They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot/Literature: Difference between revisions

** Also, in ''Ender's Shadow'', we see that Bean was the one who chose the students in the Dragon army in Battle School. While drafting the army, Bean had three spots left. He decided on a girl name Wu, who was a brilliant tactical mind and a fantastic shot; when put up for promotion to toon leader, however, she instantly requested transfer and refused to play until then. This seemed like a really interesting character, especially in the Battle School where the number of girls can be counted on one hand (Petra is the only one in the early books in Battle School, Virlomi is introduced later as a graduate), and we could've gotten a subplot about what exactly Wu's problem with promotion to a leadership position was, and how it could've been helped by Ender. Instead, not only is that not explored, there is absolute zero mention of Wu ever again, and furthermore, it appears that the army is 100% male (they never refer to a girl in Dragon army, ever). So what could've been another strong female character with a fairly interesting backstory just ended up being a total throwaway line.

* Very late in James P. Hogan's ''Paths to Otherwhere'', the Chinese philosopher discovers that when the characters [[Grand Theft Me|transmit their minds between]] their bodies and the body of one of their [[Alternate History|parallel timeline counterparts]], they don't just overwrite the target's mind for the duration of their stay, but in fact both minds will eventually [[Fusion Dance|merge into a unified consciousness in both directions]] if the link is maintained long enough. After this, the book hints that not only is this possible during a transmission, but that if you indulge in inter-timeline travel enough and are very focused, you can train your mind to feel through the separation between timelines even when the linking machine is off, to communicate with multiple alternate timeline counterparts, possibly [[Instrumentality|merging an infinite number of minds together across time]]. Instead of investigating the ramifications of this, upon discovering a paradise timeline, the characters all agree to [[Hidden Elf Village|abandon their bodies and their troubled home timeline alike to live there]].

* [[H. G. Wells]]' ''The Food of the Gods'' (not to be confused with the [[So Bad It's Good]] movie), straddling his classic science-fiction period and the [[Author Tract]] style of his later works. The first half of the novel deals with a growth compound creating oversized, mutated horrors, and the scientists trying to stamp out a whole range of altered ecosystems that have begun spreading across England. The second half opens promisingly enough, beginning twenty years later in a world where siren towers warn the public of approaching swarms and special quick-response forces are fighting a steadily losing war against the new order. The book suddenly veers away from that premise, though, in favor of a [[Strawman Political|progress vs. luddites]] allegory so paper-thin that it doesn't even bother giving the giant-sized [[Canon Sue]] protagonists individual names, until the story completely gives way to an [[Author Filibuster]] non-ending.

* [[William Goldman]]'s ''Boys and Girls Together'' follows a group of young people who, after a long series of individual stories, finally meet each other and end up writing/directing/producing a play. Throughout most of the novel, it seems that the writer character, who bases his script on personal experience, is going to have to pay for something he did to his sister as a teenager (which is exactly what he wrote his play about). As the grand finale approaches and things start going seriously wrong, the play ends up losing its main actor just before opening night. You probably anticipated a beautifully bittersweet ending in which the writer character would be forced to take his main character's place in the play and physically re-live his painful childhood memories in front of a live audience. Instead? The play is cancelled, no one learns anything at all, and the real shocker finale of the book is that some minor character was gay all along and ends up dominating the writer character.

** Let's not start with the Epilogue. Instead, Draco. There were plenty of chances he could've done a [[Heel Face Turn]] and aided Harry and co, maybe even having a [[Redemption Equals Death]]. Instead he slinks away from battle. Of course, let's not forget how epic it would've been if all of Slytherin (or at least the majority) decided to stand with Harry and the school at that moment.

* ''The Snow'' by Adam Roberts has multiple examples of this- it starts off as a disaster story, then it's a psychological drama about isolation, then it turns into political satire, before rounding off all the loose ends with the [[Deus Ex Machina]] of saying that {{spoiler|space aliens did it.}}

* ''Maximum Ride'' lost all plot continuity from the Final Warning onwards.

* Two of the ''[[Goosebumps]]'' books, ''The Abominable Snowman Of Pasadena'' and ''Vampire Breath'' started out pretty well for this series. The former started out as a not-at-all horror-like book, and more of an adventure style novel, but was pretty straightforward and made sense. Then it hit a ridiculous [[Gainax Ending]], where throwing a snowball from the arctic inexplicably turned a Pasadena suburb in summer into ice. The snowman escapes and is never mentioned again, so they bury the snow in the backyard where nobody will ever find it. Until two very minor characters that were only mentioned a couple times beforehand dig them up and throw them at each other. The end. The latter starts off as a surprisingly good and kinda creepy story about two kids who end up in the past in a vampire's castle. It's good until the very end, where they find a bottle of random juice called "Werewolf Sweat," which turns one of them into a werewolf, a weird ending that seemed tacked on to make sure the story wasn't of good quality throughout.

* Let's think about the premise of the Israeli book ''"To Know a Woman"'' by Amos Oz. After his wife dies in a terrible accident, Mossad agent Yoav Raviv decides to retire (against the will of his superiors) in order to spend the rest of his days living a peaceful life in a new house by the see, tending to his [[Ill Girl]] daughter. But many years ago, while on a mission, Yoav's emotions led him to make a mistake... a mistake that comes back to haunt him when his superiors demand that he go on [[One Last Job]] in order to fix the matter once and for all. Sounds like the beginning of an awesome spy-thriller? {{spoiler|Yoav refuses his superior's demand, and indeed does live the rest of his life in peace. The rest of the book is a hair-pullingly boring account of his day-to-day life and his encounters with some nice neighbors.}} Seriously!

* ''Theatre Illuminata''. Premise: a teenaged girl lives in an enormous magical theater where the characters from every play ever written enact their plays over and over. You've got [[Hamlet|Ophelia]] wandering around trying to drown herself, the fairies from ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' attacking the refreshment tables and absolute ''insanity'' going on backstage. There's a director, a producer, and a costume-maker. There's a props room with pretty much everything in the entire universe. The sets are godlike visions of glory and paint. And in the midst of all this, [[The Tempest|Ariel]] decides he wants to break out and be free by destroying the "Book of the Theater" that keeps everyone bound to its pages. Fantastic...except that literally nothing comes of the whole setup but a really, ''really'' typical, annoyingly-written YA [[Love Triangle]].

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: This is a fantasy-like series with adventure and romance tossed in it. The first 7 books are about the protagonists getting [[Revenge]] and justice for the wrongs that have been heaped on them. The other 14 books are about the protagonists fighting against injustice done to others and terrorism. However, the series falls victim to this trope. ''Lethal Justice'' has Alexis Thorne contemplating how one day she take on her real name Sara Whittier again when she is ready. That never happens. ''Free Fall'' has Yoko Akia saying that one day she will go and live in Japan where her grandparents live. That never happens. Harry Wong is so powerful, and yet he is considered the second best martial artist in the world. The identity of the number one martial artist in the world is never stated and this character never makes an appearance. Harry trains to be number one in ''Home Free'', but in the end, he decides to give up on it so he can focus on his wife Yoko and their baby Lily Wong. ''Game Over'' has the Vigilantes and the Big Five join up with Henry "Hank" Jellicoe's company Global Securities, and it's indicated that they'll get to do what they've been doing, but on a ''global'' scale! ''Cross Roads'' ends up revealing that they were essentially put in a big [[Gilded Cage]], and that Jellicoe is a [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]. In short, the series has some interesting ideas that never actually get to go anywhere!

 

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[[Category:They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot]]