Terminus (Threshold #4)[October 20, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Terminus by Peter Clines starting on October 20, 2023.


Happy Reading!

[Narilka]

I started this morning. Didn't get very far yet, only 2 chapters. Chase has me thinking a bit though (view spoiler)[What would it be like to just live on a cruise ship forever? That could actually make for an interesting retirement.

I also like how in Ch 1 Clines is spelling it straight out - here's the connections for Anne if you missed it earlier! (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I started my re-read... I like this one... I love the series...

But I feel like I never like this one as much as I should, as much as I love the idea of what it's doing, bringing together all the ingredients introduced in previous books and mixing them together...

I think alot of that comes down to the feeling of mystery... there's still a bit of that mystery, but as a reader you feel like you know what's going on more, even if you're wrong, compared to 14 & The Fold... there's a reason The Fold is my favorite...

Anyway, I'm 10-15 chapters in...

I've definitely heard the thing about cruise ship costs/lifestyle... everything is fine until a covid situation...

[Nirkatze]

Starting! The very beginning gives me serious Laundry Files vibes... Through Chapter 5--(view spoiler)[DON'T DO IT! THEY'RE NOT COMING BACK!

Actually, in that case... GET OFF! GET OFF NOW!!

Kinda hoping it IS Godzilla, and that the monster movies the badly clashing fashion dude was watching were real newscasts. (hide spoiler)]

[Felina]

I started this one this morning. It is definitely not what I expected.

[Nirkatze]

Chapter 11--(view spoiler)[Ah, hey, some more clear overlap! Hi Veek! Missed y'all! (hide spoiler)]

[Felina]

I was just coming in to say that! We’re literally reading in tandem.

[Nirkatze]

LOL! Yay Felina! High-five!

I'm up through Chapter 30--I feel like all the books are coming together in this one... (view spoiler)[The Family, the apartment building, the squales... waiting for the Fold people to show up somehow...

But dang, that whole clone-and-erase thing is pretty crazy... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Finished! I really liked this, how it brought in parts of all the previous books to bring a big finale. Is this the finale? (view spoiler)[Kind of bummed that their answer to the squales is just... run away. Is there nothing they can attempt to do? So the handful of protagonists survived, but that instance of earth is dust now. I'd kind of like to see one of those transdimensional doors open and close with a squale halfway through them. Unless it would just mitosis into two. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

No idea... Clines doesn't really share what's coming out ahead of time...

[Felina]

I just finished. Such a good time. I wish they’d make movies.

@Nirkatze (view spoiler)[- I would love to see a continuation in this series where they do go head to head with the squales. . Like the Dragonlance or something. Some fabled weapon that can destroy a squale. (hide spoiler)]

[Felina]

I think 14 is still my favorite. It’s got such a slow burn creep vibe. This one was a very close second cause it moves pretty quickly.

[Narilka]

Nirkatze wrote: "Chapter 11--[spoilers removed]"

hehe yeah (view spoiler)[and giving her captors hell! Go Veek!! (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

Nirkatze wrote: "Finished! I really liked this, how it brought in parts of all the previous books to bring a big finale. Is this the finale?"

Like Iain said, not sure if this is the end. Clines has switched to writing a new trilogy according to his blog. I hope he returns to Threshold some day.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I also read that Peter Clines contribution to Joe Ledger: Unbreakable could be considered Threshold content... altho that probably means it's a multiversal horror thing in the Joe Ledger verse, or a crossover (totally fits the Joe Ledger series, post book 6 or 7, for anyone unfamiliar)...

[Nirkatze]

Felina wrote: "I just finished. Such a good time. I wish they’d make movies.

@Nirkatze [spoilers removed]"

Grats on finish, all! I'd love to see these as movies... very sort of... Cloverfield... feel, maybe? Slightly less horror-y. But like, the movies where it starts out seeming normal, but a little creepy, but then it's not the creepy you think it's going to be...

re: Finale--thank y'all for the confirmation. So maybe not THE finale, just a finale... would love to see (view spoiler)[a dragonlance come out and punch those squales...

Maybe a next book would be some secret science facility developing something, kind of like the Fold... but we don't know what they're developing until climax and it turns out they're hiding from the squales as the world gets eaten and its a race against the clock... (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

Ch 16 (view spoiler)[Pretty cool (and terrifying) the characters actually encounter the scene on the cover :D I'd forgotten that.

I also have forgotten who the person they encounter on the beach is. I was hoping it's Mike from The Fold but I think it's someone else. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

re: Chapter 16--Cover--(view spoiler)[Ah!! I kept noticing that! I'd look over to see what my progress was to comment, and see the cover and... what is that? An ocean... a mountain... AND A SQUALE!

Was there anyone from the Fold in this one? If so, I missed it (but unsurprising, I have a hard time catching names--or remembering names from previous books--on audio. I thought the main connection was the, um, folding. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The main connection is Anne… (view spoiler)[the minister… she worked at the magazine in the first book, and was the receptionist in the 2nd book… she laid it all out in that first sermon… (hide spoiler)]

[Felina]

Holy crap. I missed that completely! I am getting terrible with details these days. I’m only 39! Im blaming it on chemo. At this rate I’ll be able to read these again next October and it’ll be like brand new. Hell, I should grab Harry Potter. Maybe it will be like reading it for the first time.

[Nirkatze]

LOL I missed all those details too--would definitely put these down for an annual Spooktober read... Trying HP for a second first time sounds like a good litmus test...

[Narilka]

I finished. It was great to reread this series. I'd forgotten a few things about the ending, (view spoiler)[Primarily about who died. I thought Katanga made it through. I also did not remember Anne point blank shooting Murdoch.

The main reference to The Fold was at the end when Veek noticed the doorway to the building was wired to act as an "Albuquerque Door" ;) (hide spoiler)]

Hopefully Clines comes back to this series after a break.

[Nirkatze]

Ooooh--thanks for pointing out that reference, Narilka!!

[Tonari no Emily]

I only got the Anne thing at the beginning of this one because I peeped a spoiler back on Book 2 from Iain :D ( I'm so bad at resisting spoilers lol)

I would love to see more of the Threshold! Clines has another book Paradox Bound that isn't quite in the same universe, but I think there was a reference to Thresholdverse at some point. I remember reading that after 14 and The Fold and needing anything to satisfy my craving for this weird brand of slow horror. That book sadly did not really go there lol

Although if you're wanting something slightly similar I recommendFinna and Defekt.. It's not quite the same but it reminded me of Threshold when I was reading it!

[Tonari no Emily]

I'm glad I finally read #3 and #4 though! I don't know why it took me so long... I started Terminus back in maybe 2020 and stopped after the first chapter. Silly me!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Paradox Bound reminds me of 12 Monkeys... in that timelines overlap, and it's a bit of a closed time loop...

[Nirkatze]

Added Finna & Defekt to TBR--though I think it was already there... been seeing that around...