What are the most compelling endings you have read? (without spoilers)

[SmashingPumpkin]

Which endings have stayed with you and why? Please avoid spoilers for those who might want to read the novels mentioned.

My favourite has to be that of 'Circe' by Madeline Miller. It's just perfect. Not predictable but entirely fitting the character arc and themes, and beautifully written. 'The Song of Achilles' is also pretty good, maybe Miller is just a master of endings.

 

[Extollager]

Outside of fantasy and science fiction, the ending of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent comes to mind.

 

[Rodders]

The Forge of God by Greg Bear had a phenomenal ending. Possibly the best that i've read.

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. Not so much of a twist, but i do think that Gurgeh destroyed the only thing that he ever, truly loved. It was bitter sweet.

Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I shed a tear at the end of this one.

 

[Harpo]

“Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”

It’s not a spoiler if I don’t tell you where it’s from.

 

[paranoid marvin]

“Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”

It’s not a spoiler if I don’t tell you where it’s from.

The precise one I was thinking of as well.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Ship of Ishtar by Abraham Merrit .

Mythago Woods by Robert Holdstock

I don't want to give anything away about either.

 

[Astro Pen]

A Maze of Death Philip K. Dick

 

[Swank]

Banks' Use of Weapons. The end just destroys you.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Rendezvous with Rama.

(since the bit about the stars winking out was already mentioned.)

 

[BAYLOR]

Upon The Dull Earth by Philip K Dick a very unexpected ending with shades of cosmic horror bleakness.

Shattered Like A Glass Goblin by Harlan Ellison There few writers living or dead that can develop a story with en ending as cruel as this one is.

The Monster by A E Van Vogt Aliens landing on a dead planet Earth who have a machine that resurrect the dead resurrect a human who turned out to be to be a hyper evolved human.

The Sombrus Tower by Tanith Lee Somtime destiny and fate can play a very mean trick on you.

 

[vanye]

Ender‘s Game Puts the whole story into focus like a shovel on the back of your head.

 

[Pyan]

Tau Zero, Poul Anderson. Phenomenal ending.

The Tale of the Adopted Daughter, part of Time Enough For Love, by RAH. Chokes me up every time.

 

[Richiehead]

For best last line, I would go for

The Persistence of Vision by John Varley

 

[Robert Zwilling]

1977 short story version of Enders Game. No bells, no whistles, no warning.

 

[Extollager]

At the end of The Terror, Arthur Machen's narrator adds a few sentences of speculation about why the strange events happened, which in my view lift the whole work into the category of mythopoeic literature.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

First one that comes to mind, though not because I liked the ending, is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. The ending really pissed me off, to the point I wanted to throw my Kindle across the room. Thankfully I didn't. To this day I don't really remember much from the book other than how angry it made me.

As for one that was compelling and stuck with me, but did not greatly anger me as above, I would say Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Stephen King's 'The Running Man'. Not silly like the film (although i do enjoy watching it every few years). Good short story, origiallly under his Bachman pseodonym.

 

[Extollager]

Quoting imprecisely from memory -- Phyllis Paul's Twice Lost ends (about the protagonist) "Because she had sought comfort rather than truth, she gained neither."

 

[HareBrain]

Night Over Day Over Night by Paul Watkins, about an ordinary adolescent drafted into the SS: "... and I hope nobody remembers my name".

 

[paranoid marvin]

Green Eggs and Ham has a surprising twist at the end.