Reading the end of Chains kind of feels like watching the season finale of your favorite television show—more often than not, the writers leave you with a nail-biting cliffhanger. If you're dying to know what happens next, too bad; you'll have to tune in next fall. Or, there's always the worst case scenario: The series finale ends on an ambiguous cliffhanger and you just have to live with that. Forever. (Yeah, Sopranos, we're talking to you.)
Chains is the same way. We watch Isabel forge a freedom pass, bust Curzon out of prison, row like a maniac across the river… and then everything just stops.
Why, Laurie Halse Anderson? Why in the name of all that is good in the world would you do this to us? We can't say for sure, but based on our impeccable knowledge of literary tradition, we can make a pretty good guess. Because Chains is the first in a series about Isabel and Curzon, it's possible that Anderson is harkening back to an antiquated literary style called the serial novel, a story that continues over periodic installments rather than reaching a conclusion in a single volume.
Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Mark Twain were just a few authors who popularized this format during the 1800s. It's possible that Anderson selected this format on purpose to lend even greater authenticity to her historical novel. With serials, it's all about anticipation—and after that ending, we can bet you're highly anticipating heading to your local bookstore or library to get the next book.