Young Writers Society

So. Have you ever been disappointed by the way a novel or series ended? Vent here!
Did the author kill off someone that you particularly loved? Or maybe it was far too anti-climatic? Or did they just do a total cop out? Why did you think so?

Either way, here's where you can spill your disappointments or frustrations and take it off your chest. Who knows, maybe have a few discussions too? Maybe someone else might think that it was the perfect ending?

Anyways, personally I've always been somewhat disappointed with the way Harry Potter ended. Not really the last bit where they show them in the future, but basically The Deathly Hallows in general. Having loved the entire series, I felt that Rowling killed off characters just to make some drama and in hopes to make readers shed tears.I also felt like having Harry "die" and come back to life was a bit of a cop out on the whole "will Harry die or leave?" debate. I did like it, I just wasn't %100 in love with it as an ending.

So, how about you guys?

Cool topic!

(Beware of spoilers though. Maybe put that in the headliner?)

I think 'Disappointing Endings' is basically a 'beware of spoilers!' right there! XD

Anyway, I know I've been disappointed with endings before... I just can't remember which stories they were. >.<

The first Twilight book, which was the only one I really liked to begin with. It was good up until the climax, which was a total cop-out. I don't know if Stephanie Meyer ran out of time or decided she didn't know how to write a climax and panicked, but it's like two paragraphs and then--oops!--the viewpoint character goes unconscious, thus ending the climax pretty much as it starts.

Plus, we didn't know before this point in the book that Bella had ever even taken ballet, so the whole ballet studio thing was weird. Like how the heckles did the evil vampire even know she took ballet when she was a little kid? And there's no real reason for him to travel all the way to Phoenix just to throw her around in a ballet studio, except that the mirrors on the walls make it look flashy.

OH and the end of A Fine Balance, which is a fantastic book but DEPRESSING AS HECK. Lord almighty. One of the characters is lonely and old and has basically lost her sight, two of her friends are disabled and have become beggars on the streets of India, and the third leads a successful but empty life...and when he sees the three old friends and how miserable they've all become, he steps in front of an oncoming train, and then the very end of the book is his three friends speculating on when he'll come back for a visit. NEVER, YOU SORRY BASTARDS. HE WILL NEVER COME BACK FOR A VISIT.

It's the most depressing thing.

Notre Dame de Paris, for similar reasons: everyone dies except Phoebus, who was like the one person you wanted to die. (He gets married instead, which is a more fitting punishment TECHNICALLY, but it's way less satisfying.)

Also The Fault in Our Stars and The Book Thief, both of which just left me sitting there like, "No. No. That is not the end of the book. Where's the rest of it? NO."

I would like to let you know, however, that with the exception of Twilight, I found all of these books satisfactory and utterly devastating and would read them again despite my anguish.

I would also like to point out that in the case of Harry Potter and the Numerous Deaths, it would be weak sauce if there was this big final battle against Voldemort and all our favorite characters survived. You know?

The end of the last book in The Chronicles of Narnia. The last book was pretty weak to begin with, compared to the rest of the series, and the ending was just ridiculous.
Enspoilered because I don't want to completely ruin anyone's childhood memories surrounding the other Narnia books if they didn't reach the end of the series.
Can't think of any others off the top of my head.

For me, it's totally the end of the Five Kingdoms series by Brandon Mull. I mean, seriously, Cole forgets the whole thing? Why?

Though I'm fully aware of how many people have denounced the series, I think the Twilight series was seriously anticlimactic and dissatisfactory. I almost feel bad about saying this because I don't even know what I was expecting, but it wasn't the fluffy, semi-exciting conflict and ending that we ended up getting. I think my disappointment was emphasized further by the fact that I know Stephanie Meyer is fully capable of writing solid endings/novels in general (The Host, anyone?).

Also, this is more of a general complaint than about a specific book in general, but I've never been a fan of the "amnesia" or "then he woke up and it was all a dream"; any serious cliches are such a drag to me and they're enough to ruin an entire novel for me. /endrant

tgham99 wrote:Also, this is more of a general complaint than about a specific book in general, but I've never been a fan of the "amnesia" or "then he woke up and it was all a dream"/endrant

This.
I don't think I've ever encountered a. "it was all just a dream" ending that worked well or did anything for the story at all. I even seem to remember my sixth grade creative writing teacher telling us that it was a poor idea :p

I just finished a book called The Scent Keeper, by Erica Bauermeister. Overall, it was a good book, except it just....didn't end...?? Like, I got to the end, thinking it was going to go on because there were a couple more pages left, and suddenly, it just dropped off and said ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I was like, "WHAT?!?!?!" That was a non-ending! It wasn't even a cliff hanger. It just cut off as if somebody has ripped out the last few pages. There weren't even just a few things to wrap up; there was like EVERYTHING to wrap up. I looked it up to see if there is a sequel, but apparently there is not, and the author doesn't intend to write one??? It was super disappointing.

I'm always disappointed with endings no matter how good because I want to keep reading.

Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko. It was a “power of friendship” ending. I’m extremely tempted to re-write the ending

Cinder by Marissa Meyer. (Not to be confused with Stephanie Meyer. They have no relation.) I loved the book, and it's actually one of my favorites, but the ending was disappointing. It seemed to be rushed, and not well thought out.

I don't quite remember it, so take my words with a grain of salt. But I believe Cinder was thrown in jail by the Lunar Queen, or wait, maybe someone else. Anyway, she was set free by a friend, and then it ended. She was simply a ghost, as it was put, and she was on the run for the rest of her life.

Please correct me if I'm wrong about this, and pardon the inaccuracies as I haven't read the book in quite a while.