Do you think each of the characters deserved their fate? Who, in your opinion, deserved better, who deserved worse, and why?

The author concludes with information about how each of the characters’ lives continued over the years. What did you think of their fates? Do you think everyone deserved their fate? Who, in your opinion, deserved better, who deserved worse, and why?

Hualit was not a "perfect" aunt to Luzia as she was too concerned with her own survival but certainly did not deserve her fate. The king was slowly dying from gout and suffering from loneliness and that was a just reward. Valentina earned her happy life by growing and changing despite the patriarchal society she was born in to. Fortun lost his great powers and was in living a life of jeopardy based on lies and one could see it would not end well for him and feel a sense of satisfaction. Victor became afraid of living and his wife and child left him and thus he died alone and scared which was a perfect ending for him. Luzia and Santangel found the best lives possible given their circumstances-they had each other and travel and immortality-conventional happy lives were never in the cards for them.

In a sense, every single character was in survival mode. They were each trying to climb the ladder of the caste system and improve their circumstances. Each rung on the ladder of that climb comes with a cost. Did I like what happened to each of the characters. No, but it made for a compelling read that it was tied up with everyone getting their happily ever after.

I particularly liked Victor's end. Without Santangel's "luck," Victor knows fear for the first time and is paralyzed by it. Unable to make any kind of decision for fear that it would be the wrong one, his wealth fades, his wife leaves him, and he dies alone. Valentina blossomed at the end, and it seemed fitting as we saw the change in her attitude toward Luzia. Hualit thought she had all situations in hand, but early in the book it seemed that her capabilities were not what she thought. Her end seemed appropriate for the life she had lived.