So, I finished it. And I loved it. I have a lot of thoughts, but I need a bit of time to process before writing anything up, I think...

Obviously there are unmarked spoilers in this thread. Don't read it if you haven't finished the book!

Wasn't it amazing? I'm kinda sad that it's over, but that was a very satisfying ending- I'm glad things turned out the way they did. :D

Yeah, definitely. I wasn't sure how I felt about the end at first, but then I realised I was having difficulty separating my feelings about the ending from my feelings about it having ended. The last four books I came out at the end buzzing with theories and wanting more, and it was really disorientating not having that. Plus it feels like saying goodbye to friends.

But I liked the ending. I'm glad he didn't kill Lockwood, after all that heavy-handed in-universe foreshadowing. That would have been too much like losing, I think. I liked how Stroud got out of killing Lockwood - that ultimately it was the act of trusting the skull (after all that build-up) that saved them in the final battle. I liked the resolution of the Other Side, with the blocked gates to somewhere Beyond - eternity in the dark, frozen wasteland didn't seem like much fun.

I want to know more about Ezekiel - what is it? Why the Biblical name? What makes it and the skull different from other ghosts? Speaking of the skull, I was a little disappointed it never fessed up to its actual name (unless it was Pete...). Also, I admit I was a little disappointed the spirit in Marissa's tomb was a new character - my money was on Tom Rotwell when we first met it. (Also: First Honorious, now this guy - remind me never to trust a famous person's skeleton in a Jonathan Stroud novel.)

It was a nice book. I'm not sure if I like it or find it ok. I kinda felt weird about the ending and it felt a little cliche.. But I did like finding out new stuff like lockwood's middle name, and Kipps almost dying (I live for angest) The fight in Portland Row 35 was a really nice thing to read :D LUCY AND HOLLY :D I half expected them to see Jessica on the other side since her death glow was there

There were some epic fight scenes. I'm disappointed Flo's was off-screen after what we learnt about her - but maybe it's better left to the imagination.

I thought the Lucy and Holly thing was cute too! Do we reckon there's more to Holly's "roommate"?

I know what you mean about the happily-ever-after ending being a bit cliché, but I think there was too much invested in Lockwood's death wish - if he'd died it wouldn't have been a bittersweet ending like certain of Stroud's other books, it would have been a straight-up depressing failure. (But it had me sufficiently worried that he *would* die to keep the tension up for most of the book.) And I'm not really a fan of the "kill off some secondary characters to make it feel darker" approach to endings, not mentioning any names, JK Rowling. (I was pretty damn convinced for a bit Kipps wasn't going to make it though!)

I also thought Lockwood would get to see his family on the other side. I have so many questions like why didnt Skull just ghost touch Marissa at the end. He's been itching to kill something all series. Why is Skull stronger than Ezekiel? Did Ezekiel intake the pure ectoplasm to glow in gold instead of green? How does his weird connection/leash with Marissa work? If the fence in the other world barricaded them from entering the door, how come very very old ghost haven't gone through prior to the problem? I also expected the problem to escalate a little bit like the Chelsea event since Lockwood and co also made their own door to the other side and took a long trip across.

I'll miss Skull, I always look forward to his itallic font.

I think the skull couldn't just have popped in and hugged Marissa to death while Ezekiel was still causing trouble. Once Ezekiel was under control, Marissa wasn't much of a threat, until she pulled the self-destruct, at which point killing her wasn't going to help anything.

I got the impression Ezekiel and the skull might have been fairly evenly matched in a fair fight - but Lucy and Lockwood had weakened him enough to unbalance it.

It seemed like some ghosts take a long time to be "ready" to move on from the Other Side, tied in some way to things like the conditions of their death and "unfinished business". Type Threes retaining full free will post-death would naturally have the freedom to choose to move on, or to hang around and continue to cause trouble for the living. It's not clear what makes a Type Three, though, or if there was anything remarkable about Ezekiel compared to the skull. I think the gold glow was probably just an affectation while he wished to appear majestic and welcoming.

Yeah, with Ezekiel there, the skull probably wouldn't have been able to do that. And even if he had, would it have really mattered? If "Penelope" was actually Marissa's spirit possessing Penelope's body, and if Marissa's spirit could leave that body, would ghost touch kill the body, or just generally have no effect at all?

Well ghost-touch would at least kill Penelope, the host. I assume her body is at least alive, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to age as she did. I still would have liked to know exactly how that stolen ectoplasm was being used, what kind of strength did it give? Was it anchoring Marissa to the body, why was a constant supply of it needed?

The nature of type 3's is very interesting, both Ezekiel and Skully posess a full consciousness and evenly matched powers. Marissa too seems to be a type 3, which begs the question if being on the other side while living alters the type of ghost you become. Nobody knows about Zeke, but Skully was assisstant to Bickerstaff who led some very strange experiments about ghosts before the start of the problem. Marissa herself visited the other side often enough to age prematurely and her ghost was strong enough to posess her own grand-daughter with no problem.

Ah my bad for replying late. By Marissa, I meant her living/almost-dead-rotting-body, not Penelope’s body. Assuming that ghost touch was the last blow it needed to kill “living Marissa”, severing the tie she has to the living world. In turn breaking off Ezekiel’s connection as well.