Finishing off a series

Hello again,
Over the past year I have been reading Maria V Snyder's two trilogies...the Zaltana series (which was quite good for an opening trilogy set and then the Glass series. Having just found the final book of this (Spy Glass) I bought it (making good old Waterstone's pay for it with some of the points I have racked up over the last couple of months) and can finally finish the trilogy. Whilst not being the best fantasy in my library, it is a good simple set of plotlines that run through the first two books, interweaving well with the individual plot lines of each story, with intriguing new methods of magic...but more on  that when I have finished it!
This post is all about the final books of series, sagas and trilogies and what marks a good one from a bad. This has been brought about by the sudden appearance of the final novels of a few series I follow (both myself and one series I follow for presents for a friend but haven't the courage to start the 14 long epic without the last book). To me, a good ending should wrap up all the random thoughts that flow througout the story, clever plotlines that I didn't spot at first if the author is good (Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy springs to mind here to be reviewed at a later date), or even proving how right I was when the prophecy was first mentioned and the players' identities confirmed (Marianne Curley), I find that even the most terrible sagas often have acceptably 'finished' endings. One thing that I detest though are the endings (seen in Trudy Canavan's books, and also Rowling's) where the endings finish abruptly and are open to continuation. It is all very well to leave an ending open, but to finish the story two pages after the battle has finished in a rushed and messy way with no closure of the storylines or characters, and just leaving them in a room or on a beach is plain lazy and ruins otherwise entertaining books. The only case in which this is acceptable is if it is done on purpose to allow for a second series linked to the first to be written. The best endings of books and series are epic, and cover a scale not seen before in the previous books, David Eddings manages this wonderfully in the Belgariad and Mallorean sets, with the Mallorean seeming to be just a most excellent finish to the Belgariad, yet uncovering yet more tells from the Belgariad (the Belgariad is the first series with Garion and co. and the Mallorean is another series, picking up from where the Belgariad left off) which upon reading a second time you don't even realise you had missed (much to my shame as I pride myself on catching the authors out). Some of the best results I believe are when you can put the books down and feel that the story has finished but their lives can continue well, perhaps as interesting as before, perhaps not, only another series will tell, but without you putting it down with hundreds of questions left open with no hope of resolve.
As it is, my most favoured finales are in The Lord of the Rings, for the sheer audacity of seeming to finish then jumping another couple of chapters on you, which after reading you realise that without them the story would be incomplete; Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn ending, tying up not only the chapter monologues but the entire story (and by doing what few other authors are capable or brave enough to do - I won't spoil it if you haven't read it, but I wish more of them would try it); and finally the exquisite ending found in the Killashandra Ree trilogy by Anne McCaffrey, it closes one story and yet leaves open so many wonderful opportunities for the main character that you cannot help but feel elation and annoyance at the same time because it is finished.
Unfortunately, soon to come out are a couple of books that I would rather not have started the series they belong to, Inheritance by Paolini for instance. Mainly because SF and fantasy are my favourite genres and I have read many of the older novels, Paolini gets me in a pretty grumpy mood, because he, like Rowling, 'borrows' ideas from other, better novels and incorporates them into another sterotypical saga. Whilst I agree that they are good considering he wrote the first at the age of 17, I still think that they could have relied less on other people's ideas, still I may be proved wrong by his ending...
So overall, this post was a bit of a cop-out really, as I have been reading Watching the English, by Kate Fox (which by the way is well worth a read), a non-fiction book which causes a great deal of enjoyment and embarrassing realisations of 'no way! oh hang on, yes I do do that...oh dear' it has rather taken me away from the fiction I normally read and intend to review on here. At least my skill of reading more than one book at a time should come in handy now I have a load more books to read. Thus (I just love using that word!) in the next couple of weeks, reviews of Spy Glass, possibly Watching the English, A Rendevous with Rama, The Lies of Locke Lamora, some Edgar Allan Poe short stories, the Void Trilogy, maybe Snowdrops if I finish it, and Blood of Elves if I can get it, will all appear up here in all there glory, maybe even with links to author websites if I get round to it or if you want any of them.
In the meantime, I shall be reading (surprise surprise!) and hopefully, anybody reading this will be too (actual books by the way, reading this blog shouldn't really count, but I salute you if you think it does).
Your faithful devourer