Can you stop buying a series?

[speakingtohe]

I can't really chose an answer. I have always been author oriented. Until recently, I have not had the luxury of being able to find books to read in chronological order.

I have lived in towns with no library, no internet (not even dialup as the phones were radio phones) and not a single book being sold. And this is within the last 5 years. I depended almost solely on the kindness of strangers passing through

Currently I have an internet connection, and there is a one room library with a good 20 bookshelves Some of these shelves even have books on them, although I have read most that aren't dictionaries.

I disgress perhaps, but a few years ago if I saw a book I hadn't read by an author I enjoyed I would offer the poor unsuspecting traveller double the cover price. Sometimes they said yes, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes they gave me all the books they had read and brought more the next time they were through. Strangers are often kind.

Obviously my criteria is not as stringent as some.

Series books like Spenser, Sookie Stackhouse, Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch, Stephanie Plum, John Taylor, Mathew Scudder, and many many more, I like because I have grown fond of the characters. I will eventually buy or borrow any unread books because even if the characters have become stagnant after the first 10 or so books, or I was stupid enough to read too many books in a series in a row I still like them.

Take Robert B. Parker's Spenser for example or Simeon R. Green's Nightside. After x books what can you do to develop the character, plot etc. Read six in a row and it gets a little old. Haven't read one in a while and it is like water to a parched plant.

[volwrath]

How in the world has this thread gone 5 pages without anyone mentioning Wheel of Time? I gave up on Robert Jordan (may he RIP) and Wheel of Time about book 8. The final book (14?!?!) will be out in 2012, but I wont be reading it Ill probably read through some fan summaries just to see how it all ends, but that is about it.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

The only way I'll read 5 is if it sits on top of the best seller list for say 6 months. It needs to be that good to make up for book 4. Even then I may wait it out to see if there will be a 6 and 7.

I cancelled HBO and won't watch the series either. Why watch a story that has no particular ending in sight??

Heh, I'm glad I'm not the only fantasy fan who feels this way. I watch the HBO series when I'm with other people who are watching them (hey, it is a really great show by its own right + Tyrion Lannister for the win \m/), and I loved the first three books and are five star materials easily, but yes, the fourth book is a slog. There's just too many things that aren't going anywhere. Like uh, the Daenerys plot, anyone? And really, I just don't enjoy reading about two characters being lost in the woods together for that many pages. The character development was good, but it didn't need all that filler. It's as unexciting as it sounds. It was just too much. I value my time. I have some friends who'll read the fifth book no matter what, so I'll ask them about it and borrow it from them if it meets their approval. Or just read the fan wikis. We've gots the internets, afterall.

I'm not really a series person. The first book has to impress me a lot for me to keep on reading it. It has to be at least a 4-star-almost-5-star sort of book. Half the fun of reading books for me is reading about different settings, and the characters and the writing have to be very good for me to give up reading something else. I'm not afraid to consider books wallbangers even if they belong to a series I loved. Fan hype doesn't goad me into it either. I remember growing up with Harry Potter and reading the first five books, but five months later I realized I couldn't even remember the events of the fourth book, which made me think that the series was no longer worth my time. I don't know, sometimes the connection is no longer there, and for me, that's okay. I don't see the point of sticking around with a series that's no longer doing anything for you. It's like a recipe for a bad relationship.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Rich_D

"The new Spenser novels will be written by Ace Atkins, who has written such novels as White Shadow, Infamous and Wicked City. His first Spenser novel will be releases spring of 2012."

From an article on Deadline.com, dated 2011/04/27

The Stone novels will also continue. Sunny Randall novels will not.

Thanks Rich. Have you (or anyone else) read anything by Ace Atkins?

[Pinecone]

I have always started slow with a new series, pick up one or two and see how they go. If good, I start the series. But, as has been mentioned, many get bad, and I give them a book or two to recover, and then drop them.

Clancy really dropped the ball with Executive Orders (I still have not ever read that one fully) and picked up on track with Rainbow Six.

Patricia Conrwall has gone off the deep end, and it off my list. Enough so, I did not pick up her earlier books that I liked for my ereader.

Lee Child is still going strong. So is WEB Griffin, all of his series. I still pick up James Patterson. And love John Sandford (bit still trying to figure out what Empress File is not epublished).

Some new ones, C.J. Box and Jefferson Bass.

[Rich_D]

Originally Posted by orlok

Thanks Rich. Have you (or anyone else) read anything by Ace Atkins?

I haven't. I want to wait to read his first crack at Spenser before picking up his own work.

[Pookeysgirl]

I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I was hoping to read the series after seeing all the great reviews, but I barely finished that book. It bored me to tears at some points. I had to really push myself through it.

I also had a hard time with the 4th book in the Dean Koontz Frankenstein series, but when the last book came out, I had to finish it.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

I also had a hard time with the 4th book in the Dean Koontz Frankenstein series, but when the last book came out, I had to finish it.

I thought that the 4th was awful - the relationship between our two married heros was so sickly I wanted to put my finger down my throat...

How did you find the final book? I have it on my TBRL, but I don't know if it's worth it.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by orlok

I thought that the 4th was awful - the relationship between our two married heros was so sickly I wanted to put my finger down my throat...

How did you find the final book? I have it on my TBRL, but I don't know if it's worth it.

It was really good. It didn't really focus on Carson and Micheal as much as the 4th. There were a lot of other characters added that made it more enjoyable. I would definitely recommend finishing the series

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by bashfulbanshee

Heh, I'm glad I'm not the only fantasy fan who feels this way. I watch the HBO series when I'm with other people who are watching them (hey, it is a really great show by its own right + Tyrion Lannister for the win \m/), and I loved the first three books and are five star materials easily, but yes, the fourth book is a slog. There's just too many things that aren't going anywhere. Like uh, the Daenerys plot, anyone? And really, I just don't enjoy reading about two characters being lost in the woods together for that many pages. The character development was good, but it didn't need all that filler. It's as unexciting as it sounds. It was just too much. I value my time. I have some friends who'll read the fifth book no matter what, so I'll ask them about it and borrow it from them if it meets their approval. Or just read the fan wikis. We've gots the internets, afterall...SNIPPED....

HBO adaption = Awesome. And indeed, book 4 was a major letdown. Am sure you recall though - original plan was for book 4 to be twice as long as it was. It got cut basically in half and then the second half got derailed by GrrM as I recall. So, yes, it was a mess...I will still gobble up book 5 later this year though.

Originally Posted by Pinecone

...SNIPPED...

Clancy really dropped the ball with Executive Orders (I still have not ever read that one fully) and picked up on track with Rainbow Six.

^ This. With you 100%.

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Patricia Conrwall has gone off the deep end, and it off my list. Enough so, I did not pick up her earlier books that I liked for my ereader....SNIPPED...

^ This too! Shame, since I did like the early Kay Scarpetta quite a lot.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

It was really good. It didn't really focus on Carson and Micheal as much as the 4th. There were a lot of other characters added that made it more enjoyable. I would definitely recommend finishing the series

Thanks

[EowynCarter]

hey, it is a really great show by its own right + Tyrion Lannister for the win \m/)

+1. I already liked the character in the books.

I've never read a series that was bad enough not to want to know how it ends.

[Harper Kingsley]

Did anyone mention the Amelia Peabody books? I loved that series so much... then Ramses turned into a douche and I had to walk away. I know, I know, lots of people love the series... but the appeal for me was the fact that Amelia was so flighty while thinking she was this strong independent kind of woman. Then things went from Ramses point of view and I completely lost all interest because the magic was gone.

How about Anita Blake, by Laurell K. Hamilton? I liked the idea of a bad ass vampire executioner, then around/after Obsidian Butterfly it turned into straight up erotica and I was like "Do not want." The last book of the series I read, I had to flip past like 200 pages to find 5 pages of plot, then it went back to the same sex scenes repeated dozens of times with just a change in hair color and guy. At least LKH was honest about what Meredith Gentry was going to be before she started.

Or Robert Aspirin. I loved his Myth series and his Phule's company, then he kind of lost the bubble. And now that he's dead, whoever's taken over for him just doesn't have that same kind of style and it's sad.

[miguel1626]

I usually read finished series that are already acclaimed (even if only within a niche).

And speaking of series, I'll be reading A Dance with Dragons as soon as its out - in less than a month

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

+1. I already liked the character in the books.

Yep, hands down, Tyrion is one of my most favourite fictional characters. If I continue to read Song of Ice and Fire, I'll be reading it for Tyrion, Arya, and Brienne.