EPBOT Readers discussion

This is the section for discussion of chapter 30 through the end.

How did the tryst between Decible and Nessuno show the ways different species and cultures interact? Did it show more differences, or similarities?

What were your feelings on Danesh giving birth?

How does Mira fit into the story? How do you feel about her being brought in? Was Oo's intervention cheating, or simply trying to even the field?

What were your thoughts about the ending?

The tryst is unusual in that only one of the participants actually views it as sex. For Decibel it was more of a hair-and-therapy-in-one appointment. That sort of thing seems more likely to me than the Unkillable Fact of all species wanting to get down with one another. I guess I agree that someone would try it, as I'm sure someone has tried all the available real species, but that isn't exactly popular or common. Maybe it's just ethics, and more of us would be attracted to turtles if they could consent and reciprocate; I don't know. I do have trouble extending my suspension of disbelief to reproduction between totally unrelated species. I mean, we can't even make babies with other Earth mammals, and you're telling me to take precautions with clouds of gas?

I was disappointed in the birth as one of two deus ex machina occurring at the same time. Also, in addition to being inter-species reproduction, it is contrary to the previous description of the Esca, in which four genders are needed for reproduction, and the clef provides neither egg nor insemination. I think resurrecting a dead person would have been enough for the climax, so I don't know why this was added.

I don't think we really get to know Mira in this book. We get a bit of her backstory, and we see her through Oort's and Decibel's eyes, but we never get her perspective. That leaves her as sort of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl and (not entirely unexpected) deux ex machina number two.
I imagine the committee will debate and add another rule explicitly forbidding or allowing interference with the space-time continuum in future contests. In the meantime it's more of a loophole than cheating.

I didn't think another species technically-not-cheating on our behalf was a very satisfying ending. I spent a little time trying to think of something better and came up with: Oort and Decibel pull it together, give a rousing performance that is applauded as genius by all the humans but galactically considered to be terrible, and then narrowly avoid last place due to a mishap on the part of an established sentient species. (Maybe a wardrobe malfunction? Broke a waveform on their quantum confunkulator? Something that isn't deliberate sabotage or at all dangerous but still derails the performance enough for humanity to squeak past.)

In the universe of the book, I didn't have any trouble believing that different species would hook up at the competition - not that they're different species, but that is a time-honored tradition in the real world competitions this is modeled after, so it makes sense. But the actual Chapter 30 just didn't work for me for some reason. I can't really explain why, because the sequence of events fits neatly with the overall plot, but there's something about the abrupt shifts in tone that just feels "off" - I think the relative depth of Nessuno showing her feelings didn't fit the tone of the rest of the chapter, but even the rest of it didn't really flow like it should have - when you restate everything that happened, it should have been hilarious.

The birth and Mira's reappearance also didn't quite work for me - having two ridiculous things happen at the same time should have been completely on brand for the story by this point, but the short chapter and limited description undersold them. I wonder if the author had something else planned, then changed the presentation at the last minute once a sequel was planned? Because it all felt quite abrupt compared to the style and pacing of everything up to this point.

Compared to the other examples of affecting the competition we heard about earlier in the book, Oo bringing Mira back is relatively minor-league fudging. Again, I thought it felt rushed and low key, but it all works when you retell it. I definitely would have enjoyed Rebecca's proposed ending more. But even if nothing changed in terms of the actual sequence of events, I wish the pacing and tone of these last few chapters had matched the rest of the book more.

I was "meh" on the ending, and as other people have noted, it felt contrived to have all the build up of both the characters and the event, and ultimately the resolution is something out of left field rather than working within what the author has spent 200 pages establishing. It very much left me with the feeling of "wait... what just happened???" Plus it was a letdown to not have Capo saunter in at the perfect minute to either further screw things up, or to save the day.

Bringing Mira into the ending felt like it was just manipulating Dess via his deceased love interest, when really it was hinted that Mira was so much more to the band, as both a muse and as the intermediary between Dess and Oort. There was lots more depth that the author could have played with, and it felt like she sorta took the easy and cliche way out. As Rebecca pointed out, Mira was so under-developed as a fully realized character that this ending felt more contrived than meaningful.