We’ve come to the end of the line folks. The end is here. Well. Let’s see…. Previously on insane casino under the mountain.
Fey Stabs Tam → Tams 🫀 = 🪨 = 🤯
Rhys still with the boots.
Mandy is actually such a Karen and wants to see the manager about her “deal”
A fight is brewing…
Queue the dramatic fight music.
So Mandy is being a bitch and is calling a flag on the play. apparently she didnt know about good ol’stone heart. Everybody else did. She’s been spending too much time fingering that bone around her neck and thinking about Tam’s bone to even know about his heart of stone and honestly this one was an unforseen surprise for me. But once Fey started to lay it out in her retelling of all the quotes I was like oh snap its been there the whole time. Shucks… Ya dumbass Drew. With Mandy being well Mandy. She starts going in on Tam while hes down. And starts throwing Fey around with magic which I can only imagine is exactly like the hulk throwing Loki around at the top of Avengers tower back and forth like a damned rag doll. Shes just getting right obliterated. And the inner monologue insues. Because what else do you do while getting absolutely pummled to death under a mountain than think about the riddle that could save your life. That could save everybodies life? Well yeah. Folks…. This is where I say I told ya so. Fuck. I saw this shit coming a long ways away. This is quite possible the capital T.H.E. most telegraphed answer ever. This is right up there with Hackers the movie saying the most common computer passwords are sex, love, secret and God… wait… whats that? Never saw the 1995 cult classic movie Hackers starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Matthew Lillard. Shoot… its right there the second one. It was there like I said it was back on 06/29 I guess they didn’t see Hackers in Prythian or in that part of the mortal world where Feyre is from. Shame. she could have ended this so long ago… Back to Hackers tho. Such a solid movie. And the soundtrack? Holy shit. Might have been the first import CD I ever bought. Hell even Marc Anthony (J-lo’s ex husband was in it) and Penn from Penn and Teller. Who I met once in Atlantic city after a show. Did you know as a younger Drew I was into magic… Yet another thing I have in common with the Fae… Very interesting. Ok ok rambling. Back to the task at hand.
Love… it was love all along. So Fey manages to put all the pieces together and with he mortal body broken with the GA BG music just absolutely obliterating my eardrums. She manages to speak and she says the answer to the riddle. And just like that in that instant everything changes. Turns out thats the last thing she says. Girl you is dead 😵 D.E.A.D. gone. You’re now having an out of body experience and watching the whole thing like a pay per view. Lucien is crying over your useless dead body. and Tam. well Tam-Tam is fully juiced up and going beast mode on Mandy. Remember that whole part of the story where Tam forces Fey up agains the hallway wall all sexy like? Well he’s doing that to Mandy now but also is killing her. Now dont get me wrong shes one hundo-P getting everything she deserves but it feels a bit personal to be ripping out another womans throat with your teeth instead of your hand. like…. same same but… different? Final blow is when Luc tosses Tam a sword and then he straight pins Mandy to the wall with it thru her forehead? Original to say the least. Mandy now dead, Tamlin is now fully powered up and the land and Fae free but at what cost? Fey is dunzo… but is she? Y’all there are more books? But what now? Sike! Tam is now sobbing with Fey in his arms all the high lords come and toss a coin/drop a shard/glitter spark onto Feyre. Is this pure starlight? Well look what we have here.. this seems to be some kind of superFae™ gift that they don’t just pony up all too often. Oh I bet they do this again. This is like twilight with less biting right? And Rhys gives up a sparkle drop too and IIRC says something to Tam like “we good now homie… but we ain’t homies”
Snap cut, Fey is now swimming to the surface. Prythian swim team… I knew it! Ha she’s not dead! Was this a Bob Newheart moment? Was it all a dream? Naw, she’s a vampire now! Team Edward girl! Well this was the end game wasn’t it. Take a mortal girl, get her to break the curse and in return make her a Fae? Thats everybody’s dream right? Thats why these books exist? I mean given the opportunity shit? Travel to a mystical world with a single season? Make me beautiful, rich, and immortal? Give me magic? Fuck sign me up! Leave my family behind? DUH! Later! Audi-5000! 👋 And this? a High-Fae no less? Please I could then convert my family if I wanted to? sheeeeeeeeeeeeee-it! Why the hell not? Alright. Wrap it up Drew! Fey is being emo about being immortal, ugh is nothing ever good enough for this chick? Rhys reminds her that she may be Fae but her heart is still human? Cauldron gag me. Oh yeah she had some secret meeting with Rhys on a balcony. Girl she’s conflicted that one. Still has the hand tattoo! He’s gonna know everything you silly. Just before he Evaporated His face sees something! Thats the only shocker of an ending… In the end Fey and Tam leave the mountain and experience sunlight on their skin for the first time in weeks or months or however long. Like you’ve been in a casino forever and you don’t know what day it is. Wow that comparison really payed off. Like leaving a strip club after losing all your money to Mandy. Only to realize you also lost your pants and your car keys so you gotta call the wife, but its been three days. Oof! They return home to the manor. Mrs Potts and her boys are playing in the yard. They’re “Home”.
So this thing wrapped up pretty nicely with a bow was unexpected for a book series that is so lauded. And I was expecting some kind of big cliff hanger. Apparently this was by design. Sure there are lots of plot points left unfinished, yet nothing that cant wait for future books. This one is nicely presented with a bow. You could read this and feel content to not read another. Online folks say this is the worst of the series. As a first introduction to books again. It’s fine. Its not without its tropes. For me, it leans hard on them. And the authors language gets repetitive fast. The reoccurring descriptions I find boring the most. The teeth(oh the teeth). I’m sure there are more but once I hear them. I can’t imagine re-reading them is any easier. There are sections that I wish didn’t exist. Admittedly, I’m not a writer. But I would have edited out some. Pacing seems to be my hardest problem and then there are nearly no explanations for some things and then great explanations to others. There is no middle ground. Speed through some details or story points and drag others out. Great history and battles happened and seemingly glossed over. A great battle seemingly strewn aside. Hopefully one day told in its own series. But we already know the outcome. For instance, “I fought alongside your father in the Clone Wars” in Star Wars was just such a throw away line in a New Hope. Then once fully fleshed out became such a great and integral part of the larger storyline and birthed perhaps some of the best tales in a Galaxy far far away. Maybe We’ll get the same from SJM. Maybe not? I hope we do. I’ll continue on in the series if not to find out more quotes from Lucien. He seems to be my favorite character so far. Tam is a typical 🚩 guy and Feyre oh Feyre, you silly thing. I hope you just start to pay attention a bit more and develop into a character that is just a bit more less predictable and less of a sucky face. I hope you get a journey and a training montage that you deserve. That you use the Fae gift that was given to you for something more than just sitting idly around and accepting what other people have planned for you.