The End

Lemony Snicket

And so, the story comes to a close. It's been quite a few years and even more books, but the long saga of the Baudelaire orphans has reached its close.

...or has it? That seems to be the question everyone's been asking after reading The End, and it's a valid one. The major criticism of the book is that Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) left far too many unanswered questions. And it's true, there are a number of them here, though they're not of the "we can build another series out of this" variety. And, well, to some of us that's acceptable. Poppy Z. Brite once said of one of her characters' tattoos, when asked where and what they were, that the character hadn't told her yet. Sometimes your only choice is either to be true to the characters or to make something up that just doesn't feel right. Either way, you're going to make someone mad.

As to the plot, well, this is the book where things are wrapped up-- we get (or we're supposed to get) the ultimate fate of the Baudelaire orphans and their various friends and enemies. And, in some cases, we do-- Count Olaf plays a greater role in the proceedings than he has in recent books, and Kit Snicket turns up. But one wonders about some of the other characters (characters Snicket goes out of his way to mention, interestingly) from the series and where they ended up. We may never know.

Or may we? Will there be a book the fourteenth? Erm, fifteenth?

I have to register some of the same disappointment as other readers, even if I understand, perhaps, why things turned out as they did. But I hold out some optimism for the future.