creepy

I will never forget the joy I felt as a child when seeing this in the library. after reading the chapter titles I was so incredibly and deeply excited to get home and find out the mysteries that plagued me while reading the series. the next thing I remember is the utter disappointment and overall feeling of being had once I realized I would be getting none of those answers and would instead receive more questions. this memory of this book will stick with me forever and I'm very curious to see, once I reread the entire series, if there were things that went over my head as a child (maybe some questions really were answered, though probably not)

omfg I hated this book so much in the beginning. I would've liked the whole teenage thing a lot more when I was an actual teenager. as much as I wished for something to happen during much of this book, now that I've finished it, it's really sticking with me. was mercy/mary really a vampire (were the last few pages memoir/truth?) or was she becoming what he needed her to be? was she even mary/mercy? was she the woman from the first viewing, Kathleen? are we supposed to believe art fell victim to his delusions? does mercy essentially stalking him count towards her being a vampire or towards fueling arts delusions? was she even a vampire or an interdimensional being?

my enjoyment reading this book was like a 2 but the thoughts I'm left with are a 3.75 leaving me with a ~3 rating overall.

edit: still thinking about this book and how it reminds me of how ephemeral youth is and of the mystery the universe held and how sad life is and how we will never know. a mysterious memory that that sticks with you all your life.