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¿Question #223539?
RealGuest: How important is the ending in shaping your opinion of a book or series?

pricero1: The longer the series, the less satisfactory the ending is likely to be, though I also mind less if I've been enjoying all the books. For a short book, the ending is obviously more important. Side note: how could MABBY have taken a whole week to read such a short (and excellent) book as The Grapes of Wrath?
freechinanow: When I was a kid, I had a collection of Rupert (the bear) Choose Your Own Adventure-style books. In one book, it was Rupert's task was to find a pirate's buried treasure. Eventually, you discover that the map that showed the location of the "Buried Treasure" was actually a map to a retirement home for old pirates, and the "Buried Treasure" was the name of the home. Now, I was young. But probably too old to have the crying tantrum that I did. The ending upsetted me so much! I wanted Rupert to find treasure, and he ends up at an old-folks home?! Ha! Anyway, my dad being an absolute sweetheart, drew some additional pages, where Rupert finds real buried treasure underneath the floor boards of the retirement home! My dad did a lot of nice things for me when I was a kid, but that one always stands out to me as the nicest.
RealGuest: The Expanse ending is what inspired the question. I thought the TV series ending was well done in that it pretty well wrapped things up and yet set it up if they ever want to finish it. The book series ending was pretty good, but still reminded me of BSG the new series a little too much. Did they really have a plan?
Woelf: Extremely. A crappy ending can ruin what was otherwise a great book or series (see: Game of Thrones). Meanwhile, a good ending can pull an otherwise mediocre book or series up, or make an already good one that much better. Sidenote: If you haven't already read the 9th Expanse book (Leviathan Falls), fear not! They stick the landing. It was really good. (The TV/Amazon series ended really well too, while leaving the door wide open to pick up the final three books later on.)
MABBY: Vitally. I spent more than a week slogging through The Grapes of Wrath and the story ended so abruptly that I truly believed that the printer had forgotten to include the last page or two.