- Gratuitous death of a helpless animal. I once stopped reading an otherwise enjoyable mystery after a sweet, elderly cat was killed for no reason other than to torture the protagonist. Pets should be off limits for such things.
- Gratuitous death of the protagonist on the last page. I once read a book that ended with the death of the main character and his girlfriend in the last sentence of the last paragraph of the very last page.
This is why I skip to the ending of every single genre book by an author I don't know to make sure that at least #2 doesn't happen. Juvenile, perhaps, but y'know, life is too damn short for me to invest several hours of my life with a character who's going to end up dead at the end for no good reason.
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- Gratuitous death of a helpless animal. I once stopped reading an otherwise enjoyable mystery after a sweet, elderly cat was killed for no reason other than to torture the protagonist. Pets should be off limits for such things.
- Gratuitous death of the protagonist on the last page. I once read a book that ended with the death of the main character and his girlfriend in the last sentence of the last paragraph of the very last page.
This is why I skip to the ending of every single genre book by an author I don't know to make sure that at least #2 doesn't happen. Juvenile, perhaps, but y'know, life is too damn short for me to invest several hours of my life with a character who's going to end up dead at the end for no good reason.