So, today I was thinking about cliffhangers and whether or not their good. Or do books that don't have them are better or not.
Why I like cliffhangers is when done well (believe it or not authors can mess up cliffhangers) they make you excited for the next book. Good ones can make you need the next book by just thinking of the ending. Like Everbound by Brodi Ashton, everytime I think about that ending I get really nervous and need to read the next one. And that ending is what made me love this whole series.
However, if cliffhangers are in every book in lets say a five book series then they just get old. You just get sick and tired of them. They could ever ruin the series, you no longer care if some one dies.
Books that don't have cliffhangers, I like a little better then cliffhanger endings I like them better, because the books feel separate and their own, but are still connect with each other. They feel like different books, unlike series that end in cliffhangers that feel like one huge book that are separated into smaller books. If that made any sense to you. I just like them better.
I like series that don't have cliffhangers better even though cliffhangers have the ability to make you obsessed with the series until the next book comes out. I would like best to have a series with most of the endings not cliffhangers and one or two of the books with cliffhangers, just to get you a little obsessed.
Note to authors, please don't end your series on a cliffhanger. I read a last book in a series that ended on a cliffhanger, not a life or death cliffhanger, but still one non the less. I think the author was trying to go for a mysterious ending, but it didn't work out. That completely ruined the series for me.
Tell me in the comments what you prefer. Cliffhangers, or not
Happy reading.
Ick, haaaate cliffhangers, haha. I really like each book standing on it's own well like you mentioned. It's fine if books in a series rely on earlier information to be coherent, but I like each book to have its own plot that is solved at the end and then the whole series can have larger plots that get built up over a couple books. If a new plot gets started just at the end of a book to make a cliffhanger, I'm not a happy camper ;-). This is probably because I don't like reading multiple books in a series in a row, I need to space them out, so cliffhangers fight my natural tendencies, hehe.
ReplyDeleteI can read multiple books in a series in a row, but, like you, I prefer to space them out.
DeleteI think it depends on which book your talking about. If the cliffhanger leaves off on a life or death situation, I usually get aggravated and end up throwing my book on the floor. But if it's a subtle cliffhanger that just urges you to get excited for the next installment, I love them. Cliffhangers make me speculate on what's going to happen next and make the series all the more interesting for me.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic post! :)
Daphne @ Reading Until Dawn
You made a good point, if its a life or death cliffhanger I will be mad also. But if it ends on a note that makes you want to read the next book right now to see where the plot goes then I like them. You'd also have to give probs to any author who can write and ending like that, because you'd imagine that it would be hard to write.
DeleteI don't mind cliffhangers if I can read the next book straight away! But if the next book is a year away then I'm mad as hell. That's why I often wait until a series is nearly finished before I start to read it, I have no patience :)
ReplyDeleteBookishTrish @ Between the Lines
I also have no patience and thats why I can't wait until the next book is out before I start the first one or whatever placement it is.
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