10-16-2017, 01:52 PM | #1 |
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Anyone dislike series?
I dislike series novels. I feel like I am the only one on the planet who feels this way. I just want every novel to be a new world of its own, with its own characters and without having to remember the details of the novels that have gone before it.
I think mystery novels where only the "investigator" type person stays constant are fine (and even they are entitled to evolve over time. |
10-16-2017, 02:08 PM | #2 |
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I tire of series more and more with each passing day. Especially ones that contain multiple volumes with no concrete beginnings or conclusions. As if your story is so complex/intricate that I should be forced to read novel-length, arc-less, volumes of setup-material just to be able to enjoy your conclusion--should you ever decide to conclude it, that is.
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10-16-2017, 02:16 PM | #3 | |
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Now mysteries with one or two main characters are good. Example: one detective. I wish someone would write a series of books like the old TV series Emergency. |
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10-16-2017, 02:39 PM | #4 |
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So we aren't alone.
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10-16-2017, 02:40 PM | #5 |
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Series can be good. If you enjoyed the characters and the places and such, then you get to revisit. What I think most would like would be a trilogy. Those get written pretty quick these days.
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10-16-2017, 03:12 PM | #6 |
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I like good series.
Apache |
10-16-2017, 03:40 PM | #7 |
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Same here. Of course, it all depends on how you define series. Is it a continuous story that gets split up, a la LOTR. Or is it a group of individual books with the same characters, a la Conan the Barbarian or Sherlock Holmes?
I actually like both. The issue is that sometimes authors don't want to stop a cash cow, so they start to extend the series rather than let it draw to a natural conclusion and then move in a different direction. I would put Jordan's WOT in this category and unfortunately, I think that Weber's Honor Harrington is now in that category as well. To a certain extent, I think that Weber's problem is that he let others play in his universe before he completed the story and then tried to square the circle, so to speak. If he had ended it when he originally planned to (At All Costs), I think it would have been more satisfactory. |
10-16-2017, 03:43 PM | #8 |
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I think we have to make a distinction between very long stories that just happened to be split over several books (e.g. Eddings' 6-book "Belgariad" series), and standalone novels that feature the same characters, but which can be read separately, although you'll get more from them if you do read them in order (in which I'd include such things as Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series).
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10-16-2017, 03:56 PM | #9 |
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I dislike series and tend to avoid them. Even if they are the type where just the inspector carries over book to book. Of course, in the reality of the publishing world, series are pretty difficult to avoid.
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10-16-2017, 04:00 PM | #10 |
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If I find an interesting set of characters in a book, I want to read more about them. I mean, why would one not want to?
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10-16-2017, 04:42 PM | #11 |
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Because reading too much about them eventually makes them less interesting? There's nearly always a point of diminishing returns (for me) with recurring characters that I'd rather not get the chance to pass. I'd much rather pine for more and never get it, than get it and discover I've stopped caring.
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10-16-2017, 04:48 PM | #12 |
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I much prefer series that have a well-defined start and end point these days and of them I tend to prefer shorter ones to longer ones. For longer ones I try to wait until they are complete (or about to be complete) before reading them even if I love the author.
For series that are ongoing, I like "monster of the week" type stories that can be read as stand alone books (once you have the gist) rather than stories that build on each other a lot. That can be fine for a series with an end but for something that just goes on and on I really don't like it. So mysteries with a small cast of regulars but without some ominous bad guy who has been pulling the strings of the minor bad guys are preferred. If there is some big bad guy, there is a resolution to that arc and it doesn't just go on and on. Another example is Discworld which has a common setting and then follows a few characters through that world but doesn't require that you read everything prior to a given book to be able to understand and enjoy it. You can enjoy an individual sub-series in Discworld without ever reading something from a different sub-series. There are even some books that you can enjoy without reading the rest of the sub-series. (And yes, I know some people disagree with this vehemently. No, this doesn't apply to everyone and certainly not every book in the series, but it does apply for many. Let's not argue about it, ok?) "6-book"? Am I missing one that I should have been reading with this? I always took the Mallorean and Belgarath/Polgara books as separate entities so I don't count them as part of the Belgariad. |
10-16-2017, 04:49 PM | #13 | |
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10-16-2017, 04:54 PM | #14 |
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The thing with series is too many people say sure you can read out of order as they are standalone. No they aren't. There's always something mentioned in that book or another book that makes them not standalone.
I'm reading the Spencer series (Robert B. Parker) and the main characters do progress and reading out of order spoils that. |
10-16-2017, 04:57 PM | #15 | |
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I guess those really don't count since they were all different writers under one pen name. |
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