A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction. A cliffhanger is hoped to ensure the audience will return to see how the characters resolve the dilemma. (Wikipedia)
Cliff Hangers. Everyone has ran into one at some point, whether in a book, movie or TV show. I have come to the conclusion that I despise them. Maybe it's because I just read a book ending with one (Daughter of Smoke and Bone) and I just really want the sequel but honestly I think I'm just getting tired of cliffhangers.For example, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, and Divergent by Veronica Roth are two books that I enjoyed immensely. Actually they are my two top favorite books of 2011. The story line, plot, and writing in both were just exceptional and I just couldn't get enough. Both of these novels ending in the worst cliff hangers I've ever read. When I finished the last pages of these books, I just wanted to scream. It's just torture waiting to see what's going to happen to these characters next.
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Since I love both novels so much, I would go back for the sequel no matter what. The writing, characters, and story is what addicted me to these series. The cliff hanger is not the reason I'll be picking up the sequel. Okay, that's a lie the cliff hanger is a part of the reason I'm going to pick up the next book, however either way I would have bought the next installment just for my love of the book alone.
Now I do understand why authors leave books at these impossible cliff hangers. They want to keep their audiences interested, and they need a place to stop. Now that I'm thinking about it anywhere Veronica Roth stopped in Divergent would have been a cliff hanger. The whole time I was reading the novel I was flew through the pages needing to know what was going to happen. Yet it would be nice to read a series without these crazy cliff hangers at the end of them. For once I want to be happy putting a book down and actually wait patiently for the next.
Oh, if you haven't read Divergent or Delirium I highly suggest you do...just maybe wait till the sequels come out...
What do you think of cliff hangers?
--Danielle
I hate cliffhangers. I understand the need for them but I just want to scream when I get to the end of the book and I have no idea what happened. Lol. I'm not a patient person and I don't like waiting. Oh and I totally agree about Delirium and Divergent. Fair warning though: Pandemonium ends on an even bigger cliffhanger!
ReplyDeleteWe don't care for gimmicky cliffhangers -- ones where the book had plenty of room for answers but the author chose not to give them to us simply to string us along. Unfortunately we've read several of those in YA over the past few years.
ReplyDeleteBut we don't mind "cliffhangers" like in Daughter of Smoke and Bone or in Pegasus, which are such full, rich books that would become 1000 pages without stopping for a breather somewhere.