Through it I learned the value of writing that disturbs readers right at the moral center.
It was one of the most jolting things I read as a child, and with good reason. The idea that people could ritualize something evil in a superstitious attempt to avoid larger ills is incredibly disturbing. You read it and think, "But these are intelligent, modern people! It's not as if they believe in Volcano Gods!"

But the thinking is exactly the same, and it could spring up at any time in any society, in part because we do not question traditions as much as we should. That's the flip-side of the story's moral.

I would love to see what happens to Eloise after. We could find out what skills she might have picked up that she never thought she'd need, or how she takes what she knows and makes it work in a new way toward survival. And then, of course, there's always the interesting question of whether there are Others. Surely, they didn't all die. And are the barbarians as barbaric as they once were? Or-- psych!!-- have they evolved?

I'm providing way too much fodder for your imagination, aren't I?