Five Stages of Grief: A Study in Fantasy Novels

At this point, you know I love writing.  I do it at least once a week for your enjoyment.  It is my primary method of communication because I’m weird and antisocial and prefer to hide behind a screen where I can be unapologetically bizarre without any threat of judgmental eyes.  But another of the many reasons I love writing?

Because I love reading.  I love reading so hard.  I read before bed, I read on the bus to work, I read at lunchtime, and sometimes I when my day at work has been atrocious and I need 10 minutes to pretend I’m anywhere but in my stupid idiot jerk office.

Last night, a little after midnight, I finished reading the last book of the Codex Alera, a high fantasy series by Jim Butcher (most popular for the Dresden Files).  Now, I certainly enjoy the Dresden books.  They’re fun, they’re smart, and they have one of the more badass female characters in modern literature.  But my heart lies within high fantasy.  For those of you who aren’t entirely familiar with the distinction of high fantasy, think Tolkien.  Wizards and beards and such.

In addition, I was told that Butcher wrote this series essentially on a bet.  A snarky commenter on an internet forum challenged his writing abilities, saying that he was only successful because he had a flukey good idea.  Granted, private investigator/wizard Harry Dresden was a great idea, but seriously, what a douche.  Butcher responded by saying that he could write a great story from not one, but TWO terrible ideas of the douche’s chosing.  He selected the Lost Roman Legion and Pokemon.  In response, Butcher wrote the Codex Alera, which went on to become a New York Times bestselling series.  Suck it, the Internet.

I confirmed these facts through Wikipedia, so they’re totally true.

Regardless, a friend recommended the series to me because I like “nerd books.”  Plus, I love both of the preselected terrible ideas, so it was really a win-win for me.  I dived right in and was essentially hooked within the first 50 pages.  Sersiously, if you haven’t read them, get on it as soon as humanly possible.  Do it right now.  And if you happen to have ordered them and have them sitting at your house collecting dust, finish reading this post and go pick them up immediately I AM SPECIFICALLY TALKING TO YOU, MOM.

But now, I am overcome with the familiar emptiness that comes with completing a series, be it book, movie, or television.  I become completely engrossed in the worlds and grow voraciously attached to the characters.  So when it’s over?  It’s like a tearful goodbye to an old friend.  You’ve shared joy, hope, anger, despair, and love.  If you’re me, you’ve totally blown off other (real) friends and (timely blogging) responsibilities to spend time together.  How do you adjust when you near the end?  Realistically, you go through a version of the good ol’ Psych class standby, the five stages of grief:

• Denial – No, this can’t be the last one.  Dresden Files has like 15 or 20 books.  Why would he only do six in the Codex Alera?  That’s stupid.
• Anger – WHAT THE HELL, JIM BUTCHER?!  No, I need at least one more book to properly wrap up the story!  There are loose ends!  LOOSE ENDS!  IF YOU DON’T KEEP WRITING CODEX ALERA BOOKS, JIM BUTCHER, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND PUNCH YOU IN YOUR STUPID FACE.
• Bargaining – Wait, can we do an internet campaign for more?  The stories were born of internet trolls, let internet trolls resurrect it once again!
• Depression – I can’t…  I can’t even.  I just reached into my lunch bag and felt the book I brought to read at lunch.  It’s way too short, and I don’t know the characters, and I miss Max and Varg and Kitai and Tavi.  What if I never love characters the way I love them?  I want to go back to bed.
• Acceptance* – This is stupid, but so is everything else.  I guess it’s par for the course.

*I am really bad at acceptance.

Fortunately/unfortunately/I’m not sure how I feel about it, the FAQs from Butcher’s website states that he has not ruled out a revisit to the world of Alera in the future.  So, in reality, I can’t fully complete the five stages of grief in regards to the Codex Alera.  It’s probably for the best, really.  Acceptance is the stage I’m worst at anyway.  Now, anger?  I am totally awesome at that one.