Last Exit [October 24, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Last Exit by Max Gladstone starting on October 24, 2023.


Happy Reading!

[Felina]

This sounds really interesting. I’m going to try to fit this in if I can. It’s included with KU so why not?

[Tonari no Emily]

Heck yeah! :D

[Nirkatze]

I love Max's books. I'm totally here.

[Nirkatze]

Starting! Chapters are a bit long, so just poking my nose in before bed. Not quite caught by the story yet. Curious about what the fantastical element is--is it something the whole world is aware of, or specific to this group of people?

[Felina]

I’m starting this one after Hammers on Bone. 🤗

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I feel like I need to pay super close attention, or the details will go in one ear and out the other...

It definitely has a different feel than Meddling Kids... much more in the head of a single character... it's taking awhile to bring in the rest of the cast... (view spoiler)[focusing on the relationship between Zelda & Sal, and only now bringing in Sal's surviving sister/cousin?... and little mention of the rest of the friend group so far... unless I'm already missing details... (hide spoiler)]

Probably won't be able to listen to this at work tomorrow... to much pausing and playing...

[Nirkatze]

Yeah, I just finished Chapter 1. I'm doing eyebook right now, but I'm thinking of switching to audio, since it's taking a lot of effort to read--pretty dense and slow. I might do better on audio. Hey, that rhymed! Gonna give it one more chapter and see if it picks up. Then I'm turning to Hoopla.

What made you compare to Meddling Kids, Iain? Just that it's a group taking on... something?

Chapter 1 thoughts--(view spoiler)[There's a lot of brainspace dedicated to adults v. children in here--how college age and a little beyond most people still don't feel like adults. A lot of this feels inspired by that era of life--feeling invincible at university, the age of finally free from parents but not yet crushed by the real world. Which is a little weird for me--because I actually went to university with Max. I didn't know him very well, but some of my best friends were good friends with his best friends, so there was overlap in our circles. So the flashback scenes of Zelda & Sal, the freshman club signups and introductory group parties--that was very surreal, and brought it all rushing back to me. Even the scenes of meeting June--seeing her as a young teenager, remembering her as a baby, seeing her again as an almost adult--reminds me of when would go home on various weekends with my college friends who lived in NYC, and meet their kid siblings, who then went on to college themselves, and got married, but are still stuck in my head as 10 year olds doing homework at the kitchen table that one Thanksgiving when I didn't want the hassle of taking 24 hour plane rides two ways.

The timeline is a bit convoluted through the first chapter. Lots of memories barging in on the current day, and it's not exactly clear what belongs in the linear. (hide spoiler)]

[Felina]

I think the Meddling Kids comparison is somewhat apt, based purely on the book synopsis. But the tone is this one is much more dark and desperate to me. I’m not even through the first chapter. Just dipping my toes in before I fall asleep.

[Nirkatze]

I didn't read the book synopsis, so that makes sense. The tone doesn't feel anything like it, definitely more "dark and desperate" as you put it, Felina. Can't blame you for just doing a toe-dip before sleep, that first chapter is a big one.

Oh, also, I am calling BS on an event in Chapter 1--(view spoiler)[Zelda has multiple fantasy references, but she didn't get the one about her own name at the campus church meeting? Princess in another castle? Come on. She's named Zelda and she knows some fantasy. There is NO way she wasn't exposed to those references by the time she hit college. I never played the games--I wasn't even allowed a console growing up--and I still get the reference. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Things picking up a bit more from Chapter 2... through Chapter 3 now... (view spoiler)[Still getting really strong college nostalgia vibes. Or nostalgia for everything that university represents--naive hope for a future that doesn't come... (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 5--reminding me of other alt world books, like The Space Between Worlds and Virtual Mode or even The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England--(view spoiler)[the fact that Zelda & co never found any better worlds is curious... do they lack the ability to truly believe in a better world? (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Re: chapter 1: not getting the reference, (view spoiler)[actually made me wonder if Zelda’s actually from another world (where the mario quote doesn’t exist)… possible twist for later… (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

LOL Interesting theory.... (view spoiler)[But then comes the contradiction--is she from a worse world, and was able to dream herself into a better? Or from a better world, and lied about not being able to find any? And then, how would her parents still be in our world?

Or maybe North Carolina just is another world...lol. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 8. Nice to meet some of the other crew. (view spoiler)[I like how each gets their own introductory chapter. I'm finding Sarah the most interesting--all that rage, bottled up... an interesting collection of personal and familial history, and having a whole family to leave behind and protect... but also the most reluctant to leave.

I like how there are little historical facts dotted around the book, like the tidbit on newspapers in the 1900s calling automobiles the "new Moloch." Fun pop culture references too, from They Live to Cujo and others I don't get.

There's a lot of fun language twists peppered around as well, if I slow down enough to pay attention.

I like this quote: "College was a time to make mistakes that didn't chase you for the rest of your life." I feel like this is a theme of the book--except that their mistakes are chasing them...

A lot on friends growing apart... growing apart, becoming different people but still seeing the echoes of recognition. And there was a line, earlier, in the chapter with the Zelda & Sal love scene flash back, about how coming to college was a way to leave your old self behind and build a new one... and now, 10 years have passed for each of these former friends to build new selves over again, but when they run into each other once more, they find themselves slipping back into those old grooves, whether or not they want to be those old people anymore... and some of them haven't changed...

This all resonates with me a lot. Reminding me of my friends from university, whom I haven't talked to almost since graduation--some of us sporadically trying to keep in contact, and every time we do, it is like no time has passed, but of course, all time has passed... And that going to university was the first chance I had to try to get out of the mould that my parents and high school friends had shaped for me... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

that feels like a reference to the Nebraska joke in Frugal Wizard :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Yeah, I just finished Chapter 1. I'm doing eyebook right now, but I'm thinking of switching to audio, since it's taking a lot of effort to read--pretty dense and slow. I might do better on audio. H..."

Meddling Kids, Reunion by Farnsworth, this... there seems to be this whole subgenre of fiction floating around about Urban Fantasy type kids groups (Buffy, Scooby Doo, etc) that had something bad happen, disband for 5/10/20 years, and then try and reunite and fix the failure/event that broke them up...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Yeah, I just finished Chapter 1. I'm doing eyebook right now, but I'm thinking of switching to audio, since it's taking a lot of effort to read--pretty dense and slow. I might do better on audio. H..."

I just read the part about you attending Yale with Max, and having like a Venn Diagram of friends (of friends)... that's a bit wild... and is giving me Babel vibes?... :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Felina wrote: "I think the Meddling Kids comparison is somewhat apt, based purely on the book synopsis. But the tone is this one is much more dark and desperate to me. I’m not even through the first chapter. Just..."

Agreed... also, the LGBT romance is THERE, from the beginning... where it's a much more subtle/backburner thing in Meddling Kids, until the end...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "I didn't read the book synopsis, so that makes sense. The tone doesn't feel anything like it, definitely more "dark and desperate" as you put it, Felina. Can't blame you for just doing a toe-dip be..."

I'm definitely a blurb reader...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The most optimistic/fanciful review I found online (google), said the book is written without alot of explicit descriptions, to leave room for the reader's imagination to fill in the gaps (exert their spin, like the characters use to access the multiverse)...

I liked that idea, even if it can make reading annoying, sometimes... similar to the idea that horror movies that don't show things are scarier, because the unknown and your imagination is worse than anything they could show/tell you...

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Meddling Kids, Reunion by Farnsworth, this... there seems to be this whole subgenre of fiction floating around about Urban Fantasy type kids groups (Buffy, Scooby Doo, etc) that had something bad happen, disband for 5/10/20 years, and then try and reunite and fix the failure/event that broke them up......"

Just finished Chapter 9, and now I'm getting Meddling Kids etc vibes a little bit... but it took over a quarter of the book to get there. Mostly the band-back-together aspect.

re: LGBT--lots of rep in general here. A very diverse crowd.

re: Babel--well, R.F. Kuang also went to Yale, so I definitely felt those vibes in Babel as well. Been wanting to read Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House and see how her experiences reflected too. But feeling it a lot stronger in Max's book, maybe in part because Kuang & Bardugo's time was after I left, but Max was only a year ahead of me--we were even in the same residential college.... so there's a lot that he writes about here, about their college experiences, where I'm like yeah, I remember that... minus the dimension hopping, though sometimes... well. There's something about being on a campus of old twisty buildings with lots of secrets.

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "The most optimistic/fanciful review I found online (google), said the book is written without alot of explicit descriptions, to leave room for the reader's imagination to fill in the gaps (exert th..."

Definitely get that sense--and it jives really well with how the world is set up too--there's a lot of "don't look behind you" in the book so far, because if you look, you see, you know, and that cuts down your options for spin...

It extends further too--the descriptions of the characters are pretty vague, except for Sal & June... backgrounds and history but not much in terms of size, shape, coloring...

[Nirkatze]

Through Chapter 11--sped through these last two chapters, things be picking up... and this is feeling very appropriate for Spooktober... (view spoiler)[Getting similar vibes to The City We Became at this point--white cowboy hat being a manifestation of the wrongness in the world, and wrongness being the hatred and racism and sexism and all the other -isms that are taking over everywhere...

The university scenes continue to be surreal. I remember that story, of the buildings being aged with acid. I tried out for and failed a few acapella groups and experienced the freshmen rush. Found my bosom friends on opening day among the club tents and consulted with my college's Master on my schedule...

The back and forth between memories/flashbacks, recent present, and right now is still a bit muddled--and this is on eyebook. I imagine audio must be extra disorienting.

And I feel rather bad for Sean... poor dude getting tossed in the deep end... hope he doesn't die... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Chapter 12--(view spoiler)[Definite Trumpism parallels here--the whole Those people on the roof, you don't know them from Adam. They're drifters, Sean. They are criminals and they do not belong here. It's not their place. Demonizing foreign born Americans and immigrants. And There's good guys in the world and there's bad. And sometimes those of us that's good, we got to stand up and stand together and protect what's ours. Rally cry during the January 6 insurrection. And then Sean trying to talk sense into Earl, like many people want to say to their family members who have drunk the coolaid... "Who is he to you, Earl? Is he your brother? Do you know him, trust him?"

And we don't find out what happens to Sean... (hide spoiler)]

A random note, from Chapter 10, I think... (view spoiler)[There's a mention of Calhoun college, and how it was named after a big slaver--it was actually in 2017--which seems around when this book is set (and would be just a bit over 10 years since Max graduated)--that Calhoun was renamed to Grace Hopper College. I think that also makes it the only residential college named after a woman. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 7, and Ramon focused now... I think I'm on track to finish this on Tuesday, probably?...

So far, everyone feels pretty fucked up... moreso than Meddling Kids, where it was more quirky/charming...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Chapter 8: this is feeling very Matrix (view spoiler)[the way everyone is staring... about to turn into Men in Black agents... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Through Chapter 11--sped through these last two chapters, things be picking up... and this is feeling very appropriate for Spooktober... Getting similar vibes to The City We Became ..."

By contrast, since I haven't read the Jemisin trilogy, the cowboy is giving me Westworld vibes... and the secret society stuff reminds me of the old Skulls movies...

The main cast is turning into a real love pentagram of crossed lines and missed connections... all centered around Zelda+Sal...

[Nirkatze]

I'm guessing the Skulls movies might be based on the Skull & Bones secret society? The Matrix connection is very apt--similar thing happens in City We Became...

I've seen some people describe this as Found Family--but I'm thinking it's more like F'd Up Family Reunion, if that's a trope. Getting the Band Back Together. A little Kings of the Wyld too, but darker than both that and Meddling Kids.

Through Chapter 14--(view spoiler)[Quote that resonates a lot: She had spent so much time with the knives inside her own head that she put those knives in others' hands, and especially in the hands of her friends. Too easy to do, that. Especially after long time apart. It is weird, thinking about the fast & fierce friendships made in college, to think of knowing people for only four years... and then ten years apart. Fifteen. Twenty. But still connected by those memories.

I think, this is the first chapter, even though scattered, that feels like the Band Getting Back Together--when they smile at each other and go forth. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Chapter 16--Carillon, for anyone wondering--one of my suitemates was in the guild... any time we heard Linkin' Park echoing over campus we knew it was her turn on the tower...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdtE0...

[Tonari no Emily]

Won't be able to fit this in October (or for the competition 🥲lol) but I'll be here this week most likely.

[Nirkatze]

Looking forward to you joining us, Emily!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

With all the Yale references...

Admit the truth, Nirkatze...

Zelda = Zoe

You and Max and your shared friend group went on adventure across the multiverse, and saved us from The Rot...

Names were just changed to "protect identities" (mission failed)... and present fact as fantasy...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

How do you guys imagine The Rot?... in my head, it's defaulted to like the Venom liquid:

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I'm home stretching now, after a couple hours binging... 5hrs left of the audiobook...

I wouldn't say I've been following what's going on particularly well... mostly because what's been going on doesn't seem like much, or something easy to follow?... they're fighting a cosmic entity they barely understand, and which seems to be evolving and doing things they didn't think it could before?

Anyway, I'm getting SO MANY vibes, from this...

A big one has been Inception... and then basically any book with a road or crossroads element and/or a multiversal plot... 2nd half of the InCryptid series (Antimony trilogy and Grandma Alice duology)...The Brotherhood of the Wheel, Nightwise, Sworn to the Night (Wisdom's Grave trilogy in the Craig Schaefer megaverse)...

The West World cowboy element has been growing stronger, too... I've never read Dark Tower, but is that one similar?... I know the MC is like a lone gunslinger...

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "With all the Yale references...

Admit the truth, Nirkatze...

Zelda = Zoe

You and Max and your shared friend group went on adventure across the multiverse, and saved us from The Rot...

Names wer..."

LOL I'd believe it of Max, honestly... I do kind of wonder if this was inspired by a D&D campaign with his suitemates, or written for his old college buddies... or even his wife, who he dated the whole time I knew him... aspects of Sarah make me wonder... I'd love to ask him about his inspirations... but it's awkward, you know, when you remember someone, but now they're famous, and you doubt that they remember you, and you don't want to impose... I'll probably just ask my friend who still keeps in touch with him (part of the overlapping Venn Diagram group) and see what information I can garner...

I'm up through Chapter 24--only about 100 pages left on my font size. Hoping to finish today, and start fresh for Cozy November tomorrow. Might switch to audio for the last few chapters, we'll see. I'm glad I did eyebook though--even reading, it's hard to follow--and you're right, not much has really happened. It's heavy on metaphor and flashbacks--seems like most of what happened is in the past, and now they're sort of traveling through the landscape of their memories...

[Tonari no Emily]

OKAY that's pretty cool you went to Yale around the same time as Max, Nirkatze :D And yeah the whole nostalgia around that time in life is hitting me prettty hard in this one too. Incidentally, why I love The Magicians (the show) so much, even if it is over the top and a bit campy...

I'm somewhere in Chapter 6 where we're just now with a new POV... I think I was missing a lot of the details from those beginning chapters, hoping to catch something from yalls spoiler tags :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I finished mid-afternoon yesterday, and felt really smart with some of my vibes in the end: (view spoiler)[in the end, it was very similar to the Inception Dream world, and what Leonardo did to his wife that led to her suicide... and how the Cowboy was like Ish/Ramon's nightmare fuel (I forget which one)...

The ending felt a bit rushed and lacking in detail, tho... (honestly similar to Inception again, I guess)... I'm just unclear how long they spent trapped in the dream world, and what real world they woke up into... (hide spoiler)]

[Felina]

I stalled out on reading this a little so I got the el cheapo audible off of my kindle unlimited subscription so I should be able to catch up more quickly.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Sorry, not sorry, nirkatze... I need thems KU Whispersyn prices, to support my addiction to audiobooks... and I shout it from the rafters!!!

[Nirkatze]

LOL y'all shout it out, Iain! I'm loving my new library just as much.

@Felina & Emily--I'm so glad I did this as an eye-read... it took a lot of paying attention as is, without the added disconnect I often get from audio...

Finished on Tuesday, but this week's been chaotic. Pretty much agree with Iain's analysis of the ending. (view spoiler)[Cowboy was Ish's creation--which was hinted by his involvement in the phone-tracking software that also allowed the cowboy to track the group through their phones...

Really like your parallel to Inception...

Kinda wish our world could be solved by a nice neighborhood barbeque... (hide spoiler)]

@Ann-Marie--also really liked the Magician's TV show, and totally get some of that nostalgia from that too... made me want to read the books but I haven't gotten around to it...

[Tonari no Emily]

I have to say, I had a really hard time paying attention to this one... I think an eye-read might have been better, but I can't seem to finish those lately 😅
It did remind me a lot of the Ghost roads from the spinoff Incryptid books, Iain.. Mostly because of the whole crossroads thing.

I appreciate the comments because I wasn't sure what happened there at the end lol

[Nirkatze]

Yeah, definitely could NOT have done this on audio...

[Felina]

O_o

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I struggled in places as well, especially early on... but I felt pretty successful at letting the story slide over me, and getting the most important parts... enough so, that my vibes and guesses paid off...

The epilogue/denouement was a bit confusing tho... probably on purpose...