Damn if you read chapter 39 and 40 it fills in for the last chapter. After reading Iris’s bit chapter 50 feels like a punch in the gut.
I’m saddened that the story had to end the way it did, but I’m not gonna take away all of the great moments this story had. This whole story always had a fluff feel to it even when there was drama. So light hearted even when there were mentions of dark themes. But I honestly believe that the ending should’ve been treated with better care. And in no way I’m disrespecting the creator what so ever but my only critique is the ending. Not because of character deaths, since we already knew that was gonna happen at some point and that’s the nature of life so I’m not hung over that. It’s the execution of that.
(I’m gonna ramble my thoughts out a bit so excuse my jumbled mess of words).
We experience a time-skip on the last chapter which can be a bold move due to how much things had happened to the characters. We’re left to guess how much actual time has passed and what experiences these characters had gone through. For example we’re introduced to a character with a young lamia, in which later Iris tells Heath that she is a descendant of Marie, the 6th generation from Marie to be exact. That means it’s been over 100 years later if every generation started having children around in their early 20’s minimum.
So Heath is introduced wearing a dark cloak and clothes that show visible wear on them. At that point I can tell she has travelled and going back to the previous chapter we know why is that. Despite not really looking any older, her face though shows..not really aging but.. just looking more mature. Also the fact that she’s missing an arm! It’s not super obvious but after reading a second time, yep! No arm! Why!? And to not even mention anything about it, like yep she lost it at some point not gonna explain how! Ugh.. Another intentional or unintentional detail is the way Heath went out, but the way I interpreted her last moments were just vile. She lived most of her life alone and hated, staying away and hiding because she was treated like a monster and she probably believe herself to be that too. Not in just looks. And now we end it with her leaving and going back to the place where she first met Lily which is a beautiful scene but she went out alone. There was no one else around to comfort her in her last moments. Why not actually tell Iris instead hinting at her that her time is due? My only guess is that Heath just wanted her final moments in peace which I get, but why not have company? The only friend you have alive who gets you. Even if she thought that it might had inconvenienced Iris and she’s just sparing her from the sadness she was sure to feel in that moment. But why not have her last moments with someone that would’ve cared to be there. And I know this is gonna sound wild to some but in my opinion the story of Heath being a monster came full circle. For a long time she lived alone, was labeled a monster and she thought she was gonna die alone, but after meeting Lily she met more friends and my honest thought was that she would be at least surrounded by people she knew even if it there weren’t much of them. Iris was definitely that one friend that would’ve been there for her till the end and neither of them even got that.
They both deserved better than that.
