Books with terrible endings??

[Anomander]

The fencer trilogy by KJ Parker. Excellent first book, very good second, then the third just seemed to run away from him. I have been unable to even buy another KJ Parker book since then.

 

[K. Riehl]

My vote goes to The Mote In Gods Eye by Niven and Pournelle

A great story, great setup, then...what??

They wrote themselves into a corner and let what could have been one of the great books in mainstream science fiction fizzle into nothing much.

They then wrote a sequel(10 years later) which gave new meaning to the term "instant remainder"

 

[Werthead]

The fencer trilogy by KJ Parker. Excellent first book, very good second, then the third just seemed to run away from him. I have been unable to even buy another KJ Parker book since then.

Really? I thought the ending was okay and didn't seem to run away from her () at all. That said, I haven't picked up her later two trilogies yet.

 

[Frozeninja]

I agree with several people here when they say the end of "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn". It was such a great series, but the ending was awful.

 

[Storm Centurion]

Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials has one of the worst endings in my opinion.

I can't explain why. It just seemed to fizzle out to me. Why, all of a sudden, in the third book does he introduce this brand new world and a bunch of characters we haven't known from the beginning( and hence don't care about as much as the others like Lyra) and have them take over the story? It was just lame and overly philosophical. I like philosophy in a philosophy book or if it is written into a book and disquised effectively so as not to be preachy or pedantic. I hated The Amber Spyglass.

 

[Jason_Taverner]

Steven King books

 

[Spade]

My terrible ending will have to be the ending of 'Cell'by Stephen King, the story was great, one of his best stories but the ending was just, welll....blah, I know that is not a word but its the only way I can describe the ending to 'Cell'

I tend to agree. There was no resolution at all.

 

[Blue Tyson]

American Gods.

 

[Saolta Oiche]

A book with a not so good ending, which is how I'd put it coz it was not crap just a bit lame, was Maggie Furey's Artifacts of Power. The end of the last book was just so deflated, it felt like she gave up and could not be bothered to sort out all the last threads and make all right.

 

[HappyHippo]

I agree with several people here when they say the end of "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn". It was such a great series, but the ending was awful.

I agree, I thought it was almost too tidy. Whilst I don't like loose ends on a story, I also like a bit of 'what-if' space, so I can fantasize about what happens to the characters when I close the book.

I also thought the end of The Tamuli series by David Eddings was abysmal. Huge, apocalyptic fight between the very essences of good and evil, then... soppy stuff, tearful farewells, and literally, 'they sail off into the sunset'. Balls, as me white haired mother might say!

 

[BAYLOR]

I agree with several people here when they say the end of "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn". It was such a great series, but the ending was awful.

Big Build up , small payoff.

 

[Rodders]

Stephen King’s The Stand and IT both had disappointing endings. Not bad really, but for such an investment in time, the ending of both was something of a let down.

 

[CupofJoe]

The Dreamers series [The Elder Gods, The Treasured One, Crystal Gorge, and The Younger Gods] by David and Leigh Eddings. I read each book with my heart sinking a little lower but hoping against hope that there would be a twist in the end of the pedestrian plots [which all seemed to be pretty much the same]. And then there wasn't.

 

[Vince W]

Stephen King’s The Stand and IT both had disappointing endings. Not bad really, but for such an investment in time, the ending of both was something of a let down.

I haven't read much King, but IT was the last one I've ever read. A huge waste of time.

 

[soulsinging]

Personal worst ending goes to Memory Sorrow and Thorn, because it is such an absolute and fundamental betrayal of the whole style and theme of the series.

I agree, Werthead. Loved the series, but wished I hadn't read the last 2 chapters of the last book. There was a potential for an ending that was interesting if he had stopped before these last 2 chapters.

I agree with several people here when they say the end of "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn". It was such a great series, but the ending was awful.

Popular pick here! I read this recently and loved it, but I also finished it in a multi-hour rush that kept me up until 3am-ish. I think a lot of my enjoyment of the ending was based on The Dragon. I remember other points being much more puzzling: Josua's fate seemed implausible, I have no idea what happened to the Norn Queen, Simon's history reveal was both abrupt and probably predictable, and the whole false messenger thing was a bit underwhelming.

Nonetheless, I'm curious why @Werthead regards it as a betrayal of the theme and style? If it's a spoiler discussion, maybe I'll hop on over to one of the threads about the series specifically. I do remember a bit of that "20 years later" flourish which never really works for me.

You're right bookfan - it is The Seventh Gate that has the sucky ending. My bad.
-g-

All I remember of this is that Fizban appears and suddenly this cycle I read 7 books of inexplicably merged with both Dragonlance and our own world and none of it many any sense.