The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[ownedbycats]

Finding a cozy mystery series I actually like (a rarity!) only to find it ends after book two

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Finding a cozy mystery series I actually like (a rarity!) only to find it ends after book two

I always check how many books there are before I start a series, so I know what to expect.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I always check how many books there are before I start a series, so I know what to expect.

Only relevant if the author writes the number of books expected. I've read series which have ended unexpectedly when the author moved on to newer and likely more profitable works and others where the authors have extended a series well past it's original end. c.f. from the cover of Mostly Harmless: The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Only relevant if the author writes the number of books expected. I've read series which have ended unexpectedly when the author moved on to newer and likely more profitable works and others where the authors have extended a series well past it's original end. c.f. from the cover of Mostly Harmless: The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.

I meant how many there currently are, not how many are planned. The latter is never certain, of course, no matter what's predicted. So I rarely even look it up.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I meant how many there currently are, not how many are planned. The latter is never certain, of course, no matter what's predicted. So I rarely even look it up.

That would seem to require waiting until a series is complete before reading it.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

That would seem to require waiting until a series is complete before reading it.

No. Why? Many series are never finished, or I'll grow bored with it after a few books. And for the kind of series where each book contains its own story (like murder mysteries) it doesn't even matter all that much. But I do like to know if there are 2 or 20 books published before I start.

[DNSB]

We seem to be talking at cross purposes. What I thought you were meaning is the people who do not start reading a series until it is complete. This is rather different from knowing whether a series has 1 or 72 books in it before starting to read the series.

One friend of my spouse is still waiting to start J. D. Robb's In Death series which is currently up to 76 books—counting the main books, the short stories and the short story collections. After watching the TV series of A Game of Thrones, she was very disappointed to find that The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring had not yet been written never mind published.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

We seem to be talking at cross purposes. What I thought you were meaning is the people who do not start reading a series until it is complete. This is rather different from knowing whether a series has 1 or 72 books in it before starting to read the series.

Yeah, I meant the latter.

I'm not the type to wait until a series is complete, I'm too impatient for that. Besides, while naturally I might be somewhat disappointed by never-finished series, it's not a dealbreaker or a crushing blow for me. I get over it and find other books to enjoy. There are more than one series I liked that were cut short by the author's death/illness/writer's block, by the publisher's decision and so on. I don't usually regret reading them.