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The Turning of An Age, plus… Haiku

The Turning of An Age, plus… Haiku

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Written by Jason Denzel

People ask me all the time what life after A Memory of Light will be like for me and Dragonmount.com. My answer is always the same: very little will change. The books will still be published, and new visitors will join our community. Conventions will still happen, and we’ll get the chance eventually, one way or another, to experience the series in video game or movie form. And there will be tidbits like the forthcoming River of Souls short story, and the Wheel of Time Encyclopedia. So don’t expect Dragonmount or the other major Wheel of Time communities to close anytime soon.

But that said, there’s no denying that an ending has arrived. These weeks leading up to January 8th are like the Last Days of the Third Age. The Age of the Books will wane, and give way to the new Age of…something else.

Like many of you, I’ve lived with this series a long time. I’ve already had the privilege of reading the end, and I’ve discussed it a few times already. I’ve had several months to adjust to a life where I know how the stories end—sometimes tragically—for characters I’ve read for nearly twenty years.

I will not spoil anything. I will not deny you your long-due experience of reading the final chapters for yourself. But I will, if you’ll indulge me, share with you some of my reactions to reading the final book, written in Haiku. Because really, who doesn’t enjoy Haiku?

Breathless I fall now
Away from this bedroom mine
Into theirs; Last time

The screams, the fury
Bleeding bone upon granite
Where has he led them?

Shined in silence once
Stone of impossibility
Dry her eyes for now

Cold the gaze and step
Breaks backs and hearts with thunder
With a name unknown

All at last are gone
He has come to prove them wrong
Oh so very wrong

Across the last note
A fleeting glimpse between us
I smile. And cry.

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From the Tor/Forge January Wheel of Time newsletter. Sign up to receive our newsletter via email.

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