ETA: 13 May: Please note, this comment thread is so amazing and interesting, but because we’re talking about series and when readers stopped reading and why (or why not), it can and does get spoiler-y. Proceed at your own risk, be ye warned, herein be spoilers, yarr.
On Tuesday at the Bosoms booksigning at the Clifton Commons Barnes & Noble, I got into a thought-provoking discussion with Sydney, Marisa, Kiersten, and the other ladies who came (who told me they lurk and never comment – I didn’t want to embarrass them but hi, folks!) about what makes us break up with a series. I realized later that I read and talked about the Bosoms for only a very small percentage of the time. Most of the hour was spent talking about romances we loved and doing that thing where romance fans get together and vacillate between, ‘OMG WIN’ and ‘OMG NO’ when talking about books. Since so many new series books have come out of late, that was a very lively topic, particularly as Jaiku pointed out at DearAuthor when you are flush with the feeling of wanting to quit, and and you just can’t do so.
The discussion spanned across a ton of series, including the latest J.R. Ward book, Lover Avenged, and Kenyon’s latest, Acheron, as well as the Anita Blake series (note: what in the name of epic ass is up with that website? I can barely read the text), Feehan’s Carpathians, the Sookie Stackhouse series, and Stephanie Plum. All of us had different points at which we did – or did not – break up with these different series.
A few people said they’d stopped reading Kenyon awhile before Acheron came out, but had to read Acheron just to find out what happened to him. One woman mentioned she loved the Sookie series unconditionally, and another couldn’t stop reading Ward, even though she wanted to. I said that I think the signal for me to stop reading the Anita Blake books came when Anita stopped being such a terrible dresser and somehow became a sexpot badass with an unending amount of personal lubrication. When she put away the fanny pack with the matching socks and polo shirt, it was time for me to stop reading.
When I asked why they’d break up with a series, the answers weren’t so far from mine. A few mentioned the “sameness” of the books, the feeling that they’d just read one of the earlier books with different character names, or the habit of reading subsequent books just to keep track of ancillary characters who would reappear in each new installment.
As I listened to the folks talking about when they broke up with a much-loved series, I think I figured out what their breakup point had in common: all of the stories we were discussing based their foundation on a lot of world building. Whether it was Trenton or an entire otherworld, the world in which the books took place played as much of a role in the early books as the characters themselves, and certainly that was part of the attraction.
But when the books became more about the characters, and less about the world, or when reader knowledge of the world was presumed by the text and therefore not built at all in later books, most of the women there, including me, started to lose interest. The world has to be as much a character that grows and evolves as the characters do, and when one is sacrificed for the other, or neither the world nor the characters evolve, the series is a lot easier to break up with and leave behind.
For example, I’m still way invested in Kresley Cole’s series because there is a larger plot facing the otherworld that develops in each book, as if that world of the Immortals is its own character. But I have stopped reading the Plum series back when it was still in the single digits because there wasn’t any evolution to the characters that I enjoyed – and what changes there were I didn’t like at all. I haven’t followed the Ward series past The Nomming of Butch By Vishous because, while often crackalicious, I didn’t care so much about the characters any longer, nor did I give a powdery ass about the Lessers, and on the whole felt that the world of the Brotherhood hadn’t changed much. I preferred to read Dark Lover again (and try to figure out WHY they can be so crack-luscious) than read any of the newer installments of the series. A few folks argued that Ward’s series was one they could not leave behind (no pun intended) because they loved the world within it so much, even as they didn’t love all the installments of the series.
Even when the author breaks the rules of that world, and breaks them hard, some of the readers I spoke with were still yearning to revisit it, either by reading older books or continuing to read the new ones. And while there was some agreement that one or two series had totally jumped the shark and kept on flying into the horizon, all of us had different breakup points with different series, especially those that seem as if they have no end in sight.
So what’s your break-up point with a series you love? Is it based on the world or the characters or a disappointment so great you’ll never get over it?
I guess I see book series more like girlfriends, and the break ups really fall into two different categories: the Drift-Aways and the Betrayals.
It’s no one’s fault that some friendships just don’t last. Maybe you just mature at different rates and move on (Sweet Valley, Nancy Drew, Stephanie Plum), or maybe you’ve physically separated for awhile and you just don’t have the same things in common anymore (Pern, Dragonlance). But you may meet one day, and then you’ll experience a brief memory, maybe happy, maybe rueful, of how much you enjoyed their company once upon a time.
Other friendships… well, some people self-destruct and you’ll never know why (Anita Blake). No matter what you do, they don’t want your help, and so you’re left with the choice of watching them destroy themselves or just walking away. Other times, of course, you find out that your friend just isn’t who you thought she was, not because she’s changed, but because she worked hard to draw you in with a deception. The closer you were, the harder it is to walk away.
One last note: I immediately drop any author who has the audacity to treat rape like it’s a compliment to the desirability of the protagonist. Laurell K. Hamilton, Kirsten Katherine Rusch, and Rachel Caine all hit my black list for that crime, and Patricia Briggs just barely escaped.
Worst trope EVER.
For me, when the characters stop growing, I stop reading. It took me too long to give up on the Stephanie Plum books, probably because I was glomming books 1-11 pretty quickly. Then I read #12 and Stephanie was still doing stupid shit like leaving her house without charging her cell phone or taser, and leaving her gun behind entirely. If characters don’t learn from their mistakes, I’m out of there.
Kat said:
YES. I can fill up my gas tank for the price of a hardcover book. And what’s with the (gulp) $16.00 trade paperbacks? The price of books unfortunately makes it all the easier to break up with a series that you’re starting to feel meh about. Or if you DO stick with it, to check it out of the library. I understand that being published in hardcover is a career accomplishment for a writer, but as a reader it drives me absolutely bugfuck.
I quit reading Evanovich’s Plum at book 6, Hamilton’s Anita Blake at 7, and Davidson’s Betsy at 4 – mainly because I thought the authors were starting to sacrifice character development and plot for humor (Evanovich, Davidson) or sex (Hamilton). They weren’t telling well-balanced stories anymore. I checked Kenyon’s Acheron out of the library, even after the trauma of watching that video trailer – the first and last I’ll ever watch. Ward’s BDB series is still a must-read for me, though since it went to hardcover, I’ll check the book out of the library instead of buying it. I read Roberts and Robb in hardcover from the library when the books are first relased, then buy them when they come out in mass market PB.
One thing that a lot of the series I’ve quit seem to have in common is that, to me, the latter books in the series feel…rushed. The quality’s not as high. As a series catches on, and there’s money to be made, the books get pumped out on an accellerated schedule. The very qualities that made me love the books in the first place becomes evermore diluted, until finally you just don’t care anymore. Tell me how a midlist author who still works a full time day job is supposed to pump out two to three books a year and keep the quality high – and not burn out. Something’s gotta give, and we know what gets sacrificed.
I’d rather an author whose work I love release a single book a year rather than 2 to 3 inferior ones which read like assembly-line “product.”
Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot.
So many reasons…
Sookie? Got bored around book 4. Don’t think I even finished it, and when the next book came out I didn’t even have a twinge about buying it.
Betsy, QotV? When they went to hardback. I like cheeseburgers, but I’m not paying $20 for one. Same thought about these books. They were mindless fluff, but not that worthy of the price tag. Luckily the books are so light that I’ll spend an hour in Borders and read the book.
Carpathians? We had a separation but seem to have gotten back together. Initial breakup was because it was same plot. Also, it didn’t seem like any thought was going into the the bad guy/overall arch. BUT she seems to have actually thought out how the overall plot is actually going, and the relationships are no longer following the same pattern that she had in the first, oh, 15 books.
LKH’s Merry? When I pay $20 for a book, I would like the plot to advance more than 4 hours. About three of those books should have been lumped together in one bigger book. Just because Merry likes being screwed doesn’t mean I like it.
Anita Blake? Oh. My. Gawd. There is no series out there that inspires so much rage among people I know who used to read the books. Mostly when someone stops reading a series it’s mainly boredom or disinterest. But that one? I have at least 5 friends who, if I would like to seem them go off on something, all I have to say is, have you read the latest Anita? The answer will always be no, but then comes the diatribe about WHY they didn’t read it. LKH didn’t get rusty or run out of ideas; the woman needs a therapist and is instead taking her issues out on her books. I think the biggest problem was, they were good once. And then from book 9 to book 10 they quickly went horribly, horribly wrong. I believe that authors should be able to do what they want with their characters, but really, there should have been an intervention in her case.
picture89? *snort* picture 89 men lined up – that’s the next Anita book
I don’t have much time or money these days, so when I read I want the books to be good, not just a habit. That makes it much easier to walk away from a series that has gone bad.
Why do I quit? The short answer is because I’m no longer interested in following where the author is going. That can happen for a lot of reasons. I quit the Plum books when I realized that they’re a sitcom and therefore Stephanie was never going to grow. I’ve quit other series because they got repetitive or stale and I started to suspect that they exist purely because the author or the publisher can’t let go of the money.
There are several open-ended series that I still love, but not every author can do that. I think many authors would be far better off if they planned an X book story arc from the beginning and then just closed the series out and moved on.
In general, I think we would all be better off if more people could let go. If there was no money in continuing a series that has run out of steam then authors and publishers would stop doing it. In fact, if series weren’t such a license to print money maybe we would get more stand alone books. I like series, but I also like to read self-contained stories. Sometimes it feels like there are none of those left, especially in the mystery genre. That’s annoying.
Amen to everything Anj just said.
I’m sticking with Sookie because last year she finally told all the horrible men in her life to leave her alone. Of course a few won’t, but at least she recognized that they were making her life hell and not giving her what she wants in return. (n.b.: I haven’t read the one that came out last week yet.)
Gabaldon got demoted to buy-the-remainder status when Fiery Cross covered a very small amount of time (compared to the other books) and had the characters flailing around in their personal problems rather than striving against historical events. Everything was suddenly small-scale, and the pace crawled. I thought the book was a steaming pile of pointless BS, and the next book was worse.
Come to think of it, I broke up with Jordan’s series for much the same reason. The seventh book covered a mere two weeks, and in that time the protagonist didn’t make much progress in his quest, but found time to bonk three of the four love interests he’d been stringing along. DO NOT WANT.
Lack of epic-ness in an ostensibly epic series really irks me.
I usually finish a series once I’ve read two or more books. I’m pretty obssesive conpulsive about series and I’ve gotten really angry with myself for finding myself in the thouroughs of a long winded series.
The series I know I’ve had to let go because I knew they weren’t worth the money and time I was spending on them was Sookie Stackhouse (5th book), The Princess Diaries (6th book), Betsy Vampire Queen (4th), and the Cynster Series (5th book).
I stopped reading for the same reasons, but I also stopped reading because there seemed to be no end in sight and some books like the one’s in Betsy and the Princess Diaries were often too short and stopped at weird moments and cliff hangers for me to actually enjoy them.
The Cynster Series was another situation entirely. I think it was just that in an effort to catch up I read too many of them and it made me sick not just of the series but romances in general. I actually can’t pick up and read one of Stephanie Lauren’s books because it.
My reason for breaking up is boredom…. I guess that ‘sameness’ you mentioned. If the characters can be swapped out for previous characters in previous books, then I get really, really bored.
Some series, I didn’t even realize I had a break-up until new books were released and I didn’t know about it until I saw it in the store and had a …“should I or shouldn’t I” buy moment. Usually with a series, it ends up being ‘shouldn’t’ which leads to ‘not messing with it’.
One series I won’t ever be able to give up on is the Eve Dallas books. I’m totally hooked on those. Kresley Cole’s paranormal series is another. Viehl’s Darkyn and Stardoc books.
I know, I know, Anita…sigh….I say “never again,” then I do – but only in paperback!
I keep coming back for those hints of the old story AND I want to find out what happens with Marmee Noir—it could be kick-ass big badness and I wanna know!
I tend to just keeping reading a series out of habit even though I know it starting sucking about 5 books ago. I think I’m holding out hope that things will improve. A good example is the cat who mystery series. They used to be good, but with the last few there’s no real mystery until the last 50 pages of the book. I think the author died and some ghostwriter took over.
I wonder if the biggest problem with these long-running series is that they’ve got no overall plot or focus. Is it building to something? Is it going somewhere? Will the heroine finally decide which of her many gorgeous suitors she wants/save the world/remember to charge her phone?
Yikes, I wish I lived somewhere with fuel that cheap.
I remember asking a couple of rather big-name authors once why, if they and their readers disliked hardbacks so much, publishers were so determined to produce them. The answer? Bestseller lists. Hardback bestseller lists, which enable you to put a NATIONAL BESTSELLER label on the paperback. And then do a whole new sales push for that release, too.
Going to hardback is purely a sign that an author has become successful enough for the publisher to risk losing a few sales—ie to those who can’t afford/haven’t got space for hardbacks. They know there are plenty of fans who’ll buy the book no matter the cost, and most of it’s offset by the bigger royalties from the larger cover price.
I find it interesting that so many of these comments come down to
“the series changed” (Anita Blake, BDB, etc.) OR “the series DIDN’T change” (Stephanie Plum, Cynster, etc.)
Of the ones people have mentioned so far, the only one I’m still reading is JD Robb, mainly because it strikes a nice balance between the two: the characters are still recognizably the same people, but have shown some growth (well, Roarke not so much, but it’s hard to grow from impossible perfection!) and the focus on mysteries with different casts of characters (some of whom reappear later, and that’s nice too) give me the sense of “yes, this is still the books I started with.”
I’m a big comic book fan, and you see this same dichotomy even more strongly there. There are people who are furious when the hero isn’t the one they grew up with (usually described as “XYZ is acting out of character!” and “You are ignoring continuity!”) and others who are disgusted when the series doesn’t break new ground (“This is a new century!” or “You just want to re-tread stale old stories!”)
Me, I’ve begun to gravitate more towards manga, where (many) series have a defined story arc with a definite end-point.
(verification word: stood63—no, I’d never stand for 63 volumes!)
When a character, typically a heroine, doesn’t experience any kind of growth or maturity or insight whatsoever is when I stop reading.
Becky Bloomwood loves shopping! She cannot manage her money! I don’t want to read about the same problems in each book.
Sookie Stackhouse may be on her way out for me, too. I’m hanging on to the new book in the hopes there’ll be resolution for Sookie and Eric.
Book 5 or 6 is usually my touchstone for a good series. By that point, I’m either flinging it against the wall or cannot wait until the next book is released.
It’s pretty easy for me to break up with a series, though depending on how much time and/or money I’ve spent, my outrage at HAVING to breakup, varies. Additionally, I’ll never go back. Once I’ve broken up, there are no second chances. And once I’ve broken up, I’ll get rid of the entire series, since I know I won’t ever re-read them again.
My outrage with LKH was pretty high (I stopped at like book 13, though those last 3 were really really hard to get through). And just recently, I’ve broken up with Karen Marie Moning with high outrage (WHAT is with the very thin hardback? It’s a novella (WTF?) and it costs $20!!!??? Piss me the F off!). Moning is a rare scenerio where I still am really interested in the series, but felt super gipped on the Fae hardbacks. They’re just novellas wrapped in a big package and are really expensive. This is unacceptable to me. I also had a high outrage with Viehl’s Stardoc series (threw the book at the wall). I stoppped reading Betsy just from boredom (outrage nonexistant), Dresden Files from boredom (outrage nonexistant), Kenyon from confusion and lazy writing (outrage mid-level), never got past book 2 of either Lyn Viehl, Feehan, or Ward. Those stories just never grabbed me, so I didn’t even bother. I haven’t made a final decision on Evanovich, yet. I haven’t read 14 yet, so jury’s still out.
But I still love me some JD Robb, Brockmann, Lora Leigh’s Nauti series (though this last one was boring-we could be looking at a future breakup), Catherine Asaro, Jeanine Frost, Nalini Singh, Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, plus a bunch of others.
Essentially, it’s the same thing as others have said. Consistent world rules and character growth are key. And in my case, don’t freaking package a novella as a hardback book (I bet you can see I’m still really pissed about this one). In fact, don’t package a novella at all-put all three of them in one book and call it a freaking novel! *steps off rant*
I gave up the Gabaldon series after Fiery Cross. I love Claire and Jamie, but Fiery Cross was so painfully slow. too much boyfriend, not enough roller derby (to quote buymeaclue).
season27 = soap operas may go here, but I won’t!
I gave up on the Stephanie Plum novels with one phrase: “that I felt right in my dooda.”
I mean. Dooda. I thought, Really, Janet? and closed the book, and haven’t gone back.
I gave up on Robert Jordan after one book because I finished the first one, looked at the page count, realized there were fourteen or so more to read to get the whole story, and thought, No way, no how.
I’m glad I waited to read Stephen King’s The Dark Tower until the whole series was done. Reading an entire series is much less taxing when you know there’s a set ending.
You can’t win with series, it seems like. Change a character too much and readers complain it’s not the series they fell in love with; change a character too little and readers complain of staleness. Finding a balance is very, very difficult, and from all appearances not many authors can do it.
similar82=when you’ve read the first 82 books and they’re all too similar? Time to break up.
I broke up with Anita about two books ago..I was beyond tired of her ridiculous porny ways. The BDB I dumped after the fourth one, because Marissa was easily the stupidist person ever..and that urban slang was even more stupid.
I hate it when authors try to milk a story beyond it’s death, it’s irritating and insulting.
I’m a fickle bitch when it comes to reading, theres plenty o’ books on the shelf.
I think it’s doable when you have a set number of books/story in mind from the beginning and stick to it. It’s much harder with an open-ended series.
RE: LKH.
So, am I the only one rooting for Edward to come back and put the entire cast out of their misery?
meagan- I know the feeling! I think it’s the “it’s not you, it’s me” phase of the breakup. You want to do it gently, there were good times had together in the past. And it’s not necessarily that they aren’t still a good story, you’ve simply grown apart. lol
Hi! I just discovered your blog… I stumbled across it late last night and stayed up past my bedtime rolling in laughter at your “Greatest Hits” posts. As mascara streamed down my face, my husband came back to where I was sitting and asked, “You are still laughing, right?” Needless to say, your book is on it’s way from Amazon.com. And I am cursing my husband’s late work hours that he’ll be putting in during the time you’ll be in Washington, because I don’t have a babysitter for the munchkin so I won’t be able to attend.
I have not gotten into too many series yet to have a good answer to this question. I adore Amanda Quick so I’m on board with her Arcane Society novels. I get consumed with Kresley Cole novels and can’t imagine ever in my life not reading hers (I want to liquify them and pump them into my bloodstream all day long!). The only series I’d like to break up with is the Dark-Hunter, and I’m only a book or two in. Kenyon uses words and phrases that I am morally opposed to, like “holy guacamole” and “listen, buster.” (Said in all seriousness, of course. I could appreciate them tongue-in-cheek.) But I guess I am still holding onto my interest in her otherworld, just waiting for that to end so I can summarily remove the series from my must-read list.
I’m a romance reader. If the author takes away the romance, that’s a definite breakup for me. But like others have mentioned, there are various degrees of breakups.
If the author kills of the HEA, I’m done. Done with the book, done with the series, done with the author. I will get rid of everything I own by that author and I will tell everyone about it. To me, that is the ultimate betrayal.
If the series starts to move away from romance, they drop in my priorities. I’m still holding on to the the BDB, hoping for an improvement. After Lover Avenged, I don’t see that happening, so the next one will be coming from the library. Brockmann has reached the stage where I only buy her’s used.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s me. I usually manage 4 books in a series. After that all bets are off: KMM, LKH Anita, George RR Martin, BDB, Diana Gabaldon, Cynsters, Feehan’s Drake & Ghost series, the Bridgertons & the Dark Hunters. Often because they feel the same & there isn’t enough growth from book to book to sustain me, I drop off. Sometimes a writer’s voice will keep me going, sometimes it’s because I want to keep going with the overarching plot or world-building from the previous books (as opposed to enjoying each couple’s story). I still follow a few series: any of LMB’s series, Skolians, Darkyns, Bastion Club, Carpathians.
I enjoy several mystery authors: Laura Joh Rowland, Peter Tremayne, Ariana Franklin. Somehow mystery series often manage to simultaneously balance the recurring protagonist’s personal story and the unique puzzle found in each title. Now that I think about it, I follow mystery authors longer than most other genres. Food for thought I suppose.. 🙂
~Amanda
I break up with a series when:
– I can’t remember what happened in the series prior to the latest book.
– I can’t remember who all these flipping characters are.
– I don’t really care about the characters anymore.
– The story arc just keeps meandering along, and there’s no point to it beyond milking the sequel money.
What sells a series to me is when I’m intrigued by a situation or secondary character enough to want to know what happens next. What loses a series for me is when I don’t care what happens next.
I stopped reading Anita Blake when the mystery element just disappeared and all that was left was the fucking. The last Blake book I read was humongous, and had a mystery involving a giant pit and disappearing vampires IIRC. Long-ass book, more new non-humans to sex up. Anita goes to check out the night club and the pit involved in the crime, and then the issue is never mentioned again. (Memory of details is blurry, sorry.)
In the next book, there’s a toss-off comment by another character mentioning that serial killer case that was so hard on Anita, and that was it. No other information whatsoever about the mystery. And that was it for me, I just found the books more work to get through than they were worth.
The Plum books are just going nowhere. There are some really funny scenes, and I continue to get them from the library, but I don’t care if I miss one here or there.
I’m still enjoying the interaction between Kenyon’s various vampires and gods and demons, but they’re starting to have an apocolyptic feel about them that is turning me off. I’m impatient with and contemptuous of apocolypses. Also, I’m kind of feeling a need to start a chart to keep track of who everybody is, and why they know each other. I hate that.
Ward is on the cusp. I absolutely couldn’t wait for the last one, but for the new one, I feel no sense of urgency to read at all.
Re: LKH and Edward
I also stopped around book 9 for the reasons people listed here, but I still check back with people who have hung in there just to make sure the series is still going downhill. I understand from them that Edward shows up less and less as time goes on, and I think that says a lot about what’s been going on in the series. Edward is representative of what I *liked* in the earlier books, and the fact that he isn’t around is very telling.
On the one hand, I’m with Lori S., and I really would *love* a book from Edward’s perspective where he decides Anita has firmly gone around the monster bend and needs to be taken out, along with her entire seraglio. On the other hand, I live in fear of the day when LKH remembers Edward exists, and puts him in some kinky leather ensemble to worship at the holy v-jay of Anita-Sue. Because that is one hook-up that should *never* happen.
@Lillie, I won’t rec Elizabeth Donald to you. She starts out with vampire murder mysteries with sex and romance, and eventually drops the sex. The love is there, but it all comes down to the horror novel in the last one of the series.
I broke up with Queen Betsy after book 3. Such a promising premise and so much of it spent just being a terror to her hunky alpha, when she wasn’t shagging him. And vapid women never did do much for me. The snark carried three books, but I couldn’t be arsed to hunt the fourth.
LKH? I’m reading her in fits and starts. I’ve liked a couple, but her voice isn’t unique enough to try reading them in order or go much farther.
I wandered away from Nancy Drew by 12, and from Dragonlance when it started going all backstory. I haven’t really liked anything of Stephan King’s since Needful Things.
Julian May, I never broke up with. She wrote 9 very good books, a pair, a trilogy, and a foursome. Edgar Rice Burroughs…he got weird around book 4 of Mars, redeemed himself with 5-8 and 10, but 9 and 11 were complete messes.
I’m waiting on S.M Stirling to FINISH his next trilogy. Because I hate reading and getting stuck waiting for the next book.
Anita Blake when it became all sex- Plum and Queen Betsy when i couldn’t tell if I had read a book before or not-
the Cynsters moved from buy to library when the sex overtook the plot- I do like the characters and want to see what’s happening with them, but not enough to waste my money and shelf space on
Castle/Quick/Krentz- Loved, Loved, Loved- the Arcane Society concept was interesting but the practical application has been awkward. When we have the same words used to describe the same event/phenom/psychic spore in the past, the present, and on another planet I get bored. Language evolves and changes so do some evolving and changing, please.
Not romance but I’m not sure the last time I bought a Patricia Cornwell and I do still love me some Kathy Reichs, but have been feeling like she wants to quit the books in favor of tv. If so, please do, and don’t leave the readers with only half of your attention.
I’m like Lori S up around post 12
It’s hard to quit a series that I at one point loved. But it’s not hard to wait for a cheap used copy of the book.
I really am getting sick of series. I like a good stand alone novel that has a beginning , a plot, and an ending.
I want to go to the store and pick up a book and not read about 15 side characters who are only mentioned to placate readers of the former books in the series and have nothing to do with the current story.
KM Monings Fever series, really came close to pushing my buttons when it ended on such a cliffhanger in FaeFever. Love the books but OMG CLIFFHANGERS? No no no bad author! Bad bad.
Really, anything more than a trilogy is overkill. I like how Jacqueline Carey did her Kushiel series books. Trilogy set in one time period with one couple of characters, then trilogy set in same world she built but different characters, and next month, Naamah’s Kiss, new trilogy, same world, 100 years later.
I’ve yet to really get to a point where I break up with a series in the romance genre, mostly because I follow authors, not necessarily series. There has been a few authors I’ve dropped, or at least some of their books (can’t read a historical Coulter anymore unless I want to make my eyes bleed, but her FBI stuff isn’t bad), but overall I stick with it. But I tend to rely heavily on the library, so its not a great loss of money either way. My favorite series, however, is taking a hit because the author is passing the reins over to her son (she’s in her 80’s, its only reasonable if it was to keep going), and he’s Gary Stu-ing the crap out of the books. Which is both sad and annoying, because I DO buy those books, and now I don’t want to. But I’m anal enough to want a complete collection. Sigh.
When it seemed like Anita and Merry were going to be manageable series, it was harder to contemplate letting go—weren’t the Anita books originally set for seven or eight or something? Merry at seven? When the impetus became production rather than resolution, it seems to have sapped something from the stories. I would rather have an end to Anita’s story and then, after a suitable period, a new series from LKH. Of course (see above) I can’t let go.
I am a bookseller and have recommended some of these series to guests (adult para-romance newbies looking for a post-Twilight read) with the caveat (for Feehan, Adrian, and Ward) “don’t read them all at once.” If they prefer less vigorous sexin, I send them to great YA series that have not gotten old, like Libba Bray, Rachel Morgan, the Casts. Maybe when these authors hit books eight and nine it will be time to move on.
I dunno, Hapix, either way, there’s an underlying failure on the author’s part to serve either plot or character properly.
In the first case, the character has been changed so radically (and generally for no good or believable reason) that it totally undermines the relationship you’ve spent lots of time and money building up in however many previous books. It’s like when they spend two seasons getting a couple together on a show and then break them up overnight over something so stupid and contrived that I want to pull an Elvis on my t.v. because they can’t be arsed to allow growth of the relationship to drive a story arc. Or, say, when “the ardeure” is suddenly thrust (heh) upon us.
In the second case (JANET EVANOVICH, MJD, I’M LOOKIN’ AT YOU!) they are so stuck on superficial aspects of the characters that they refuse to let them develop, grow, change, mature or learn. How can I buy that Joe and Ranger (yum squared) are so devoted to Stephanie when she’s so utterly incompetant and annoying? Why should the big, bad, sexy alpha vampire remain obsessed with Betsy when she’s a brain-dead, clueless shrew? Aren’t both of these authors capable of writing some funny AND some character development?
I’ve cut down on the number of new series I try because I become obsessed with them. I’m still following a lot of the serie others here hate, namely LKH, because I love finding out what comes next!?
I’ve broken up with series for several reasons, though:
1. When the world becomes so involved that you need an encyclopedia to keep up, I leave. (Kenyon)
2. When the main character NEVER changes and the jokes are the same, I leave. (Evanovich)
3. When the author disclaims writing a romance or having anything to do with romances I stop cold turkey.
My sad truth is that I’m a readaholic. There are just not enough books published per month that I’m interested in reading. So I always find myself picking these old aquaintances up from the library, or the ubs, whenever I find myself desperately short of reading material.
Except for the anti-romance authors.
I dropped the Plum series at (I believe,) book ten. You know the one. We’d been waiting for Stephanie and Ranger to get together for, oh, TEN BOOKS, and it was a paragraph.
A PARAGRAPH.
Let’s see here: Janet Evanovich strings us all along over ten books, tantalizing us with the delicious, elusive Ranger, the completely inept Stephanie Plum, how great it will be when they finally do the horizontal mambo, and their night of passion is one paragraph.
Not only did I quit the series, I quit Janet Evanovich. Maybe I just take all of this too seriously, but I won’t buy a Evanovich book again. I’d prefer an author who actually might care what her readership might think about something like this.
Of course, this is IMHO.
-S
I forgot to mention that I broke up with Katie MacAllister last night. Both of her series (vampire and dragon) are interchangable, and her female leads are soooo TSTL. It finally drove me crazy enough to quit last night.
cc: I, too, like the Arcane concept, but I just CAN NOT keep track of which pen name is producing which book. It’s so hard to keep track of the Arcane novels that I have given up. Really poor marketing, IMO.
and seriously, the final LKH book should just read, “Edward returned and killed them all. The End.” hahahhaah.
across79: across 79 series, there are still some I read.
I have a problem with series which never end. I need to know that there will be a conclusion at some point in the foreseeable future, preferably after a set number of books.
I gave up on Janet Evanovich a few books ago due to lack of character development and recycled jokes. I also gave up on Brockmann. I’ve just finished J.R. Ward’s latest and although I enjoyed Rhev’s part of the story, I’m not sure about continuing the BDB series.
I’ve always avoided series like the plague. I’m too fickle to maintain an interest in the same characters over a long arc. Mercy Thompson is the first one to ever grab me by the throat and won’t let go. I thought for sure when it went to hardback it would suck, but it hasn’t. I have no idea how she does two series at the same time in the essentially the same world and keeps me fascinated with both, but there you are.
Not only did I quit the series, I quit Janet Evanovich. Maybe I just take all of this too seriously, but I won’t buy a Evanovich book again. I’d prefer an author who actually might care what her readership might think about something like this.
I agree Strategerie. I quit JE after A)she didn’t care enough to write a new book for me to buy at hardcover prices. It’s like she recycled the same ol shit and knew it would sell because she was an autobuy for so many people. I think that’s just wrong, and B)when she threw the little hissy fit on Center Stage over at B&N because people were buying and reading ARC’s. She’s obviously got enough of my money.
No, you aren’t. I’ve said the only way I’m going back to that series is if every single person Anita knows* is killed and Edward comes back, slaps her around a bit, and then they go on a deadly rampage.
*or has had sex with. at this point it’s the same number.
Some series I break up with entirely. With Anita Blake, “Narcissus in Chains” was the final straw. I drifted away from Queen Betsy after book 4 and barely noticed (after all, she’ acts pretty much the same in every book, which was funny in the first but tiresome after four). The BDB, well, Butch’s book was okay (his change was inevitable so I wasn’t surprised) but the ghost in the next one was just too much and I won’t be back.
With some series I just need my space, so the new entries go on my wait list at paperbackswap.com. I don’t mind waiting six months or longer for, say, the new Stephanie Plum book. AFter all, I’m not missing much. With the Eve Dallas books and Butcher’s Fury series, I wait until they come out in paperback. I know I’ll love it so I will gladly put up the money for my own copies but I’m not in a huge hurry to know what’s next.
Some series I remain faithful to, even unto hardcover. (All of these I have been reading since the day the first book came out and there have been lots of books and money spent since then.) Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, Butcher’s Dresden Files books, Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series and Rachel Caine’s Rachel Morgan books are all on my “order the day they come out list,” regardless of the high cost. I’ve never regretted spending the money for any of them.
What it all comes down to, I think, is how much I care. Series I’ve broken up with I not only don’t care what happens to the characters, I’d rather not know and spare myself the horror. Series I need space from I have an interest in what’s happening in the characters’ lives but I’m not dying to find out RIGHT THIS MINUTE. The series I am faithful to I wait for, stalking online (hey, sometimes they ship before the release date) and finally getting that book in the mail makes my day, rather like visiting with an old friend you love but visit with too seldom. (When Ilona Andrews new Kate Daniels book came last month I was giddy all day. I made the kids go to bed early and read the whole book in one sitting, then reread my favourite parts the next day while they were at school!)
And finding a new series you love enough to add to that list of old friends? Oh, it’s a wonderful feeling, and it goes a long way towards mitigating the bitter feeling of betrayal when a new book comes out in a series I’ve broken up badly with. (Yeah, Anita, I’m talking about you.)
The first huge series disappointment I can remember is Thomas Harris’ Hannibal. And then I had to watch the movie too 🙁
That book was also provided the earliest dustup I can remember about author stewardship vs. fan expecatation.