Five Friday Favourites is a weekly event hosted by Book Badger, where once a week, a five favourites subject is posted and everyone is welcome to join in. You can find out more about Five Friday Favourites and the future subjects here.
Favourite Finales
I saw this topic and thought it would be easy. But then I really thought about it. What series finales would I actually class as favourites. To be honest, I couldn't come up with very many. I love series and have completed a lot of series over the years, but I can't think of many finales that I would consider favourites. They weren't bad, I really enjoyed them but I didn't finish the series feeling completely satisfied. That's only really happened once.
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
I don't know what it is about J.K. Rowling, but she manages to get away with things no other author could. She created my favourite series of all time, some of my all time favourite book characters and she managed to give me a series finale that I was actually really happy with. I consider it a favourite because I love it despite the fact she broke my heart a million times. She killed off some of my favourite characters, had me sobbing from beginning to end and then did some weird epilogue that was a little out of place. And I loved every minute of it.
Fell by David Clement Davies | Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi
I really enjoyed both of these and they are definitely finales that I was happy with. I may have had one or two issues, but they were both 5/5 reads for me. They ended their respective series well and left me feeling satisfied.
Close, But No Cigar:
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins | Double Cross by Malorie Blackman | Champion by Marie Lu | The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Pretty much all of the series I've enjoyed have had endings that aren't terrible, but they aren't favourites either. I definitely need a Mockingjay reread because I don't remember too much of that book now, I just remember not feeling completely satisfied with it. Double Cross is actually a really great book, I just didn't love it as a series ender to Noughts & Crosses. So happy Malorie Blackman has hinted at a sequel. Champion was too soap opera like at the end, with the most ridiculous series ender scenario imaginable. And The Amber Spyglass was good but not everything I wanted from that book.
In my blogoversary post I posted my giveaway to celebrate 1 year of blogging. I am giving one winner the chance to win up to £40 worth of books of their choice from Book Depository. I am also giving one runner up a book of their choice, worth up to £10 from Book Depository.
Mini-Reviews: Falling Into Place / Four
Monthly Recap: September
Five Friday Favourites: Favourite Friendships in Fiction
My Weekly Book Haul:04/10/2014
Atlantia by Ally Condie: 3/5 Review
A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall: 3/5 Review
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: Gone Girl
Five Friday Favourites: Favourite Friendships in Fiction
My Weekly Book Haul:04/10/2014
Atlantia by Ally Condie: 3/5 Review
A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall: 3/5 Review
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: Gone Girl
I KNEW HARRY POTTER WOULD BE ON THIS LIST! x) I love good awesome and epic finales. But I honestly can't remember too many because I hardly ever finish series. >.> My bad. Light by Michael Grant was AMAZING. Like my-jaw-is-on-the-ground amazing and Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi! It was probably my favourite of all of them. XD
ReplyDeleteHAHA! I know! I am surprised when I don't put Harry Potter on a list, if I am completely honest. I need to start the Shatter Me series, just so I can get to Ignite Me. I hear AMAZING things.
DeleteOh that is a hard one. The only one I can think of right now is Jo Davis and her firefighters. The last book was a hard one but very nicely done. A lot of my others are still going or have gone into slight spin offs so not really that "done" feeling yet :)
ReplyDeleteI think finales can be really difficult, it takes a lot for the author to get it done perfectly. You want to be left feeling satisfied, and maybe craving more but not needing more because they didn't wrap everything up well enough.
DeleteDefinitely Harry Potter. That woman managed to create a series that is absolutely perfect.
ReplyDeleteI can kind of appreciate Mockingjay and Allegiant, but I haven't really finished a lot of series. I think I'm also one of the few to appreciate The Death Cure by James Dashner, and I really liked the Magicians' Guild trilogy by Trudi Canavan.
It really is! Man, I miss Harry Potter!!!
DeleteI find series enders never live up to my expectations, but I think Rowling has set my bar pretty high and no one else has been able to top it.
Yes, Harry Potter…great finale. And I loved Into the Still Blue as well. Champion…come on!!! You have to love that finale!! :)
ReplyDeleteHave you read Ann Aguirre's Razorland series? Loved that finale, one of the best I've read. And all of JLA's books have great endings. Oh, and Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices. Cassandra Clare knows how to keep her fans happy. I hated Allegiant (as I know you did) and there's another one I read recently that I hated because the author killed off the one of the MCs for no reason, but I won't say which book to avoid spoiling it for anyone. But it really ticked me off, I have to say. ~Pam
Nope, sorry, didn't love Champion. It was okay but it had it's issues. Like the melodramatic, soap opera memory loss thing. NO THANK YOU! That bugged the crap out of me.
DeleteI have the first two books in the Razorland series but haven't read it yet. I'm also yet to finish a JLA series, but I do plan to. I know, Allegiant is the worst series ender that I have ever read.
I'm going to find topics that mean you can't choose Harry Potter, I will, eventually, there will be one, I promise ;) Still Blue was a great finale, I agree, a 4 from me I think, but it did wrap up well as a whole, and I admit, the others, I haven't gotten that far with.. shame on me.. but this is a nice list, and I like that you showed ones that didn't quite hit the mark.. what about The Programs finale? Didn't you like that one a little? Anyhow, yes, great list hunny! :D
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to do a bunch of least favourite topics! ;) Clearly HP is life to me. I am already considering the boxed set of the new hardbacks because they are gorgeous and the box is beautiful. I NEE THEM, I WANT THEM!?!?!
DeleteNOPE! The Program ender was horrible. I was not a fan. Too rushed and too much pointless love triangle melodrama that was totally unnecessary.
LOL at Amanda!
ReplyDeleteI agree though, Rowlings got away with so much and her readers and fans still adored her for all the death and destruction she threw Harry, Ron, and Hermione's way.
As for Mockingjay, I couldn't agree more. Such a crap ending to a really good series up until that point. I was so disappointed with it.
Haha I know! Poor Amanda, she must be sick of seeing Harry Potter on my list.
DeleteI have just finished reading the second book in the Harry Potter series, and am a bit doubtful as to if I should or shouldn't go on with reading them as I am not loving them as much as I hoped I would :/ At least I know it has a good conclusion! I really need to read some of Marie Lu's books, and Double Cross was amazing <3 I didn't really like Mockingjay though :/ In fact, I am only Hunger Games movie crazy - not so much the books...
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine starting Harry Potter as an adult and what that would be like. I feel it's a series that you have to get at least four books in before you'll be fully committed. But everyone is different, maybe it's just not for you. I enjoyed Double Cross as a standalone but NOT as an ending to the Noughts and Crosses series. It didn't wrap up Sephy's story the way I wanted it to.
DeleteThis definitely sounds as though it would've been a hard topic! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is probably my all-time favourite finale. Although it's bittersweet, because that means no more Harry Potter... :(
ReplyDeleteExactly! That's exactly how I feel. Plus she killed off so many of my favourite characters and broke my heart a million times. But it's such a good finale and I really do love it.
DeleteOooo I loved this post!!! The Deathly Hallows was amazing, I think that was partly down to waiting a million years for it =P Mockingjay was great but I think it stayed on a level with Catching Fire... usually, I would expect the final book to take it up a notch. As for The Amber Spyglass >=( What the hell was that book?! Disappointed to the core. (great series though.)
ReplyDelete.... er, did I already promise I was going to read Fell and Into the Still Blue? *sheepish grin.* I will, I will. As soon as this reading slump passes. e_e
*sigh.
Deathly Hallows will always be number one to me. I think that's because it was the ending of a series that basically WAS my childhood. She killed off my favourite characters and broke my heart, but she did it beautifully.
DeleteI KNOW!!! I have actually reread the other two books but always steered away from The Amber Spyglass because I can't deal with it. I'd be interested to see what I make of it now.
Have I finally come across another human being who has read The Sight?!?! YES!!!
Series enders are soooooooooo hard. They can literally ruin your favourite series. I had a think about this too and with the 100 or so series I've read I agree with you, there's not many that I've been so completely satisfied with. I've rated quite a few 5/5, like Mockingjay and Allegiant. But as for blowing my mind? The only one that comes to mind right away is Shades of Earth by Beth Revis. I really enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy but they aren't my fave. Shades of Earth changed everything. That ending blew my freakin' mind!
ReplyDeleteHappy reading!
Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life
They definitely can. Divergent was ruined for me because the third book was so terrible. I own the first two but have still refused to buy the third book because of that. YAY! I am glad to hear that because I am planning to start that series in the new year.
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