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.
#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.