“ | Shivers: So that’s how this ends, is it? That’s the ending? Monza: You think you deserve something better? |
” |
— Caul Shivers and Monza Murcatto
|
All Change and Happy Endings are the sixty-ninety and seventieth and final chapters of Best Served Cold.
Chapter Summary[]
In the end, Friendly and Cosca make their way across Styria to Safety in Musselia. Grand Duchess Monza has provided Friendly with orders allowing him to be imprisoned again. Cosca tries to talk him out of it, but Friendly is sick of the outside world, and wants to get back to the order of Safety. However, when they arrive they find that the prison has been abandoned in the chaos throughout Styria. Cosca slaps him on the back, and invites him to join him in pressing his claim for the Duchy of Visserine.1 Friendly unenthusiastically agrees while hoping Safety will re-open one day.
Meanwhile in the dungeons beneath Fontezarmo, Shivers has been imprisoned and is expecting death. However, he gets a visit from Monza. To his bemusement, she tells him he is free to go.2 As Shivers walks out to freedom, he smiles at the thought of getting out of Styria and back to The North.345
Characters[]
Introduced | Appeared | Mentioned |
---|---|---|
Friendly | Monza Murcatto | |
Caul Shivers | ||
Nicomo Cosca |
Locations and Terms[]
Musselia | Talins | Styria | Safety | Visserine | Fontezarmo | The North |
References[]
- It is revealed in Red Country that Cosca did actually become Grand Duke of Visserine, although he's since been usurped.
- Monza gives Shivers a ring as payment for his part in her revenge, despite his betrayal. The same ring that Benna gave her in the first chapter. And Shivers is seen wearing it throughout The Heroes.
- Maybe Monza showing mercy to Shivers is a sign that she has finally put her mantra "mercy is weakness" behind her.
- The ending holds promise of more to come. The short story Three's a Crowd, from the collection Sharp Ends, is set seven years after the events. Monza is now all powerful in Styria. She has outmaneuvered The Union both politically and militarily, stripping away their allies one by one, and then defeating them 3 times in the field. Monza finally crowns her son Jappo mon Rogont Murcatto the King of all Styria.
- There some interesting analysis of the book by Abercrombie himself in his Best Served Cold reread.