Can You Explain The Ending Of Rites Of The Starling?

The ending of Rites of the Starling was a complete punch to the gut and a total revelation at the same time. The two timelines that had been alternating throughout the book came to a close in a way that fully explained the past to the present in all of its heartbreaking glory. The biggest revelation was that Caspia, the girl whose journal we had been reading and whose backstory we had been following in alternating chapters with the present, was not a myth that existed outside of the universe of the book. Instead, she was the direct ancestor of Odessa. She and her cousin Xandra had performed a Starling rite on Calandra (which shifted to deadly crux forms during their rite) and had become the Bariwolf. Xandra had even bitten Ransom to infect him with the Lyssa. Afterward, Caspia’s great love, Andreas, the father of Odessa, had been driven mad by the loss of Caspia and, seeing that she was losing herself to the monster that she was becoming, had killed her in order to save their newborn from becoming like her as well. The baby that Andreas had killed in order to save was Odessa, the main character of the book and the person whose bloodline had been slowly uncovered throughout the entire story. This explained so much of the mystery of the Gold King’s actions, as well as the ways in which he had treated Odessa and her friends throughout their journey. The ending was very powerful and it was not a neat and tidy little package. Rather, it was a complete pivot point in the story that explained so much, but created a whole lot more questions and left the main character, Odessa, with the knowledge of her family’s dark past, and the weight of her choices to either continue in the blood of her ancestors, possibly bringing about even more destruction, or to try to find a way to heal and redeem her family’s heritage of blood and sacrifice. The book also left the fate of Ransom up in the air, and the possibility of a cure for his condition, as well as the growing political tension that could ultimately lead to war, all to be explored in book three. Reading this book was like having a map to a wound. It was illuminating, it was painful, but most importantly, it was full of both hope and fear.

I didn’t expect a story that had a quiet, torn and shaken ending. The dual narratives converged here. The way that Odessa’s identity as the Starling shifts and how the monstrous outbreaks come to be are revealed to be all one tangled origin story. It was beautifully done, because while we get answers to all of the questions that were posed by the dual narratives and even the immediate practical questions that were posed by the plot are left open (i.e. how do the characters stop the migrations of the infected? Can Ransom be saved? What will Odessa have to give up in order to save herself?anchise), in answering the why for all of the characters’ actions the author has forced us to live with the how of each of their actions. This book was vastly better than I had expected to get. I’m left with a sense of hope that is strange and unsettling.

Just finished ‘Rites of the Starling’ by Jacqueline Jackson and I’m feeling so satisfied yet wrecked at the same time. The way the author managed to tie up the myth and consequences of it all was incredible and changed my whole perspective on the book. So for those who haven’t finished the book yet, the past timeline of Caspia’s journey to the new world and her horrific consequences were explained in so much detail that it was amazing. We finally understand why Odessa is even in the story and how she can use her newfound knowledge and tools to help save her world from the monstrous plague that was created. It turns out that it was Caspia’s lineage and the Starling rite that was the start of the shift that wasn’t supposed to work in Calandra’s case. However, in the midst of all the chaos, Xandra bites Ransom, making him the first human carrier of Lyssa. So after Caspia turns into a crux to protect her child from the Vosters, her husband Andreas mercy-kills her. Their child, Odessa, grows up to be the daughter of Andreas and the woman that Caspia was. All this means is that Odessa has grown up knowing the political side of her father’s actions and the emotional reasoning behind them. The book doesn’t end happily and the reader is left with a feeling of sadness but also a sense of progression into the next part of the story. Odessa now knows the truth about the Starling and how it came to be and she has the tools to face whatever is thrown her way but the immediate threats to her world are still looming. The cruxes are migrating and it’s going to be a problem for Odessa and the people she loves. The rituals and orbits of the Starling are just as deadly and Odessa will have to be careful not to become a part of it all again. To top it all off, Ransom’s infection with Lyssa creates a lot of tension and heartbreak between him and Odessa. The ending is also a great example of a story reaching its conclusion while also escalating into the next part of the story. It’s an intimate and tragic ending but also exciting in the sense that we get to read more of Odessa’s journey and the world that she’s going to have to face.