though he were on tenterhooks. . . the thought of the strange geography of chance, the secret order, the unfathomable law of the history of peoples and individuals that capriciously brought them together, separated them, made them enemies or allies. 502 And then a couple of pages later this is an actual exchange between the baron and the journalist: "Why is it you didn't die of thirst? You weren't a combatant, were you?" "I wonder myself why I didn't," the journalist answered. "If there were any logic to this story, there are any number of times when I should have died in Canudos." So Vargas literally admits that many of his events are illogical and make no sense, and then explains them with the power of love. Like I said, too romantic and totally unnecessary. Plus, just because you blatantly acknowledge that your story is completely unrealistic does not excuse or validate it. The story of Canudos is plenty captivating without having to stoop to sentimentality. Vargas either needed to make this as realistic as possible or run with his sentimental instincts and go full-blown magical realism. Another minor detail that bothered me was the gratuitous use of violence and rape, which was effective up to a point but just seemed too much by the last couple hundred pages. At certain points the book almost reminded me of The Stand because of this, but not in a good way. Ultimately, I really liked this book and almost loved it, but