Scary Ending

Okay I found myself thinking about the book in the middle of a Resident Advisor meeting and was walking home alone in the dark to find this scene in the book really really scary:

"When the children all merged as one with the Overmind, they were transported away, and I quote this passage: They were emptier than the faces of the dead. They might have been savages, engaged in some complex ritual dance. They were naked and filthy, with matted hair obscuring their eyes. As far as Jan could tell, they were of all ages from five to fifteen, yet they all moved with the same speed, precision and complete indifference to their surroundings."

I find this image really scary. I read alot of fantasy and this scene is pretty routine, naked worshipers of some evil God engaged in an orgy of debauchery and human sacrifice to appease their God, but the thought of children doing it under the control of some Overmind in an attempt to unify all thought processes into a single vast telepathic entity, that is scary enough in itself, but the physical act of the robotic dancing with the expressionless faces really creeps me out.


Anyone else share the same sentiment or is it just me?

Not me, but then again I have yet to think deeply about this book while walking alone late at night =P lol

I agree with Roy. Children mindlessly obeying some higher power is a scary thought. I mean, it's scary enough when it's adults, but with children, I guess we have that perception of them being innocent, so it's even more frightening.

well they have expanded their minds in a sense. Maybe they don't even know what is going on around them. It seemed to me like they were a collective mind instead of individuals trying to figure out their new powers.

It's still scares me even to this day.........the ending is so similar to that of Blood Music

I think the ending of this story was much scarier than Blood Music.