[fjtorres]

Well, it really depends on the nature of the series. Some series are really mega-novels serialized, with a unifying narrative spanning multiple volumes and a steadily evolving status quo. Others are really a collection of sequential standalone adventures. The former benefits from binge reading and often benefits from it while the latter may or not benefit but doesn't suffer from intermittent reader.

I've binge read the RCN series a couple times and it is something of a tweener: there is an evolving narrative but it is about the characters themselves. The adventures are stand-alone and, given the characters role in their universe, there really isn't much room for variation in their scope. I don't particularly care because I read those books precisely to see what Mundy and Leary are up to, in that order.

On the other hand, stories like LENSMEN and AMBER are more about the evolving conflict than about the protagonist personal evolution.

And then, sometimes a series itself evolves: The Honor Harrington series started out following her personal and career growth and then pivoted to focus on the bigger conflict in which she is now a major (but not only) player. Without that pivot, we would probably be talking about the limited variation in the stories. As Weber himself said, there's only so many deathrides he can credibly send a fleet Admiral on. Which is why he originally intended to kill her off and continue a couple decades later with her kids. (Then he let Eric Flint into his sandbox and discovered he didn't have to.)

In contrast, Xanth started out with a unifying narrative--the evolution of Xanth under Bink and his heirs--and later moved to the variations format.

In general, the greater the narrative progression in the series, the better it stands up to binge reading.

You can binge the "variations on a theme" stories (I once binge read the entire Tarzan canon in three weeks) but you might not want to repeat the experience. I can binge the first six Xanth books but the not the rest. Even the Dolph and Ivy arc can use some "palate cleansing" in between reads.