Bad Endings & My Opinion On Them
Some books end spectacularly well.
Some books end in unfortunate ways.
It's usually a personal opinion but it's still annoying.
Reasons The Endings Are Bad (In My Opinion):
- The author doesn't plan a sequel for the novel but still find it in their heart to end the book in a horrid cliffhanger or an ending that's too open-ended to be satisfying in any way, shape or form.
- The story was so well written and paced that my imagination has concocted a "better-for-me" ending and it outshines the actual ending which makes for a less than stellar story.
- Having a main character die with no real motivation or reason as the ending.
- Having a huge life-changing/plot changing revelation and ending the book on that. Which, depending on how it's being published, makes me have to wait a year to find out what happens next when I didn't sign up for a cliffhanger!
- Rushed endings. After the whole book was slow paced and what should've taken 5 chapters to get through miraculously happens in one and you don't know what happened because you've got whiplash and can't believe that's all you get after the hours of your life that you've essentially invested in this particular story. (Can you tell I'm bitter over this :))
However, I love it when authors mention how the book ends in a very general way in the synopsis. It's a great way to avoid any misunderstandings and expectations on my part. For example when they mention if a cliffhanger is present, if it's a happily ever after, if there's a love triangle, what kind of tropes I can expect to find throughout the story etc. That way I'll pick up the book knowing what to expect and can't say anything about it afterward because I knew what I was walking into.
Misunderstandings and opinions aside, there is such a thing as a truly bad ending. Those are usually endings where the author basically plans out and tells you about "spoilers" for future storylines in the series in the epilogue of the novel in a series she still plans to write (true story).
What is a "bad ending" in a book for you?
Do you enjoy walking blindly into cliffhangers?
Let's discuss in the comments below!
I have talked bout senseless deaths and open endings - both make me crazy! I have read a few books, when the character had grown so much, but then reverts back to how they were at the beginning of the story. It made me want to throw the book out the window. I felt like I had just went on the most pointless journey ever.
ReplyDeleteCrazy is still a mild word to describe how I feel about senseless deaths and open endings in books! I don't remember if I've ever read a book where the main character grows throughout the story and then reverts back to what they were by the end. That sounds awful and such a waste of my time/paper/life.
DeleteI am not a fan of unexpected cliffhangers, for sure. Or when a book ends with one and there's no word of a sequel- or a book ends in such a way that clearly there are unresolved issues but it's still a standalone. I do like a fairly decent resolution. And I do that too with the "better-for-me" endings lol. Sometimes I just need a better ending... :)
ReplyDeleteExactly! The least the publisher/author can do is prepare me beforehand to the crippling pain and emotional distress I'm eventually going to go through if/when I read their book. "Better-for-me" endings is where it's at! They're the only things that can make a book with a bad ending bearable in the long run LOL
DeleteGah, there are so many gross endings out there! I hate hate HATE open endings. Like okay, you don't have to tie up every last thing, but goodness, give me something! Otherwise, why the hell did I just read this book!? And the random main character deaths are so dumb- they feel like shock value only.
ReplyDeleteI do disagree about the heads-up stuff. I know a lot of people like it, but I don't! I feel like it's too close to a spoiler for me? Like if I know it will or won't be an HEA, or that no one dies or whatever, it feels too predictable? I wish there was like, a way to have them be optional so we're all happy!
Exactly! The author just made me go on this amazing journey but I don't get any closure as to how everybody is and no conflict resolution?! Those books deserve to burn in a dumpster fire for the pain and emotional damage they cause readers.
DeleteReally? That's a different way to look at it. I never thought of those as spoilers in the traditional sense. As someone who hates it when any character dies I'd rather know what their fate is before I get attached. It would be easy to set up spoiler tags for those specifications online but I have no idea what could be done to paperbacks and whatnot to not spoil people who don't want to be spoiled :)