Can an Ending Ruin a Story?

This year, I finished The Black Key, the final book in The Lone City trilogy. I was disappointed to say the least, especially because I enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy. I still find joy re-reading The Jewel and The White Rose, but the knowledge of how sloppily the plot is tied together at the end crawls around the back of my mind. Which made me wonder, can an ending ruin everything that came before it no matter how well written it is?

      No novel is perfect. I don’t think a book has to be great all the way through, but I do think it needs to be good for most of it. Endings are only a small section of a book. However, it is also the final glimpse we have of the book's world as well. Last impressions can be just as important as first impressions. My final impression of The Lone City trilogy was the ending wasn’t given enough time. Lately, I have noticed super-sonic endings are rampant in YA literature.

     Another ending that felt way to rushed for me was, The Crown, by Keira Cass. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the books written after, The One, but I didn’t find The Heir a chore to read. However, The Crown was so hurried character development that would be logical if there was time spent on its execution, crashed like a bird flying into a window. Plot points and subplots were thrown in all directions. My brain could hardly keep up as the story progressed. I turned the last page wondering about what I just read. 

     I enjoyed Teardrop, but it’s sequel Waterfall did not bring the story to a satisfying close. It started out okay, but halfway through every plot twist vomited in my face. It was like the second half of the book was written during NaNoWriMo (A annual challenge to finish a novel draft in the month of November.) and left unedited. 

     I don’t think endings are given as much focus as they need. Most of my complaints about endings can be summed up as, it was too rushed. The end of a story, especially a long running series, should be a gradual stroll home not a desperate sprint for the finish line. 

    My favorite finales are often long. The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favorite book series, with what I consider one of the best endings. The last book is over eight-hundred pages long, but it needed to be. I loved Return of the King and that is also not something that can be read in a day. Both these books were organic endings to their predecessors. Did it take me a while to get through? Yes, but was it worth it? Also, yes. 

     As my English professor told me, a story needs to be long enough to complete itself. Writers are taking a reader on a long journey, taking the reader by the hand and showing them the wonders of the world they have imagined. The tour shouldn’t be cut short at the end because we need to get there as fast as possible. The tour should be as long enough to show everything worth seeing. As Miley Cyrus puts it, “It’s not about how fast I get there, it’s about what’s waiting on the other side.”  

     Which brings me back to the original question, can an ending ruin a story? I think it can. I’m not saying it will make the story before it impossible to enjoy, as I mentioned earlier, I still enjoy The Jewel and The White Rose. The quality of those books have not diminished since I read The Black Key. However, my reading experience with those books are different as I know many of the characters are going to experience hardship with poor resolution.