Fans who fan hard enough will be like, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!! LOOK AT THE GENIUS OF (favorite author)!! LOOK AT THE PARALLELS AND SYMBOLISM!!" and then point out parallels/symbolism so minute that you have to squint to see them, and which the author almost certainly was not thinking of at all.
What The River Knows has me reeling over that ending. Like what???
MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER CUT
First of all, the death shocked me. I did not expect that to happen. I thought everyone was making it out alive and I was in pure shock for about ten minutes, full not processing what I was reading.
I think Whit is pulling a fast one on his family, I think. Per his strange final POV. He’s been cut off by his mother, I’m assuming? Who else would the She be who has finally cut him off completely? So he sends the telegram to Porter and says “his plan is in motion, it just has to work”. Then he proposes.
But this brings up all sorts of questions - he’s spent the entire book telling Inez not to trust him and that he only trusts his brother and sister. Leading me to think there’s some nefariousness with his parents.. perhaps his mother is a bit devious? He’s intentionally very mysterious.
Also, if he marries Inez, and I hope they go through with it, he’s obviously going to ruin the betrothal to the secret, unrevealed fiancé.
I am just all sorts of WTF about this but mainly excited for book 2.
Here’s some things were left with:
Porter is coming to see Whit, as planned by Whit? He intended for his brother to sail out with that telegram?
Whit is interested in alchemy, like Inez’s mother. They are both looking for the same pamphlet/scroll but neither was able to find it
The mention of Nefertiti’s tomb makes me wonder if she will be the next tomb we’re looking for in book 2
The mom is alive and missing, but the lover she had the affair with is dead
There’s another big boss we don’t know about
That annoying dude still has Cleopatra’s ring
Papa is still alive, I’m assuming. And now Inez has to find him
Wondering if there will be some second book romance shenanigans because of a betrayal ? I hope not. I want to see them grow their love, not create even more distance.
“Isobel, I love you wholly. I love you eternally. I love you so dearly it frightens me. I fear I could not live without you. I could see your face every morning upon waking for ten thousand years and still look forward to the next as though it were the first.”
Love is not the sharp-edged thing she’s always believed it to be. It’s not like the sea, liable to slip through her fingers if she holds on too tight. It’s not a currency, something to be earned or denied or bartered for. Love can be steadfast. It can be certain and safe, or as wild as an open flame.
THIS is what reading is to me. I do not want to go through an entire story just to have a harrowing ending for the characters I was rooting for. I go through that every day in my human life; there has to be some escape somewhere.
Thank you to authors everywhere who share my sentiments and give us the happy endings we so desperately need.