Do you start reading unfinished series?

I did the same thing with the Wheel of Time, it was very dissappointing. When I first started reading them I was taking off work and reading them as they came out.

A really cool discovery I just made was that Jacquiline Carey had a new trilogy, and all three were out. So even though I had to buy the last one in hardcover, I was able to read all three at the same time.

I haven't read the last one or two of The Game of Thrones, will wait until they're all out.

Even worse, Martin takes his sweet time with his writing. Which is good, because he turns out quality product. But he spent five years producing book 4, which also yielded a lot of material for book 5, so he split the characters in half. And that has taken three years with no end in sight.

Very messy. Book 5 will have most of my favorite characters, though I'll admit Jaime has grown on me...

I first got burned by the unfinished series scam with Phillip Jose Farmer's "Riverworld" series. I bought the first book, not knowing it was a series. (Indeed, I'm fairly certain it wasn't meant to be) Loved it, read the second, loved it and eagerly awaited the third in the trilogy. It came out soon enough, with a forward that said "Sorry - this was supposed to be the last book, but my publisher convinved me to realease it as two..."\


Fool me once - shame on, won't get fooled again.

Yeah, I dumped WOT somewhere around the fourth book. Just lost interest, it seemed to be wandering - Like I was coming into the middle of some long running soap opera, okay, I can fathom out where the characters came from and where they're going - but this thing is never going to 'end' so I"m done with it.

ALMOST the same thing happending with Martin's series. I avoided it forever, especially when friends would say "YOU haven't READ this series! UNBELEAVABLE!!! Someone on the internet even copped a pic of me on horseback in armor, and posted it on their page as 'the perfect Eddard Stark' - so I finally got around to reading them.

Now I'm tapping my foot -- hoping it will all be fresh enough when the new one comes out.


I devoured the Harry Dresden files series - or the first six that were out when I started. Then the seventh came out - but really, those all stand alone. Thats like reading the Flashman series - or the Sharpe series. Just more adventures of a particular character. Not the same thing as having one through-line, one plot or goal dominating the series - like say "LORT".

Trilologies changing into ongoing series. Is this one of the biggest peeves in SFF?

Friends and I have bitched about this for years. Why? Trilogies seem to be tightly constructed with all the pieces having a purpose. Series tend to repeat themselves and go soft, almost like rotten fruit.

This is an overgeneralization, I know. One exception immediately comes to my mind -- a writer using the same world with different characters, of which there are numerous examples.

Fortunately, SFF doesn't suffer from the syndrome as much as mysteries seem to do.

PS. Wish me luck. I've just accumulated Simon Green's Nightside series. My next reading project is reading them in order. I hope to learn as much as I did when I read Hamilton's Blake series. I just hope by the time he deals with his mother, the series ends.

I read Eye of the World (Book one of WoT) and didn't realize it was a series until a year or so later. It was a brilliant stand-alone adventure. The other books just didn't resonate as well with me.

No, I don't wait for them all to come out before I read the series. The way some Fantasy authors write, I'd end up waiting decades for them to be complete. I don't have the patience. If I enjoyed a book enough to want to read the next one then I will happily reread the published ones.

What I find absolutely annoying is trying to figure out which is the first book of a trilogy or a series. But, the most annoying thing is to buy a book, get partway into it and find out that it is the second or third or fourth one of a series. Why is it so hard to number the damn things?

I like series in TV, and don't mind if they're unfinished. Firefly, Deadwood are both unfinished series that I enjoy.

In literature, I detest series written by any but the best authors though. A good author can give you a decent story per volume, conected by some over-arching theme. (Or do as Tolkien did and break a single story into multiple volumes, published concurrently). If the author does that, I'll forgive the story not being 'finished'.

Weaker authors don't do that, but just string out one story by needless padding. Jordan's Treadmill of Time (as it should be named) is the most egregious example of this.

What's interesting about some books is that they're released without any advertisement that they're the first in a series. Not just a small-print or otherwise inconspicuous note. I mean no note at all. So you can unknowingly get yourself into an unfinished series, and not for lack of attentiveness.

Fortunately, most of them are marked as being in a trilogy or series--you just have to be looking for it.

Yeah, the prime example was DUNE - The first book should stand alone - period. End of story. Flogging the characters and world into a 'trilogy' just didn't work for me.

I don't mind 'episodic' literature. That is - a series of complete episodes featuring a character or setting. As I mentioned - The "Sharpes Rifle" series, or Travis McGee or James Bond, or Harry Dresden - where you're just eagerly waiting for their next adventure - and pray to God it NEVER ends. Sure, mystery authors make their bread and butter on this, thank Holmes and Watson. And lets not forget that Alexandre Dumas ORIGINALLY published the Three Musketeers as a serial in the newspaper... talk about upping subscriptions.

I think you can tell when an opus has been conceived as a complete 'series' - be it a trilogy or more - and when an author has stumbled on a concept and figures they can milk it. That's where I'm likely to get bored as they ramble about over hill and dale looking for purpose and plot.

The never ending series trend is really irritating. It suggests to me that an author (and his agent and/or publisher) is more concerned about selling another book than in completing a story properly (in an arc that makes sense). I avoid them because of this. I understand the market pressures but artists who really care about their work don't sell out in this way; they know what they want to create and stick to a plan. When finished, they start a new project.

Dude, I read the first three A Song of Ice and Fire books in grade seven. They were my second epic fantasy series after the Belgariad, which is what got me into fantasy (and I still haven't managed to escape).

I'm going into my second year of university now ... I'm going to have to re-read the first four books when the fifth one comes out, because I'm beginning to forget who these people are and why they matter to me. George R. R. Martin is an amazing writer, and his characters are enjoyable and complex. There's just so many!

I couldn't get into Wheel of Time. I think I read the first three books. :-/

My coworker has force fed me The Sword of Truth series--I realize these are finished, but it's relevant to the discussion of lengthy series. I really enjoyed some of the plots, but they probably could have been condensed into four or five books.

I don't mind lengthy series of characters in science fiction and fantasy as long as there's a story there. These two genres have the inherent pitfall of expecting an epic scale of conflict. Series that live up to this expectation and repeatedly charge the same characters with the fate of the universe can get boring quickly. TV series have this problem too. I love Stargate SG-1, but even the writers admitted that they were starting to get tired of writing endings.

I really like the WoT. I like it so much that I'm an active member of www.dragonmount.com forums. However, I do agree that Jordan's world expanded unnecessarily and pulled in all sorts of sub-plots that could have been abandoned.

I started GRRM's Fire and Ice. Finished book 3. Didn't have access to the next one for some time. Now have access but dont want to touch until 5 also comes out.

Waiting for Harry Potter was a nightmare. I'm not going to start reading series unless only the last book is yet pending.

I myself began writing my WIP intended as a series (likely duology or trilogy) but I read a lot of posts on this forum and have decided to stop and plan it into a STAND ALONE with series potential. This is going to be really hard for me to do but I don't want to ruin my chances with agents/publishers.

Personally, I end up rereading all the finished books again right before the next come comes out. I figure if I don't like a book enough to read it again to refresh my memory for a sequel, I probably won't enjoy the next one anyway.

That said, I do like being able to sit down with an entire trilogy or series and read it from start to finish. I have done this on a few occasions, but every time was because I either couldn't get hold of the books earlier, or I didn't know they existed until I saw them all on the shelf and decided I absolutely must have them.

I usually just don't even buy the books unless all of them are finished and available. Which means I probably miss out on a lot of really good series. Which is doubly stupid considering that I LOVE series stories, and write them almost exclusively! (Meaning, any readers I might have are in the exact same predicament; I do hope they're more forgiving!)

For me, though, it's not so much the having to wait and such (I do prefer to read all the books in a row, immediately, as my memory is lousy), it's just the kind of unreliable availability of series stories around here. Just because a store picks up the first book or two in a series doesn't mean they'll pick up the next. And just because they have Volume 13 doesn't mean they have all the books preceding it (e. g., those Spiderwick books and the "Series Of Unfortunate Events" or whatever). And I know I could just order it online or through the bookstore, but that's tedious, and it's hard for me to keep track of when books are coming out and such. Just too much work. It's easier for me to wait until a series is completed, then, if it looks good, to invest in getting all the darn things at once. I also then know that the author has really committed to finishing everything and that ALL books have been published. (Witness horror stories of the final book in a series never being released.)

I used to snatch up interesting-looking fantasy books whenever I saw them, but now, more and more often, they say things like "Second book in the Such-and-Such Series!" so I let them go. I always seem to miss a few volumes on the shelves. Ugh. Irritating. Although I love series, I do wish there were more solitary fantasy books out there, or else omnibus editions!

Not to mention that I'm not that interested in most fantasy out there anyway, but that's beside the point. I'm sure there are some really good series I'd enjoy if I could just find them in their entirety!

WriteKnight said:

I don't mind 'episodic' literature. That is - a series of complete episodes featuring a character or setting. As I mentioned - The "Sharpes Rifle" series, or Travis McGee or James Bond, or Harry Dresden - where you're just eagerly waiting for their next adventure - and pray to God it NEVER ends.

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Ditto. I've just started the Dresden and the Nightside books. I prefer these sort of episodic series, because I don't feel like I'm waiting for the next book. Stephen Woodworth's "Violets" series, Gena Showalter's Alien Huntress series, and most current urban fantasy series are like this. Which is probably why I love reading in the genre, and also write in it.

If someone is raving about a known triology or duology, I'll wait until all books are out before reading them. Now that I have all of the Dark Tower books, I can start on them (once I figure out what happened with my copy of The Gunslinger, dangit!). It's also why I'll wait and buy certain comic series as collected graphic novels (Buffy, season 8), rather than one issue a month. I like to sit down and read a bunch at a time, rather than in tiny niblets that leave me hanging.

On not numbering series books:

I read in a Fantasy & Science Fiction editorial by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (this would've been about 1997, so things may have changed) that bookstores sometimes wouldn't order the third book of a trilogy unless book #2 sold better than #1. Which isn't really a reasonable expectation, because few people will pick up #2 if they haven't read #1...

Unless they don't know it's #2.

So I think publishers try hard not to scare new readers from starting in the middle of a series, even to the extent of disguising the fact that it IS a series.

Unless it's an author I know to be prolific (or really captivating) I think I might vow to never pick up an unfinished series.

That said, I never expected to be able to read every single volume of Steven Erikson's Malazan stories (10) in the time I've read one of GRR Martin's SoIaF novels.

I love both series, but while Martin set a high bar with his first, there's been enough time for many other fantasy authors to catch up before Ice & Fire is finished. The genre will continue to progress and innovate, but you'd hope that you could put the innovative stories of the 90's behind you by now...

tehuti88 said:

It's easier for me to wait until a series is completed, then, if it looks good, to invest in getting all the darn things at once. I also then know that the author has really committed to finishing everything and that ALL books have been published. (Witness horror stories of the final book in a series never being released.)

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I've done this once, and actually wasn't happy about it. I'd heard a lot of good things about a trilogy a few years back (can't remember which one, now), but didn't have the money to buy the whole set at the time. Instead I went down to the library and took out the whole trilogy at once, then went home and started reading. I read the first book and loved it. I got about two chapters into the second one, and completely lost interest in the story, the characters, everything. I returned them within days of checking them out, and was very grateful I hadn't forked out money for them. I think that's probably one of the main reasons I don't wait for a series to be finished: just because the author has gotten to the end doesn't mean I'm going to like it.

Rae22 said:

I've done this once, and actually wasn't happy about it. I'd heard a lot of good things about a trilogy a few years back (can't remember which one, now), but didn't have the money to buy the whole set at the time. Instead I went down to the library and took out the whole trilogy at once, then went home and started reading. I read the first book and loved it. I got about two chapters into the second one, and completely lost interest in the story, the characters, everything. I returned them within days of checking them out, and was very grateful I hadn't forked out money for them. I think that's probably one of the main reasons I don't wait for a series to be finished: just because the author has gotten to the end doesn't mean I'm going to like it.

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Also a good reason to use the library to not take risk with your own money.

Unfortunately my local libraries get popular books most of the time, and rarer stuff from new authors doesn't get ordered as often, even though those are the books I'm less likely to take a chance on than a new series by someone I know. It works for the library, obviously, but maybe they could tailor themselves to my tastes.

So did people here wait for Harry Potter to be finished before starting to read it? I didn't. Ender's Game is another, although, I got disappointed when the third book didn't end it, and now I don't care to read anymore about Ender.

Every time a new Sharpe book comes out, I get excited, but then that is historical fiction and the series isn't chronological, so you could actually believe it ended, only to learn later there is a new book that happened between books one and two, etc...

Besides, just because the book is a series doesn't mean we are going to want to read the rest of the books as others have pointed out. If it's a good book, I want to read it!!!

Alex Bravo said:

So did people here wait for Harry Potter to be finished before starting to read it?

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Harry Potter was also, if I understand correctly, written as a standalone story. If it had been an abysmal failure, then it would have been fine on its own.

For the record, though, I've never read the HP books. I have nothing against them or JKR, the subject matter just isn't my cuppa.

Steven Brust writes a series of standalones - I read those as they come out because they are loosely connected, non-chronological, and all revealing more about the world and character, but not an "onion" serial.

I tend not to read series until they are complete, but if I care about them, I will *buy* them as they come out.

Because if they don't get enough sales, the publisher won't ever finish them.