Reaching the end

Unless you're living off the grid, there's probably no way you haven't heard that the final Harry Potter installment comes out at midnight tomorrow.

The midnight release will undoubtedly launch of a flurry of all-night (or all-the-next-day, for those who are a bit older) readers who will devour the ending of the popular series about the boy wizard.

Word Nerd is obviously going to be one of those one-day readers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But reaching the end of the series brings a twinge of ambivalence. It's the end. After this, no more wondering what will happen to Harry at school in his next year. No more Quidditch matches. No more dreaded Potions lessons. This is it.

And Word Nerd's not only facing this with Harry, but with two other series as well.

Her current book, "Prince of Chaos" is the last of Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles. Next on deck, C.J. Cherryh's "Deliverer," the ninth and final book in her Foreigner series.

Word Nerd didn't plan the timing to come out this way. She started reading Cherryh's series back in October and Zelazny in November.

But now, she's going to be saying a goodbye of sorts to not just Harry, but also the royal family of Amber and Bren Cameron (Cherryh's human protagonist.)

Granted, being done with some series opens the door for picking up a new series and finding other enchanting characters to spend months with.

Meanwhile, there is this sort of impending sense of loss. Obviously, for some people, this will be foreign idea... they are book characters, for crying out loud. But as a reader, when you've spent months (or in Harry's case, years) with these characters, watched them learn and grow and change, it's hard to let go.

Does anybody else relate to this feeling? Are there characters you were sad to leave when a series ended?