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* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'': After the whole book has revolved around Dorothy and her friends seeking to have their wishes granted by the Wizard, and after he gives the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion the brain, heart and courage they wanted (or rather, symbols of them, since they really [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong had those qualities all along]]), but fails to send Dorothy home, we're anxious to see Dorothy find some other way to get home and wrap up the story. But instead we get several more chapters in which our heroes journey to Glinda's country to ask her for help, having various episodic adventures along the way. It's no wonder that [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the classic 1939 movie]], ''[[Theatre/The Wiz]]'', and other adaptations cut all those extra adventures and just have Glinda appear right away to help Dorothy after the Wizard's departure.
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* ''Literature/BillyBudd'': Readers may be bored by the chapters following Billy's hanging, and Melville himself appears to have had difficulty continuing the story, especially since he was working against his own impending death. Melville's manuscript contains a note briefly concluding the tale three chapters later on a highly cynical note, though the author did find time to write one more chapter after that. The play by Coxe and Chapman ends with the hanging scene, and Britten's opera cuts from it to a FramingDevice that ignores Melville's continuation.
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* ''Literature/BillyBudd'': Readers may be bored by the chapters following Billy's hanging, and Melville himself appears to have had difficulty continuing the story, especially since he was working against his own impending death. Melville's manuscript contains a note paragraph briefly concluding the tale three chapters later on a highly cynical note, though this is usually printed as a footnote since the author did find time to write one more chapter after that. The play by Coxe and Chapman ends with the hanging scene, and Britten's opera cuts from it to a FramingDevice that ignores Melville's continuation.
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* ''Literature/BillyBudd'': Readers may be bored by the chapters following Billy's hanging, and Melville himself appears to have had difficulty continuing the story, especially since he was working against his own impending death. Melville's manuscript contains a note briefly concluding the tale three chapters later on a highly cynical note, though the author did find time to write one more chapter after that. The play by Coxe and Chapman ends with the hanging scene, and Britten's opera cuts from it to a FramingDevice that ignores Melville's continuation.
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* ''[[Creator/DickFrancis 10 Lb. Penalty]]'': Some readers dislike the TimeSkip the last fifty pages or so cover, and George Juilliard's further political career, and feel that his initial election to MP would have been a good stopping point if the villains' comeuppance had been moved forward to that point.
* ''Literature/JurassicPark'': Tim has successfully improvised himself through Jurassic Park's computers to finally restore the main power, thus securing the survivors and being able to call for help. The end, right? Nope, Grant insists that they have to find all the dinosaur nests and count the eggs. They only find one nest before the Costa Rican military arrives, muscles the survivors off the island, and then firebombs it. Then when they get home, there's a SequelHook hinting at dinos that have escaped to the mainland... which was never followed upon in the sequel.
* ''Literature/JurassicPark'': Tim has successfully improvised himself through Jurassic Park's computers to finally restore the main power, thus securing the survivors and being able to call for help. The end, right? Nope, Grant insists that they have to find all the dinosaur nests and count the eggs. They only find one nest before the Costa Rican military arrives, muscles the survivors off the island, and then firebombs it. Then when they get home, there's a SequelHook hinting at dinos that have escaped to the mainland... which was never followed upon in the sequel.
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* ''[[Creator/DickFrancis 10 Lb. Penalty]]'': Some readers of Creator/DickFrancis's ''10 Lb. Penalty'' dislike the TimeSkip the last fifty pages or so cover, and George Juilliard's further political career, and feel that his initial election to MP would have been a good stopping point if the villains' comeuppance had been moved forward to that point.
*''Literature/JurassicPark'': ''Literature/JurassicPark1990'': Tim has successfully improvised himself through Jurassic Park's computers to finally restore the main power, thus securing the survivors and being able to call for help. The end, right? Nope, Grant insists that they have to find all the dinosaur nests and count the eggs. They only find one nest before the Costa Rican military arrives, muscles the survivors off the island, and then firebombs it. Then when they get home, there's a SequelHook hinting at dinos that have escaped to the mainland... which was never followed upon in [[Literature/TheLostWorld1995 the sequel.sequel]].
*
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* ''Literature/{{Memory}}'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold has three endings. First, the main detective plot wraps up; then, Miles makes a decision about whether to take up Gregor's offer; and then he goes off to sort things out with Quinn. The two later endings are necessary to the continuing story, though, so if they hadn't been wrapped up in this one they would have needed to be explained in the next book.
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* ''Literature/{{Memory}}'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold The ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' book ''Memory'' has three endings. First, the main detective plot wraps up; then, Miles makes a decision about whether to take up Gregor's offer; and then he goes off to sort things out with Quinn. The two later endings are necessary to the continuing story, though, so if they hadn't been wrapped up in this one one, they would have needed to be explained in the next book.
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* Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/ColdheartCanyon'' -- the tiled room's power is broken, and from there the forces that kept the villain safe are destroyed. The villain gets a satisfying comeuppance... and then [[spoiler: the two survivors deal with a police investigation and a book based on their experiences, along with getting on with their lives. Then they learn that the male lead's soul hasn't crossed over yet, and try to save him from the inevitable before everyone realizes that there's no need to fight fate]]. This takes about 100 pages. To make matters worse, had this material been trimmed or dropped, the 75-or-so pages that set up the minor subplot points resolved in it could have been cut too!
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* Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/ColdheartCanyon'' -- the ''Literature/ColdheartCanyon'': The tiled room's power is broken, and from there the forces that kept the villain safe are destroyed. The villain gets a satisfying comeuppance... and then [[spoiler: the two survivors deal with a police investigation and a book based on their experiences, along with getting on with their lives. Then they learn that the male lead's soul hasn't crossed over yet, and try to save him from the inevitable before everyone realizes that there's no need to fight fate]]. This takes about 100 pages. To make matters worse, had this material been trimmed or dropped, the 75-or-so pages that set up the minor subplot points resolved in it could have been cut too!
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* The Literature/AgentPendergast novel ''Literature/BookOfTheDead'' sees the antagonist's plot foiled and said antagonist currently facing the front end of a gun. So villain gets killed and the story wraps up? Not yet. Instead we see him survive his attempted murder and have an extra hundred pages devoted to him getting hunted down before the story finally wraps up.
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* The Literature/AgentPendergast novel ''Literature/BookOfTheDead'' ''Literature/BookOfTheDead2006'' sees the antagonist's plot foiled and said antagonist currently facing the front end of a gun. So villain gets killed and the story wraps up? Not yet. Instead Instead, we see him survive his attempted murder and have an extra hundred pages devoted to him getting hunted down before the story finally wraps up.
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* ''Literature/TheGoldfinch'': After the novel's climax, in which its central plot concern is resolved, we are still waiting to find out which of the protagonist's two love interests he's going to end up with. Instead, there is a long rambling digression about the allure of self-destructiveness and the value of art. After hundreds of pages of buildup, [[MaybeEverAfter we never actually do get any romantic resolution]].
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* ''Literature/TheGoldfinch'': After the novel's climax, in which its central plot concern is resolved, we are still waiting to find out which of the protagonist's two love interests he's going to end up with.with, and whether he's going to get any kind of comeuppance for selling counterfeit antiques. Instead, there is a long rambling digression about the allure of self-destructiveness and the value of art. After hundreds of pages of buildup, [[MaybeEverAfter we never actually do get any romantic resolution]].resolution]] and the counterfeits plot is likewise left unresolved.
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* ''Literature/TheGoldfinch'': After the novel's climax, in which its central plot concern is resolved, we are still waiting to find out which of the protagonist's two love interests he's going to end up with. Instead, there is a long rambling digression about the allure of self-destructiveness and the value of art. To make matters worse, [[Spoiler: after hundreds of pages of buildup, [[MaybeEverAfter we never actually do get any romantic resolution]].]]
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* ''Literature/TheGoldfinch'': After the novel's climax, in which its central plot concern is resolved, we are still waiting to find out which of the protagonist's two love interests he's going to end up with. Instead, there is a long rambling digression about the allure of self-destructiveness and the value of art. To make matters worse, [[Spoiler: after After hundreds of pages of buildup, [[MaybeEverAfter we never actually do get any romantic resolution]].]]
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* ''Literature/TheGoldfinch'': After the novel's climax, in which its central plot concern is resolved, we are still waiting to find out which of the protagonist's two love interests he's going to end up with. Instead, there is a long rambling digression about the allure of self-destructiveness and the value of art. To make matters worse, [[Spoiler: after hundreds of pages of buildup, [[MaybeEverAfter we never actually do get any romantic resolution]].]]
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Ending Fatigue is specifically about the book's ending (whether that be the climax or denoument) going on too long, not the presence of a denoument in the first place. A book having an epilogue isn't enough to justify it being here.
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** ''Literature/TheShining'', for instance, could have ended at the [[spoiler: destruction of]] the Overlook Hotel. But instead, we get another chapter set the following summer, for no particularly good reason.
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* Some people have this view of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''. The real climax point is when Harry learns that it was Peter Pettigrew and not Sirius Black that betrayed his parents...in Chapter 19 of 22, after which there's another 40 pages where Harry and Hermione go back in time and relive the climax again to put things in place for Sirius to escape.
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* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' as well. Around page 350, when Howard Roark gets his grand-standing speech in court describing his motives and his view on humanity (pretty much dropping Rand's anvil, if you haven't been awake long enough to get what she was aiming at the whole book). It seems when you've got your character in a position to monologue for three pages about everything that he did since the beginning of the book to society at a whole, this is a good place to say, "climax! Now for the denouement!" Apparently, Rand knew that her personal philosophy wouldn't go down quite as easy, so Roark ends up in prison and he doesn't get his moment as "revolutionary genius" until ''another'' 350 pages.
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* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' as well. Around page 350, when Howard Roark gets his grand-standing speech in court describing his motives and his view on humanity (pretty much dropping Rand's anvil, if you haven't been awake long enough to get what she was aiming at the whole book). It seems when you've got your character in a position to monologue for three pages about everything that he did since the beginning of the book to society at a whole, this is a good place to say, "climax! Now for the denouement!" Apparently, Rand knew that her personal philosophy wouldn't go down quite as easy, so Roark is acquitted, and the rest of the book just deals with cleaning up loose ends up in prison of what happens to him, Dominique, Wynand, and he doesn't get Toohey (but not Keating, whose testimony at the trial pretty much ends his moment career as "revolutionary genius" until ''another'' 350 pages.an architect).
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* ''[[Creator/DickFrancis 10 Lb. Penalty]]'': Some readers dislike the TimeSkip the last fifty pages or so cover, and George Juilliard's further political career, and feel that his initial election to MP would have been a good stopping point if the villains' comeuppance had been moved forward to that point.
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* ''Literature/{{Feed}}''. The point about how the execution of the New Media had been pretty much made within part 2 - part 3 and 4 of the novels seem to feel like Anderson is trying to hammer it in even more.
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* ''Literature/{{Feed}}''.''Literature/Feed2002''. The point about how the execution of the New Media had been pretty much made within part 2 - part 3 and 4 of the novels seem to feel like Anderson is trying to hammer it in even more.
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That's not an example of the trope. it's complaining about shows you don't like
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** Unfortunately, while the use of the extended ending worked well with that story, with the book being the ur-example of fantasy fiction, it had the side effect of many other authors writing extended sequences [[FollowTheLeader in imitation]]. Famed author ''Creator/GeorgeRRMartin'' has expressed his intent to have a "Scouring of the Shire" like section in his ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series. Considering the general popular and critical dislike of the post-climactic section of the television [[Series/GameOfThrones adaptation]], one hopes he will be very careful in how he implements this.
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* ''Bats Fly at Dusk'' by Erle Stanley Gardner plays with it. While most of this series are first-person narratives from Donald Lam, this book is a third-person narrative centering around his partner, Bertha Cool while Donald is in the navy during World War II. Donald sends several telegrams suggesting lines of inquiry and pointing out facts about her case, but Bertha finally washes her hands of the case and goes fishing. The next day she comes back to the office to find Donald got a military pass, came to town, solved the case, and left her a note explaining it and pointing out her mistakes.
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* ''Bats Fly at Dusk'' by Erle Stanley Gardner Creator/ErleStanleyGardner plays with it. While most of this series are first-person narratives from Donald Lam, this book is a third-person narrative centering around his partner, Bertha Cool while Donald is in the navy during World War II. Donald sends several telegrams suggesting lines of inquiry and pointing out facts about her case, but Bertha finally washes her hands of the case and goes fishing. The next day she comes back to the office to find Donald got a military pass, came to town, solved the case, and left her a note explaining it and pointing out her mistakes.
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Substituted a less judgmental word for the characterization of Atlas Shrugged as a "rant" on the part of Ayn Rand, due to the rule of cautious editing judgment.
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* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', more specifically [[AuthorFilibuster John Galt's speech.]] Actually, you could skip the entire novel and just read that speech, and you'd get the gist of Ayn Rand's rant anyway.
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* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', more specifically [[AuthorFilibuster John Galt's speech.]] Actually, you could skip the entire novel and just read that speech, and you'd get the gist of Ayn Rand's rant point anyway.
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* ''Literature/JurassicPark'': Tim has successfully improvised himself through Jurassic Park's computers to finally restore the main power, thus securing the survivors and being able to call for help. The end, right? Nope, Grant insists that they have to find all the dinosaur nests and count the eggs. They only find one nest before the Costa Rican military arrives, muscles the survivors off the island, and then firebombs it. Then when they get home, there's a SequelHook hinting at dinos that have escaped to the mainland... which was never followed upon in the sequel.
* Creator/StephenKing is prone to this trope. It's said that he's great at fitting a 300-page story into a 600-page book.
** ''Literature/TheShining'', for instance, could have ended at the [[spoiler: destruction of]] the Overlook Hotel. But instead, we get another chapter set the following summer, for no particularly good reason.
** ''Literature/TheStand'' features an endless epilogue about how someone gets back home after the climax. The uncut version has an additional epilogue, though this one's only a few pages.
** ''Literature/{{It}}'': During the final (1985) confrontation, a storm rages aboveground while the Losers' Club battles Pennywise (in Its GiantSpider form) in Its lair; the effects of the incredibly destructive storm on the residents (and landmarks) of Derry are exhaustively described. After the Losers finally defeat It, the book goes on to describe how the surviving members of the Club leave Derry one by one, how each one of them (including Mike) are forgetting everything for good this time, and how Bill revives the catatonic Audra. And ''then'', how the Losers parted ways after ''their'' confrontation with It in 1958.
** ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}''. After the slam-bang climax at the Shop's HQ, there's a sizable ''dénouement'' with Charlie finding her way back to the Manders' farm, Irv and Norma nursing her back to health while trying to keep quiet her presence at the farm (the reconstituted Shop is determined to find her and liquidate her), and, finally, her journey to NYC to find someone to tell her story to.
* Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'' is the best American novel right up until Tom Sawyer shows up. Creator/ErnestHemingway famously said, "If you read it you must stop where... Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating."
* The last several books of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series suffered from this problem. After the Antichrist came back from the dead, killed people with fiery pillars from the sky, and desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem, there just wasn't anything more evil for him to do. And that was Book Eight of a ''13'' book series (not counting the three prequels). It doesn't help that anyone who will read that particular series through Book Eight already ''knows'' the ending (spoiler: [[spoiler:Satan loses]]) and is just slogging along to see exactly how they're going to get there.
* While their quality remains consistent throughout, Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/DarknessSeries'' are of an incredible length. The series probably does go one book too many, but it's based on World War II, which did extend three years past the "climax" (Stalingrad, El Alamein, and Midway) to resolve.
** His various series may fall here, though. One particular novel may look as if it's coming to the conclusion of a particular world's story, with a trilogy just about to be wrapped up... but nope, it's still going, and a new trilogy is about to start, so you still have to keep reading...
* Christopher Paolini's ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Inheritance]]'' has about 150 pages after the big bad is defeated.
* Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Literature/{{Phantoms}}''. While a very good book overall, the battle against the Ancient Enemy is clearly the climax. Following that, the fight at the hospital feels completely tacked on. It is only tangentially related to the main plot and doesn't count as a TwistEnding or AssPull because it doesn't actually change anything. It just feels like an attempt to cram one last dramatic moment into the final chapter, and it falls flat because the main plot of the story has already been soundly resolved.
* Creator/DianaWynneJones's later children's books. Readers used to complain that she finished her plots too abruptly and without sufficient explanation (the original book of ''Literature/HowlsMovingCastle'' and ''Literature/FireAndHemlock'' are cases in point). Clearly her editor has got on to her about this, because from ''The Merlin Conspiracy'' onward, every single book seems to have a satisfying conclusion, and then at least one or two chapters explaining what happened to all the characters after that. ''Conrad's Fate'' tells you what happens in the next ten years or so.
* ''Pamela.'' You'd think it would end after she resists and reforms [[HandsomeLech her boss]] and they get married, plunking down AnAesop in the process. No, there are still 200 pages. It reaches the happily-ever-after and, instead of rolling credits, just ''keeps on going.''
* Used apparently on purpose and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in [[Creator/TerryPratchett Sir Terry Pratchett's]] ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', which has "You think it's all over?" written in large letters, followed by another scene, a few times.
** As well as being a lampshading of this trope, this is a reference to the famous commentary of England's victory over Germany in the World Cup of 1966, which went into extra time after finishing level after 90 minutes, but which eventually led to England's victory. Which possibly makes the game itself an example of this trope.
** Also to an extent, but unlampshaded, in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''. Susan's saved the Hogfather and defeated the Auditors. Then she still has to deal with Teatime. Fair enough, it's just that YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle. But then, with the main story definitely concluded, Pterry [[ThirdLineSomeWaiting remembers the subplots]] and resolves them all one after the other: the raven's quest for carrion; the Cheerful Fairy and other manifestations of belief; Albert and the rocking horse; Ridcully's bathroom; and finally, the Canting Crew and their unexpected Hogswatch dinner, previously referred to about halfway through the book.
** Just about all of Creator/TerryPratchett's books have this, though he writes it well enough and the books are short enough that the extended endings are not unpleasant to read.
* ''This Body''. It's about a middle-aged mom named Katherine who dies unexpectedly and finds herself a year in the future in the body of a 20-something named Thisby (yes, ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' is a recurring theme), who died of a drug overdose. Most of the book is about Katherine getting Thisby's life together and finding ways to reconnect with her original family. The book is interesting, but it soon becomes clear that the author didn't know how to finish it, and there's some three-month flash-forward before the book wanders into its ending.
* ''Literature/BattlefieldEarth''. The climactic battle against the aliens actually occurs at about 300 pages into the [[DoorStopper 1,050 page paperweight]] of a book. Once the humans have kicked the evil aliens off Earth, the rest of the book deals with the surviving villains fighting over the scraps of their empire, and some kind of legal battle over the real estate ownership status of the planet.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The climax of the story takes place little over the halfway point of ''Return Of The King'', with the return journeys home being just as important as the journey ''to'' Mordor in the first place, practically making it read like a PostScriptSeason. Partly {{justified|Trope}}: Tolkien didn't want a cliche "happy-ever-after" ending, and included the Scouring of the Shire to show [[CharacterDevelopment how the small hobbits of the Fellowship had grown into true heroes in and of themselves]]. It also shows how most of the hobbit race (except for some bad eggs) are [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Crouching Moron Hidden Badasses]] when [[GodzillaThreshold push truly comes to shove]], and that they absolutely abhor killing their own kind, which was one of the [[DividedWeFall MAJOR failings of]] [[Literature/TheSilmarillion the Elves of the First Age]].
** Unfortunately, while the use of the extended ending worked well with that story, with the book being the ur-example of fantasy fiction, it had the side effect of many other authors writing extended sequences [[FollowTheLeader in imitation]]. Famed author ''Creator/GeorgeRRMartin'' has expressed his intent to have a "Scouring of the Shire" like section in his ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series. Considering the general popular and critical dislike of the post-climactic section of the television [[Series/GameOfThrones adaptation]], one hopes he will be very careful in how he implements this.
* In ''Literature/ThePoisonwoodBible'', the epilogue is actually a sizable portion of the book. It details the lives of all of the main characters over the next thirty years. The book really ends almost 37 years later.
* ''Literature/AnnaKarenina'': The eponymous character [[spoiler:commits suicide]] and the plot essentially ends at the end of book seven. There's a ''whole other hundred-page book'' dealing with the spiritual awakening of secondary character Levin, Tolstoy's AuthorAvatar. It's referred to even in academic circles as somewhat masturbatory; Tolstoy had gone through a similar spiritual experience and wanted to spread the word.
** ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' gets dinged for this as well; after the war ends and we find out the fates of all the main characters, Tolstoy gives us a long dissertation on history and the forces that decide the fates of nations. Fascinating stuff, if a bit dry.
* The endings of many of Joe Haldeman's novels feel incredibly forced. Oddly enough, however, he uses this trope to good effect in ''Literature/TheForeverWar'', as he's set the story up such that the only way to end it is to force an ending, which reinforces the point that the war has been going on for so many centuries that, at least on the part of the humans, no one knows any longer why they're fighting or what they hope to accomplish.
* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', more specifically [[AuthorFilibuster John Galt's speech.]] Actually, you could skip the entire novel and just read that speech, and you'd get the gist of Ayn Rand's rant anyway.
* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' as well. Around page 350, when Howard Roark gets his grand-standing speech in court describing his motives and his view on humanity (pretty much dropping Rand's anvil, if you haven't been awake long enough to get what she was aiming at the whole book). It seems when you've got your character in a position to monologue for three pages about everything that he did since the beginning of the book to society at a whole, this is a good place to say, "climax! Now for the denouement!" Apparently, Rand knew that her personal philosophy wouldn't go down quite as easy, so Roark ends up in prison and he doesn't get his moment as "revolutionary genius" until ''another'' 350 pages.
* ''Literature/TheLostSymbol'', by Creator/DanBrown: We hit the climax of the book with a good 2 or 3 chapters in hand, which are then spent tying up loose ends and discussing Christianity.
* ''Literature/TheJungle'' by Upton Sinclair seems to find something of an ending when Jurgis joins the socialist labor union cause... and then the book goes on for another 20 pages to outline [[AuthorTract some arguments important to the socialist cause]] at the time. Even if you're familiar with Marxism and know what they're talking about, it's hard to read.
* ''Literature/{{Memory}}'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold has three endings. First, the main detective plot wraps up; then, Miles makes a decision about whether to take up Gregor's offer; and then he goes off to sort things out with Quinn. The two later endings are necessary to the continuing story, though, so if they hadn't been wrapped up in this one they would have needed to be explained in the next book.
* The ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'' series has this problem. First, Lief has to find the [[GottaCatchEmAll seven gems]] for the [[MacGuffin Belt of Deltora]], the only tool capable of defeating the [[BigBad Shadow Lord]]. [[spoiler: Then collect and assemble the three pieces of the [[MacGuffin Pirran Pipe]], the only tool capable of rescuing the people captured by the Shadow Lord. Then wake up the last seven dragons in Deltora, the only creatures capable of destroying the Four Sisters, evil objects slowly killing Deltora and created by [[OverlyLongGag the Shadow Lord]]. Lastly, said dragons must destroy an explosion of grey poison capable of destroying Deltora, and by doing so, defeating the Shadow Lord.]]
* ''Bats Fly at Dusk'' by Erle Stanley Gardner plays with it. While most of this series are first-person narratives from Donald Lam, this book is a third-person narrative centering around his partner, Bertha Cool while Donald is in the navy during World War II. Donald sends several telegrams suggesting lines of inquiry and pointing out facts about her case, but Bertha finally washes her hands of the case and goes fishing. The next day she comes back to the office to find Donald got a military pass, came to town, solved the case, and left her a note explaining it and pointing out her mistakes.
* Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/ColdheartCanyon'' -- the tiled room's power is broken, and from there the forces that kept the villain safe are destroyed. The villain gets a satisfying comeuppance... and then [[spoiler: the two survivors deal with a police investigation and a book based on their experiences, along with getting on with their lives. Then they learn that the male lead's soul hasn't crossed over yet, and try to save him from the inevitable before everyone realizes that there's no need to fight fate]]. This takes about 100 pages. To make matters worse, had this material been trimmed or dropped, the 75-or-so pages that set up the minor subplot points resolved in it could have been cut too!
* ''Literature/AmericanGods'': After the book's climax is over, we're treated to 50 or so pages dedicated to tying up a minor subplot that's been sidelined since the middle of the book. Once that's done we get a proper epilogue but for some readers, the climax is too far gone for this to really matter.
* The Literature/AgentPendergast novel ''Literature/BookOfTheDead'' sees the antagonist's plot foiled and said antagonist currently facing the front end of a gun. So villain gets killed and the story wraps up? Not yet. Instead we see him survive his attempted murder and have an extra hundred pages devoted to him getting hunted down before the story finally wraps up.
* ''Literature/{{Feed}}''. The point about how the execution of the New Media had been pretty much made within part 2 - part 3 and 4 of the novels seem to feel like Anderson is trying to hammer it in even more.
----
* Creator/StephenKing is prone to this trope. It's said that he's great at fitting a 300-page story into a 600-page book.
** ''Literature/TheShining'', for instance, could have ended at the [[spoiler: destruction of]] the Overlook Hotel. But instead, we get another chapter set the following summer, for no particularly good reason.
** ''Literature/TheStand'' features an endless epilogue about how someone gets back home after the climax. The uncut version has an additional epilogue, though this one's only a few pages.
** ''Literature/{{It}}'': During the final (1985) confrontation, a storm rages aboveground while the Losers' Club battles Pennywise (in Its GiantSpider form) in Its lair; the effects of the incredibly destructive storm on the residents (and landmarks) of Derry are exhaustively described. After the Losers finally defeat It, the book goes on to describe how the surviving members of the Club leave Derry one by one, how each one of them (including Mike) are forgetting everything for good this time, and how Bill revives the catatonic Audra. And ''then'', how the Losers parted ways after ''their'' confrontation with It in 1958.
** ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}''. After the slam-bang climax at the Shop's HQ, there's a sizable ''dénouement'' with Charlie finding her way back to the Manders' farm, Irv and Norma nursing her back to health while trying to keep quiet her presence at the farm (the reconstituted Shop is determined to find her and liquidate her), and, finally, her journey to NYC to find someone to tell her story to.
* Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/AdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn'' is the best American novel right up until Tom Sawyer shows up. Creator/ErnestHemingway famously said, "If you read it you must stop where... Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating."
* The last several books of the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series suffered from this problem. After the Antichrist came back from the dead, killed people with fiery pillars from the sky, and desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem, there just wasn't anything more evil for him to do. And that was Book Eight of a ''13'' book series (not counting the three prequels). It doesn't help that anyone who will read that particular series through Book Eight already ''knows'' the ending (spoiler: [[spoiler:Satan loses]]) and is just slogging along to see exactly how they're going to get there.
* While their quality remains consistent throughout, Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/DarknessSeries'' are of an incredible length. The series probably does go one book too many, but it's based on World War II, which did extend three years past the "climax" (Stalingrad, El Alamein, and Midway) to resolve.
** His various series may fall here, though. One particular novel may look as if it's coming to the conclusion of a particular world's story, with a trilogy just about to be wrapped up... but nope, it's still going, and a new trilogy is about to start, so you still have to keep reading...
* Christopher Paolini's ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Inheritance]]'' has about 150 pages after the big bad is defeated.
* Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Literature/{{Phantoms}}''. While a very good book overall, the battle against the Ancient Enemy is clearly the climax. Following that, the fight at the hospital feels completely tacked on. It is only tangentially related to the main plot and doesn't count as a TwistEnding or AssPull because it doesn't actually change anything. It just feels like an attempt to cram one last dramatic moment into the final chapter, and it falls flat because the main plot of the story has already been soundly resolved.
* Creator/DianaWynneJones's later children's books. Readers used to complain that she finished her plots too abruptly and without sufficient explanation (the original book of ''Literature/HowlsMovingCastle'' and ''Literature/FireAndHemlock'' are cases in point). Clearly her editor has got on to her about this, because from ''The Merlin Conspiracy'' onward, every single book seems to have a satisfying conclusion, and then at least one or two chapters explaining what happened to all the characters after that. ''Conrad's Fate'' tells you what happens in the next ten years or so.
* ''Pamela.'' You'd think it would end after she resists and reforms [[HandsomeLech her boss]] and they get married, plunking down AnAesop in the process. No, there are still 200 pages. It reaches the happily-ever-after and, instead of rolling credits, just ''keeps on going.''
* Used apparently on purpose and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in [[Creator/TerryPratchett Sir Terry Pratchett's]] ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', which has "You think it's all over?" written in large letters, followed by another scene, a few times.
** As well as being a lampshading of this trope, this is a reference to the famous commentary of England's victory over Germany in the World Cup of 1966, which went into extra time after finishing level after 90 minutes, but which eventually led to England's victory. Which possibly makes the game itself an example of this trope.
** Also to an extent, but unlampshaded, in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''. Susan's saved the Hogfather and defeated the Auditors. Then she still has to deal with Teatime. Fair enough, it's just that YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle. But then, with the main story definitely concluded, Pterry [[ThirdLineSomeWaiting remembers the subplots]] and resolves them all one after the other: the raven's quest for carrion; the Cheerful Fairy and other manifestations of belief; Albert and the rocking horse; Ridcully's bathroom; and finally, the Canting Crew and their unexpected Hogswatch dinner, previously referred to about halfway through the book.
** Just about all of Creator/TerryPratchett's books have this, though he writes it well enough and the books are short enough that the extended endings are not unpleasant to read.
* ''This Body''. It's about a middle-aged mom named Katherine who dies unexpectedly and finds herself a year in the future in the body of a 20-something named Thisby (yes, ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' is a recurring theme), who died of a drug overdose. Most of the book is about Katherine getting Thisby's life together and finding ways to reconnect with her original family. The book is interesting, but it soon becomes clear that the author didn't know how to finish it, and there's some three-month flash-forward before the book wanders into its ending.
* ''Literature/BattlefieldEarth''. The climactic battle against the aliens actually occurs at about 300 pages into the [[DoorStopper 1,050 page paperweight]] of a book. Once the humans have kicked the evil aliens off Earth, the rest of the book deals with the surviving villains fighting over the scraps of their empire, and some kind of legal battle over the real estate ownership status of the planet.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The climax of the story takes place little over the halfway point of ''Return Of The King'', with the return journeys home being just as important as the journey ''to'' Mordor in the first place, practically making it read like a PostScriptSeason. Partly {{justified|Trope}}: Tolkien didn't want a cliche "happy-ever-after" ending, and included the Scouring of the Shire to show [[CharacterDevelopment how the small hobbits of the Fellowship had grown into true heroes in and of themselves]]. It also shows how most of the hobbit race (except for some bad eggs) are [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Crouching Moron Hidden Badasses]] when [[GodzillaThreshold push truly comes to shove]], and that they absolutely abhor killing their own kind, which was one of the [[DividedWeFall MAJOR failings of]] [[Literature/TheSilmarillion the Elves of the First Age]].
** Unfortunately, while the use of the extended ending worked well with that story, with the book being the ur-example of fantasy fiction, it had the side effect of many other authors writing extended sequences [[FollowTheLeader in imitation]]. Famed author ''Creator/GeorgeRRMartin'' has expressed his intent to have a "Scouring of the Shire" like section in his ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' series. Considering the general popular and critical dislike of the post-climactic section of the television [[Series/GameOfThrones adaptation]], one hopes he will be very careful in how he implements this.
* In ''Literature/ThePoisonwoodBible'', the epilogue is actually a sizable portion of the book. It details the lives of all of the main characters over the next thirty years. The book really ends almost 37 years later.
* ''Literature/AnnaKarenina'': The eponymous character [[spoiler:commits suicide]] and the plot essentially ends at the end of book seven. There's a ''whole other hundred-page book'' dealing with the spiritual awakening of secondary character Levin, Tolstoy's AuthorAvatar. It's referred to even in academic circles as somewhat masturbatory; Tolstoy had gone through a similar spiritual experience and wanted to spread the word.
** ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' gets dinged for this as well; after the war ends and we find out the fates of all the main characters, Tolstoy gives us a long dissertation on history and the forces that decide the fates of nations. Fascinating stuff, if a bit dry.
* The endings of many of Joe Haldeman's novels feel incredibly forced. Oddly enough, however, he uses this trope to good effect in ''Literature/TheForeverWar'', as he's set the story up such that the only way to end it is to force an ending, which reinforces the point that the war has been going on for so many centuries that, at least on the part of the humans, no one knows any longer why they're fighting or what they hope to accomplish.
* ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', more specifically [[AuthorFilibuster John Galt's speech.]] Actually, you could skip the entire novel and just read that speech, and you'd get the gist of Ayn Rand's rant anyway.
* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' as well. Around page 350, when Howard Roark gets his grand-standing speech in court describing his motives and his view on humanity (pretty much dropping Rand's anvil, if you haven't been awake long enough to get what she was aiming at the whole book). It seems when you've got your character in a position to monologue for three pages about everything that he did since the beginning of the book to society at a whole, this is a good place to say, "climax! Now for the denouement!" Apparently, Rand knew that her personal philosophy wouldn't go down quite as easy, so Roark ends up in prison and he doesn't get his moment as "revolutionary genius" until ''another'' 350 pages.
* ''Literature/TheLostSymbol'', by Creator/DanBrown: We hit the climax of the book with a good 2 or 3 chapters in hand, which are then spent tying up loose ends and discussing Christianity.
* ''Literature/TheJungle'' by Upton Sinclair seems to find something of an ending when Jurgis joins the socialist labor union cause... and then the book goes on for another 20 pages to outline [[AuthorTract some arguments important to the socialist cause]] at the time. Even if you're familiar with Marxism and know what they're talking about, it's hard to read.
* ''Literature/{{Memory}}'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold has three endings. First, the main detective plot wraps up; then, Miles makes a decision about whether to take up Gregor's offer; and then he goes off to sort things out with Quinn. The two later endings are necessary to the continuing story, though, so if they hadn't been wrapped up in this one they would have needed to be explained in the next book.
* The ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'' series has this problem. First, Lief has to find the [[GottaCatchEmAll seven gems]] for the [[MacGuffin Belt of Deltora]], the only tool capable of defeating the [[BigBad Shadow Lord]]. [[spoiler: Then collect and assemble the three pieces of the [[MacGuffin Pirran Pipe]], the only tool capable of rescuing the people captured by the Shadow Lord. Then wake up the last seven dragons in Deltora, the only creatures capable of destroying the Four Sisters, evil objects slowly killing Deltora and created by [[OverlyLongGag the Shadow Lord]]. Lastly, said dragons must destroy an explosion of grey poison capable of destroying Deltora, and by doing so, defeating the Shadow Lord.]]
* ''Bats Fly at Dusk'' by Erle Stanley Gardner plays with it. While most of this series are first-person narratives from Donald Lam, this book is a third-person narrative centering around his partner, Bertha Cool while Donald is in the navy during World War II. Donald sends several telegrams suggesting lines of inquiry and pointing out facts about her case, but Bertha finally washes her hands of the case and goes fishing. The next day she comes back to the office to find Donald got a military pass, came to town, solved the case, and left her a note explaining it and pointing out her mistakes.
* Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/ColdheartCanyon'' -- the tiled room's power is broken, and from there the forces that kept the villain safe are destroyed. The villain gets a satisfying comeuppance... and then [[spoiler: the two survivors deal with a police investigation and a book based on their experiences, along with getting on with their lives. Then they learn that the male lead's soul hasn't crossed over yet, and try to save him from the inevitable before everyone realizes that there's no need to fight fate]]. This takes about 100 pages. To make matters worse, had this material been trimmed or dropped, the 75-or-so pages that set up the minor subplot points resolved in it could have been cut too!
* ''Literature/AmericanGods'': After the book's climax is over, we're treated to 50 or so pages dedicated to tying up a minor subplot that's been sidelined since the middle of the book. Once that's done we get a proper epilogue but for some readers, the climax is too far gone for this to really matter.
* The Literature/AgentPendergast novel ''Literature/BookOfTheDead'' sees the antagonist's plot foiled and said antagonist currently facing the front end of a gun. So villain gets killed and the story wraps up? Not yet. Instead we see him survive his attempted murder and have an extra hundred pages devoted to him getting hunted down before the story finally wraps up.
* ''Literature/{{Feed}}''. The point about how the execution of the New Media had been pretty much made within part 2 - part 3 and 4 of the novels seem to feel like Anderson is trying to hammer it in even more.
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