The open ended series

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I prefer my books to be a complete story as well. But there might be an overarching story that can span several books to finish. That's one problem I had with the GRRM books. I also only read the first 3 books, never read the rest (also didn't watch the series). The books were simply never finished. It was one big story with no end in sight.

I don't mind a book being not complete. But in that case, I prefer to know the author is working on the next book or the next book is also available.

As for GRRM, I gave up on his A Fire and Ice series. I did see the TV series and it was good. But as for the books, I'll give them a read if he ever finishes the series. Until them, I'm staying away.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't mind a book being not complete. But in that case, I prefer to know the author is working on the next book or the next book is also available.

As for GRRM, I gave up on his A Fire and Ice series. I did see the TV series and it was good. But as for the books, I'll give them a read if he ever finishes the series. Until them, I'm staying away.

Quite a few of the books I read are written by authors who are no longer young so the question becomes will they finish the series before they take a ride with Charon.

[4691mls]

Some people define "stand-alone" to mean "you could read this book, not having read anything else in this series or by this author, and it would make sense as a complete story".

Others define "stand-alone" to mean "this book has nothing to do with any other book".

I think we need a new label for one of these definitions!

[4691mls]

One reason I gave up watching much TV is that a lot of series meandered along like this and then either ended up being canceled without resolution, or there was series finale that wasn't satisfying.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Some people define "stand-alone" to mean "you could read this book, not having read anything else in this series or by this author, and it would make sense as a complete story".

Others define "stand-alone" to mean "this book has nothing to do with any other book".

I think we need a new label for one of these definitions!

I agree. Let's change the one where people are using it to mean, "could stand alone if you're willing to ignore the fact that it's technically not."

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Some people define "stand-alone" to mean "you could read this book, not having read anything else in this series or by this author, and it would make sense as a complete story".

Others define "stand-alone" to mean "this book has nothing to do with any other book".

I think we need a new label for one of these definitions!

What series is there that has at least one book that has nothing to do with any other book in the same series. This does not mean books in the same universe.

I disagree that the first definition fits for standalone. I think it's the second definition.

Take the Dresden Files series. Most of the books have a complete story with an ending. But are they standalone? Not at all. There are references sometimes to the past and some references may not make sense without knowing what went before. You can pick a book and read it and then pick a different book and find that things have changed a lot.

The only thing I find that can be a problem is when the author writes the series out of timeline order. The question then becomes should the series be read in chronological order or in order written.

But as for standalone, can anyone take a book in the middle of a series and find it has no references to anything from a previous book and there is no noticeable change in any of the characters from any of the previous books. In other words, is the series so dull that you can pick a random book and it is stand alone?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Quite a few of the books I read are written by authors who are no longer young so the question becomes will they finish the series before they take a ride with Charon.

'The Alphabet ends at "Y" '

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by theducks

'The Alphabet ends at "Y" '

The Alpine / Emma Lord cozy mystery series by Mary Daheim has made it past Z and started over again at A!

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Quite a few of the books I read are written by authors who are no longer young so the question becomes will they finish the series before they take a ride with Charon.

There are a couple of authors who fall in that group for me, one in particular who is not in good health and just started new story arcs in a couple of his ongoing series.