Series Compulsion

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Only way I wouldn't start with number 1 is if I didn't realize a book was part of a series.

Exactly.

There are a few, smart publishers who give away the first title of a series, knowing that people will become hooked. (Of course, that assumes the series is any good. ) My guess is that they sell many more titles by giving a free taste of their drug.

[Laine]

It seems to me that nowadays you can hardly buy a book that isn't part of a series.

It's really annoying to buy a book that you fancy and when you get it you find it's not the first in a series.

At least now I can mostly find the earlier books straight away to download. If I had to wait to take a trip into town or order by mail it would be frustrating.

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I would never, EVER, start a series anywhere other than at the first book, personally .

I would agree with this except I've read books that started in the middle of a series without knowing it.

Saving Rachel by John Locke (amazon 1,000,000 guy, not the other one), but went back and bought the rest to read at another point...but they were only .99 so it wasn't like it broke the bank LOL

[chrisanthropic]

I never start a series in the middle - it would drive me crazy. :P

Then again, I rarely read a series that isn't already finished. I'm impatient and I have little trust of you crazy artist-types and your commitment to finishing things.

[Rumpelteazer]

Before I got an ereader it would sometimes happen that I bought a book that was part of series but not the first book, although I always tried to check first. Nowadays I mostly shop for books online and it's easy to check if it's part of a series (Fantastic Fiction or GoodReads). When I see an interesting book in a bookstore I note down the title and check reviews and see if it's part of a series online, if I'm still interested I'll buy the first book of the series.

I am an series addict, I think my challenge next isn't going to be to read X books but to finish a series (or at least up to the latest release) before I'll allow myself to start a new series.

[astra]

I always start with #1 and only finished series.

[anjirlly]

Must start with #1 in order to interpret the interactions among characters properly. However, if I'm not enjoying it, I don't feel compelled to finish. E.g., the library had a monster omnibus of Zelazny's Amber series, and I dropped out at about 80% of the fourth of the 10 novels. It was very clear that there was way too much paper remaining for the amount of pleasure received!

[dwig]

I always start with #1 unless it's a case of having stumbled across a book that sounded interesting and read it only to later find that it was part of a series.

To date, this has only happened to me with books that were more of a collection of independent stories written about the same character in the same "world". These would include the Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, & Miss Marple canons along with several others. These can generally be read in any order.

[dreams]

I am like many others. I will start with #1 in a series, if I know that it is a series. Usually, I will have a book I've picked up or been given to me and after I get started is when I realize that it is part of a series. If that happens, I decide if I liked it well enough to purchase from the beginning of the series.

[ebusinesstutor]

I prefer to start with #1 in the series. This is easier now that I can buy online. When just buying from used book stores and garage sales, I would sometimes buy later novels in the series in the hopes of eventually finding them all.

I don't buy the whole series, I read the first one first to see if it is worthwhile.

Originally Posted by Laine

It seems to me that nowadays you can hardly buy a book that isn't part of a series.

It's really annoying to buy a book that you fancy and when you get it you find it's not the first in a series.

At least now I can mostly find the earlier books straight away to download. If I had to wait to take a trip into town or order by mail it would be frustrating.

Fortunately I almost never read fantasy books these days, and when I do I definitely avoid series. If I did I might be even more put off by what I see as a trend. Authors that write the first book, and if it turns out to be a major success, make an entire career of writing sequels. Now I recall loving the Horatio Hornblower series, but C. S. Forester had an extensive body of work beyond that. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote much more than the Sherlock Holmes stories.

[Daithi]

I always try to start a series at the beginning, but I've known to screw up on occasion and read a book that starts in the middle. In that case I'll go back and start at book #1, assuming I enjoyed the first book I read.

There are a couple of series, like Asimov's Foundation series that aren't so easy. Do you start chronologically in how the series unfolds or in the order the books were written?

[Apache]

Whenever possible I like to read them in Chronological order. I read the Vlad Taltos Series by Steven Brust in Chronological order a few months ago.
Some series are written in chronological order others are not. The first 14 books in the Sharpe Series by Bernard Cornwell were written in chronological order ending with The Battle of Waterloo. after that he wrote them out of chronological order.
The Sackett Series by Louis L'Amour is not written in chronological order.
Apache

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by chrisanthropic

I never start a series in the middle - it would drive me crazy. :P

Then again, I rarely read a series that isn't already finished. I'm impatient and I have little trust of you crazy artist-types and your commitment to finishing things.

Never mind trust, they have a nasty habit of selfishly dropping dead before finishing a substantial series...

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by wodin

And if I know ahead of time, I try to read series' that are complete. I've read the next to the last book in several series', and am waiting (sometimes for years) for the last one to be published.

Or in some cases, never.

W.E.B Griffin comes to mind. He only finished one series (Brotherhood of War) and then went back and wrote a few books that are a side shoot off the main series. He finished that story, but left the characters hanging.