> > > The Lions of
> > > Al-Rassan might edge it out on any given day).
> >
> > What did you think of the ending?
> > I always felt there was a concious choice (on the part of the
characters)
> > and a sacrifice in who won... (not wanting to spell out too much since
some
> > might want to go read it!)
>
> I cried. 

Well of *course* you cried! :)
I've shed a few tears over other books, but he's the only one who's actually
made me *cry*

>And I'm not sure about conscious decision, but I'd grant a
> *subconscious* sacrifice.  I really liked that he didn't take the
feel-good
> easy way out (like he ever does!), that there's tragedy to color the
beauty and
> the triumph.  There's a bittersweet quality to his work I like very much
in
> part because I don't see it often enough in other fiction.

Exactly.
In most fantasy there's really nothing risked. There's no struggle, there's
never any feeling that what happens is real, or matters. The good guys
*will* win, none of the major characters will die, and when the story is
done, it's done. No loose ends, no wondering about what happened after the
story, no sense it will go on without you or ever existed before you. When
his characters make choices -- there are consequences. Choice and sacrifice
are always significant issues in his writing. And while there's always some
sort of tragedy/sadness, it's always redeemed in some way by something
transcedent. Bittersweet covers it nicely.

> darkelf, who likes her novels like dark chocolate and espresso

:)



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