When my mom read the name of the chapter The Last Charge of Picket Longtreader, I was so scared. I thought Picket might die, and I really wasn't expecting Heather or Picket to die. Does anyone have the hardcover? On the front cover, beneath the jacket, there's a picture of a rabbit holding a torch with his right hand over his heart. It's Helmer.
So yeah, this was emotional for me too, and I still can't really believe it's over. I keep thinking there's going to be another book. I guess we have Prince Lander and the Dragon War to look forward to. When my mom first got The Green Ember and announced it as our next read-aloud, I didn't want to. I saw the cover and I thought, "Bunnies? It's a chapter book about bunnies?" But I'm so glad we still read it. And I'm forever grateful to Master Smith for writing it.
Intensity ftw!!! I honestly like the fact that he put some more YA scenes into a YA series that seemed geared toward people in between middle-grade and YA fiction.
And yeah, @TGEFanForever it is Mando.
Oh, yes, the nostalgia was unbearable! I, too, cried quite a bit during the book (I was too shocked to cry when Helmer died, though; and I am wearing black now in honor of our old captain) One thing that I noticed about Embers' End is that S. D. Smith got slightly braver with certain descriptions, and parts of the story actually surprised me a bit- such as the part when S. D. Smith mentioned children 'wounded and screaming and dead and silent'. I know that the 3rd book had some stuff like that when the preylords killed the children, but I was kind of... surprised. Some parts were actually quite a bit more intense then the 3rd book even.
Oops, wrong punctuation it should have been a ?
#Helmerpact all. the. way. I wish Colen would have killed at least one of the six. #Pezzie forever and this sentence hit me slightly hard. "Will even death die?" Ahhh so relevant. After all the trail and tribulation... just great. I feel like he portrait of Helmer hit me hard, like a sequel to his death. Is it just me or is it kind of annoying that Master Smith named Heather and Picket's children after characters. And the prologue's name "Prince Lander and the dragons war" , is that going to be a new book or is it just like from" Massie's diary type of thing.
@LuvGreenEmber A proposal would have been kind of nice: the only preexisting couples that ended up together went from being interested to a) married with a kid on the way and b) engaged with no forewarning. I think Heather may indeed have gotten the book; she's mentioned picking up a book from the stores in the tomb, but it's not addressed again. There are definitely not enough quotable Helmer lines.
One thing I wish we'd gotten: a reunion scene with Edward and Maggie. But Edward doesn't even show up, he just gets namedropped a couple of times. I'm half hoping the third Jo Shanks book S.D. Smith talked about wanting to write finds a way to incorporate such a scene.
@Zake O'Seddle Is that the mandalorian for your profile pic? I just watched it. I love it! Exspecially baby yoda. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!
I forgot about something. What about that new wolf king, King Farlacks are something. What did everyone think on that?
Yes, its been very emotional for me. I commented in another post, but the best way to get it over with is to find a another book series that you like. I find it hard for me to read TGE books after I have read the new book. I will eventually read it again, but it will take some time.