Skip to main content

My Favorite (and Least Favorite) Series Finales

Last week, I wrote a discussion on why I don't like series finales, or at least not normally as much as I like the rest of the series. That got me thinking about specific examples of series finales that I've especially disliked or liked, and ones that stood out from the rest of the series for one reason or another. But I just didn't have room in my post to talk about specifics without getting totally off track.

So here's a selection of series finales that have stood out to me, broken down into four categories. This is mostly based on how these books have compared to the rest of the books in the series, though a couple on here were definitely particularly good or bad. And remember - me thinking that a book didn't measure up to the rest of the series doesn't mean I didn't like it on its own!

JUST NOT GREAT

These are the books that are not only my least favorite of the series, but just make my overall impression of the series that much worse. Because really, that's what we were building up to the whole time? The biggest offender here is absolutely THE ENCHANTRESS (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel), although to be fair, that series started deteriorating the book before that. It started out great, but it just went in a totally different direction that I didn't want anything to do with. Then, there's THE SWEET FAR THING (Gemma Doyle). It wasn't bad by any means, but after how invested I was in the first two, it was definitely a letdown. And finally, we have DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS (Daughter of Smoke & Bone), which I really think was just a matter of my personal taste. There were parts of the first two books I liked and parts that I didn't, and this last installment really focused on those parts that I wasn't as much of a fan of. Not a bad thing overall, but a bad thing for me.

WORSE THAN THE REST

My feelings about these books vary widely, so let's end on a high note and go from worst to best. First, then, we have MOCKINGJAY (The Hunger Games), the book that intensely divided my friends in middle school. Some people thought it was brilliant, and some people (like me) thought that compared to the first two books it was confusing and underwhelming. The shift into this final book was so dramatic that I'm not surprised it was polarizing. I want to give this whole series a second chance, and maybe I'll appreciate it more. Then, there's CLOCKWORK PRINCESS (The Infernal Devices), which, from what I've seen, I have an unpopular opinion about. My series reread this past summer really solidified my belief that the first two are better! I really liked this finale, and I thought it did a good job of wrapping things up, but there was so much going on that wasn't always relevant to the main plot that I don't think it was as good as a whole. Finally, a book that I absolutely love: A MILLION WORLDS WITH YOU (Firebird trilogy). So why is it on this list? Because the first two were even better. They all easily got five stars from me, but the first two just had that little extra something special that made them instant favorites while this one was left slightly behind.

BETTER THAN SOME INSTALLMENTS


Sometimes, it's other books in the series that let me down! Or, even if they're not disappointments, they're just not quite as good as the finales. In my discussion post, I said that one possible reason that I don't like series finales as much is that they can be kind of different from the rest of the books. These two examples are definitely different, but they take that difference and make it amazing. First, there's IN THE AFTERLIGHT (The Darkest Minds). In this series, a shift between books wasn't that unexpected, because it happened between the first and the second books too. And even though these shifts happen, I never got the feeling that they were out of place or that this wasn't the series I thought I'd started reading. (That's not me saying that series can't change - they can and often should! But if they're unrecognizable, something might be wrong.) There's also HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (Harry Potter), which breaks the mold that the other six books have followed in pretty much the biggest way possible. But at the same time, it doesn't change what you loved about the books. (Unless, of course, what you loved about the books was Harry attending class at Hogwarts, in which case, I'm deeply sorry. You must have been incredibly disappointed.) Harry's still on the same mission, he's still putting clues together with help from his friends, and he still runs into the same kinds of problems.

BEST OF THE BUNCH

As I said in my previous post, I can only find one series where I definitely like the last book the best. That last book is WHERE SHE WENT (If I Stay), and funnily enough, it's incredibly different from the first book. It just goes to show there are exceptions to everything. The thing is, though, I love this book so much because I read it twice in high school and I really related to it. I'm a little scared that if I go back and read it now, I won't enjoy it as much because so much has changed in my own life. And then maybe there won't be any big exceptions at all. (Bonus: I have to give a shoutout to VIVIAN APPLE NEEDS A MIRACLE (Vivian Apple), which I rated significantly higher than the first book. It's a bonus and not a main example because I really need to reread the first book and I know I'll like it more this time around.)

What are some series finales that have stood out to you? Do we agree or disagree on any on my list? What do you think about series finales in general? Tell me in the comments!

Comments

  1. I didn't like Mockingjay much either... Catching Fire is my favorite. I completely DEVOURED Deathly Hallows. I read it in two days (which was very fast for me for the age I was)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Catching Fire is my favorite in that series, too! I wish I'd been able to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that quickly - it probably took me about a week.

      Delete
  2. Oh, I felt absolutely betrayed by the ending of Gods and Monsters. I had really loved the rest of the series (although admittedly it wasn't perfect), so the ending just felt so completely and utterly useless to me. Honestly, I can't even remember what the ending actually WAS, but I remember my intense dislike very clearly!

    I also wasn't that fond of Mockingjay. I don't think I've actually spoken to anybody that was, come to thing of it.

    I also agree about Deathly Hallows. You're absolutely right in that it's different, but still has that Harry Potter vibe to it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't exactly remember the ending either! I remember that it kind of reminded me of the second half of the first book, which I didn't particularly like, but I totally agree about the disappointment.

      I've run into a couple of people who really love Mockingjay! They usually like the other books even more, though, which I totally agree on.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Most Anticipated Reads: First Half of 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature at The Broke a nd the Bookish . This week's theme : most an ti cipated reads for the first half of 2017. Wow, it's been ages since I've done a most anticipated list! In case you were wondering, my excitement for upcoming books is a s high as ever. It was so hard narrowing this list down to just ten, but I think I figured out the ten books that I'm most excited for in the first half of next year! I have a good mix of sequels and standalones (but onl y one debut, so there won't b e a lo t of overlap wi th the de buts TTT in a few weeks). Here are some of the books that I just can't contain my excitement about : OUR OWN PRIVATE UNIVERSE by Robin Talley - January 31: I love Robin Talley, and this book sounds like it's going to be so good! And it's going to have so much intersectionality! And the colors on that cover are just so aesthetically pleasing. DREAMLAND BURNING by Jennifer Latham - February

Ten Books I Need More People to Love

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature at The Broke and Bookish. This week's theme: Top Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books You've Read in the Past Year or So. One of my favorite things to do is get other people to read books I love. That way, I can discuss the boo ks with them, and if I know their tastes well enough, I know I'm givin g them something that they'll love! Unfortunately, I can't do this with the entire world. And that means that there are books that I've really enjoyed t hat just aren't widely loved. Why ? I don't know. And that's why I spend so much time trying to get other people to read them. Here are ten books I've read some what recently that I think really deserve some m ore lo ve. IRON CAST by Destiny Soria: I'll never get tired of diverse books, I 'll never get tired of historical fiction, and I'll never get tired of positive female friendships. When you pu t those all together, they ma ke a book tha

In Which I Consider My Ideal Post Length

I seem to be constantly going back and forth between having too many post ideas and not having enough. The thing is, though, that when I don't have a lot of ideas, it usually just means that I don't think I have enough to say about anything to actually make a post. Which poses an interesting question: how long do posts need to be? In particular, I'm thinking about discussion posts. I have a lot of bookish things I want to discuss, and discussion posts seem like one of the best ways to share my thoughts. But sometimes, my thoughts aren't fully-formed, or aren't that complex. I usually shy away from writing about those ideas because I don't think I have enough material to justify a post. But why don't I think I have enough? I've been a little behind on wr iting posts in advance, so it seem ed like I was running into th is question more and more often. And after a while of thinking about that, I had m y little breakthrough : I'm thinking a