What an unexpected ending! I will have to re-read it sometime, and look for the signs of it. 
 I enjoyed this book over-all. It is full of McKillip's usual candy -- poetic prose, colorful imagery, fascinating and intriguing characters who draw you in, feral and fay magics that have a life of their own, a smattering of comforting details of daily life. It was slow to start, but once it got going, the intrigue and carefully woven paths of the different characters really drew me in and I could barely put it down. The beginning scenes felt very obscure to me, but as the book progresses and Rook confronts his memories, the picture of what happened becomes more clear. It was interesting to follow a protagonist who has unconsciously repressed memories in order to cope with PTSD. 
 It was refreshing to have the main protagonist have a not-so-perfect love life (to avoid spoiling it), and to have him aged to be 40-something and father to a teenage boy by the time the real action really begins. 
 The ending, like I mentioned earlier, was completely unexpected. I'd been preparing myself for a certain type of ending...what actually happened had never entered my head as a possibility. It was fun to see such an unconventional ending, and I think McKillip made it work well. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but I'm sure if I go back for another reread some day, I'll find little clues hidden in the build-up. 
 Song for the Basilisk earns a spot on my bookshelf, and I'll be happy to lose myself in it again in the future.