[pwalker8]

There are a number of different types of series out there. There are series that have reoccurring characters, but each book is basically a stand along book. A good example is the various detective/secret agent series such as Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, the Agatha Christie books, etc.

Then there are the defined number, one long story series, such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter (it was always going to be 7 books, one for each year in school) and the like. While it might take longer than you hope between book, you know it's not open ended.

Last there is the never ending series. I call it that because, while usually there is a final book, it tends to be open ended until it finally gets to the point where it's lost steam and the author/publisher realizes enough is enough, time to wrap it up. Wheel of Time is a famous example and I guess Game of Thrones. I would tend to call the Honor Harrington an example of this. The author might have an end in mind, but he or she just rambles along never really wrapping things up.

Fantasy, especially YA fantasy seems to be especially guilty of this. One of my frustrations as a reader is reading the first couple of books in a series and then coming to the realization that this is an open ended series that probably isn't going to be wrapped up until sales start to drop. It's not necessarily that the writing is bad that's the problem, it's the knowledge that it's going to just keep going. Most of the time, I simply start to lose interest in the series as it just keeps going without any real resolution.

Does this bother any of y'all? Do you just drop the series when you realize what's going on, or do you keep going until you get bored with it?