Countdown...

OK, I should probably let you know that I'm pretty excited at the minute.

Why, you ask?

Because the new (last?) book in Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series is out in a week! According to Amazon, the fifth book in the series, The Shelters of Stone, came out in 2002, 2003-ish. I'm not sure about that, because I'm sure I read the fifth book in hardback, borrowed from a friend, just after it came out. And I don't think I was reading this series at the age of twelve or thirteen.

ANYWAY. That aside, the point is that I've been waiting YEARS(!!!) for this book.

With the obvious exception of the Harry Potter series, I've never really had to wait for a specific book to be released. Probably because I'm a little slow on the uptake, and by the time I get round to reading a series, the final book has already been released. (I did that earlier in the month with Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games series...). And while I did have to wait a little while for the later Harry Potter books, it was only ever a year or two at a time.

So. After a wait of about eight years, I'm looking forward to getting a copy of The Land of Painted Caves. But, of course, I'm starting to worry about it too. What if the book doesn't live up to my expectations? What if the ending is terrible? What if my favourite character(s) die? What if everybody dies? I guess I'll find out soon enough..!

What is the longest you've ever waited for a new book to come out? What was it? Was it worth it? Tell me your tales of anticipation and (hopefully not) disappointment...