The Sword and Laser discussion

What is the most satisfying ending to any series you've read? With A Memory of Light wrapping up the Wheel of Time series, I got to thinking about other ends of fantasy/sci-fi series. For me, the most satisfying I thought of at first was Harry Potter. Yeah, the was some meandering in the final book but the ultimate end was very true to the series at a whole.

Next, if the ending isn't satisfying, does that ruin the previous installments for you? Or do you still enjoy what leads up to it?

Sorry to state obvious, but The Lord of the Rings has perfect ending. Also I really like the ending of The Black Company by Glen Cook.

Well, the Old Man's War series has a pretty good ending. Most of the big questions and issues I had with the first book were addressed and dealt with by the conclusion.

I really like the end of Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga. It had a really great twist on the "ancient prophecy of doom".

If you treat the first three Dune books as a contained trilogy, it's a pretty decent ending. Unfortunately there were more...

The Heritage of Shannara series was pretty good over all. It stands out because I don't find most of Terry Brooks' work appealing, but these four books just clicked for me.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. Most series I'm either waiting to finish, gave up on before finishing, or disappointed me.

If I have to pick just one it would be Mistborn. That ending is epic :-)

Igor wrote: "If I have to pick just one it would be Mistborn. That ending is epic :-)"

I'm damn impressed with how Sanderson wrapped that series up. That might be mine as well, though not necessary my favorite ending.

It's too hard to pick one. There have been several that I've really enjoyed the ending of.

The ending for The Belgariad and The Mallorean was very satisfying.

I'd have to say that the endings to both Lord of the Rings and the Obsidian Trilogy (Mercedes Lackey) have the most satisfying endings for me. Though LOTR is a bittersweet ending, it still hits ya in the feels.

Evgeny wrote: "Sorry to state obvious, but The Lord of the Rings has perfect ending. Also I really like the ending of The Black Company by Glen Cook."

I agree, the Black Company series ending is epic.

Alex wrote: "ALL of Stevek Erikson's endings.

That man is just a beast at making you rip through the last couple hundred pages."

I also agree on it. Erikson is what you can stretch fantasy to the max.

I'm tempted to say the Dark Tower, just because I know a lot of people hate the ending, and because I'm re-reading the series right now. lol.

Rob wrote: "I'm tempted to say the Dark Tower, just because I know a lot of people hate the ending, and because I'm re-reading the series right now. lol."

Sorry, but the ending of the Dark Tower felt like a spit in the face for me :(

Evgeny wrote: "Sorry, but the ending of the Dark Tower felt like a spit in the face for me :( "

No need to feel sorry. I understand where that sentiment comes from, but personally I love the ending.

Rob wrote: "Evgeny wrote: "Sorry, but the ending of the Dark Tower felt like a spit in the face for me :( "

No need to feel sorry. I understand where that sentiment comes from, but personally I love the ending."

I loved it as well, but we are most definitely in the minority on that one.

Ty wrote: "I loved it as well, but we are most definitely in the minority on that one. "

Yeah. That's probably a good bet.

I'll join in with those who said Mistborn. That series had an awesome ending. And, it was really ended. The next book in that world takes place hundreds of years later and the story that takes place in Mistborn is merely history/legend.

Harry Potter for me, I get choked up when I read it. I have to say that having started fantasy with Salvatore, and then continuing on to Jordan, Butcher, Martin, and now Sanderson, endings don't come along all that often for me :)

I definitely think Mistborn ended great. I also liked AMoL; it's nice end the massive series and now I can move one.

Evgeny wrote: "Rob wrote: "I'm tempted to say the Dark Tower, just because I know a lot of people hate the ending, and because I'm re-reading the series right now. lol."

Sorry, but the ending of the Dark Tower f..."

I loved the ending of the Dark Tower. It was the hundreds of pages of filler before the ending that I hated.

Mistborn
Wheel of Time
Otherland by Tad Williams

The ending of Gemma Files' Hexslinger series stands out for me as very satisfying.

Having just got back from the future in my time machine, I confidently declare that The Song of Ice and Fire series has the most epic and satisfying ending of all series'.

Who'd have thought it was all a dream that Ned was having?

John wrote: "Having just got back from the future in my time machine, I confidently declare that The Song of Ice and Fire series has the most epic and satisfying ending of all series'.

Who'd have thought it w..."

Oh you mean like in walking dead where you find out it's all a coma dream for Rick?
Yeah I made that trip to the future as well :)

John wrote: "Having just got back from the future in my time machine, I confidently declare that The Song of Ice and Fire series has the most epic and satisfying ending of all series'.

Who'd have thought it w..."

Sadly that might be more of an ending than we'll ever get on this series.

Most satisfying series endings... This question is painfully hard for me because I rarely read series in novel form and two of my most favourite sci-fi novel series are Dune and Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy; and they both end with cliffhangers due to untimely deaths of D.N.A and Frank Herbert :(

Yet I will say Dune. Because I see (and the author also said) that First four books(From Dune to God Emperor) is a complete series in itself:And God Emperor's finale is tragic, touching, meaningful and intellectually very very satisfying.

If you count graphic novel series; I must mention Sandman:The Wake, meta-fictional finale of Vertigo's Lucifer, Hellboy: The Storm and The League of Extraordianry Gentlemen: The Century:2009(though I expected something a little more mind-blowing from Moore) Also suprise finale of Enki Bilal's The Beast tetralogy was very good.

Yet I will say Dune. Because I see (and the author also said) that First four books(From Dune to God Emperor) is a complete series in itself:And God Emperor's finale is tragic, touching, meaningful and intellectually very very satisfying.

I agree with you on Dune. Heretics and Chapter-house don't fit.

The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson had a very satisfying ending. A truthful ending that doesn't miraculously heal the heroes when they cross the finishing line.

Chapterhouse and Heretics, which I love, would be the beginning of a second and potentially even better story arch but his death left it unfinished.

(And please don't mention his talentless son's so-called prequel and sequel novels)

Ahhhhhhh! This entire thread should be marked as spoilers! I tried to avert my eyes and the spoilers still got in!

I was hoping to click to expand only the series I had finished and now I know TOO MUCH.

There's a lot of series I want to check out now.

Lots of good examples but I still think my favorite was the final page of "Stormbringer", the last of the Elric books.

Mark wrote: "Lots of good examples but I still think my favorite was the final page of "Stormbringer", the last of the Elric books."

Damn, how could I forget that one!?

(view spoiler)["Farewell friend. I was a thousand times more evil than thou." (hide spoiler)]

As great endings go, have to go with the Belgariad and the Malloreon by David Eddings,
the night angel trilogy by Brent weeks comes in thrid.
one seires that still has me conflicted on weather or not i like the ending is the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan stroud i just felt that i was cheated in a way, yet the characters and plot were ace.
Anyone else have a simlair seires that turned out like this?

Some people call the end of Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn series a deus ex machina. But I enjoyed it.

I no longer remember if there was a name to the series but I want to give a shout to Gary Gygax and his Gord the Rogue novels. Gygax for those who don't know created Dungeons and Dragons. He went on to write novels and while its been a LONG (over 20 years) time since I read them (thus meaning they might not hold up) I remember at the time that I really thought they ended well.

I know enough series that captivated me, but if the ending satisfied me..... hmmm goodquestion.

But I can say that I realy liked the ending of the Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett.
And the Dutch series Schaduwmeesters by Peter Schaap.

Plus I have the feeling that the Wheel of time series wil end satisfactory for me, but I want to read the whole series first before starting on A memory of light

I'll agree with a lot of the above mentions including the Malazan, Black Company, Mistborn and Elric series finales but I have to add the one that stands out most just for sheer balls for taking the hard choice.... The Adventures of Burton and Swinburne by Mark Hodder...

Never got to the 4th. Terp did.

I never remember "best endings" per se, but seeing others mention books makes me remember which ones I liked (and didn't like). I thought that The Rise of Endymion on its own was kind of a weak book, but as a series, yes, the ending was satisfying. If it could have gotten there a little more quickly...I probably would have liked it better. :P

Been a few years since I read Mistborn: The Final Empire and the others in the trilogy, but I seem to remember that being a pretty good ending. Sanderson seems to do that...

I enjoyed A Memory of Light but wouldn't put that into "most satisfying" or "best" endings. I mentioned why in my review, the upshot is that it did a great job wrapping some stuff up and kind of annoyed me with others. It was good, though.

In terms of single novels in a longer series.... My all time favorite is Deadhouse Gates by Stephen Erikson.....

Ray wrote: "Seriously?! Nobody chooses The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons!? An epic ending to an epic tale!

Or maybe too many of you turned up your noses at the series and Lemmed it. Your loss."

I did enjoy the end of Hyperion Cantos - a lot of payoff in the last 3rd of the last book - But I agree with Terpkristen - getting there was slow.

I'd have to say the ending to The Sword of Truth series resonated with me, although he's started them back up I still count Confessor as the end.

Jonathan wrote: "I'd have to say the ending to The Sword of Truth series resonated with me, although he's started them back up I still count Confessor as the end."

I found the Sword of Truth ending to be lacking in every way. He lost is way by the end of that series. It started off so good too.

So far the final book of The Wheel of Time has been pretty awesome.

Evgeny wrote: "Sorry to state obvious, but The Lord of the Rings has perfect ending."

It's a shame that Peter Jackson didn't understand the ending! I LOVE the Scourging of the Shower and then the Grey Havens. I loved the movies too, but have to think of them as something other than adaptations of the books. When I heard Jackson explain why he left out the Scourging of the Shire, I realized that IMO he had missed the most basic point of the book (and then repeated it in The Hobbit). This is that ultimately they are stories about the Hobbits and their journey. So returning to the Shire to find it devastated and now having to take matters into their own hands and use all that they had learned in their journeys to rescue their homeland was a key to finishing the circle. The heroes return to find that mischief has been afoot in their absence and that for them the war has one more chapter. This only seems superflous when you take the approach that Aragorn is the center of the books.

Joe Pitt Series by Charlie Huston. Great progression and very appropriate ending.

Joe Abercrombie's First Law series was one of my favorite endings in a series. (view spoiler)[ The way all of the main characters were built up as either strong/weak, good/bad to start with and then revealed to be the opposite by the end of the series was amazing. (hide spoiler)]

I thought the Riddle-Master: The Complete Trilogy had a pretty awesome wrap up as well, especially in tying up mysteries throughout the story arc.

Some other older series I thought had decent endings were Dave Duncan's A Man of His Word series and Seventh Sword series. Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald Mage and Heralds of the Queen series. NONE of her others though. Aside from these first two series I find the rest of her works almost unreadable unfortunately. Tracy Hickman, Margaret Weis Deathgate Cycle had such an awesome progression from book to book and finished nicely.

There's probably more, but that's it for now. I hope to add the Kingslayer series ASAP. :)

I really liked the ending to The Farseer Trilogy, it really felt like it completed the journey the main characters had been on. The ending of that really hit me emotionally and there was almost a sense of loss when I finished it that stayed for me for days afterwards.

For me, I'd say Lord of the Rings. Though The Wheel of Time is fantastic as well.

Y: The Last Man