Well, hell.
While dipping my toe into the Young Adult world a ways back, I grabbed the Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater. Or, at least the two that were out at that time, Shiver and Linger. Shiver, book one, had a different take on werewolves, or a different version of the lore, if you will. It was a quiet book that managed to be both sweet and sad, but I never found it sappy. When I got around to Linger, things were a bit slower paced. Actually, the first half was on the draggy side, but the action picked up in the second half, and ended with a bang. Still, it all and all it was a good, solid read. So, the third and final book should be a killer. Right? Uh…
No.
I went into Forever unspoiled, and completely unsure of how Sam and Grace, Cole and Isabel would find their happily ever afters. And I left the book still unsure if any of them even did. After a very, very slow first half (in which the only spark of life came from Cole), things began to get interesting only well towards the end. There was a sense of drama and urgency, and a legitimate question as to who would even manage to survive the next few days. Great. Just as it is starting to get good, when I can see the end in sight and can’t wait to see how it all plays out…it stops. Dead. As in in the middle of a scene, with nothing resolved, THE END. What?!?
Now, what follows is not me at my best moment. See, I was anxiously reading along, waiting for the HEA, waiting to find out who is dead or alive, who stays human and who stays wolf, whether Cole and Isabel find their way to each other, whether Sam and Grace get to be together completely, some or not at all. And, at that shining moment, I realized that I was reading the author’s page. Huh? It must be a mistake. So I flipped through again. And again. I turned it around a few times, stared at it for a bit. Then, for what reason I will never understand, I shook the book like it would somehow magically make a couple of more chapters sprout up. It really didn’t.
That was, to put it mildly, the worst ending I have ever read. Or, should I say non-ending. Nothing is resolved, nothing is answered, and we leave this series not even having a clue as to the ultimate fate of the characters. It would be the perfect ending if there was a fourth book on the way, but it absolutely sucks as the series finale. If you are in any way invested in the characters of Mercy Falls, be warned. You will most probably feel cheated of the ending that they, and we, deserved.
That is beyond dissappointing!! I just bought lingered and got forever, I don’t want to bother if they suddenly end.
Really thought there was a book four ond the way.
God I hope a fourth one is due, since it is just mean to end it at a trilogy like that. Bleck.
I confess it wasn’t a series I plan to read… I don’t know why I think it wasn’t a book for me. I’ve read her other series. I’m sorry for this end I totally understand you, it must be terrible.
I think it was just that it was so frustrating. You invest yourself in these characters for three books, and you end up not even knowing for sure what happens. It is like the mother of all cliffhangers…with no possible resolution. Ick.