One of the things I LOVE is that your characters are complex and multi-faceted and they go on journeys (something that happens not enough for my liking in fantasy). One of the things that makes them so, is that you don’t decide in the beginning who is good and who is evil, and then we spend the rest of the series waiting for the payoffs - the good to be rewarded or die heroes, and the bad to get their comupence (sp?) Blah, blah, blah - that is such a boring story arc, and you don’t approach things that way - thank heaven! I love how characters have the opportunity to grow and change and find redemption. And they may not all do it, but they have the opportunity. I just finished reading The Shadow Isle (more like gobbling it up - it is fabulous of course). SPOILER: I love how Laz Moj goes on an inner journey where he gets to make decisions (as foretold by Manmara) that could alter his hitheto evil flow of lives. These pivotal decisions and growth people make are far more interesting to me than everything being black and white, good and bad. I love how Neb nearly goes off the rails and then finds his way again - it really makes sense that someone with the power of Nevyn might possibly forget Nevyns wisdom and humility after a rebirth and just remember the power. Of course we would have been devistated if he had stayed off the rails, but it was good to see him go through that emotional journey, and that it isn’t decided what a person is going to be at the beginning, and they stay that way all the way through. There are always surprises and things to learn about your characters.

The reason I mention all this (apart from that my post didn’t upload properly and I am trying to remember what my point was as I retype it - sorry) that I don’t feel the need for a catastrophic bells and whistles ending. In fact - they rarely work - unless the tone of the book early on was in that vain, and in that case I may not have been reading the book. I love Tolkein, but in my heathen opinion I far more enjoyed The Hobbit than LOR. Mostly because I get really sick of books where they are all heading towards - ‘doom is coming, oh the big evil guy is really evil, oh so very evil, how many ways can I describe how bad it all is and how very evil’. Enough already. I love the characters and the world of Tolkein, but the storytelling of The Hobbit didn’t have all that repetitive - yes I get - he’s evil, things don’t look good story arc. One of the fabulous things about The Deverry series is that there are many stories intertwined, lots of journeying and growth, and we aren’t relying on the big good vs evil clash of the titans same as every other ending explosion at the end. So I guess I am saying - I think it is wonderful that you are looking at your ending being a tying up of a combination of personal internal journeys, relationships and mysteries, as well as leaving the characters with a life after the book. That is why we love it! And yes there can be a bit of war and a few big dramas, but we know that won’t be the only thing - because there is always so much more to tell in your books.

I would actually love the drama war bit to be The non-Alshandra Gel de Thae being led by Gallezar, Sidro, Pir, and a Laz Moj (who has had to reconcile himself to losing Sidro and come to terms with the evil he has perpetrated in the past - that discussion which he has yet to have with Rhodry and he hopefully does, and find some redemption without losing his cheekiness) take on The Horsekin. Of course they will need the backing of all the rest of the crew, but it would be good if they have their moment to ‘deal with their own’ so to speak. And of course some moment where the Westfolk get to have some resolution of the fact that The Horsekin destroyed their cities, but without necessarily destroying The Horsekin - there should be the opportunity for their redemption as well as everyone elses - whether they choose to take it is another thing. Something about how a large group of people would deal with the realisation that their Goddess is not real - as Sidro had to do. And the seperation out of those who were in it because they believed, and those who were in it for power and control. And it would be one way to bring Alshandra and Evander back into it withoout bring them back. That doesn’t mean that those who were in it for belief all get redemption of course - life is messy and we don’t always get to find our way back from bad decisions. But perhaps some of them could and become part of a city led by Gallezar with Sidro as her right-hand woman.

Some resolution of the loss of the Westfolk cities and the lore - by beginning the rebuilding cities and continuing the rebuiliding of the lore would be wonderful, because it would leave us imaging so many more stories ahead of them. And some further journeying of the story of The Ancients, and how that relates to who they are today.

I would love some resolution for Rhodry as would everyone, and to know more about Ebany - such wonderful characters. I would love to see another series based around Ebany, but I won’t beg. : ) Neb, Branna and Dalla have many more stories to tell I am sure, and we have only just started with the characters of Haen Marn. I can see why this might be a long book as you say : )

I also would love to see a synopsis of previous books (a couple of paragraphs on each book) at the beginning of the book. From memory Tad Williams did this at the beginning of each book of his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, and it really helped, and meant I didn’t have to go and read the last book again before reading the next one. I especially hope George RR Martin does that before his next Song of Ice and Fire book (as the last one was 2005). It really helps you to pick up the important threads again and therefore get more out of the book. Of course I could go back and re-read the last one, but if I were to do that, I would prefer to read the series again from the start, which with Deverry is a major undertaking, and I would prefer to do that at the right time, rather than on a fact-finding mission which would take some of the leisure and enjoyment out of it. The reason for a couple of paragraphs on each book, is that there have been so many that the new book would be really enhanced if we could in our heads pick up the threads of where the story has taken us so far. There is much to remember in this wonderful huge series, and really getting it straight in my head before I start the next one would be wonderful.

Anyway - I know this wasn’t supposed to be a wish-list thread, and whatever happens I know I will be happy, because we are in the hands of such a fabulous master storyteller. Please reassure us that this won’t be the last book we ever see from you.

Thanks x 10000000000000
Karina

I think the only bad ending is that which is rushed and doesn’t ring true with the rest of the story. Why spend so much of oneself in creating a well crafted story only to rush the ending….is it sometimes to do with publisher’s deadlines?

More that bad endings, I don’t understand why an author restarts a story that has reached its logical conclusion. For example I really enjoyed Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Chronicles which was a great read - great time and place and character development and (I thought) a satisfying completion. The author’s decision to recently revisit this saga has puzzled me.

But I know that whatever you do, it will be for a reason.

One ended I was thouroughly disappointed in was Fiona MacIntosh’s Perchanon (sp?) series. The first two book were great, nice easy read, but the last book it felt rushed and different from the rest of the story and that she killed off some characters ‘just because’.

Okay, I’ll leave you alone now!

As far as the best endings for novels I have read I find Neil Gaiman does an excellent job for most of his novels - especially Neverwhere and American Gods - you feel as though there has been a resolution, but you don’t feel as though life has stopped for the characters. Many fantasy novels leave me with the feeling that nothing interesting is ever going to happen to these people again - I like to think that the end of the novel is not the end of the potential of those characters to be entertaining!

Now, I’m not the type of person who insists that his fantasies have to have happy endings. Jack Williamson’s Darker Than You Think has a dark ending indeed. Thomas Harlan’s Oath of Empire is another meant to end badly for the world. On the other hand, David Gerrold’s series on life from a more, shall we say, competitive environment (and I can’t remember the dang name for the life of me) was supposed to end on an up note, but David soon realized it couldn’t because he’d written Terrestrial life into a corner.

What I do ask is that the ending come naturally from the story. No DXMs (deus ex machinas) in other words. If Prince Maxian (Oath of Empire) is to succeed in his goal by becoming an even greater evil than the evil he faces, then give me a good reason for it. Don’t have the good guys win because they’re the good guys.

Scenario: Sauron himself shows up at Rivendell while the conference is going on. He announces that he’s been given the opportunity to pay penance for all he’s down, and that as soon as he’s taken care of one matter, he’ll be returning to Eru to start his servitude. The matter involving getting elves and ents to take in and rehabilitate the orcs and trolls.

Scenario: A wise, angelic power learns that the Dark Lord® can be overthrown, and how it can be done. The one person who can do this is … the Dark Lord®.

A pair of suggestions for providing a different sort of fantasy tale than what most expect. Have fun with them. I provide them for the purpose of encouraging people to wonder how this kind of story can be told.

I know I will always come back to this serries, and for that reason, I’d like to know, at the end, that there is life beyond the final book. I don’t want or need to know specific details about any of the characters, but a subtle hint that everyone continues to evolve as they have done throughout the whole serries will make rereading the books more enjoyable down the road when there are no more new books to look forward to.

Thank you for sharing this story with us.

Snaps for the Something Positive reference!

Seriously, you have always wrapped up your books so well that… a series wrap up shouldn’t be much different. I need some conclusions reached, the most current or pressing problems solved, I’m happy. I don’t need a bright shiny bow at the end, life isn’t like that

Many thanks for all the comments! I am much reassured.

My least favorite ending comes from a short book, oddly enough, an SF novel. The central problem of the novel concerns interplanetary colonists who are wrecking the ecology of their new home by insisting on building an enormous dam. The fellow sent to deal with the problem gets nowhere with argument, reason, appeals to laws, etc. So everything leads up to him blowing the dam up. The climax builds to this point and makes it clear that if he does go to blow it, he’ll be in grave danger — and then suddenly we are on a boat in the flood caused by the blowing-up without ever having seen the actual act, the dangers, the moral crisis, etc etc.

This book was published back when “short and compressed” was in fashion. Briefly. But it’s a big mistake to leave out what dramatists refer to as an “obligatory scene.”