A book where the hero can’t live happily ever after

Hello there

when I was a teen, I read a whole lot of YA fiction and fantasy, so many that I can’t even recall what some of those were about. During the time, I realized most of the books of the genre have a triumphal ending. The hero finishes their journey, saves the day, and all is fine now.

However, some books don’t do that. Some books actually show that heroes actually go through traumatic stuff that stains them for the rest of their life. A most famous example would be Frodo>!’s departure with the elves, as the shire was not “saved for himself”.!< That’s a major book, but I haven’t found such thing at many other places.

A less known book series minor spoiler ahead:

>!A. Horowitz’s Alex Rider series did that, I remember. And while I liked the books yet didn’t \*love\* them, it made me remember it very clearly. The feeling of despair that I got a happy ending but the protagonist didn’t. !<

I am looking for more similar books. Not interested in protagonist dying or losing the fight. Looking for the bitter “happy ever after but oops not really” vibe. I’m an adult now, yet I don’t mind reading kids books either. I just want to explore this unique feeling that stayed with me more than a decade, analyse what made me feel it so deeply.

by Ok-Math-9062