Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Best/Worst Series Enders

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the awesome ladies at The Broke and the Bookish.  Apparently, they are overly fond of list-making and love to share their bookish lists with the rest of us book nerds.  =)  I'm game.

This week's list features our Top Ten Best/Worst Series Enders.

I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret:  I hate it when one of my favorite series ends.  (Okay, that's probably not really a secret.)  Some of my favorite endings are those open-ended ones where the reader is left to make the final judgment: on who the main character ends up with, where they end up, etc.  But those are also some of my least favorite endings.

Another secret:  I tend to leave the last book in a series unread for ages, unless I'm sure -- and I mean 99% positive -- I'm going to love it.  So, I didn't have a lot to draw on with this list, because there are several (read:  20 or more) series sitting unfinished on my shelves, though all books have been released.  And there are several more finishing up in the next six months or so that I think would be added to this list, but seeing as how I don't have the ability to travel into the future (yet), I had to pull from what I had:

Best...


Clockwork Princess - I love that Tessa got not one but two happily ever afters!  Not realistic at all but still one of my favorites.

Forever - I love that even though we don't know whether everything works out, we're left with hope.  And we get Cole and Isabel's story now!  :D

Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows, Shine, With All My Soul & The Bitter Kingdom - All. The. Feels. I love that we know exactly what happens at the end of these stories and they went exactly as I'd hoped.

The Sweet Far Thing, Mockingjay, Unbreakable & Girl of Nightmares - People die.  People I didn't even know I cared about die.  Tragic endings all around, but those are some of my favorites.  Also, props to the last two on this list for recognizing that some stories can be told in as little as two books.


Worst:



Some of these are on this worst list, not because they were terrible, but just because they either shouldn't have been the end (Dead Silence) or the series should have ended with the third book like it was supposed to (The Iron Knight) or because she chose wrong (Boundless and possibly Requiem & Spell Bound). Mostly, I was just disappointed in one fashion or another, and I hate being disappointed when it comes to the final book.  The others...I don't know how I made it through the whole series, let alone that disaster and/or snooze-fest of a final book.  What was I thinking?

#10 on the worst list:  One of my biggest bookish pet peeves is when an author says that such and such book will be the last one in the series, and then right around the time that final book is releasing, they decide to write more of that world, whether it be the same characters or a spin-off.  That's just so gimmicky to me.  At first, I'm usually elated at the prospect, but that morphs into annoyance fairly quickly.  Do it or don't do it, but don't say that you're not going to and then do it.  Sorry for ranting...but there were several more I would have added to the worst list just for the sheer fact that they weren't supposed to exist...but I haven't read them yet, so I can't honestly add them.  *sigh*

What are some of your favorite/least favorite series endings?  Any you're looking forward to in the next few months?

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Labels: endings, series, top ten tuesday