The Trials and Tribulations of Finishing a Series
I've been reading a lot this past month. Part of it was being in the US and having little to do but read. Then I got to Berlin and have hit three libraries and have probably 25 books out, and I've also been reading a bunch of eBooks the last week(s) as well.
So I download this series on Demonoid, a 6 book series, and don't really think anything of it. It's a military action thriller type thing that I've been into recently, so I think it has potential. I read the first book and while it has its moments, I'm not too into it. There's a lot of talking about the bad guys, which I don't really care about -- I care about the good guys. But the action is pretty good and there are a few redeeming moments in there, so I check out the second one. After all, I already have it, so why not?
The second one pulls me in. I gobble down the third and fourth. Take my time a bit on the fifth (which means I took two days to read it instead of one...), do the same to the sixth. I know that the sixth is the last one published, and it's been a few years, so I'm figuring that it's the last of the series.
Well, I just finished the sixth one. The ending definitely crept up on me...there I am, scrolling down in Adobe Digital Editions and BAM, suddenly it goes to the glossary. And it's not a case of the eBook being incomplete, because the book was resolved. I mean, the ending made sense. But there's still a character missing who I've been waiting for to show up, and by no means does it seem like the series is over.
So I Google the author, because there's got to be an author website, right? Or a blog or maybe Amazon has something. It's 2011, come on. There's always some site out there.
Except there isn't.
The paper copies of this series don't seem to be in print (or at least Amazon isn't selling them -- it's only through Amazon Marketplace). The first book is the only book in the series that has any reviews on Amazon. Fantasicfiction.co.uk has a page listing the series in order, but no information about the author, which is somewhat strange. The author doesn't have a website.
What is up with this?
So it made me think about how it feels to finish a series. Lots of books come in series now. Some series seem to never end. Some series have an end, but aren't there yet. Some series are more duos or trilogies or quartets. YA is full of series, it seems like.
On one hand, I really like series. It's nice finishing a book and knowing that there's another one out there -- or at least, there will be. There are other books that have sequels that I wish they didn't. But usually I can trust sequels. If I liked the first book, chances are I'll like the rest. As someone with fan fic constantly on the brain, I adore exploring the "what-if"s and the "what next"s of series (and books in general). I plow through series because they're fun and I know I can trust them, and man, I just want to keep on reading!
...And then you get to the end. And it's like this trusted friend you had has left. You're so excited and happy that you've read all the books -- until you remember that there are no more. This is it. Now what? How do you know what book to pick next? How can you trust another book after you fell in love with a series that just ended and you're still keyed up on those characters?
I've found myself putting off new releases of series that I enjoy because of this, I think. And that's just the knowledge that I'm going to have to wait a year or two for the next book. Jeffery Deaver, JD Robb, Michael Connelly, etc. -- they're not stopping any time soon.
But there are five Sue Grafton novels left before the Kinsey Millhone series is over.
There is one Alex Rider book left, and I even have it.
There are 2-3 Alice books left -- and I've been reading the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for thirteen years.
Diana Wynne Jones died, so no more Chrestomanci or Howl books.
Plus all the trilogies that have ended: The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Johnathan Stroud, the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, The Heir series by Cinda Williams Chima (though I think I heard a rumor that a fourth one might be coming out, and the third one sucked), the various Tortall quartets by Tamora Pierce (though she does come up with new series where former characters are sometimes seen), etc.
I could go on.
I have tons of books -- probably thousands of eBooks and I just checked out a backpack full of library books plus books of my own that I haven't read yet and even more library books I checked out a couple of weeks ago.
And I'm in the middle of four books at the moment. Yet I don't really feel like reading any of them at the moment. I just want to read more of the series I finished. It doesn't help that absolutely no fan fic exists.
So, have you finished any series lately? How do you feel finishing a series? What about series that you started but couldn't finish? What about books you think should have at least gotten sequels? What about books that shouldn't have been made into series, but were?
So I download this series on Demonoid, a 6 book series, and don't really think anything of it. It's a military action thriller type thing that I've been into recently, so I think it has potential. I read the first book and while it has its moments, I'm not too into it. There's a lot of talking about the bad guys, which I don't really care about -- I care about the good guys. But the action is pretty good and there are a few redeeming moments in there, so I check out the second one. After all, I already have it, so why not?
The second one pulls me in. I gobble down the third and fourth. Take my time a bit on the fifth (which means I took two days to read it instead of one...), do the same to the sixth. I know that the sixth is the last one published, and it's been a few years, so I'm figuring that it's the last of the series.
Well, I just finished the sixth one. The ending definitely crept up on me...there I am, scrolling down in Adobe Digital Editions and BAM, suddenly it goes to the glossary. And it's not a case of the eBook being incomplete, because the book was resolved. I mean, the ending made sense. But there's still a character missing who I've been waiting for to show up, and by no means does it seem like the series is over.
So I Google the author, because there's got to be an author website, right? Or a blog or maybe Amazon has something. It's 2011, come on. There's always some site out there.
Except there isn't.
The paper copies of this series don't seem to be in print (or at least Amazon isn't selling them -- it's only through Amazon Marketplace). The first book is the only book in the series that has any reviews on Amazon. Fantasicfiction.co.uk has a page listing the series in order, but no information about the author, which is somewhat strange. The author doesn't have a website.
What is up with this?
So it made me think about how it feels to finish a series. Lots of books come in series now. Some series seem to never end. Some series have an end, but aren't there yet. Some series are more duos or trilogies or quartets. YA is full of series, it seems like.
On one hand, I really like series. It's nice finishing a book and knowing that there's another one out there -- or at least, there will be. There are other books that have sequels that I wish they didn't. But usually I can trust sequels. If I liked the first book, chances are I'll like the rest. As someone with fan fic constantly on the brain, I adore exploring the "what-if"s and the "what next"s of series (and books in general). I plow through series because they're fun and I know I can trust them, and man, I just want to keep on reading!
...And then you get to the end. And it's like this trusted friend you had has left. You're so excited and happy that you've read all the books -- until you remember that there are no more. This is it. Now what? How do you know what book to pick next? How can you trust another book after you fell in love with a series that just ended and you're still keyed up on those characters?
I've found myself putting off new releases of series that I enjoy because of this, I think. And that's just the knowledge that I'm going to have to wait a year or two for the next book. Jeffery Deaver, JD Robb, Michael Connelly, etc. -- they're not stopping any time soon.
But there are five Sue Grafton novels left before the Kinsey Millhone series is over.
There is one Alex Rider book left, and I even have it.
There are 2-3 Alice books left -- and I've been reading the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for thirteen years.
Diana Wynne Jones died, so no more Chrestomanci or Howl books.
Plus all the trilogies that have ended: The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Johnathan Stroud, the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, The Heir series by Cinda Williams Chima (though I think I heard a rumor that a fourth one might be coming out, and the third one sucked), the various Tortall quartets by Tamora Pierce (though she does come up with new series where former characters are sometimes seen), etc.
I could go on.
I have tons of books -- probably thousands of eBooks and I just checked out a backpack full of library books plus books of my own that I haven't read yet and even more library books I checked out a couple of weeks ago.
And I'm in the middle of four books at the moment. Yet I don't really feel like reading any of them at the moment. I just want to read more of the series I finished. It doesn't help that absolutely no fan fic exists.
So, have you finished any series lately? How do you feel finishing a series? What about series that you started but couldn't finish? What about books you think should have at least gotten sequels? What about books that shouldn't have been made into series, but were?