Favorite book series that ended badly.

[The Madman]

I'll be another person to mention A song of Ice and Fire despite it not even being done yet. I got to the fourth book before I just stopped reading, unable to go any farther. Not because he's a bad writer by any stretch, but my god is it miserable. Everyone by that point is either unhappy or dead and frankly I think the author has written himself into a bit of a corner where everything has become so 'grimdark' that the only even remotely 'happy ending' possible short of stupid last second plot twist would be just to kill the whole cast and say they're content in the afterlife or somesuch.

Besides that I didn't like the ending for the Troy series by David Gemmell, though to be fair it's not the authors fault consider he, well, he died before he could finish the last book and another author had to try and finish it up using his notes with... mixed results.

Pity because that was my favourite depiction of the Troy legend yet.

 

[dorkette1990]

The only way I could get through the books was to read them with friends, so towards the end, it became a sort of joke. We started calling it the "teenage boy soap opera", because of how formulaic it became: Richard needs a new skill, Kahlan is captured, Richard becomes overpowered, Kahlan rescued, Richard has no idea how he gained this new power or how to truly tap it.
I understand that his power is more driven by emotion than learning.... but according to the Temple of Winds (or whatever the weird underworld sky temple thing he leaves to is called...) he could in fact learn control of his power, with education. But he never does (to a kind of shocking and frankly annoying extent).

It seems you forgot the bit where Draken says 'The only way out is to forget everything you learned while in here.

No, I understand that he had to forget everything - that sacrifice was actually a relatively interesting part of the novel. I meant that the fact that he learns to control the powers there proves that he could learn to control his powers once he's back - after time of course, but my point was that there was no real growth to his control, merely his power level.

 

[LeonLethality]

The Pendragon series.

The first nine books were AWESOME. Some of the best books I've read.

And then the final one was so anticlimactic and weird that it sucked.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a great series. But the last book really fails in comparison to the rest of the series.

I loved the series to death and I quite liked the ending, not the climax part but the very end thing with the life summary. (too lazy to spoiler tag so I kept that kinda vague) it left me with kind of a fuzzy feeling inside.

That said DJ MacHale's new series, Morpheus Road is going great so far, these first two books have been a fun read and I cannot wait for the third.

 

[Mestraal]

Plenty of snipped stuff!

Yup, in the same universe. I think it's meant to be set before the events of the books transpired, addressing The Great Unknown, V.F.D. and the Snickets. I believe the Baudelaires are involved but are obviously not the main characters. Guessing they'll introduce a new 'mysterious family' for that! 2012 release! =D

 

[nixonsnow]

A song of ice and fire.

It isn't done yet, so bear with me:
The probability of mr. Martin keeling over before he finishes the final entry is steadily rising.
Firstly, he is 63 years old and ...corpulent.
A feast for crows took five years to complete and A dance with dragons took six years, and he still has two books left to write.
So if he does in fact, tragically, die before the end of the saga, we're either left with an unfinished series or some random hired author finishes it.
Either way, the ending will be bad.

So if you like the series, pray to whatever deity you happen to worship for the health and motivatoin of our dear, dear mr. Martin.



He's still a bloody bastard though! -if he kills of The Imp I'll get cross eyed with rage.

I really hope the dude doesn't keel, but you're right, chances are high.

I really feel like he delayed the last book while he pushed to get the series more mainstream. HBO, video games...just seemed like he was holding the book back just to release it when he finally got his show finished. Which sucks for us, but he needs his millions, right?

As for the dude that said Harry Potter is sad, you definitely haven't read these books. In these books, *SPOILER* characters you actually give a shit about die. Like main characters.

 

[Vault101]

Plenty of snipped stuff!

Yup, in the same universe. I think it's meant to be set before the events of the books transpired, addressing The Great Unknown, V.F.D. and the Snickets. I believe the Baudelaires are involved but are obviously not the main characters. Guessing they'll introduce a new 'mysterious family' for that! 2012 release! =D

what about the target audience?

I know that the series was intended for kids (hard as that is to belive at times..) I wonder if the new series might target older readers..much like harry potter became more mature as it went on

then again its not like the books arnt alreasy good and enjoyable on an adult level

 

[Valkraye]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Harry Potter yet. I love the book series and then the last one happened. The epilogue SUCKED. Big time.

This! A thousand times this!

As for my on-topic input, I can't really name a series... Though the ending to Matthew Reilly's "The Five Greatest Warriors" annoyed me. Sure, the books aren't exactly on the deep or meaningful side of the divide, but that one was fairly emotional with the deaths of some big-name characters. And the ending just felt... rushed. And that epilogue section. Meh.

Loved the rest of the book and the series of Jack West Jr. And just about all of Reilly's other work.

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

Id argue that being an evil bastard isnt a good thing....nor does it give one dignity

what are you on about?

 

[Vault101]

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

Id argue that being an evil bastard isnt a good thing....nor does it give one dignity

what are you on about?

the snape thing...it sounded like you prefered snape to be some kinf of evil bastard as opoased to how "emo" (arguably) his charachter turned out

and I just dont think snape being evil is cool :/

yeah dont mind me

 

[Mestraal]

Plenty of snipped stuff!

Let's just cut my stuff out this time =D

what about the target audience?

I know that the series was intended for kids (hard as that is to belive at times..) I wonder if the new series might target older readers..much like harry potter became more mature as it went on

then again its not like the books arnt alreasy good and enjoyable on an adult level

I believe he has been quoted as saying 'Older children'
So, uh...read that how you will. I mean, I never considered Unfortunate Events to be for 'Young Children' to be honest. Too many people burning to death!

 

[Alakaizer]

My big one is the Tamir triad from Lynn Flewelling. First two books of that were pretty good, but the third one was chock full of "Will they, won't they, does he like me, does she like me" BS that made my gut churn, plus the real bad guy, an evil wizard, dies from being shoved off of a balcony, making the only real challenge a swordfightandthe new witch acting as the Deus Ex Machina solving every last other little issue

 

[userwhoquitthesite]

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

Id argue that being an evil bastard isnt a good thing....nor does it give one dignity

what are you on about?

the snape thing...it sounded like you prefered snape to be some kinf of evil bastard as opoased to how "emo" (arguably) his charachter turned out

and I just dont think snape being evil is cool :/

yeah dont mind me

stop hanging around my posts, you.

and it isn't that i like evil snape over good snape. I honestly couldn't give a fuck about Cpt. fangirlfap. The problem is the WAY she wrote him as a good guy. As a crying little *****. which is lame

 

[bobstone]

so as you can see I lurk more then post but this topic has caught my eye.

Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy.

It is a si-fi series and is amazing in my opinion, he builds a complete universe and a large scale problem that effect everyone. he continues to build this universe till the last book, where he then spends something like 45 pages fixing this huge issue he just created. was an amazing let down.

however, I still recommend reading it !! also you get a classic example of "Deus ex machina"

 

[Vault101]

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.

Id argue that being an evil bastard isnt a good thing....nor does it give one dignity

what are you on about?

the snape thing...it sounded like you prefered snape to be some kinf of evil bastard as opoased to how "emo" (arguably) his charachter turned out

and I just dont think snape being evil is cool :/

yeah dont mind me

stop hanging around my posts, you.

and it isn't that i like evil snape over good snape. I honestly couldn't give a fuck about Cpt. fangirlfap. The problem is the WAY she wrote him as a good guy. As a crying little *****. which is lame

I..am not!

anyway I guess you could say snape never grew out of his emo phase...ok yes I see where your coming from though I might npt have interpereted it that way

 

[AndiGravity]

well, its more the movie based on the books, but Harry Potter ended like SHIT. Im sorry but it was total crap. It was a great series and the last movie was SHIT.

why though? (Imnot seeing it)...was it the epilouge?

everyoen keeps saying this but not really giving acutal reasons

I can't speak for anyone else as to why they didn't like the way Harry Potter ended, but I can tell you the reasons I didn't like it.

Reason #1:

It seemed like J.K. Rowling wrote herself into a corner, then realized what a dark place Harry had to go to in order to fulfill his destiny, and she couldn't bring herself to do it. Of the Horcruxes, the only one Harry destroyed was the diary, and he did that not knowing what it was. Dumbledore destroyed the ring, Ron the locket, Hermione the cup, Goyle the diadem, Neville the snake, and Voldemort the piece trapped in Harry himself.

Reason #2:

The Horcruxes were a bit out of left field, but the Deathly Hallows were an ass-pull. You remember the last season of Lost, where the whole thing turns out to be about magic water? Or the end of this last season of Doctor Who, where the Doctor just so happened to run across a robot he could use to take his place with no one noticing? It was that level of ass-pull. Which brings me to...

Reason #3:

If you think about the plots of books 1-6, Harry never wins against Voldemort. Insomuch as Voldemort doesn't generally get what he wants, he doesn't win either, but the fact remains Harry never won a fight against him. Book #1 it was Quirrel who died, and Harry only made it because Dumbledore showed up at the last possible moment. #2 wasn't Voldemort, but just the fragment that was the teenage Tom Riddle, and Harry only lived because for some unknown reason the Sorting Hat magically contained a sword, and Fawkes appeared out of nowhere to save him. #3, Harry was never actually the target of the "villain", and didn't face Voldemort at all. #4, the only reason he didn't die was because his wand and Voldemort's coincidentally shared a core from Fawkes, and it mysteriously turns out wands will do something completely arbitrary when that happens, giving Harry the chance to run away. #5, Dumbledore showed up with the Order of the Phoenix to save him at the last possible moment. #6, Snape saved the day, though we didn't know it at the time.

Put in an honest fight against Voldemort, Harry loses and even J.K. Rowling knew it. Hence the ass-pull.

Reason #4:

J.K. Rowling not only set Harry up to go to a very dark place, but she set him up for what could have been a fantastic ending even after that, especially since it would have meant an epiphany on Harry's part as well as Voldemort's.

Seven books J.K. Rowling spent banging on about the power of love. Love is the greatest power of all. Harry's greatest power is love. Harry loves so much. Oh, did I mention that even if all the Horcruxes are destroyed, Voldemort can still be saved if he only regrets what he did... and that he has a mental connection with Harry... and that Harry's greatest power is love, so he's set up to make the choice to save Voldemort from damnation even when no one else will... and that Voldemort can experience all that and save himself by rerestoring his soul through Harry even as he dies, which would complete Harry's journey as a Christ-like redeemer figure? I did?

Well screw that, I did an ass-pull. I'm going with my deus ex machina "the wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why, but what is clear is that wands are fickle little bitches that will switch allegiance at the last possible moment based on the most contrived and improbable of grounds" ending.

Personally, I didn't have to make it to the epilogue. The whole book felt like something I accidentally stepped in.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

My pick is the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. By the end of the third book I had long ago lost track of what the fuck was supposed to be happening or why it was happening, hated all the characters and just felt cheated by the ending which basically goes

Spoiler

"Oops, the world ended. POOF"

 

[God's Clown]

Only book ending I really didn't enjoy, by which I mean pissed me off to no end is Revan by Drew Karpyshyn. Two characters I love got really crappy endings, and I don't approve of this.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

The Inheritance Cycle. Pains me to say it, because I loved those books, but I'm really bitter about the end.

Spoiler

So, Eragon leaves. I know, not really a spoiler cause Angela predicted it in the first book blah blah. But the prophecy also says he'll never return. First off it's been said the future can be changed. More importantly, there is not a single good reason Eragon wouldn't return. For those of you that haven't read the books, Eragon leaves to establish a new Dragon Rider order. Which means wherever he ends up, it must be close enough to Alagaesia that new Dragon Riders can travel there after they are picked. Otherwise either Eragon will be sitting there alone while all the Dragon Riders stay in Alagaesia, or there will be no new Dragon Riders. Why the hell will Eragon never again return? In ten years he isn't going to put someone else in charge and pop back to see how the land he helped free is doing? To meet his nephew?

The only reason Paolini did it is as homage to LOTR. The final scene is Eragon sailing down a river on an elven boat, saying goodbye to friends he's met in his travels, such as the dwarf king etc. The worst part is, this ending would be fine if it weren't for the prophecy. But saying he'll never return, and then everyone treating it that way, just had me sitting there the whole time waiting for someone to explain why. It just sucks that the author would twist his characters and narrative around to do that, especially when he still could have had that scene, it just wouldn't have been as similar, or sad if Eragon was planning to return.

I've already re-written it in my mind that the prophecy was speaking of his eventual death. He will leave, never to return. He may return a few times, but some day he'll go back to the Riders new place, and die there.

I'm sure there are others, but that is all I can think of right now.

Spoiler: Well about the ending

I actually think the ending was quite fitting, The Dragon Riders headed somewhere where they could be completely impartial to the lands events. And I'm pretty sure that Eragon will return from time to time, just that he plans to spend most of his time at the new Dragon Riders headquarters (Whatever you want to call it), Eragons essentially become the most powerful person on the face of the planet, and he cant take too much of an active role in the fate of Alagaesia lest he become another Galbatorix.
I thought the ending was fitting, especially how the romance with him and Arya turned out, he chose not to make it completely cliche by making it not work out, and i respect him for that.

.. Still think that he should have made Roran king though, he would've been the most badass king ever (Although Nasuada makes more sense)

 

[Bobbity]

Can't think of any off the top of my head that haven't already been mentioned, but I'm really worried about WoT. There are so many plot threads to be resolved before the Dark One is defeated, let alone what has to happen after. I'm hoping for a David Eddings style massive epilogue, but I'm worried that it'll just be a chapter or two crammed into the back of the book.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

His Dark Materials.