Recently a friend asked me to read his NaNoWriMo project from last year. It was an adult horror book, so right up my alley! It was totally creepy and I loved it, but the ending truly shocked me. It ended with the main character dying in a way that had been hinted at throughout the book.
This got me thinking about why more books don’t have sad endings, specifically fantasy books with huge wars and high stakes. The fact is, most people love a happy ending. The ending of my friend’s book has been on my mind for weeks. In fact, he has asked for my thoughts and I’ve had serious trouble putting them on a page because I was so thrown off by the way it ended. But why?
Looking at the books on my (YA) shelves I can think of exactly one that ended in a main character’s death and the YA community RIOTED and many vowed never to trust the author again. I’m sure you know which book I mean. But why are we like this? Why do we demand that none of our main characters get a bad ending, especially when other characters around them die? What makes them special?
There are definitely some YA fantasy and sci-fi books that (I think) should have ended in a bit of a different way. Here are a few that come to mind:
As someone who reads primarily young adult books, my main question is whether or not this is limited to YA. Someone who reads mostly adult fiction let me know if it’s more common for sad endings there. Maybe it’s just the YA community who prefers all their endings to be happy. Based on the handful of adult fantasy books I’ve read, I’m guessing not though.
The thing about it is, I don’t think it’s entirely realistic to have happy endings in every single book. The main character shouldn’t always win or get the hot guy. Honestly, I think I prefer more realistic endings where no one dies, but everything isn’t sunshine and rainbows. Actually, most of my absolute favorite series end like this!
