Hello everyone,
For me, the ending is one of the most important parts of a book. It helps form my lasting impression of a book and it should fit well with everything that has happened already.
In my last post before Christmas I am looking back on five books I have read in 2020 that contained a really dramatic ending, or one that felt perfect in relation to the story and still lives in my memory with total clarity.
Here is the list!
The Corset by Laura Purcell
I had to read the ending to this book two or three times for it to sink in. It was so clever and well-done, and provided the perfect twist in the tale to finish a truly compelling story. I was a bit speechless!
The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi
Despite the beautiful writing and the absolutely adorable characters, the plot here was not especially riveting until a whole load of crazy things started happening towards the end. It gets maximum points for shock value and for a moment you wonder if you had just misread it, but everything becomes clear shortly after in a totally fascinating way.
The Devil And The Dark Water by Stuart Turton
This book is long and complex and keeps you guessing, but the ending stood out as undoubtedly my favourite part. It was brilliantly executed and made you realise just how much thought had gone into the entire story. The last few chapters contain lots of surprises and show the protagonists in the best possible light, acting as the perfect way to round off an enthralling book.
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
The final pages of this book are so emotional that I had tears in my eyes. They were profoundly moving and for that reason this story – which was already very unique – became unforgettable. It was so sad, but wonderfully written.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This was another emotional ending. I loved the entire book so much that I was unbelievably invested by the time I reached the last page, and there were even more surprises to be found. It took me a few hours to recover from it!
Have you read any of these books? Which books did you read in 2020 that had memorable or brilliant endings? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Christmas!! 🎄
I’m seeing The Devil And The Dark Water everywhere and am getting serious FOMO! I really need to read it asap! Great post, as always, Stephen! Totally agree that ending are incredibly powerful/important – love the little series of Top Five etc you have going on! 💜😊
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I really hope you read it soon, Kat! I’m sure you will enjoy it a lot 🥰 Thank you so much, I’m so happy you have enjoyed these posts! 💜💜
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Thankyou, i hope so too! Such a fun idea, definitely enjoying them! 💜💜
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Hello Stephen. The only book on your list that I read is Where the Crawdads Sing, which I loved, and yes, the ending was memorable. I agree with you, and have always thought that the ending of a story is very important. I may do a post on the subject in the New Year – if you don’t mind me stealing your idea?
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Yes, you are very welcome to do a post on this! Thank you as always for reading and commenting.
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This is a lovely post. I haven’t read any of these stories yet, but I absolutely love a book with a memorable beginning and ending! 😊
My favorite endings for this year came from two books: The Light of All That Falls by James Islington, and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. The Light of All That Falls was a beautiful wrap-up to a character arc. Crooked Kingdom was just…clever and poetic considering how everything played out. I can’t quite put into words why I liked it so much.
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Thank you so much, Noelle! An ending can certainly make all the difference. I’m definitely going to have to check out those two books – I’m aiming to read the Six of Crows duology in early 2021.
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I’ve only read Crawdads from this list but I absolutely agree, that ending was great! I definitely had to let myself marinate in the feels after finishing this book 😂 It was so beautiful!
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Same here!! I’m glad you loved that one too, Dini ☺
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I’ve asked for Where the Crawdads Sing for Christmas, can’t wait to finally read it! Merry Christmas to you and your family Stephen 😊
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That’s wonderful Jess, I’d love to hear what you think once you’ve read it! Thank you, I hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas too 😊
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ahhh the silvered serpents I CRIED!!
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It was a dramatic ending wasn’t it?!
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Great choices! I fully agree that the ending of Where the Crawdads Sing deserves to be on this list. I still remember how I felt after I finished that book. I keep wanting to read The Devil and the Dark Water but I don’t think I’ll be able to before the end of the year but I’m really tempted to try and do so, especially since you mention that there are surprises towards the end!
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Yes, the ending of Crawdads was so memorable and had to be on this list as it gave me all kinds of feelings! I hope you get to read The Devil and the Dark Water soon Darina, I’d love to hear what you think of it.
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This is such a lovely post idea! I really need to read The Traveling Cat Chronicles. I feel like an ending carries so much weight to a story – even if the rest of the book is incredible, the ending makes the biggest difference!
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Thank you so much! The Travelling Cat Chronicles is such a fantastic book, I’m sure you will love it. And I completely agree, the ending is always crucial!
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YES!! to the silvered serpents ending being on here. i was so stressed out during the whole last 20%, and then when That Part happened, it was an absolute shock to me 😭 i’m so excited for the third book, it’s going to be absolutely wild considering how TSS ended!
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It was such a dramatic ending!! I certainly wasn’t prepared for all the things that happened haha. The third book should be brilliant! Thank you for reading, May 💕
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This is such a creative post idea wow!! To be honest I have a terrible memory and I forget which books fit into certain categories in tags 😂😂 but I know that recently I just read ONE OF US IS NEXT, the sequel to ONE OF US IS LYING, and the ending absolutely shocked me. Mysteries are almost a cheat for this prompt though 😂
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Thank you so much, Aditi! ☺ Yes mysteries and thrillers often have the most memorable endings. I read One of Us Is Next a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t see that end coming either!!
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ahhh I’m so so excited to read silvered serpents!!!
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Looking forward to hearing what you think once you’ve read it!
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Where the Crawdads sing is a book that I was desperate to get to in 2020 maybe I’ll get to it in 2021 hopefully 🤞
I’ve always been interest in the travelling cat chronicles but never looked much into it, I’m definitely gonna change that now
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They are both brilliant books, I hope you get to them soon!
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Ah SO excited to read The Travelling Cat Chronicles, definitely need to get on that this year. Loved this post Stephen xoxo
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I hope you can soon, Ruby. Thank you so much ❤
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