F&B 12 (thoughts on ending)

[wednesday_10_00]

OK, I don't know who to blame for this (author, illustrator, editor?), but whoever decided to make the Vicente/Kaito kiss the last picture is just plain cruel and sadistic. I really, honestly thought that Kaito wasn't going to get away, that he was going to end up going back with Vicente, and I totally cried when Kaito said goodbye to Geoffrey. (As cheesy as those retarded hand signals were...-_-;;) I mean, I was totally expecting Kaito to sacrifice himself to save the others, and I was SO angry, but then when he got to his goodbye speech I was all, "Oh! Oh! ;_;" And I am still kind of in shock that Vicente let him go. (I actually felt bad for him! That's...really saying something, for me.) Although, in retrospect, he really had to let Kaito go, or he would have been chasing him for the rest of the series. Actually, at one point I wondered if he would end up helping Geoffrey and Nigel get Kaito back to England...that is probably a product of too much Avatar. orz Wait, Vicente = Zuko? Sacrilege!! D:

Raul was so...so...evil? badass? aweseome? (in a "Oh no he di'int!" kind of way) when he laughed and was all "You'll end up holding his cold corpse!" when Vicente realized that Kaito was dying. I kind of loved him then. XD Actually, I really loved a lot of the stuff between Vicente and Raul in this book. Though...I was definitely laughing at some parts that were not supposed to be funny. *cough* >.>

(Are we really not going to find out what happens to Vicente, though? That's a little sad.)

I find it interesting that, in the end, Kaito still seems determined to stay in the 16th century. It hasn't occurred to him to try and bring Geoffrey back with him? Also, from the author's notes, it doesn't sound like the next book is the last one. But...what else can happen?

How long until book 13? :(

ETA: Why would faeries use the Julian calendar?

Comments

[mangaroo.livejournal.com]

Did I miss the introduction of faeries in the F&B universe? Is it Oberon and Titania and Bottom?

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

No specific faeries (yet...?), but the tunnel Kaito came through was apparently a "fairy circle," which works on days like midsummer and Halloween...as calculated by the Julian calendar, not Gregorian.

Related: How many people know the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars offhand? I had to look it up.

[manga-crow.livejournal.com]

Midsummer was an important date in Britain long before they adapted to the Julian calendar. (at least, so scholars believe) According to the most widely accepted theories, that's the kind of thing sites like Stonehenge, etc were made for; keeping track of the celestial calendar.

Does the book make a big deal out of the Julian thing? Rather odd if they do, though the Spanish Armada did launch relatively soon after the Gregorian calendar was put into use. (~6 years, if memory serves) so it could be a way to try and cement it in it's time I guess?

I don't think many people know the difference off-hand - I only do because I was rather fascinated by Julius for a long time.

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

They don't make a big deal of it, per se, just mention that that's why the dates were off (that is, Kaito traveled through time on Midsummer, but they didn't realize it because it was Midsummer by the Julian calendar not the Gregorian calendar). I think they were just presenting it as a part of the mystery, something the characters had to figure out in order to understand how Kaito went back in time.