The end of an era

I remember watching ‘Return of the Jedi’ and thinking.... I wanted to be a Jedi Knight, well I was only 10 at the time. I do, however, remember sitting in a cinema at Lakeside watching the end of  'The LOTR - Return of the King' and I sharply recall this sense of emptiness I had after the film, I spent years waiting in anticipation for the first film, then a year for the second and finally a year for the third. I remember that I couldn’t wait to see the last film when I left the cinema after watching ‘The Two Towers’ and then, after ‘LOTR-ROK’ it was all over. It wasn’t that the film ended badly, not at all but, I had got used to the anticipation and looking forward to the next instalment, it was the excitement and frustration at the wait for the next episode that was gone, that need to find out what happens next. Without that I was left a little sad. Now as I write this blog (the follow on from the ‘Beginning of the End’) I feel that same feeling of empty sadness that another era has come to an end. I’ve read and re-read the final book of the Wheel of Time and I’ve listened to the audio book. The last book is nothing short of sensational, with a fast pace that barely lets up from beginning to end, moments of wonder, revelation and sadness ‘A Memory of Light’ is a fantastic ending to a series that has span 3 decades. It’s not perfect, I have my complaints (the death of certain characters does, to me, feels remarkably pointless in the book) and I wish the revelation of who killed Asmodean was a little more obvious. I did figure it out in the end however. These are very small flies in an otherwise extraordinary bottle of ointment. Brandon Sanderson has done Robert Jordans legacy proud. Now all I have to do is find something else to look forward too. If JJ Abrams is directing the next ‘Star Wars’ movies, then maybe I’ve found it.