What the Feck?! (WTF?!)
Every Monday we talk about a book related topic
that had us thinking WTF?! while reading a book
or talking to others in the book community.
When you don't see a cliffhanger coming....grrr
I have two categories for this topic: cliffhangers occurring in a series and books you THINK are single titles until you reach the end of the book and...it doesn't end.
In both cases, it's that not seeing it coming that frustrates me. You think you're invested in one book, thinking about what you're going to read next. Then you notice you're running out of pages and the storyline is nowhere near a wrap up. That's not the time I want to be scrambling around either finding the next book or when it's planned for release.
I don't mind cliffhangers...I just want to know there IS onebefore I start reading the book.....
Take for example the recent trend where a new book is released without any mention at all that it's going to be a trilogy. It seems to be happening pretty frequently these days and I've become leery of the books with vague descriptions, you know, the ones with the dominant rich guy and the heroine exploring her sexuality. These are screaming, "I'm dragging this out for three books!" 
I do my research, and I'm pretty good at it but got fooled with Release Me by J. Kenner. I checked the author's and publisher's websites, Amazon and Goodreads to make certain it was a single title. Since I was downloading it from NetGalley, there weren't any reviews. I really wasn't interested in another series and didn't figure it out until I started running out of pages. Now, I recognize the code words can see them coming from a mile away.
Then there are those series that are designed from the start to be one continuous story arc. It's pretty common with UF series and you sort of anticipate it. I only read the Fever series about two years ago so I was forewarned. Even so, I had no idea how huge some of these endings would be, finding myself downloading the next book at 2:00 am and ending up reading all night long.
Even knowing this is commonplace in this genre doesn't always prepare you. I didn't realize that some of the books in the Chicagoland Vampires series had major cliffhangers until I was warned by friends not to read the next book unless I was prepared to read the next two (Hard Bitten & Drink Deep). 
I don't see this often in the mystery genre but it does happen. It just goes against the grain to not have a mystery solved by the end of the book. The Deer Lake series by Tami Hoag is one exception. I read Night Sins (all 500 pages!) and was astounded when I got to the end and the mystery wasn't resolved. I had no choice but to continue into the next book, Guilty as Sin, which was another 500 pages. I enjoyed the books but was pretty peeved to have to read 1,000 pages to determine whodunit.
Does any of this bug you?
Are you okay with unforeseen surprises that fling you into the next book or make you wait months for the outcome?
If you have any examples, please share them!
Or the ending when you get there doesn't make sense so your praying there will be another book ? Just finished one like that and I hope there is another or I'm going to be really disappointed in this author.
ReplyDeleteI'd be surprised if there wasn't a follow up book! Fortunately, I haven't read a lot of books falling in this category.
DeleteI really don't like the bereft feeling of a good story ending, let alone one that leaves me hanging and waiting a year to know what happens!
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read the Fever series because there's no immediate ending in sight.
The most recent example of a book I got burned with was Maria Snyder's Scent of Magic. I knew it was part of a series, and the first book had ended satisfyingly enough despite an incomplete story arc, so I started the second assuming it would be the same.
Wrong. I got all the way to the last page before I realized there wasn't any more story. It seriously left me hanging. Big time hanging.
I was not happy at all. Of course, the writers ar so good I keep coming back. Call me a masochist. :/
See! That's exactly what drives me nuts:).
DeleteI've chosen to end the Fever series original story arc with Shadowfever, no matter what's going on with the Dani trilogy.
You have more will power than I. Once I started, if I didn't find out what happened all the way around, i go nuts.
DeleteIt only gets worse when the cliffhanger turns into a series of chapters and never ending series lol.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when it seems contrived.
DeleteI used to hate series, but now I can't get enough of them. I don't mind when they end in cliffhangers, but only if there is some sort of wrap-up to one of the main plots.
ReplyDeleteI really hate it when you think there are 20 pages left in a book, but then the book suddenly ends and those 20 pages turn out to be excerpts or advertisements. Not cool.
Now I love books in a series, though. But when the entire story just freezes at the end, it's a unfulfilling feeling.
DeleteAfter what I went through with the Fever Series I can take just about anything, but I try not to get the first book if the second it's not out when I hear there is a cliffhanger. Then again, it's been a long time since I care that much about the characters in a story, and I miss that feeling..... Even if the waiting was miserable.
ReplyDeleteThere is something to be said about a book being able to grab you emotionally. I guess a cliffhanger could be a small price to pay:)
DeleteReally the only way to know there is a cliffhanger is if you've been told by someone or read reviews on the book. I'd rather be surprised.
ReplyDeleteBut I understand the horror of a cliffhanger. I'm so glad I waited to read the Fever series until about a month before Shadowfever was released.
Do you think author's should put a warning label on the books with cliffhangers? LOL
I don't know...it's always a risk with a series so you enter with caution:) But, I really hate this new trend where they hide the fact that this new book is really going to be this one-threaded trilogy. That brings out the grrrr!
DeleteI don't really mind cliffhangers as long as I have the next book available haha. That's why I usually don't start series especially if I know it's a trilogy because I know there'll be a cliffhanger.
ReplyDeleteI know quite a few people who do the same thing. If its a trilogy or a 4-book series, they will not start book #1 until all the books are released. That's one way to handle it!
DeleteI think I'm a good sport when it comes to cliff hangers ;-) 99% of the time I don't mind them at all. But I read a book recently because of all the 5 star ratings and it had a huge cliff hanger that really annoyed me. I noticed on Amazon the story now has a "Volume 1" beside the title when it didn't before. It would have been nice to know that it was part of a series.
ReplyDeleteFun post, Jonetta!
Thanks! See, what you described is the example of what I find most annoying. And, you know it was intentional:)
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