All good things must come to an end...

Those people who know me well know that one of my favorite book series is the *Wheel of Time* series, written by Robert Jordan. I started reading that series when I was a senior at Brown, and then continued to chase the entire series, hungrily grabbing up each book as it was written and devouring it voraciously.

As the series was not finished, I often found it unbearable to have to wait for the next book coming up while the author finished it. And I was also annoyed by the way the author drew out the series (probably under pressure from the publisher), and slowed down the plot to a point where it was pretty much a crawl at points. However, since I had gotten attached to the characters by that point (I am a big sucker for getting attached to fictional characters), I couldn't bring myself to stop reading the books. I did swear, however, that I would never start reading an unfinished fictional series unless I knew that the author had already passed on. That's also the reason why I have never picked up the Harry Potter series, though now that it's been finished, maybe I can start reading them finally.

The author of the WoT series, Robert Jordan, announced in 2006 that the upcoming book would be his last, and I know I wasn't the only one who breathed a sigh of relief. The entire series had spanned over 17 years. Imagine our shock, therefore, when shortly after that announcement, he was diagnosed with a rare blood disease and had to be treated at the Mayo Clinic. For a while it looked as if he was beating the disease, so it was a HUGE shock when a news article announced his passing. I was in disbelief when I saw this article, only about 20 minutes ago -- I went and hunted down every piece of news I could on this, just to make sure that it wasn't some cruel joke. Alas, it isn't -- the author has passed on.

It seems to selfish to think of this now, but my first thought was that we would never get to see the last novel. From numerous fansites on the web, I know now that he has been dictating notes to a veritable army of friends and fellow authors, just so that if he happened to not beat the disease, at least somebody could finish the series from his notes. I am extremely grateful to him for that (and I have to say, that really shows how much he cares about his readers). However, it won't be *him* anymore. Sigh. I guess all good things must come to an end, though I wish they wouldn't end prematurely!

RIP, Mr. Jordan. You will be sorely missed by all of us.