As I was working on some of my recent blog posts, I realized that I often say "It's good so far, but I won't know for sure if I like it until it's over."
Which is kind of sad, when I think about it. Because it means that a lot of the things I've read start out promising, and then just collapse miserably at the end.
The example that I always remember is from a book called Night Watch, I think. The book itself was pretty interesting. And then at the very end, they were building up to this magical setup to re-write parts of the world. The main character was heading toward the final battle, where this magical thing could be used for good or evil, and as he moved he was gathering up large amounts of energy, and leaving a wake of drained people behind him as he went. And then when they finally got to the final battle, the guy threw away all the magic he'd gathered and said, "nah, I'm not going to do anything with the magical device to rewrite worlds."
It was like a balloon deflating. Everything they'd been building up for was just chucked into the gutter.
And there's also those things like Alice in Wonderland, where they wake up and discover that the entire story was a dream, and never actually happened.
You get the idea.
The result? I won't say for certain if I like something until I've finished it. Sometimes this counts for a series, like the Seventh Tower one that I'm almost done with.
Yeah, endings are important. They're what the reader is left with. A good ending can leave me feeling all excited and thrilled. Otherwise I just put the book down in disgust...
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