"How I wish we could live it all again -- but I wouldn't change a thing."

The concluding volume of Neil Peart's and Kevin J. Anderson's "Clockwork" trilogy regathers the protagonists of the earlier two volumes, Owen Hardy, Marinda Peake, and the near-godlike Watchmaker in their elder years, when their great adventures, their youthful energies and aspirations, and even the Watchmaker's great nation-spanning Stability are, like all clockworks, running down. "Entropy always wins." These three's last and greatest quest is to find the quintessence of Life that keeps entropy at bay, to reinvigorate the centuries-old Watchmaker and the Stability of Albion (if it should be), and save the life of Owen Hardy's terminally ill beloved Francesca.

As much as "Clockwork Angels" (Book 1) captures the spirit of youth, and "Clockwork Lives" (Book2) recounts the adult's need to experience life outside one's home and occupation and their restrictive obligations in order to actually BE alive, "Clockwork Destiny" (book 3) addresses life's greatest challenge: reconciling one's final years with the life one has lived.

The aged are challenged by their past. Their enemies are nostalgia and regret -- NOT, for the most part, for what they did, for all they lived and who they loved -- but by the fact that they cannot experience these, or their like, again. Nostalgia and regret weigh more with the passing of each new experience, of each new place visited for the first time, of new friends made, of lovers loved and, over time, inevitably lost. As much as we seek to establish security and order in our lives, while reveling in its chaos, inevitably Time defeats us all. "Time is the greatest Anarchist."

True immortality is achieved by the memory of us that we leave behind with others. (I disagree with Owen Hardy when he states, "That is why I tried to do great things in my life." While "historically memorable greatness" may be attainable for a small few, villains as often as heroes, I note, every single human being can obtain "immortality" that is as influential and meaningful if not moreso, in my humble opinion, through the simplest and smallest acts of lovingkindness: a helping hand, a listening ear, a comforting hug, a kind word; by being a good friend, a loving parent, grandparent, uncle/aunt, cousin; by making another --anyone -- feel appreciated.

Being now a "senior" and "retired" myself, I found much in "Clockwork Destiny" with which I empathized, and many of the characters' thoughts and struggles resonate strongly. As with the earlier two volumes, there is a treasure of aphorisms worthy of Kahil Gibran. Peart's and Anderson's trilogy are worth reading for these alone.

Much like the elderly Owen Hardy, I find that my first experience of the recounting of his life in "Clockwork Angels" remains my favorite of these three books. Still, I have no regret in spending my Time, that most valuable and irreplaceable of all treasures, in reading all three books -- and, I suspect, will do so again. ( )