[SPOILER] Just finished HFQ ...

and HE DID IT AGAIN!!!

Why, oh why have his books be ended with cliffhangers as devilish as the one in LAMA and now in HFQ, too?

Eagleeye wrote:and HE DID IT AGAIN!!!

Why, oh why have his books be ended with cliffhangers as devilish as the one in LAMA and now in HFQ, too?

it is more then a bit unfair.

it is bad enough when a writer does this when he only has one series, so you know they have started on a sequel.

With RFC he could be one one og half a dozen projects, though we do know he is supposed to writing the next Honor book.

Eagleeye wrote:and HE DID IT AGAIN!!!

Why, oh why have his books be ended with cliffhangers as devilish as the one in LAMA and now in HFQ, too?

We know what he will say, so how is this a cliffhanger? Perhaps it is a bit suggestive of a scene we would like to read......ok desperately want to read about, but hardly a cliffhanger.

PeterZ wrote:
We know what he will say, so how is this a cliffhanger? Perhaps it is a bit suggestive of a scene we would like to read......ok desperately want to read about, but hardly a cliffhanger.

Would you care to share? There's a wide range of possibilities here. Is Thirsk brought into the inner circle? Is he brought into the Fist of God? Is he put into cryo cuz he refuses to believe what Merlin tells him? Does Merlin just tell him, "the kids are ok. You can write to them at this address."? Pick a spot on the spectrum of possibilities.

EdThomas wrote:

PeterZ wrote:
We know what he will say, so how is this a cliffhanger? Perhaps it is a bit suggestive of a scene we would like to read......ok desperately want to read about, but hardly a cliffhanger.

Would you care to share? There's a wide range of possibilities here. Is Thirsk brought into the inner circle? Is he brought into the Fist of God? Is he put into cryo cuz he refuses to believe what Merlin tells him? Does Merlin just tell him, "the kids are ok. You can write to them at this address."? Pick a spot on the spectrum of possibilities.

Something like....your family is fine. We won't do anything to them at all. As a matter for fact, here is how you can send them letters. Feel free to send as many letters as you wish as well as any other messages you want His and Her Imperial Majesty to read. There are no strings attached to this offer. His and Her Imperial Majesty will protect your family with ALL the resources at their disposal. They give their word on the honor of their house and their faith in God.

Words might be slightly different, but the ideas will be the same. Thirsk will not commit to anything at that time, but might respond more thoroughly at a later time.

I always felt that - after Armageddon Reef - Thirsk was an honorable man who wanted to do the right thing if he could. He's "constrained by events" but at the same time deeply conflicted. I'd feel pretty good if he could be pulled out of the situation he's found himself in (I'm a bit less than halfway through HFQ at this point).

PeterZ wrote:Something like....your family is fine. We won't do anything to them at all. As a matter for fact, here is how you can send them letters. Feel free to send as many letters as you wish as well as any other messages you want His and Her Imperial Majesty to read. There are no strings attached to this offer. His and Her Imperial Majesty will protect your family with ALL the resources at their disposal. They give their word on the honor of their house and their faith in God.

Words might be slightly different, but the ideas will be the same. Thirsk will not commit to anything at that time, but might respond more thoroughly at a later time.

Merlin: "Actually, we do want ONE thing from you: do what you feel is right now that the safety of your family is no longer holding you back."

That's definite IMO.

Oh, I suspect the first thing Merlin will do is hand Thirsk a brief note from his daughters.

Mind you, Thirsk will also be rightly concerned about how long his family being alive within the Charis Empire can be kept a secret.

While he likely trust Caleb to "not use them against him", he will be in more trouble if anybody learns that they are still alive.

My suspicion is that Merlin will state something like "I doubt that it'll be necessary to hide them too long".

PeterZ wrote:

EdThomas wrote:
Would you care to share? There's a wide range of possibilities here. Is Thirsk brought into the inner circle? Is he brought into the Fist of God? Is he put into cryo cuz he refuses to believe what Merlin tells him? Does Merlin just tell him, "the kids are ok. You can write to them at this address."? Pick a spot on the spectrum of possibilities.

Something like....your family is fine. We won't do anything to them at all. As a matter for fact, here is how you can send them letters. Feel free to send as many letters as you wish as well as any other messages you want His and Her Imperial Majesty to read. There are no strings attached to this offer. His and Her Imperial Majesty will protect your family with ALL the resources at their disposal. They give their word on the honor of their house and their faith in God.

Words might be slightly different, but the ideas will be the same. Thirsk will not commit to anything at that time, but might respond more thoroughly at a later time.

evilauthor wrote:

PeterZ wrote:Something like....your family is fine. We won't do anything to them at all. As a matter for fact, here is how you can send them letters. Feel free to send as many letters as you wish as well as any other messages you want His and Her Imperial Majesty to read. There are no strings attached to this offer. His and Her Imperial Majesty will protect your family with ALL the resources at their disposal. They give their word on the honor of their house and their faith in God.

Words might be slightly different, but the ideas will be the same. Thirsk will not commit to anything at that time, but might respond more thoroughly at a later time.

Merlin: "Actually, we do want ONE thing from you: do what you feel is right now that the safety of your family is no longer holding you back."

Does that really need to be spelled out?

Yep.

evilauthor wrote:

PeterZ wrote:Something like....your family is fine. We won't do anything to them at all. As a matter for fact, here is how you can send them letters. Feel free to send as many letters as you wish as well as any other messages you want His and Her Imperial Majesty to read. There are no strings attached to this offer. His and Her Imperial Majesty will protect your family with ALL the resources at their disposal. They give their word on the honor of their house and their faith in God.

Words might be slightly different, but the ideas will be the same. Thirsk will not commit to anything at that time, but might respond more thoroughly at a later time.

Merlin: "Actually, we do want ONE thing from you: do what you feel is right now that the safety of your family is no longer holding you back."