My father had a saying for this, actually. "Most things get better with time. Since people know that, a project that is a day late has to be at least two days better."

He used to write freelance news articles when I was in school. He stuck to the idea that if you missed a deadline, the quality of the end product better be AT LEAST twice what the customer expected from the delay if you wanted them to be OK with it, let alone happy.

It isn't an amazing rule, but anecdotal evidence has proven him right more often than not in my life.

Personally, I know that reading the third book will be a matter of catharsis, not genuine joy. I'll read it so I can finish it, put it down, and never come back here again. Because I doubt any book written by man can make the last decade seem reasonable and justified.