posted
i dont know about you guys but i was really disappointed with the ending of the 4th book. throughout the entire series i thought at the end there would be a huge show down between nafai and elemak or at least elemak finally accepting and giving nafai respect. after nafai escapes and becomes the "king" of the sky people it is seriously ONE page of summing up elemaks failed attempts to kill nafai. its like the went to war year after year, both nations prosper, they both reach out to other nations and teach them what they can, generations pass and humans become hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands, THE END. for such a long and deep story that i personally really liked it was soooooo disappointing to have it end so weak.
Posts: 65 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
by the way, i just started the 5th book so if my pouting is pointless tell me without giving anything away please.
Posts: 65 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think that the fourth book did show the showdown between Nafai and Elemak. Elemak tried to kill Nafai and Nafai electrecuted him. Then when Elemak tries to get even, he is put to sleep and Nafai takes the Elemaki women and starts a new colony that can't be touched. And whats more, Elemaks son gets zapped by Shedemei when he talks about taking vengence on Nafai. I think Nafai pretty much won.
Whats more, the series is based on the Book of Mormon, which has been mentioned ample time here. I don't know exactly how is corrolates, as I haven't read the Book of Mormon, but I don't think OSC could just go around killing off main characters and changing huge plot points.
Furthermore, if there has been some resounding decision made at the end that settled the dispute one way or the other, it would have made it impossible for the 5th book to take place.
So, there are three reasons why you are wrong. hah! just kidding, those are just my opinions, take them as you will.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
It is based on the story of the beginning of two nations. The leaders of those two nations had to survive, and remain at odds, in order for the nations to thrive and yet remain in conflict for generations.
Now, he could have tied it all up in a nice happy ending, the way we expect from our stories; but it wouldn't have been true to the story he was basing it on. Also it is more realistic - people don't always have the huge showdown; they more often find a way to walk away and continue to live and thrive.
About book 5: if you look at it more as its own story than a continuation of the Homecoming series, it's easier to get into it. It's set in the same world as the earlier books, but it's a whole new set of characters, so it really feels more like its own stand-alone book. If you keep wanting it to be about the same people, you'll be disappointed; but if you remember that just about every book he writes is worth reading for its own sake, you'll enjoy it.
Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Elemak's partial victory made sense to me. If his getting shocked by Nafai at the end of book 3 and his inability to take over the starship in part 1 of book 4 didn't persuade him to accept the Oversoul/Keeper of Earth, I don't know what could have. At first the vast compression of time at the end of book 4 struck me as odd, but then I remembered that Nafai, Volemak, etc. had realized a little earlier that unless they killed Elemak for his adultery and role in killing Vas right then, they'd never be able to do it later without causing a real uproar among his supporters and would in a sense be telling Elemak that he'd won. This made sense enough to me, as did Nafai's unwillingness to kill Elemak (given his guilt over Gaballufix), so I decided that drawing out the years of fighting between the Nafari and the Elemaki might have gotten boring after a little while, since it had been established satisfactorily to me that Nafai would never win.
Posts: 781 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
i see all these points and they are good ones, i wrote this topic last night RIGHT after i finished the book so i was just pissed, lol. i am a lil ways into the 5th book and it seems very promising. i still dont like how book 4 ends so suddenly but i understand why its done that way.
Posts: 65 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I found the ending good and bad, in that in Earthfall the series is speeding up, introducing more characters and changes without giving the characters their normal amount of time to discuss it etc., so it leaves me wanting more, but then it gives it a nice epic ending as well.
Posts: 105 | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
We have been trained by hollywood to demand the final showdown scene - it's part of the formula. But final showdowns are not the only legitimate endings - and, in the real world, are relatively rare. There was no face-to-face between Churchill and Hitler, or between hitler and Stalin, for instance - all was done through surrogates (i.e., armies). Even courtroom showdowns are relatively rare. As Law and Order has shown, a lot of times confrontations end with deals, which are deeply unsatisfying in the dramatic sense, but are often the right (or most plausible) outcome.
But of course I was also bound by the strictures of my source material. When you're adapting, you need to stick to the story's core as faithfully as possible.
That's why I refused to do a screenplay of Ender's Game in which Peter comes into space to confront Ender face to face. <grin>. That was, of course, twenty years ago - NOBODY has made THAT idiotic suggestion since then!
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
Maybe I should save up money and buy the homecoming series. The nation aspect looks interesting.
IP: Logged |
posted
true! i just really wanted elemak to give nafai the respect that he truely wanted. nafai sacrificed so much to get his respect. and i know that, as far as the oversoul said, elemak hated nafai because he knew he was a stronger and better person. in a way that is elemaks way of giving nafai respect but it would have been nice to have it end with him accepting him as a brother and friend, no matter how "hollywood" that ending might be.
Posts: 65 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
