A review by biiaanccca
Gwendy's Final Task by Richard Chizmar, Stephen King

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was such a great story, but there were some devastingly sad blows. Plot lines I enjoyed:

• The button box giving Gwendy early-onset Alzheimer’s. Gwendy’s fear was palpable as she lost her memories and ability to perform simple tasks
• The reveal on why Gwendy had to go on the space expedition
• Richard Farris returning again, but this time he was old and sick
• The story on the previous proprietors of the button box, seven in all. Five having committed suicide, one taking his whole family with him. The sixth ended up in a mental asylum, and Farris killed the seventh
• When a proprietor pulled the levers too frequently to get the chocolates or the dollars, Farris would know
   
• The Vachon woman actually pressed one of the other buttons, having started Covid
• Ryan’s suspicious death, and Gwendy believing that the box saved her mothers life but in return took her lovers life
• I liked Winston at *first*, finding out that he donates lot of money to St. Jude and did not want the recognition
• Gwendy’s house catching on fire
• Finding out Gwendy and Ryan could not successfully conceive, even though they were both perfectly healthy… again the button box taking from Gwendy </spoiler)
• Gareth Winston’s secrets
• Another RI mention: a phone belonging to a man named Vernon Beeson from Providence, RI
• Gwendy finding out the freaky circumstances with how Ryan really died
• Finding out the Detective of Derry was paid not to investigate Ryan Brown’s death
• The things that wanted the button box from Gwendy were not human
   
• Gareth trapping Gwendy in her room by gunpoint, with the intention to break into her safe where the button box was located. Except when he does break in, he does not find the box, but Gwendy’s magic feather instead
• The terrifying “tube of death”
• Gareth’s amazing death (thanks Boris!!)
   
• The devastingly reveal that when Gwendy got rid of the button box in space, she wanted to be with it

My final thought on this series was that Gwendy was so so brave. Making the decision to end her life, with not knowing how much time she would have left if she chose to live.. I sobbed so hard the last few chapters. Especially because if she wanted to change her mind, well, she could not. There was no guidance system on the rocket. When Gwendy started, there was no coming back. She would have six hours to live in space, six hours left in her life. Her body would forever be condemned to living in space. She would never see her father again.

I was even more gutted Gwendy did not get her peaceful ended Farris predicted. I kept waiting for something to change, but I realized that change was not coming. I just could not wrap my mind around why Gwendy did not get her peaceful death.. she deserved it, having done so much good in her life.

“But the mysterious derby-wearing Mr. Farris had certainly never told her she would end a mostly warm and loving life in the deep cold of outer space. He'd told her she'd live a long life. 64 wasn't young, but she didn't consider it old, either. He told her she would die surrounded by friends, not alone in the universe and being tugged ever deeper into the void behind a tiny rocket that would continue running on power for 70 years or more and then continue in an endless inertial glide.”

That is, until I got to the part where Farris communicated to Gwendy in her head. Telling her she had some chocolate left in her system, and she would “know what to do”. Suddenly.. Gwendy was not in space anymore. She was in bed, much older than 64, and she was surrounded by all her loved ones.

“She's not in space, not anymore. She's an old woman lying in her childhood bed. She's wearing a pretty nightgown with blue flowers on the hem. She has done her duty and now she can rest. She can let go.”