TTT: Endings

Ending a series well can be a difficult tast. 

Really. 

There are a lot of people out there to please as an author - your fans, your editor, yourself. It's daunting, I'm sure. Who do you stay true to? Do you finish out the story the way you envisioned it happening all along? Or do you play it out the way you think your fans want it to end? 

Basically, it's an impossible task. And some authors manage to figure it out - and their series are finished off in a perfect, complete manner where everyone  most people are please. And some authors? Well, they fall a little short of that bar. 

And that's where we're at with this week's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish: The Top Ten Best/Worst Endings To A Series. Which is going to be hard because: 

a) I have a HORRIBLE habit of not finishing series (I hate things being over, clearly)

b) I can't say an ending was worst

So, I'm probably not going to hit ten items this week. Sorry. I'm also going to do a Best and Eh section. Because, while I don't hate the endings to these particular series, I don't hate them. Except for one. One book will be filed under hate. Sorry to that author an book, but not really that sorry.

Let's do this!

Best

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - Epilogue included, even though it is borderline to me disliking it. I can see why JKR put it there and I cannot blame her for doing so. Some questions needed to be answered for us. I couldn't imagine a better conclusion to a series I loved so much and grew up with. I really thank JKR for making my childhood (and young adulthood) a magical and exciting time. I love that I got to grow up with release parties and waiting to know what happened to Harry and his friends.

2. Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce - What a well pieced together book about a kick-ass heroine. I loved Alana and her story. And I really love how it all came together in the end. It was raw, real, and perfect. 

3. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare - The tears, oh my God the tears. I could not have expected a more perfect and suiting ending for this series. Seriously. The series was just okay for me until this book came around. I am in love with this book.

Eh

4. Maze Runner by James Dashner - I just wish there had been more explained about where they're headed. And more about WICKED and the people involved in that side of things. It was a fast paced and gripping series that I was on the edge of my seat for the whole time. But I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed and a little let down.

5. Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie - Similar to Maze Runner, I was left wanting a little more. It wasn't an awful ending, but I just felt like 'well? that's it?' when I turned the last page.

6. The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan - I wanted more from this book! True, I did love it (I believe my review said "I adored this book!" But that doesn't mean I couldn't look back and say I want more! 

Hate

7. Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer -  Breaking Dawn is the worst conclusion to an awful series. Seriously. I hate this book. I hate this ending. The series as a trilogy was okay. At best. I still cannot wrap my head around girls wanting to be Bella and have a creepy, stalker, border-line-emotionally-abusive Edward as a boyfriend. But the last series? It was just a gratuitous fantasy of Stephenie Meyer's - not to mention a chance for her to pass off her personal ideologies. I wish this book had never been written.