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. 

Top 5 Books I Devoured

*Note* Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group where blogger/vloggers post about a bookish topic every Wednesday. You can check it out here. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/118368-top-5-wednesday
     This is a fun topic because I can rank these books in order of how quickly I finished them. However, I must admit, when I was reading many of the books on this list, the biggest lie I told myself was “one more chapter.” In my defense, once I got to the last chapter of each book I was honest when I told myself “One more chapter.” That is until I ran to my library to borrow the sequel if it existed. 

                                                             5.    Chosen by Ted Decker 

     In book club, it seems for every book we read there is one person who finishes it way faster than everyone else. Almost everyone got through  Chosen relatively quickly, but I was well ahead, and literally finished it in half the time as everyone else. It took everything I had not to spoil what I had read during our meetings. It actually took me about a week to get through this and although that isn’t the quickest I have read a book, this is the fastest I was able to get through a book since I began  college. 

3.    The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

     It actually took me two days to finish this one which again, I have finished books in much less time. However, given the size of this one I have to say, I impressed myself. I was sick during the summer and I didn’t have anything better to do so I just kept reading and reading until the story was over, and then I went into the appendix. I remember my sisters face when I told her I finished Return of the King. She thought I was joking until I started telling her what happened in exact detail.   

1.    The False Prince by Jennifer Neilson

     I don’t remember how long it took me to finish this one, but I recall carrying it with me wherever I went. I also stayed up reading this book by flashlight until eleven pm. (Which was a huge act of rebellion for fifteen-year-old me) The moment I woke up I started reading this book until I finished it, and after that was achieved I begged my mother to let me take the car out so that I could go to the library and borrow the next book in the trilogy. 

1.    Cinder by Marissa Meyer

     The day before I read this book I had gone on a hike, which was very difficult and the trail was about eight hours long. It was a beautiful hike and I had a great time, but the next day my legs were very sore and stiff. I couldn’t go anywhere without my gate resembling that of a penguin. To pass the time, and to keep my mind off the AGONYof my legs, I raided my sister’s most recent library haul and found Cinder. The cover looked cool so I read it. I started reading around seven in the morning and I was done around supper time. This was the first time I have read a novel of that size in one day. I have no clue how I managed though. I tried to get through Cinder just as quickly last summer, but I couldn’t do it. 

1.    A Lady at Willowgrove Hall by Sarah E. Ladd 

     I have the ability to read in a moving car without getting motion sickness. I’m not sure how, but some of my friends have treated this like some kind of superpower. I’m sure there are lots of other people out there who can do this to. Anyway, I finished this book during the course of a nine-hour car trip, not counting stops for food and bathroom breaks. Would I have finished this book quickly if I didn’t have to sit in the same spot for most of the day? Absolutely, but I wouldn’t have don’t so in one sitting because if I were home I couldn’t just read all day. There’s these things called chores and Homework that often get in the way of reading. *sigh*