Sunday, August 11, 2013

Super Six Sunday: Killer Endings


Inspired by Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish, Super Six Sunday, a new feature from the fabulous ladies at Bewitched Bookworms, has different book-related topics each week and asks participants to address each one in the form of a list of six. Obviously.

This week's topic is killer endings, an aspect of various book series with which I have a love/hate relationship. I understand the purpose of cliffhangers and don't deny they do their job in making me chomp at the bit for the next book, but I die a little each time I come across one because my poor heart gets so invested in the stories and characters that I give myself a stress-induced ulcer when they're left hurt or in trouble and I'm forced wait to find out if they're okay. *sobs*

Below are some of the endings tore my heart out and stomped on it, or otherwise had me screaming and swearing at the top of my lungs when I reached the last page, and though I admit to disliking endings where my beloved characters are in mortal peril, I loved each of these books!

DREAMFEVER (Fever Series #4)


This book has quite possibly the most brutal ending I've ever come across. I cried. I yelled obscenities. I stared blankly at the last sentence for an absurd length of time willing more chapters to magically appear and fix everything that just happened. What made this ending even more soul-scarring you ask? The fact that the next book, Shadowfever, didn't come out for 17 months after this book released. 17 MONTHS! *falls down dead* The wait was excruciating, but Shadowfever blew me away and entirely made up for it, so I almost forgive KMM for what she put me through with Dreamfever. Almost ;-)



Deity doesn't end in quite as cruel a fashion as Dreamfever, but it's one of those endings that forced a "please, no" past my lips as the far-reaching implications and ramifications of what takes place settled like a lead weight in my gut. While I was of course dying to read Apollyon as soon as I could get my hands on it, the ending of this book also had me dreading cracking the spine of the next one, knowing my bubble of delusion wherein Alex and Aiden are happy and together and in love was going to be heart-breakingly popped. I do so love this series though, and cannot wait for Sentinel to finally bring Alex's story full circle.



Okay. So the ending of The Raven Boys isn't exactly on par with the other books on this list in terms of the emotional flaying it inflicts, but it has one of the most bizarre and befuddling parting lines I've read, and I therefore felt it earned itself a spot. Confession: I flip to the back of a book and read the ending first probably 75% of the time. I need to know what's going to happen alright? I CAN'T HELP IT! I flipped straight to the back of this one, read the last line and thought to myself "Self, I can't wait to figure out what that means" before returning to the front and reading straight through. Well, as it turns out, the line I'd read initially didn't make any more sense to me after reading the story in its entirety than it had when I read it out of context, and I need to hurry up and get a hold of Dream Thieves so it can hopefully explain things to me.



I absolutely LOVED this book. It turns the typical vampire story on its head a bit as the protagonist turns from vampire to human rather than human to vampire. I have to be pretty invested in a story to cry (obviously), and typically crying takes place later in a book after I've had time to really get attached to the characters. With this book though? I was crying inside of the first 30 pages as my beloved Rhode wrapped himself around my heart and refused to let go. My emotions evened out after that until the very end when former vampire Lenah saw fit to slice me into emotional confetti once more. So good.



While this second installment was a bit rockier for me than the first, the ending took me completely by surprise and left me feeling stripped bare as I sprinted to the computer to see when the third and final book would be coming out. Logically, I knew what happened would likely be remedied in the next book, but my heart didn't seem to understand logic at all and promptly stopped working for a beat or two. Emotional stability fail.



Oh, Michelle Hodkin. What a brilliant dispenser of pain you are. This series is strange and twisted and a confusing jumble of "what the hell is going on?" that works so beautifully well that I will be able to read these books over and over again and learn something new each time. The ending of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was a jaw-dropper, but the ending of Evolution is more of a punch to the gut, one that sent me reeling and raving and looking around for anyone who might listen, willingly or otherwise, as I tried to get all my thoughts in order by speaking them aloud. Can it be time for Retribution already?

28 comments:

  1. I purposely waiting to read the Fever series until the last book was closer to being released because I had heard the ending was a killer (which is soooo was!). I am so glad I waited because I would have gone crazy otherwise.

    I agree with The Raven Boys. I need to reread the last part before I start The Dream Thieves because I can't even remember now how it ended just that it was a little out there.

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    1. Dreamfever hurt Ali! IT HURT! *sobs just thinking about it* I wish I had waited, but at least she hasn't done another ending like that with the other books. Thus far anyway:)

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  2. Oh no! I dl:ed Raven Boys from audio sync...and it has an ending like that, scared

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    1. It's just a strange little ending! I was all WTH?

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  3. THE EVOLUTION!!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!! THAT WAS A KILLER ENDING! Sorry for the caps, it's just.. I can't believe Retribution comes out in June 2014 :( I'm so sad and frustrated, but I have faith that it'll be just as amazing as Evolution was. Deity--saw that one coming, wasn't such a surprise, plus, the book for me didn't do it as it did for most of JLA and Covenant fans. The Raven Boys--hahahaha. Ronan was my favorite guy aside from Gansey who I fins extremely interesting. Plus, he's kinda mysterious what with not having his POV in the book, but still being one of the MC-s. I hear that The Dream Thieves is possibly even more amazing so I can't wait for it! It's one of these books that I know, if I get my paperback, I'll drop everything and read as much as I can:)

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    1. Evolution was crazy wasn't it? SO GOOD! I need Retribution to release sooner, but I know it will be worth the wait:) I adored Ronan as well, the super broken ones just call to me. I'm excited for more of him in Dream Thieves!

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  4. DREAMFEVER!!!! Such a great series. I want to reread this one now. Thanks, Jenny. *snort*

    I just started The Dream Thieves and I'm having the hardest time remembering what happened in Raven Boys! I do remember a killer ending but...blurg. I might have to reread this, too!

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    1. Danny and I are planning a reread of ICED early next year, maybe we should toss in a few other of the Fever books as well. It's been a while since I've read any of them.

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  5. The ending of Until I Die was a total heartbreaker. The year long wait to see what happened next was too much!!

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    1. Right? My heart stutters are the mere thought of what happened:)

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  6. Gosh, yes, Dreamfever was BRUTAL and so was Raven Boys - I am just dying for The Dream Thieves now! Great list, Jenny!(:

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    1. DREAMFEVER KEERTANA! She's an evil genius, but I've never wanted to throw a book more than I did when I finished that one:)

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  7. Evolution (and that entire series)CONFUSES ME COMPLETELY and yet I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT. *makes crazy eyes*

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    1. Hahaha I KNOW! Same here. I need to know how everything ends!

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  8. Oh my gosh the ending of The Evolution of Mara Dyer juat about killed me! I need the next book!

    ~Sydney@Pika Pages

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  9. Yes.yes.yes. to the Dreamfever ending (Faefever wasn't much better o.O). My reaction was something like this: Ha, that can't be true, right? THANK GOD I DON'T HAVE TO WAIT. Of course now there's the Iced ending, but that's not too bad.

    The last line of the Raven Boys is a huge thing in the sequel, but I actually really loved that one! For some reason, it felt so *right* for that story even if it was so open and huge and I didn't understand it one bit.

    Evolution. Oh geez. I was recently thinking about how much I wanted to read Retribution soon, and then I noticed the release date got pushed back and I felt that punch to the gut again :(.

    Sometimes I read the ends of books too - if I'm not quite feeling the book just yet, it helps make me curious... and if I like the book a lot, it makes my pace that much quicker. 75% of the time, maybe not, but I do understand the impulse :D.

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  10. How did I not have Until I Die on my list!?! You're right, Jenny, that one was a killer!!!

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  11. agreed with Deity<3

    my sss - http://fandoms-city.blogspot.com/2013/08/sss-1.html

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  12. The ending of The Covenant series always has me dying for the next book. I can't wait for Sentinel either, Jenny! The wait seems sooo long!

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  13. Infinite Days. I can never get this storyline out of my head!!

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  14. I did not participate in this Sunday's Super Six because I didn't know how to do it without doing spoilers, obviously my creativity has left me as you did a wonderful job! And I have only read Infinite Days on your list. I do have the sequel. I need to read that!

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  15. The last line to THE RAVEN BOYS was definitely a confusing, WTF moment. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it!

    I'm holding off on reading THE EVOLUTION OF MARA DYER until it's closer to the third book's release, and it sounds like that might be a good idea. Although, now I'm curious about the ending. Hmm...

    Great post :)

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  16. I agree one hundred percent with the Evolution of Mara Dyer. So twisted, so perfect and definitely left me with a different feeling than Unbecoming. Overall, the ending of Evolution made that book so much better than the first for me.

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  17. I've only read Raven Boys and the first of the Fever series (I threw that across the room). I was told to continue reading the series though. I kind of wish Raven Boys was completed in one book as a standalone, but I love the characters so much that I'm glad I don't have to leave that world yet.

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  18. I LOVE THIS POST! Dreamfever KILLED ME. BUt thankfully, I was warned and didn't start this series until they were all released. So it wasn't THAT bad. I also thought that the end of the book before this one (Faefever?) was pretty terrible too. I cannot even imagine having read them as they released. Love Deity and The Raven Boys, though the former ending was much much harsher. Thankfully Apollyon made it all better. Have you read The Dream Thieves yet? More CRAZYPANTS afoot. Love this world Maggie's created. And I am DYING for the last Mara Dyer book, but it looks like Retribution isn't coming out until next June, so we have a while more to go. FUN FUN posts.

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  19. Oh my goodness, I couldn't agree more with this list. I did the same thing with Raven Boys, I read the ending line out of context and then got to it in due course and STILL I couldn't figure it out. It felt like there should at least be another few chapters explaining. And that last Mara Dyer book was SO CRUEL. I can't wait, I'm seriously counting down the days. I'm luckily not to Dreamfever yet, but I'm glad to have Shadowfever immediately available now, so hopefully the pain won't be too much. :-)

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  20. OH MY GOD YES YES YES!!!! I TOTALLY agree with Dreamfever and Deity. My heart broke, shattered into a million pieces after reading these two! But, lucky for me I started the Fever series after all the books were out so I didn't have to wait for Shadowfever! lol ;p And Deity....I just have no words. That was like the mother of all cliffhangers. It was freakin brutal!

    I haven't read the other books, yet but I have The Raven Boys, and a lot of people enjoyed that so I have to check it out soon! Awesome list, Jenny! :D

    ~ Maida
    Literary Love Affair 

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