Bittersweet Endings

A few years ago marked the ending of one of the greatest epics of our time (at least in my opinion), and more recently that series has had its final debut. Harry Potter has been a large part of our culture for years. I remember my sister reading The Sorcerer's Stone to me when I was in first grade. I've reread the series countless times and am still thrilled by all the twists and turns. Reading the ending was bittersweet as everything came to a close. More recently, the movies have been completed and there is nothing new left to be done. Thankfully, the ending was all that was promised throughout the series, epic, thrilling, meaningful, and one that will be remembered. I believe Harry Potter will live on through the ages right alongside The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and The Chronicles of Narnia, which I believe are some of the greatest epics that will live on through the ages.

I have just finished reading Inheritance and have been left with the same feeling as from Harry Potter. This was not an ending that I've been anticipating for most of my life, however, it was one that I expected to be just as epic. It was the conclusion I've been awaiting since I first read the series in 7th grade. I won't give anything away, since the book only just came out and I know there are many who haven't read it yet. There were many events that I had anticipated, but there were also many things that took me by surprise. It was everything I expected of it. I found it quite fitting to be listening to 'Hymn for the Missing' by Red when I finished. Sadly, the song didn't end right when I read 'The End' like I was hoping it would, but it was still a fitting ending to such a great series. I am very satisfied with how everything turned out. Christopher Paolini has a lot of talent, and now I am just curious as to how he plans to spend his days now that he doesn't have The Inheritance Cycle to work on.

I don't know whether The Inheritance Cycle will be counted among the great epics like LOTR and Narnia, as I believe Harry Potter will be, but I do believe it will be remembered for quite a while, no matter where it gets placed in the history of epics. Part of this might be due to the fact that it was a much shorter series and therefore didn't elicit as much anticipation from the readers as Harry Potter did by spanning 20 years. Another reason that I'm unsure whether it will be as timeless as the others is because, with Harry Potter, even people who don't enjoy reading could still enjoy the series through the movies, but with Inheritance, only Eragon has been made into a movie, and a horrible one at that. I could barely stand to sit through the whole thing and it just didn't fit with the story. The movie definitely did not help the book in any way. Whether or not this series goes down in history as one of the timeless epics, it has been a great series that has touched at least our generation, and probably a couple after that.

My last point of discussion here is for The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I don't believe this series has as much fame as the others, and that, I believe, is due to the fact that it is a much harder read than the others being that it is much longer, more in depth, and extremely complex and not for younger readers. WoT is a series that I am eagerly awaiting the conclusion of. This series has even outlasted the author, which I find to be very sad that he doesn't get to see the completion of his work. Luckily, it is being completed and is coming out sometime next year. Sadly, there is no certain time. It could be anywhere from May to November. If you are an avid reader of fantasy, I strongly recommend this series, though you will have to devote much time into reading it because of it's length. All thirteen books so far are around 700-1000 pages in length. This will be one more epic, though because it is less popular because of its length and difficulty, it probably won't be quite as high in the timeless epic rankings and others, though it is still a great series that will live on for a while. If you can read all of The Lord of the Rings books, you can read this series. This will be just another great series that I will have to read a bittersweet ending for, though I'd rather have a bittersweet ending than never get to finish it.

If anyone reads this post and has any more epic fantasy series for me to read, please comment and let me know. I would love to hear any one's suggestions.