The Anubis Gates - Do characters get their just desserts? SPOILERS

[Jonathan]

Doyle survives and lives almost happily ever after, as does Jacky, after all of their trauma they did deserve it.

But what about poor Doyle's Ka, or Byron's for that matter, or Benner. Some come to a sticky end that was rather less deserved. What do you think?

[Cheri Howard]

I think Benner got what he deserved, considering he tried to kill Doyle.

Same for Doyle's ka, who was described as a bit of a lunatic, suggesting that he wasn't quite right from the beginning.

And I can't seem to recall whatever happened to Byron's ka, can someone remind me?

I LOVED the way Horrabin went, I found it very satisfying!

[Richard]

Byron's ka was killed in the first abduction of Doyle, after which he ended up being taken to Egypt. There were about to sit down to a nice supper when they were set upon; you may recall Doyle tossed one kidnapper out the window and almost made his escape.

I didn't worry too much about the fates of the kas; the interior monologue of the Romanelli ka (Romany) seemed to indicate the kas don't actually have souls. At the end of Ch. 9 (the trip back to 1684) Romany refers to himself as "an old ka" and elsewhere mourned that he wasn't supposed to have had to last for so long.

The only death that shocked me was the abrupt and far too casual disgarding of the Admirable Chinnie. I wonder if Powers had other plans for the character that ended up on the metaphorical cutting room floor, or if he simply couldn't figure out any other way of hauling Jacky back into the main story arc.

[Valerie]

I thought there was a definite poetic justice to the demise of Dog-Face Joe and J. Cochran Darrow. That was one of my favorite scenes in the book.

Horrabin's death was equally fitting.

I agree that Benner got what he deserved. I couldn't understand why Doyle thought they were friends.

I felt sympathy for the Kas, but their description led me to believe that they weren't really meant for long-term life and had limited capacity for free thought and a true sense of self. The only Ka that seemed to be a bit more was Romany, and I felt that this was fueled by much more power and magic.