Did Anna deserve to leave Blackheath?
As far as it goes, Anna seemed to be fine though.
Anna seemed fine in the sense that she did everything in order to escape? All she did was trust Aiden would get her out? What kind of redeeming character traits did she show?
If you trust Aiden when he says she's not the same person, of course. The Annabelle that committed those crimes was tortured for decades to the point of non-existence, and a different person lives in that body.
I don't think we have enough info to judge Anna, all we see are 8 days of trying to get out by helping Aiden. She may have lost her memories, but who is to say what kind of person she is now?
-----
To directly answer your question, in any case she should had gotten life imprisonment in a high security prison instead of put into a vr torture chamber, showing that their captors are trash too
It wasn't intended to be a torture chamber, to be fair. Aiden and Daniel turned it into one for her. It had the potential to be a pretty mellow prison, at least by certain standards
What would you consider reliving the same day for years without a possible escape? Is losing all your memories mercy in that regard? And obviously Aiden was let in by supervisors so it was intended to be a torture chamber at that point.
In any case, I think the end executes it themes poorly and cheapens the overall novel. I wondered myself if it was an attempt at world building to make sequels(that should be a totally different genre than whodunit, probably)
This thought also crossed my mind, but in the end there was not enough info drop to justify a sequel.
-----
On that topic, how much did everyone actually solve?
Not much to be honest and I don't think the author intended it. Parts were purposely hidden, like
@Faddy mentioned. The two solvable riddles were maybe Daniel and Evelyn/Madeline. Daniel not being host was obvious to me once Gold signaled being one. I think numbers didn't add up, so I side-eyed him hard.
At that point I also had some theories of another host with the ability to jump bodies and tried to think of characters involved (Helena - Millicent - Evelyn - Anna - some maids?).
The Evelyn/Madeline switch went over my head. When Millicent Derby discovered it, I knew I missed an important piece, but I was too lazy to look into it and just continued reading.
How were we supposed to find out Evelyn was a psycho child who murdered two kids, one of which was her little brother(!), anyway? Was it ever mentioned Evelyn was out with the stable boy that went missing before the final reveal?
-----
Can we blame the person inhabiting Daniel Coleridge for being overtaken by his host? There is no true way to know what the real personality of each character in this story is.
The book mentions that Aiden's personality was clear when he was in Sebastian and faded as he jumped from host to host. Since Daniel and Anna never jumped I'd assume that their personality is what we see in the book itself.
I don't think Aiden's personality diminished linearly. Some were just more powerful characters than others. Derby has by far the most effect on him where as Gold, the final host, is one of the least.
I think the author was unable to follow through with his idea of a linear progression because the riddle had to be solved. Rashton was the hero in shining armour who connected all the dots because the plot needed it. All that ever happened was going after the footman (and nearly dying), which Aiden says he didn't notice Rashton taking over.
The inner fight with Derby might stick in mind because of the actions Derby wants to take, but Aiden is able to fight it off. The discussion between Dance and Peter Hardcastle seems to demand a greater will from Aiden to pull through.
Gold leaving no impression is why I was pretty disappointed there, he was almost as bland as the butler. The only struggle was actually being violent towards the butler, but that didn't seem like a hard task in the end.
The progression was also shown in the memories he was able to retrieve.
There are some words at the start of each day that Aiden is becoming less distinguished from his host but the chapters don't really play out like that in any significant way.
And in that way I think the author intended to make it happen that way, but failed.
-----
What was everyone’s favorite host?
My favourite was definitely Dance. Second would probably be Bell? Ravencourt did stick out, but to be plain I could sympathize and understand the struggle with being old way more than with being fat. But I liked the calm, clear and rational mind that he possessed especially in contrast to Derby. Derby was an emotional experience, but I wouldn't call him my favourite. Rashton was nice to follow because he lifted the most weight at the end and a detective just fits right in there. Yeah, I'd say Dance - Bell - Ravencourt/Derby/Rashton and way off Butler/Gold - Donald Davies, which leads me to:
I think Donald Davies was a second for me because being described by everyone as dressed like a rainbow is great
I know this is mostly in joking, but is there anything to him that was interesting? I only remember the talk with the plague doctor and that he ran off, which was pretty boring.
What happened with him, when he woke up again? That was the "don't get out of the carriage" part?