The Fionavar Tapestry
Last night I finished The Darkest Road, Book Three of Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry.
I was given The Summer Tree and The Wandering Fire many years ago, and read them. When I looked for the third book, I could not find any store selling it. Placing the search on hold, I moved those books with me for years, always intending to complete the trilogy.
Then I found it. I bought it. I put it on the shelf, and several more years passed.
This year, after another move, after writing SimpleShelf, cataloging my unwieldy library, purging finished and never-to-read books, I placed the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy on a shelf, together, and resolved to read them.
Last night I finished The Darkest Road with an ache in my heart. The characters have reached not the end of their roads, but the end of my travels with them. That parting is a loss, though tempered by the knowledge that I traveled with them, sharing their journey as a silent partner.
The books are that good. I recommend them.