Good books with disappointing endings?

[Miss Mara]

I've come across a few, but idk about you guys.

[MJ]

Me too, it's such a shame that they are let down in the final stretch. There have been a few, but the one jumping to mind right now is the final book in the witch series The Book of Life.

[Amy]

I would say: Allegiant by Veronica Roth.

[Tathariell]

Both Jodi Picoult books I have read - "My sister's keeper" and "Handle with care". I love the way she writes and brings all of these various voices to the story, and I think the books would be great if they ended about ten pages sooner. The characters start to work things out (nothing will be easy, but there is a plan/trend/possibility), then something happens that negates the whole second half of the book and all that struggle...

[Marie]

For me, the first that came to mind was Sweet Dreams. To be honest, the romantic part of the story gave it a rocky beginning too, but it's the mystery and suspense later on that came to disappointing conclusion. The author amped up the drama of the "Whodunit?" by casting suspicion on the important characters, but nothing came of it.

[Pamela]

The Owl Service, by Alan Garner. Brilliant until the very end. The Owl Service

Professor Moriarty: or, The Hound of the d'Urbervilles by Kim Newman. Moriarty's POV (or rather, Colonel Moran's), and also brilliant until the last chapter. Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Urbervilles

[``Laurie]

State of Wonder

Not only was the ending disappointing the author Ann Patchett failed to provide an ending at all.

[Vanessa]

This is a fantastic series with a dismal ending in my opinion! Storm Born series by Richelle Mead..

It has 4 books all of them very well written.. I loved the series and I got really into them! I think I read them in 2-3 days.. However the ending, oh the ending! Even now, 1-2 years after reading it I get angry! I a person that loves to re-read a series.. To go back to my favourite scenes and re-experience the emotions and action however this is one series where I can't even re-read one single book.. My body/brain refuses to do it.. It's an amazing experience and well worth the read and I do recommend this series to anyone you loves a good paranormal romance with a semi-strong heroine and an absolutely superb alpha hero! It takes some time but by the end you'll love him to bits!! But the ending, the decision of the heroine in that last book, it kills me it really does!! I read on my phone and I can so close, you have no idea, SO CLOSE, to throwing it at a wall in frustration and anger!!

[Bargle]

The Earthborn series by Orson Scott Card. The final book in the series drops the storyline of the first 4 without resolving it.

[Jessica]

My Beating Teenage Heart
I recently read this for a YA lit class I was in. Cheesy title, but it was so good, I devoured it in 2 days, but the end... it was terrible! Texted a friend of mine who teaches high school and she said she finds a lot of YA books are like that.

[Jen]

[Christina]

A few that come to mind:

Gone Girl
Little Bee
Nutshell

[lebedeva]

I really loved The Grisha Trilogy but the ending was absolutely terrible
It's been years but I never got over it

[``Laurie]

Cold Mountain
I was so disappointed by the ending (view spoiler)[and that so many of these characters were killed or so damaged by the war they would never be the same again.
Did the main character really have to die? I wish this couple could at least have had sort of an happier ending instead of such a brutal one. (hide spoiler)]

[SamSpayedPI]

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud. I read it for a class and everyone thought they were given a defective copy that left off the last chapter.

[Melanti]

Laurie wrote: "Cold Mountain ..."

I was disappointed by that too.

(view spoiler)[The whole thing's sort of a retelling/reimagining of Homer's Odyssey, and if Odysseus didn't die, why'd Frazier feel he had to kill off Inman? It felt so pointless.

I just got the feeling that Frazier didn't believe in happy endings or thought he'd score more literary points with an un-happy one.
(hide spoiler)]

The Transformation of Things was pretty annoying.

(view spoiler)[ A variation on the "And then they woke up" ending. Turns out, the main character was in a coma throughout the whole book and it was all just a dream. Complete cop out. (hide spoiler)]

[``Laurie]

Melanti wrote: "Laurie wrote: "Cold Mountain ..."

I was disappointed by that too.

The whole thing's sort of a retelling/reimagining of Homer's Odyssey, and if Odysseus didn't die, why'd Frazier feel..."

Cold Mountain - (view spoiler)[I suppose it's 'cool' to have a completely unhappy ending these days that leaves the reader upset as well as furious. There is absolutely nothing wrong with an occasional happy ending. With CM I can see why the author wanted to be realistic in his account of the Civil War by showing the stark horror of life during this period. This might explain this unsatisfactory (for me anyway) ending.
But like you said since Ulysses was able to return home after conquering his enemies I don't see why the main character in this book had to die. (hide spoiler)]


The Transformation of Things - Yes indeed, a complete cop out with the 'it was all a dream' ending.

Reminds me of a book I recently read Going After Cacciato(view spoiler)[where I plowed through 600 pages of nothing making any sense at all only to learn at the end that the main character was having a dream. (hide spoiler)]

[Jade]

This.

In the Woods

[Keith]

The Battle of Evernight was a poor conclusion to the Bitterbynde trilogy in general, but its finale was particularly bad. You know something's gone wrong when the author has to add an explanatory note to later editions explaining the ending.

[Nate]

Billy Budd, Sailor is pretty much the disappointing ending to crown all disappointing endings. Not that I loved the book anyway, though--I had to read it for school.

[Ceilidh]

The 3rd book of Marie Lu's Young Elites series, The Midnight Star. (view spoiler)[Setting aside the fact that the title is a HUGE spoiler, abruptly switching from Adelina's perspective to those of the other elites after she "dies" --and giving no real conclusion to her romantic relationship other than "he wandered the world to follow his true love" was evil. To me a least. I wanted a happy ending, or at least some closure. (hide spoiler)]

[[deleted user]]

The 1st one I thought of, was Richard Adams' Girl in a Swing. So Sad!
I read, but was disappointed by, Anne Tyler's Morgan's Passing

[Justin]

I was not a big fan of the ending of the Tear series. a non spoiler way to put it is that it was extremely unfulfilling

[[deleted user]]

never heard of the Tear series. ?

[Megan]

Mirror in the Sky. SO disappointing.

[[deleted user]]

The Spook's Revenge 13 books in the series and this one, supposedly the conclusion, is a bad ending and a set up for the next series. Felt so bamboozled.

[☯ DαякєηRнαℓ ❛ ᶜʳᵒᵘᶜʰᶤᶰᵍ ʰᵘᵐᵃᶰ ; ʰᶤᵈᵈᵉᶰ ᵗᶤᵗᵃᶰ ❜]

I didn't think I had anything to add, until I thought about it and realized that yes, yes I do. This book right here:



That ending was so s#@t I was in turmoil. It had such potential, and it was okay in the beginning and in the middle BUT THAT ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!! I also ranted through all of the review I did, which explains my feelings in more detail. But basically, it was an epic fail on what the author tried to do.

[Scott]

Tathariell wrote: "Both Jodi Picoult books I have read - "My sister's keeper" and "Handle with care". I love the way she writes and brings all of these various voices to the story, and I think the books would be grea..."

The Tenth Circle was like that as well. I've heard it's just a thing she does.

[Rosa]

Nimona. I hoped she and her employer would end up together.

[Sydney]

The Giver by Lois Lowry!!! I loved that book so much, but the ending...there wasn’t really one! 😂

[Jessica]

Sydney wrote: "The Giver by Lois Lowry!!! I loved that book so much, but the ending...there wasn’t really one! 😂"

It's a series. Read the next one... (I never knew it was a series til last year.)

[maría cometa]

A long way down by Nick Hornby. I love this guy but I remember it was disappointing... and let’s not mention the horrible movie they made ugh.

[Paige]

I was disappointed by the end of Tuck Everlasting

[Paula]

Possibly the ending of Connie Willis's wonderful and brilliant Passage--depends how she meant the image of the rising sun gilding the ship's masts (which she's already set up are cross-shaped) and gilding the profile of the captain. The image is the third paragraph from the end, followed a line of dialogue--the little girl asking a question--followed by the protagonist's reply to her. So the issue is whether the protagonist's reply and the image are to be taken as outside the interweavings of the book up to there, or not. If not outside, then this continues the book's brilliance and is wonderful. If meant as the author's statement, then a definite letdown--not to mention a contradiction of the rest of the book--and yet the placement and power of it, or perhaps it is only readers' expetations, seem to lend it that weight.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Harlot's Ghost by Norman Mailer. The book ends TO BE CONTINUED

but Mailer never wrote the sequel.

[Paige]

A couple more:

Little Women
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

The Privileges

[Homayra]

House of Sand and Fog is definately one and The Little Stranger unfortunately.

[Gerd]

Michael P. Kube-McDowell's trilogy for Star Wars, great set-up, high stakes, and a perfect, barely beatable enemy.
Completely fizzles out in the end...

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

The Bible.

[Keith]

Lobstergirl wrote: "The Bible."

I heard the author went off and took a lot of drugs before writing the finale. :-P

http://entheology.com/peoples/revelat...

[Lauren]

Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen.

[Rachel]

Sarah’s Key :(

[K]

oh good topic! I think the title was "Loved Walked in" let me go check and I'll come back and confirm

[K]

yes Marisa de los Santos is author. to me it just went in a completely different direction at the end and seemed implausible. I was reading, thinking all the way... I just love this book (will be fave of the year for me)... and then slam! it took at 90 degree turn, ended up somewhere that made no sense and I was almost aching - wondering where my favourite book went.

like it was wrenched away from me by a cruel author. hah!!

it took me awhile to get over that one!

; )

[Valerie]

The Queen and I - Usually love Sue Townsend, really enjoyed the build-up of this story, started to get an inkling about what the end might be about two-thirds of the way through. Kept thinking, no, she couldn't... But she did.

[Melanie]

ughhhh Dragon Origins was a good series until the ending of the last book :(...

[cleo]

Super Fake Love Song
Like many in many YA books, the ending resolved everything. There was no bittersweet. It was just sweet. It's the sort of ending where it could have been really powerful but it ended up being stereotypical and a little boring. Really great book though.

[MaKenzie]

Most YA books I used to read. Lol. Just tie everything up will ya

[Justanotherbiblophile]

Paige wrote: "I was disappointed by the end of Tuck Everlasting"

I'm actually quite fond of the book. No, it's not a happy-ending.

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Mither Mages series by OSC. First book is *great*. Second book is *so* disappointing that I read reviews on the third book (which I usually don't do), and declined to finish the series.

I wish someone would go write an alternate ending for it. (two more books; feel free to steal themes (I'm not opposed to the big bad - but our hero can do nothing to fight him?) - just go different directions). I'm down for some serious fanfic.

I was warned off another series.
Great 6 or 7? books. Great arc, world-building, thrills, etc. You get a conclusion... and then it sounded like the author got canceled by publisher - so last 50 pages of the last book was taking everything in the resolution away from the heroine. Was told not to start, and if I couldn't resist starting, to stop before reading the end.

But the name escapes me. Consulting now, will update when I get it figured out.

The Long Price Quartet 1-2 were so downbeat, that I never saw anyone buy 3 and 4 (and I thought the series had gotten canceled). I may have to finish this. I read second one because I was like, 'they went so downbeat and low in the first one, it *must* get better'. Folly. Unplumbed depths - you can get even lower. Kinda scared to finish.

The revised ending to _Ra_. I like the original ending, where our heroes are fleeing with tails between their legs, and things are truly desperate - but they're free, and there may be hope.

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Additionally, I note that there are some books with downbeat endings. Often these are by non-American authors. And most Americans *really* like happy(ish) endings. In fact, in one case, I too like the movie's happy ending better than the book (_Stardust_).

Here's another: _When Heaven Fell_

These aren't bad. As James Nicoll says, "Whenever I find my will to live becoming too strong, I read Peter Watts."

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I'm grateful for this topic. There are a couple of series/books in my tbr pile, that're now going to go to the bottom: (Owl Service, Bitterbynde, OSC Earth novels)