Quote:
Originally Posted by ShellShock
Surely there is a lot to be said for enjoying the journey and not worrying too much about the destination. If the individual books in a series have literary merit then I think they are worth reading regardless of whether there is a sequel, let alone a final book in the series. Conversely, I would not read through thousands of pages of dross just to get to a concluding book. Often final books do not live up to the hype anyway - it is almost impossible for GRRM to fulfill all his fans expectations for the GOT finale, assuming he ever releases it, so the best thing is to enjoy the preceding books in their own right.
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To each their own I suppose.
I can think of several series where the destination was the real capper for the series. The Lord of the Rings, the Belgariad, and Robin Hobbs' 'Fitz and the Fool' series all had multiple chapters after the hero's work was completed. For me (and I admit I'm a sentimentalist) that was the payoff for hanging out with the characters for multiple books, even though that was a pleasant experience to begin with. (I was a touch irate with the Wheel of Time - I thought the ending was way too sudden after 14 books. As a reader, I felt like I deserved more resolution for the characters.) I'd certainly be unhappy starting a journey that I know has no destination at all.
I agree with HarryT above - it's not such a big deal when a series is episodic. With a Dresden/Mercy Thompson/Honor Harrington type of series it isn't a showstopper for me for them not to have an 'ending' book. But for a series that is one long story, it's a major disincentive to read them.