Whats your view on other writers finishing books/series

I read authors, not series, so the notion idea of one author picking up a series where another left off isn't particularly appealing to me. That said, I don't have any objections if an author can establish a name for themselves by picking up an established series.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

By the way, it's quite common in the Forgotten Realms universe that a series of 3-6 books is written by 3-6 different authors, or that a series is started by one author and finished by another.

The important thing is that they manage to pull it off quite well. Since it is actually part of the game plan, they make sure to to it in such a way that each author's style merges well.

[CRussel]

I have mixed feelings about continuations. Some work, some don't, and it depends on a lot of different factors. I think Harry's example is one that definitely works.

However, that being said, I have serious concerns about this whole project to continue Stieg Larsson's series. There are ongoing estate custody issues that the publisher seems to be trying to do an end run around, plus this will NOT be done with the benefit of the partial manuscript that Larsson had worked on before his death. All in all, it feels like a pure money grab, and without much chance of success.

[Kumabjorn]

In the case of the "Men Who Hate Women" trilogy (that is what Stieg Larsson called it), SL had allready written a large part of it, together with a large collection of notes and conversations he had with his common law wife the plot seems fairly set. The author selected to write it is David Lagercrantz who wrote last years best seller "I am Zlatan" a biography in his (Zlatan Ibrahimovic of soccer fame in Milan, Barcelona and now Paris St. Germaine, for our football challenged friends on the other side of the pond) own words. If you read it, it actually sounds like someone with junior high education and truancy problems wrote it. Hence, it is believed that he will be able to capture the "voice" of SL.

[GlenBarrington]

But I have to admit, I've never encountered any that I thought were particularly good. So I'm a bit suspicious when I encounter something like that.

[ProfCrash]

I love collections where the author has essentially written the last book first. Then the author knows where he is going and it seems like the series ties together nicely. Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is one of those series for me. Babylon 5 is a great TV example of the same concept.

Where authors like Martin lose me is that they write, seemingly with an end game in mind but not really clear that is going to a specific place, and then they keep on writing. And they think "Hey people love this so now I am going to kill off 90% of the main characters, inventing other new characters, and find new ways of killing them off, and rinse and repeat" so that they can make a ton of money.

Robert Jordan seemed to have headed down that path. I liked the first three or four books and the ones written by the new author but some of the others just screamed filler so I can make more money selling these books.

I get the feeling that Butcher has done the same thing with Dresden. I stopped reading them a few books ago because they had become so formulaic, Dresden learns for post mistakes, big bad guy shows up, Dreden worries about being strong enough, Dresden's friends come in and help booster his confidence/make him push himself to save them/goad him into doing something new, Dresden finds new way to tap into new powers/use old powers in a new way, Dresdne beats new dude and becomes more powerful. This scares the crap out of the council of Wizards. It has gotten old and I really think it is building in a really dangerous way

[Tarana]

some of the others just screamed filler so I can make more money selling these books

Unfortunately, sometimes this is part of their contract. There's some new mystery author, whom I won't even read, that contracted to have 20 books (yes, 20) for a series where the first book has only just been published. Sorry, but MOST series go blah after 4-6 books. So far Ed McBain is the only one that I've read that has been great 9 books out (there's about 50 in the 87th Precinct series).

Note: I won't be reading that new author because I already have enough reading to last my lifetime.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I get the feeling that Butcher has done the same thing with Dresden. I stopped reading them a few books ago because they had become so formulaic, Dresden learns for post mistakes, big bad guy shows up, Dreden worries about being strong enough, Dresden's friends come in and help booster his confidence/make him push himself to save them/goad him into doing something new, Dresden finds new way to tap into new powers/use old powers in a new way, Dresdne beats new dude and becomes more powerful. This scares the crap out of the council of Wizards. It has gotten old and I really think it is building in a really dangerous way

So essentially, it's the same book over and over again.

I see that problem with a lot of fantasy. It's a difference if short, quite similar (in formula) books are written by many different authors, all focussing on a specific part of a much world (such as with Forgotten Realms), or if there are a lot of VERY LONG similar books written by the same author all taking place in the same world and to some extend, the same places.

That is one reason why I never started The Wheel of Time or The Sword of Truth series. What I've read about them is that they just seem to go on... and on.... and on... and you seem to suggest that this is the case with George R.R. Martin as well.

I like the trilogy concept much more, like Terry Brooks did with The Heritage of Shannara.

First book: Introduction, give 3 quests, and have Par find the Sword of Shannara.
Second book: Tell how Walker Boh becomes a Druid.
Third book: Tell how Wren finds the elves.
Fourth book: Tie it all together.

Of course, plot threats from the first book carry over to the second, and so on, and basically it's one story, just like Lord of the Rings; however, there is a beginning, and an end. (Obviously it does refer back to The Sword of Shannara, and to some distant past that wasn't written yet; to be revealed later in First King.)

Brooks carries on the same way with later trilogies; ultimately referring making references that made Word & Void look like "a world before Shannara", and even later, tying those two worlds together, creating a gigantic series.

Still, you can just pick any trilogy, and read it as a single big story without feeling lost. (At least, as far as I know.) I like that. It's the same in the Forgotten Realms: you can just pick any trilogy and read it, and thereby read a fantasy story. There will be references that are not explained (such as Drizzt saying "My time in Menzoberranzan..."), but that does not really matter.

So, I should scrap three big (Goodkind, Martin, and Jordan) fantasy authors from my to read list forever because of "Neverending Series" syndrome?

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

So essentially, it's the same book over and over again.

I see that problem with a lot of fantasy. It's a difference if short, quite similar (in formula) books are written by many different authors, all focussing on a specific part of a much world (such as with Forgotten Realms), or if there are a lot of VERY LONG similar books written by the same author all taking place in the same world and to some extend, the same places.

Even worse, the characters that were fun and quirky and a bit off have become more and more dark and depressed and altered by the continually nasty events that they deal with. I credit Butcher for having the cajones to mess with his characters but they have changed in such drastic ways that they are no longer fun to read about.

The changes are realistic but some of the fun of reading the books is gone. So we have the same generic plot line but darker and the characters are now very different.

I love Kim Harrison's The Hallows/Rachel Morgan series. THings have changed, the dangers have grown, the threat is real but the characters are still very similar to their original characters. They have adjusted and altered based on cirumstances but you can see that their basic core is the same. And the books are still fun even as things have become more dangerous.

The Sookie Stackhouse series is the same as Dresden. Great initial premise and start and then the characters change in response to a dark threat, the books follow the same general format, and I stop reading about hald way into the series because they are no longer fun. At least the Dresden series remains well written if darker then I would like. Sookie became rote, dark, and badly written.

[Katsunami]

Pity. Then I'll stick to writers that write in trilogies (or quadrilogies or quintets; you get the drift), like Brooks, Salvatore, Eddings, Tolkien, the Forgotten Realms and other Wizards of the Coast universes. It also seems that Feist and Robin Hobb are trilogy-writers. I really don't want to read a series that goes on and on and on without an end in sight; I'd rather pick up a trilogy, read the story in there, and then put that world aside for some time without continuously having loose threads hanging about after the last book that I've read.

[ProfCrash]

Love Robin Hobb. They might be trilogies but they tie into one another pretty nicely.

And there are plenty of people who love the Dresden Series. There is an active, fun thread for Dresden loves on one of the boards around here. So there are plenty of folks who enjoy the Dresden Series. I prefer Codex Alera and think there was a lot left in that world for him to work with but that is me.

[Penforhire]

Shared universe series are an exception for me because they were intended to work that way from the start.

I am thinking of the Thieves' World series of short form stories. Robert Asprin laid down some starting rules, the world book. I especially liked how each new author was allowed to create their own key characters. Other authors in the series used them with guidance and permission. Some other heavy weight authors contributed. I enjoyed how the tone, tempo, and style changed from story to story while revolving around one fantasy world location.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Love Robin Hobb. They might be trilogies but they tie into one another pretty nicely.

Great to hear that. So it's a bit like Terry Brooks? Stories spread over 3-4 books, but set in the same world (and in different places of that world), were newer books refer to the older ones, but not in such a way that you MUST read the older books to be able to understand the story in the newer ones?

In that case, I'll move them to the front of my "To be acquired" list.

And there are plenty of people who love the Dresden Series. There is an active, fun thread for Dresden loves on one of the boards around here. So there are plenty of folks who enjoy the Dresden Series. I prefer Codex Alera and think there was a lot left in that world for him to work with but that is me.

Haven't read them yet, but I do like the somewhat darker fantasy.

[mcrow]

I have mixed opinion on the subject. I think that if a series is left hanging, I would like it finished if the deceased author has left enough notes/outlines to do it and there is another author familiar enough with his/her works to do it.

Now I wait to see if anyone will try to finish Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series.

I had the chance to meet and talke with Vince a few times (his cabin was down the road from ours) and he was a real good guy, sad thing when a guy like that dies so young.

[Laridae]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If it's a series I enjoy, why would I not want more? If it turns out I don't like it, that's fine, but if I do like it, then it's more of a good thing.

Me too.
Let them try.
If it works, great!
If not, word will get around and I won't waste any time on it.

In the case of Larsson's series it would, of course, be preferable if they could somehow get a hold of his 4th draft and use that as a starting point. It would also lend some legitimacy to the enterprise.