Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat. This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
What’s your view on novels with cliffhanger endings?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
Let’s chat!
Personally I don’t like them. I can understand if its a series but when the next book isn’t out for a year I dislike them. If I know an author does this I am likely to wait till the whole series is out before reading the books. It can also depend what short of cliffhanger. One series I read ended the book like it was the middle of a chapter. Wasn’t even a real cliff hanger.
Your turn.
I look forward to reading your comments here or at the FB group. Remember all comments go into the monthly drawer for a gift voucher.
No I definitely do not like cliffhanger endings. My husband read one recently by a well known author that didn’t end at the end. It was a crime novel where the crime wasn’t solved. He researched the book and discovered there was going to be a sequel (not published yet) though there was no indication anywhere on the first book that it was book 1 of a series. He said he wasn’t going to bother with the next one seeing as the author didn’t respect their readers enough to let them know the book wasn’t a stand-alone.
Personally I like to feel satisfied at the end, especially if there’s a “baddie” that needs to be brought to justice. However, I do like to be left with something to ponder – perhaps some unanswered questions that aren’t necessary to the plot but get you thinking in a deeper way.
Oh I feel for your husband that is so annoying. The book I was thinking of wasn’t quite as bad as it was book one. but it was like it ended mid scene and left me like your husband. When there is 6 months or a year between books its so hard to remember.
I recently picked up a book 3 in a series not realizing it was book 3 and it started with a wedding. No intro just a wedding. I was ok that’s the hero/herione. No it was the wedding from the previous book. We didn’t even meet the heroine til chapter 3 (and I only know that cos of the title of the book) and quit around chapter 5 when I still had no idea who really was the hero and heroine. (Chapter two was on different characters again from previous books which I hadn’t read). If people are going to write as if its one book with a break then give us a prologue or something to get us back up to speed.
I like your idea of things to ponder I agree where we can imagine different things in our mind.
I agree Jenny that for a sequel you need some sort of re-introduction to the characters and what’s happening. Some authors are really good at this.
Hi Jenny
I find cliffhanger books intensely annoying and disrespectful of the reader – it’s like the author tricked us to get us to buy the next book. I am less likely to buy more books by that author because I feel the author is being rather deceitful. Unless the author is completely upfront at the beginning by clearly stating that the book is part of a series and you won’t get any resolution at the end of the first book.
I so agree. Especially when its romance or romantic suspense. Even in a trilogy most authors will give an ending to the story even if it has threads for the next book. Gilbert Morris had a series on the Civil war and the series followed the war and two brothers but each book ended after a battle or time and you knew it would continue but the books ending felt complete for the story.
👍 Agreed, Jenny!
They are so annoying!
agreed
In a way I don’t mind because it does keep me interested to read the next book. But on the other hand it’s really, REALLY annoying if the next book doesn’t get published or even written. I’ve had 2 series where that was the case. For one of them, I have no idea why the last book in the series didn’t happen. For the other, the author died before it could be written, so that’s understandable.
That is hard when the author dies. I don’t mind a few threads to go into the next book just not the ones where it feels like it stopped in the middle of a chapter and I have 12 months to wait. Partly cos I forget in a year.