Ok...now I do remember the box. I have no idea of it's purpose except to think Rasalom couldn't hold the blade for long and used the box as a buffer to transport it.

Could be. Might he not be able to touch the blade? Presumably he can hold it by the hilt given its mundane origin.

But that brings up another point. The box is described as only three feet long. Is that really long enough to hold a katana with hilt? I wouldn't think so, unless they were disassembled.

And I still don't recall where the box came from originally, which is what really bugs me. It's obviously no ordinary box or he wouldn't have given it to Drexler for safekeeping. But then why wouldn't he guard it himself? I skimmed through Ground Zero again and didn't notice anything relevant. I may need to reread By the Sword and see if there's something in there I missed.

I just had another thought. Perhaps the answer is in the revised Reprisal, which also isn't out yet.

Could be. Might he not be able to touch the blade? Presumably he can hold it by the hilt given its mundane origin.

But that brings up another point. The box is described as only three feet long. Is that really long enough to hold a katana with hilt? I wouldn't think so, unless they were disassembled.

And I still don't recall where the box came from originally, which is what really bugs me. Its obviously no ordinary box or he wouldn't have given it to Drexler for safekeeping. But then why wouldn't he guard it himself? I skimmed through Ground Zero again and didn't notice anything relevant. I may need to reread By the Sword and see if there's something in there I missed.

To the point of the size of the box and the katana being able to fit in it. It was bugging me as well so I went and looked into katana specifics. A katana could be any curved Japanese sword with a blade length more than 60 cm so that is almost 24 inches. So at two feet without a hilt I would imagine one would fit in a 3 foot box with hilt, unless the hilt was much longer than normal.

Of course there is tons of information on the length of the sword based on the time it was made. So that could be a factor as well.

While far from a definite answer to the question, this at least would lead me to believe that it could fit. I am going back through Ground Zero and By The Sword to see if I can find any mention of length. I am sure there was...well not sure but I think I remember something.

This book is a mixed bag for me. Some parts were wrapped up quite nicely. While other loose ends seemed rushed in the resolution, even the ending.

Parts were downright fantastic! The assault on the house was so much fun to read. So intense, it seemed like heat was coming from the book.

So much more of this book relied on the Jack Secrets books and all are essential reads to truly enjoy this book. I'm so glad I read all three with no interruptions.

No matter what, the book is still great and I look forward to re-reading the entire RJ series from the beginning to the end.

See, this constant shifting back to "hey jack, remember when we were 14 and we found that thing" really bothers me. Not only does it interupt the story, but it is is such an obvious "hey consumer, go by the other books that I'm shamelessly self promoting here." It feels like a cheesy product placement in a movie.

However, I started DArk at the End, cruised through it, really enjoying it but I thought it got sort of stale for a little bit after the assault on Rasalom and I stopped reading it for a few weeks. Started again while on a plane and cruised through the last 120 pages or so in two days. I really DID enjoy this book--it is a great set up for NIGHTWORLD. REally excited for the revision. I read a hardback copy years ago and while I want to go re-read it now, I would rather wait for the revisions..

Things I really liked about this book?

1. The assualt on Rasalom. That was amazing to read.
2. The VERY END--when Jack gets super angry and pissed and him and Glaeken decide to fight back. I love it when Jack gets REALLY angry and loses control and just REALY hurts people.

Another winner. Sad to see this series go. A good friend of mine recommened Repairman Jack to me after he read legacies, all the way back in about 1999 or so. I've been a fan for over a decade.

What I miss about Repairman Jack? I know we are FAR past this part in the series but I always loved reading the fixes in the book that really had nothing to do with the story. I just loved watching Jack's plans unfold.

I'm with you, Vargas. The Adversary cycle drove the plot forward, but I would love a couple of compilations of Jack's fixes. Maybe the fixes that brought him his friends and contacts -- Julio and Russ, the ID guy, the two brothers that apparently eat pedophiles.
It would be fun. Maybe that's the kind of thing we have coming in the intermidiate Jack stories.

Sev

I'm a little late to the party, but I finally finished The Dark at the End. I really didn't know how Jack was able to keep it together at the end when Weezy died, even if it wasn't by much. I couldn't imagine losing a childhood friend, especially to such a gruesome death. That had brought a few tears to my eyes...

When I was reading through this thread, I noticed a few recurring questions:

A couple of reasons Rasalom may have used the special box to carry the sword in might be due to the simple fact that he did not wish to cut himself with it. Even in it's mundane form the sword may have still had the ability to temporarily or permanently damage him. Also, depending on what the box was made of, it could have been used to make the blade undetectable to others who were sensitive to its whereabouts, such as the Lady, who apparently could sense its 'otherworldliness.'
The Mad American is correct about the box being long enough to house such a blade. If I recall, it was just the blade without the handle. Most katana-type blades, even including the tang, are well within the 36-inch length mark, so it would have fit inside the box just fine.

I'm not sure why the Oculus/Yeniceri were not mentioned in this book, as someone else had asked. There's always a chance that we'll receive some type of closure from Mr. Wilson concerning their situation in the revised Nightworld, however.
And speaking of the revised Nightworld, I do like Alvin Fox's idea about the Oculus, where she finally regains her sight and is both relieved and horrified...
Other food for thought: Was the Oculus a decendent of Srem?

Now the part where Rasalom was able to create a page with deceptive information and somehow meld it into the Compendium of Srem so it would always reveal itself to any one who opened it: I can only speculate that Rasalom, being of similiar age to the Compendium, and coming from a background of diabolic abilities, probably still retained some or all of the ancient 'technology' needed to manipulate the pages. It's also a very good possibility that even though he had not currently possessed the book for some time, that he had indeed possessed the book in the past, and more than once.
Here's a couple of scenarios that I envisioned:
If I were Rasalom living back in The First Age I would have stolen the book from Srem, killed her, and then learned all of its secrets and then hidden the book away where no one would ever find it. Also, wasn't it mentioned somewhere that the Compendium of Srem was one of the many ancient texts sealed away in The Keep with Rasalom for half a millenia? He could have learned about it then, too. Regardless, I'm sure that next to Srem, Rasalom was probably the second leading expert on the book. If you think about it, why wouldn't he be?

Could be. Might he not be able to touch the blade? Presumably he can hold it by the hilt given its mundane origin.

But that brings up another point. The box is described as only three feet long. Is that really long enough to hold a katana with hilt? I wouldn't think so, unless they were disassembled.

And I still don't recall where the box came from originally, which is what really bugs me. It's obviously no ordinary box or he wouldn't have given it to Drexler for safekeeping. But then why wouldn't he guard it himself? I skimmed through Ground Zero again and didn't notice anything relevant. I may need to reread By the Sword and see if there's something in there I missed.

Go back to "The Keep" and read the description of the box that Glaeken carries his sword in on his journey to defeat Rasalom. Could this be the same box? And does Rasalom use it to torment Glaeken?

I was hoping there would be something with the brothers from haunted air, there's still nightworld but I'm surprised Jack and Glaiken haven't used them yet for information. An amazing book though, Jack never fails to be a great read

I decided to read the revised Reprisal and the Young Jack series before moving on to TDATE and I think my experience would have been completely different without the background information. Weezy's and Eddie's fates hit me a lot harder than I expected, and I was thinking about for hours after finishing the book. Before reading Secret Vengeance, I wasn't that crazy about Weezy.

One question I had regards the night they spent in the Lodge and the Darkness. Did its appearance have significance or was it just coincidental?

One question I had regards the night they spent in the Lodge and the Darkness. Did its appearance have significance or was it just coincidental?

That scene creeped me the hell out! I don't know why but it gave me goosebumps...literally. I don't know what the significance was. Was it Jack's oDNA? Was it simply the Otherness trying to swallow up the people trying to stop it? I wonder if that is where Tom is...I sure hope not.