I plan to write up notes on some of the things we talked about, particularly the full-circling on Max and Gabriel's storyline, which was amazing (edit: and also something I never would've noticed if you hadn't pointed it out), and put together a full post on it.

w00t! I look forward to continuing the discussion there. (And thank you. As soon as it occurred to me, it made me so happy.)

Whatever else van Eekhout may have done or failed to do with the rest of the series, he really nailed the entire Gabriel and Max arc.

Agreed. They came alive.