Something that always bugged me.

[Grace]

The way the series ended. Not that it was a sad ending, I can handle sad endings where there are no winners, only losers. I get enough of those in other things.

What really killed it for me was the author's laziness. she ghostwrote almost every book in the series, and her contract states she should have made at least 10 book more than she should have, and she can't do it, because her ghostwriters got fed up. Instead, she sends the series downhill, ruining the secrecy of the series that I liked, killing off characters, ruining ones she didn't kill, until eventually, she ended the series on a bloody cliffhanger. not a "Bolivian army ending" like the call it on TVTropes, it's a CLIFFHANGER.

When we object to our once-good series getting destroyed by some ludicrous creator breakdown, she honestly acts as if we are some "Lowest common denominator" trash who don't understand stories that "end in Hi-Fives all around", as she so blithely put it, insisting that "True art is Angsty".

Just so you know, I went back to the bookstore, explained to the owner how the series ended, (She hated it even more than i did) and the owner gave me a refund for the books, she then sent them back to the supplier.

I was wondering, are there any decent fanfic writers that wrote a better ending to the series?

(When the fanfic writers are better writers than the real author, you know something's messed up.)

[MoppingBear]

Are there fanfic writers that have come up with a better ending?  Maybe.  Are there fanfic writers that have come up with an animorphs book length story every month (and thats not counting chronicles/megamorphs)? No. 

Scholastic broke the contract, not KAA, so she was FORCED to end the series quicker than she had planned. 

How is it not a bolivian army ending?  It is pretty much the definition of one.
"A Bolivian Army Ending occurs when the main characters face seemingly insurmountable odds which, for once, they fail to surmount, although their ultimate doom is sometimes left to the audience's imagination."

Killing off characters?  People die, especially in a war, especially if that war is being fought by five teenagers (with attitude) versus a freaking alien empire.  Who got ruined?  All characters progressed as one would expect.  Don't forget, we are introduced to the characters before they are even in high school, where most of a persons personality develops.

[Essam 293]

Scholastic broke the contract, not KAA, so she was FORCED to end the series quicker than she had planned. 

Source?

She ended the series on her own terms last I checked. In fact, there's even a quote in a FAQ somewhere where she said that the series should have ended 10 books earlier.  It was K.A's decision to end the series, and that's really why we got a 9 book finale arc (45-54) when she announced (via Morphz) that she wasn't renewing her contract for Animorphs.

Scholastic and K.A didn't part on bad terms either, as far as I am aware, because she launched a brand new series with them (Remnants) right after Animorphs and Everworld were finished.

[Estelore]

Just so you know, I went back to the bookstore, explained to the owner how the series ended, (She hated it even more than i did) and the owner gave me a refund for the books, she then sent them back to the supplier.

So... you cheated the owner out of a considerable amount of money, and she cheated every other buyer out of the chance to purchase and read the series? Niiice, very mature. /sarcasm

Unless the book came with a big stamp on it saying YOU WILL LOVE THIS, there is an implied caveat emptor that, guess what, it might not meet your tastes, expectations, however-you-may. You didn't exactly receive false advertising; you read the book... so you got that for which you paid.
Demanding a refund for a book you had time to pre-survey in the store, and which you took home and completed reading, is blatantly pathetic, by our standards.

You're entitled to your opinions, certainly, but that was outright unfairness from you to the bookseller and anybody else who might have wanted to buy that book, not to mention the supplier. :-/

[AniDragon]

Well, the bookstore in my area will accept refunds if it's within 14 days for any reason. So depanding a refund, as long as she was within the return policy, no big deal.

Sending the books back to the supplier... I'm going to call exageration on that one. Unless it was a small bookstore, I can't see anyone doing that.

[TobiasMasonPark]

Are there fanfic writers that have come up with an animorphs book length story every month (and thats not counting chronicles/megamorphs)? No. 

     Neomorphs. Capnnerefir.

[ko ko]

i'm gonna agree with este and say that imho your actions and the actions of the book store were in the extreme, but they were your decisions to make, and if you guys are happy and comfortable with your actions, then that's the way it is. it is one thing to be disappointed in a book/series, but the attack the author, i feel that is in bad taste. as far as i know, no one forces anyone to read the animorphs books, and there is never any guaranteed enjoyment clause on any book whatsoever.

i personally really like the ending. i did not like it when i was little, but having matured, i now feel that the ending was the way it should be. i enjoy reading fan fic because they're fun, but, to me, nothing beats canon.

there are a lot of people who write continuations of the series. goose mentioned the capn. he has the longest continuation of sequel "books" i have found, but he has not replicated the speed that kaa was able to produce.

[Blaise Zebrataur]

I have to agree on ko ko and este with this one.

[NateSean]

As someone who works in retail, I do have to imagine just what was going on in yours and the bookstore owner's head when the refund was exchanged.

Do you routinely go to movie theaters too and demand a refund after you've seen the entire movie, ate the popcorn, and spilled the soda all because the acting was (In your opinion) atrocious?

[TobiasMasonPark]

     ^What you said.

     Seriously, I get if you aren't satisfied with the final product--movie, book, etc. And, yea, sometimes, when I see a bad movie, I joke about wanting my money back. BUT I don't go as far as actually running to the manager and getting my money back.

[Unknown User]

I really don't care about the money/ Bookstore thing, and although the OP mentions it, I think it is off-topic as far what is in the spirit of the original post. So, I'm not going to mention that any further.


 Yes, a lot of people don't like the way K.A. handled the ending and blah blah blah, that has been talked about so much around here that it isn't even news worthy anymore. What I really disagree with you on is your statement that killing the secrecy of the series ruined it. How else did you expect it to go? I mean, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that one day the Animoprhs would be discovered. It was only talked about in every single book. In fact, if they hadn't been found out, I'm sure we'd have a bunch of threads here on RAF saying "She cheated us on the ending: All I was waiting for was for the yeerks to discover the Animorphs. IMO The book were the yeerks find the Ani's is the best book of the series.

I'm sorry if this sounded harsh to you, that was entirely not my intention. I'm just not good at talking sweetly.

[Funky Poacher]

Just so you know, I went back to the bookstore, explained to the owner how the series ended, (She hated it even more than i did) and the owner gave me a refund for the books, she then sent them back to the supplier.

Just so you know, that's a dick move (and it sounds suspiscious to boot - people who own stores are there to make money, not refund kids' books because of a whim). People have a right to make their own decisions when it comes to books, films, music, etc. But that's all been discussed already, along with the typical spiel about disliking the end of the book, something else I disagree with. So instead I'll go after what I think you're dead wrong about and what you said that I can't respect, opinions aside.

As far as the 'fanfic' comment, you have to understand that fanfic writers are actually in a very fortunate position. They can do whatever they want with the characters and write how they want. Above all else, and concerning specifically what you were talking about, they can come up with a variety of different conclusions to the series instead of having to stick with one final decision. Your fanfic comment is absolutely not fair. KA (and ghost writers) had to confine themselves to certain things fanfic writers can ignore. As far as being a 'better writer', that depends on what you think makes up good writing. I always thought the plot of Animorphs was phenominal, but even as a child I thought the writing style was lacking. That's something else the fanfic writers can experiment with, whereas those who actually wrote the series could not.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Grace, if you came up with a best-selling book series, and some random internet-user made the same statement as you just did, how would YOU feel about it?

[Estelore]

Okay, folks... perhaps repeating the same point in concurrence seven times on the first page of a thread is a bit... redundant, maybe even harsh to the OP?

That said, there are buckets of How It Should/n't Have Ended threads, for anybody not averse to the occasional necrothread. We don't have to chew on the OP anymore, hopefully.

Strong opinions and extreme anecdotal hyperbole = things RAF encounters but rarely, anymore. Maybe we're starting to forget how to deal with them civilly, as a group.  Whether or not any one of us sees the topic as rude/ridiculous or not, we're long past beating a dead horse.

[Funky Poacher]

Well, if people insist on bringing up the subject...