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’ve stopped series for all 3 reasons: a disappointment I can’t live with (the 2 main characters in the series have sex that I considered non-consensual), a realization that the books are essentially the same book, and a realization that no matter how much I hoped otherwise the characters were too stupid to live.
The Anita Blake thing started to give me a migraine —I was getting the bright lights in front of my eyes.
I’ve pretty much divorced Betsy The Vampire Queen. Every subsequent book seems both longer and less substantial and Betsy seemed to never experience growth—eternity would seem extra long with her. I can’t even get into it for the Minnesota connection as there seems to be very little interaction with real places.
been24—don’t rub it in.
With Anita Blake it was the realization that each book was getting longer and that in each volume the added length consisted entirely of graphic porn; as series progress editors back off (I guess).
I have quit a series when the author has played fast and loose with my intelligence, my emotions (killing off main characters-I’m talking to you Jennifer Roberson), when they don’t have anything new just rehashing characters with different names to keep the series going (Kenyon but I did read Acheron to find out his deal), and when it wasn’t fun to enter their world anymore (Sookie is moving in that direction for me but I am a fan from the beginning so I haven’t quit her yet)! I also realized from this post that I quit Evanovich because she doesn’t have any growth whatsoever !
Thanks Sarah, for this great post!
I’m getting close with JR Ward’s BDB. When the book comes out and it’s $5 cheaper than my favourite pair of shoes, it’s a good sign that the end is near.
For me it started with Stephanie Plum (around book 6 or 7), Anita Blake (around 9 or 10) and Betsy the vampire queen (book 4) as all of them really stopped developing the main character. Note to author: having the main heroine whinge and whine about her life at every chance is NOT emotional growth.
I’m still enjoying Kenyon and Sookie though I accept that I may grow out of these eventually.
I just don’t break up with them… sadly
I buy the new books. Put them on my shelf – wince because I know it’s going to be a trainwreck – read it then bitch about it. I still bought the latest Anita Blake books – gods help me.
I should have broken up with them long ago. With Anita it made the change about book 9 – after that there just wasn’t any PLOT. Characters or world building both died entirely – it was just a series of sex scenes loosely connected with Anita’s new Shiny Powers of Sueness.
Betsy I liked – but like Michelle she frustrated me. I still consider the books fun fluff reads (turn off brain, it’s some easy mush) but Betsy was a ditzy self-obsessed and rather clueless and incapable woman who remained… a ditzy, self-obsessed and rather clueless and incapable woman. All the characters are rather 2 dimensional – fun 2 dimensional, but it got old quicky
Hmm – this long ramble says I break up with a series (or should) when the story stops happening. When nothing changes, nothing grows (and new shiny powers +lots of sex isn’t change and growth) and nothing develops
I thought that after the last Ward book. I wondered if I really care when she totally changed up the course of the series and now threw in a new random creature to keep the money train moving…and left characters I really cared about hanging in the wind. Now I’m ehhhh….but, in some parts I want to see how certain characters fare in the new book.
I really dislike it when authors start being in their own hype (ahem you, Stephanie Meyers)
I stopped reading Stephanie Plum at about book 7 or 8 because nothing new was happening. It wasn’t a planned decision – it was more that I flicked through the pages of the next one in the bookshop, and read the back cover, and thought, ‘why bother? I’ve read that three times already.’
I enjoyed Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, but I was getting a bit bored with the same family by book 8 and was glad that the set was complete. Ditto Mary Balogh’s Slightly and Simply series: individually good, but after a while the repetition becomes a bit much.
If a book feels like I’ve read it before when I haven’t, I’ll just get bored and wander off in search of something new. Either I have a short attention span or I’m secretly an inveterate thrill-seeker. Or both.
I broke up with Anita Blake after 10 books and years of being emotionally invested in the series. When the author did a 180 and changed the whole dynamics of the series and the character I enjoyed, that was when I broke up and have never looks back.
After reading Lover Avenged, I am still interested but I have the feeling that Ward may decided to break up with her BDB series after a few more books.
I am a pansy-ass when it comes to breaking up with a series. I’m always thinking maybe this time will be better…um, not usually, but there are sometimes surprises. I did like Lover Avenged better than the last two BDBs. Or maybe I’ve just lowered my expectations. 😉 If a series has jumped the shark, or is at least rapidly skiing toward that, I move them from “must buy on drop date!” to “get at the library or wait for the paperback to hit the UBS.” I may have that compulsion to read, but not enough to pay full price.
The long-assed series can be fun as you get to know the world and the characters so well, but a smart author really should know when to say when and provide the satisfaction of conclusion. Trilogies are great for that purpose – you get the “what happened next?” without the “jeez, can we just defeat the great evil already and head for Miller Time?”
I have a hard time breaking up with a series, so I’ve developed a scale to determine the strength of my addiction:
1 – I’ll buy it in hardcover, the day it’s released.
2 – I’ll buy it in hardcover, if it’s on sale. If not, I’ll troll ebay for an affordable copy.
3 – I’ll wait until it comes out in paperback.
4 – Used bookstore (or paperbackswap.com) time.
5 – I’ll read the synopsis online.
6 – Done.
I quite Anita after book 8 (or was it 9?) because the Anita I loved had been replaced by a blow-up doll with ammo. Betsy from the Undead series is down to used bookstore status – is it just me, or is every MJD heroine a carbon copy of Betsy? I tried her mermaid series, and it read like Betsy with fins.
I love series. I love/hate the anticipation of that new book. I lost interest in Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt, he was my first series heartthrob, when he started writing with other people. It just didn’t have the same voice. I was a huge fan of the Stephanie Plum series until Janet Evanovich apparently got as bored with the series as I was. I stayed through 12, hated 13 and 14 and won’t even try with 15. I love Sookie Stackhouse, I can tolerate Betsy the vampire, but my favorite series couple is Joe Pike and Elvis Cole. To me, that is a romance on so many levels. All that’s missing is the kiss. 😀
I broke up with Anita Blake when it became less of a mystery/thriller story and more of a “It’s all about me, me, me!” fest for Anita and her lovers.
I was thinking about this the other day when I was reading the latest J.D. Robb, wondering why it still captures me. I believe it may be because while each book has a wink-and-a-nod to the reader about the characters (Eve is going to diss Somerset, Peabody’s going to admire Roarke’s butt, Roarke is going to be revealed to own another planetary system), at the core of the book is a story—a mystery, a character developing, new characters who are interesting enough to make you wonder if they’ll return, etc.
I’m still reading Sookie Stackhouse, but I’m beginning to get to the edge of tolerance. And I gave up on Stephanie Plum around book 10. She just doesn’t grow, change or make real decisions and I can’t relate to her anymore.
I stop reading a series when the author stops telling a good story.
Sometimes an author forgets—or ignores— the fact that it’s not about them or their name on the cover. It’s about wanting to know where that author is going to take the characters/story next.
If we aren’t going anywhere new or the character(s) are going to become something else entirely then it’s time to move along to another book.
I HATE breaking up.
Like Charlane, my love affair with Ward’s BDB really ended with Butch’s book. I thought V’s would be so awesome because he was the baddest of the bunch and would finally get his HEA. AND it was advertised/classified as a Romance.
By Ward herself.
When less than half the book was devoted to V, and any kind of romance, and then she pulled a Casper at the end…I skimmed Phury’s. That was even worse, and again, advertised/classified as a Romance, also by Ward.
I’ll stick with a series if it’s still got a strong romance factor, though I need an HEA at the end of every book or I won’t read anymore (which is a big reason why I never got into the Anita Blakes) but lie to me, change genres in the middle of a series, or make me have to visit a forum to find out who new characters are, and that’s it for me!
need84…I don’t need 84 books in a series, kthnxbai
The stopping point for me does have a lot to do with emotional growth. I quit Stephanie Plum about book 7 when I realized that she wasn’t going to learn how to be a better bounty hunter… and she was going to keep jerking Joe around for another 8 books. I don’t want to read about someone who never learns or grows. I will admit Joe was the reason I read books 5-7. : )
I quit Anita when I realized the books were going to be focused on sex and not the great mysteries/action that the first few had. I can’t even remember the number. Just when Anita lost all her sexual inhibitions, I lost her character too. The funny thing is I read the first couple fairy books (Mercy?) and the sex didn’t bother me because it was a part of the story. A little weird part, but from the beginning she let us know that was the focus.
But usually I have a hard time quitting a series unless it really gets under my skin in a bad way.
There are series I stick with even though the writing and characterization is only getting worse and worse because I’m hoping for a good idea—stuff by Harry Turtledove would be my own canonical example.
I agree totally with you about series. I have given up on the BDB. Her books have become soap operas instead of compelling romances. Its sad, because the first three were the best vampire romances I have ever read. I borrowed Lover Avenged from the library and every chapter started with “back at the mansion” or some other location.
I’m a little wary of open-ended series in general, as they tend to go the route of long-lived TV shows after a while and become bored with themselves and disrespectful of their audience. I much prefer when an author states up front, “There will be X number of books in this series, and then the story arc will be complete.”
Most of the series listed here I’ve given up for reasons already mentioned (except for Anita Blake; couldn’t even get halfway through the first one), although it sounds like I have far less patience than most of you guys; I got bored with Stephanie Plum after Book Three. Another factor that will make me lose interest in a series is too many characters and too many plot threads left unresolved; The Dresden Files has been veering in this direction lately, but I still love the writing and characters, so I’m likely to stick with that one til the end.
It drives me nuts when I have to stop reading a series but sometimes it has to be done because the story that drew me in in the first place is gone or the characters that I originally loved have morphed into unrecognisable beings.
The Anita Blake series lost me when Anita started resembling a Mary Sue and the plot of each book became all the sex. I remember feeling intensely angry with each succesive book until I hit the point when I couldn’t get past the first few pages and ended up chucking the book at the wall. It was a big disappointment as I’d invested a lot into the series, not only financially but emotionally and timewise too.
With the Dark Hunters and Carpathian series, I can’t pinpoint an exact book since I didn’t read them in order but it was after 4-5 books, when I couldn’t tell the characters apart and the stories started to blend into each other.
Usually when I give up a series, it’s because I’m bored with it, often to the point of forgetting about it entirely. Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series was like this for me, although I reckon that’s mostly because I started reading them when I was seventeen and, well, things change as you get older. I have to admit I was a huge Stephanie Plum fan up through book twelve. (I’m on the Ranger side of the fence.) Thirteen fell apart, Fourteen was unbearable, and there’s no way in hell I’ll read Fifteen. The thing about Plum that disappointed me the most was what Evanovich did to her characters. Morelli, a once likeable guy, became a controlling, misogynistic asswipe who was often more preoccupied with his penis than he was with anything else. Stephanie, whom I loved, warts and all, went from bumbling to idiotic and from incompetent to just plain lazy. The last book I read (14) had no plot at all. Stephanie talked about Ranger’s penis, then she talked about Morelli’s. Then Morelli talked about his penis. And then Lula talked about Tank’s penis. And then a pizza fell from the sky and that was the end of that. I have never been so outraged as I was the moment I realized Evanovich must think I was a real idiot to have invested my time, money, and energy in such garbage, and that she had been right.
For a while an author I liked going into hardcover seemed to be the clue that the series had jumped the shark for me. Like others I have a progression which varies whether the book is mass market or hardcover. The current sign that an author (publishing in hardcover) is losing his or her luster is whether I put the book on hold at the library when it is announced. I know I officially have broken up with a series when I won’t even pick it up when I see it in RapidRead or on the new book shelves.
With mass market books, if I don’t buy it within a week or so of it’s being released, it is a warning that the relationship is in trouble. I tend to purchase new (to support authors) unless I am glomming backlists.
I have not yet figured out how purchasing for the kindle fits into this work flow.
Hmmm…charge92…rarely.
I broke up with Robert Jordan. I thought he could have completed a story arc focused on fewer main characters in, say, a trilogy. Then he could have focused a second arc on other characters, and so on. I’m not saying he had to end his main storyline in a single trilogy—the thirteen wards and other parts wanted and need all the books. Just that Perrin, Lan, Matt, and others deserved focus, deserved to be built on, to have their powerful and interesting stories told. Instead, the parts I loved were constantly sidelined. Those characters appeared just enough for me to start feeling satisfaction, and then their storyline could disappear for entire books.
I really need for characters to evolve, too. The first few books are often the best in a series because the main characters are still feeling each other out, and there’s a dynamic of the unknown. In Cornwell’s Postmortem, we don’t really know at first if Marino is a big mysoginist blowhard, or if he’s worth something. When a series gets stale, when I feel like the main characters are just going through predictable motions, I put it down. Maybe a few books later, if a book gets a good review, I’ll pick it up and give it my “30 pages” worth of time to see if it has anything new.
I stop reading when I feel like I’ve been left outside. I’ve felt this most recently with Ward’s BDB series and Moning’s Fever series (to a much lesser degree). Basically, if you’re writing a series, and I’ve been reading that series from the beginning, I don’t appreciate feeling like I’ve missed out on some crucial information because I don’t follow your message boards.
The angel (whose name I don’t even remember) at the end of Phury’s book was created on the message boards, and I found his appearance in the book extremely jarring. It’s really great when author’s are able to connect directly to their readers via message boards, I just wish they wouldn’t do it at the expense of the fans who don’t read the boards religiously.
I think Moning drops similar hints about upcoming character and even Barrons’s true nature on her boards, but because this is a limited series (only 5 books), I think of them more as spoilers though I still feel like I’m missing out on parts of the series because I’m not dedicated enough.
Still I hate quiting a series, even when it loses track of the overall world as SB Sarah mentioned because I do want to see how it turns out in the end. It’s just hard when a lot of these series have no end in sight.
Ha, this was actually a topic of conversation at lunch with my mama yesterday. My first big break-up was was Stephanie Laurens. I read the Cynster series all through college, even started the Bastian series, and finally had to stop. Like Sarah said, I got tired of reading the same book over and over. No matter how unique a make character was as a secondary in a previous book, once the spotlight was on them, they seemingly lost most of those individual traits and became all alpha, all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I like alpha, I just needed a break. Also, I realized that if I had to read one more “he smiled internally” or “mentally blinked” I was going to punch someone. Don’t any of these people display emotions on their faces? Beyond the intense, gleaming eyes, of course.
Er, holy typos, Batman. That’s breaking up WITH Stephanie Laurens and a MALE character.
I usually do well with romance series where each book focuses on a different set of main characters. I like how Eloisa James and Liz Carlyle (for ex) have books in smaller sets, but old characters keep popping up and getting spotlight time. each book in this kind of series is focused on its individual story arc of getting to the HEA; so while you run the risk of getting repetitive each story has an equal chance of being tightly written and polished, complete in itself.
I also really like Stephanie Laurens, although I’ve been struggling with myself over her books lately. as Kelly W just remarked: “No matter how unique a make character was as a secondary in a previous book, once the spotlight was on them, they seemingly lost most of those individual traits and became all alpha, all the time.” I agree completely! her male characters all seem to come out of the same mold and yet I can’t stop reading them! I think for me I’m still there because the plot and relationships are individual enough that I can still deal. I do a comforting kind of suspension of disbelief, “once upon a time in SL England…” ^_^
I’m wary of starting open-ended series following a single protagonist (or set of them). I like how Elizabeth W compared them to tv shows, that “long-lived TV shows after a while .. become bored with themselves and disrespectful of their audience.” the beginning books may be very well written, but it becomes really obvious if the drive and life of the story slacks off. what SB Sarah said about the importance of balancing character growth with world building is very true for me. when these two elements slack off, they may still be fun, but nothing -happens- !
this points to a more basic element of the series that is crucial to my investment, the story arc. often with long running series they can start out with what looks like a good story arc, but it goes all to pieces when the author sacrifices tightness of story to keeping spinning it out for more and more books. with some stories/worlds there is no end of potential; but with others there really isn’t, not the way the author set it up.
one recent series that I praise to the skies is Lois McMaster Bujold’s Sharing Knife books. the books follow the relationship between a single couple, Fawn and Dag. throughout the four books we watch Fawn and Dag experience growth and change as individuals, and we see their relationship mature and deepen. unlike other series/tv shows/movie sequels, the writer does not throw random wrenches into the relationship to get tension and plot twist! thrills. the tempering of the characters and forging of the relationship is strong, the world building is solid, and the minor and major story arcs wrap up into a richly satisfying conclusion at the end of bk 4. happy time all round.
anti22 = please god don’t drag a series with one main character out into 22 books! of course, that’s just what happened with Christie’s Poirot and Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and by the end the authors couldn’t stand their characters.
I break up with series pretty easily since I have a limited book budget and limited time to read. There are some I follow if I find a volume on sale but the releases get so far ahead of me I lose interest. The hill just gets higher with every release. I like the releases to have a bit of a gap between books (I know other voracious readers hate that but it suits my budget!) so I can remain current. The only series I bought in hardcover was Harry Potter.
Feehan-book 9 or 10
Kenyon -book 10
LKHamilton-book 8 or 9
Evanovich- book 12
Mostly, I leave a series when it becomes repetitive – when the basic plot begins to feel recycled.
With Feehan, it was when they started feeling like club-her-over-the-head-like-a-baby-seal-and-drag-her-home romances.
And for Kenyon, when the romance became secondary to the subplots in the book.
With LKH I completely agree with Anj – once the books switched their focus to Anita’s sexcapades, I no longer identified/cared about the protagonist.
And for Evanovich- grow up and make a decision already! Agh! And really, how many cars can one person destroy?
I usually lose interest when series go to HC, because I’ve moved on to other things by the time the paperback comes out or plain forgotten. I finally realized when Robb went to HC that I don’t like Roarke at all and haven’t read the series since (apart from that fact that since the names are all the same, I couldn’t remember whether I owned this or that one already).
One series which really shouldn’t have had book 5 was Auel’s Earth Children. Book 5 was an insult and I wish I didn’t have to remember it as the final installment of a series that was quite important to me as a teen.
Brockmann really went off the deep end with her last few books, so I quit her.
I only read a couple of chapters of Plum and am glad I never got started on her series seeing of where it ended or didn’t, and I don’t do paranormals, so I never read Blake, BDB or Sookie and hearing the complaints I’m very glad I didn’t.
I hate nothing more than books being sold as romance that are not and with Brockmann and Ward that definitely seems to be the case. Truth in advertising and all that.
What about the time before the breakup, when you know you should go, but you just can’t? I know I should have given up on Gabaldon somewhere in the middle of the last sprawling book, but I love Jamie and Claire so much that I’ll wade through it all, just to get at their interactions.
What I’ve seen over the last however-many responses is that a lot of people are breaking up with a series around book eight or nine. Is this the point at which we naturally get bored? Or at which the author has nothing else to say?
Of the series I’ve broken up with, it’s mostly been because the books became identical. I can cite series where each book was related to the previous—not a sequel with the same characters, but a new pair. Who were identical to the last pair in everything but hairstyle. While there are going to be common elements I look for in each related book, there are quite a few that feel like churned-out repeats.
I can cite series where the world has become too massive and sprawling for me to keep up with (JK Rowling, I’m looking at you: three years between books and you expect me to remember what happened in the last one?).
Or there are the series which have gone the other way, and changed focus entirely (yes, Anita Blake). I think this is perhaps more of an issue with the series that feature a single protagonist, rather than the series of linked romances, which at least have their own plot and ending. The author tries to keep the character changing and growing, and when you have a character whose experiences are as vivid as, say, Anita Blake’s, that person is going to be altered by the experiences of each book. But what happens when they change too much? Time, perhaps, to say goodbye.
I can think of at least one series where after the first couple of books, it became a little like a long-running anthology show. No character growth, no relationship change, and very little in the way of a plot: just a series of amusing scenes. Which became less amusing as I lost interest in the whole shebang.
I guess the question becomes, how did it get to this point? Maybe the author has lost her spark. Maybe she’s lost interest and is only writing because she’s under contract to (I can think of several authors trapped in ‘next book’ deals; also plenty who want to try something different but simply aren’t allowed). Maybe she’s got too mentally fat and lazy after early success—or maybe her publishers were the ones getting fat and lazy off her success, and didn’t want to lose their cash cow. Who knows?
The series I’m still reading are the Dresden Files, Sookie Stackhouse and Stephanie Plum. Plum is beginning to retread books, but maybe I’m still reading because I started with book seven, then went back and began again. My perspective is different. Jim Butcher could probably write an account of going to the supermarket and I’d still wax lyrical about his awesome writing skillz. And as for Sookie, I do feel the books have changed from the original premise (you made her first love a bad guy! Oh noes!) but I still want to know what happens next.
I find it revealing that it seems all of us who read Anita Blake books broke up with the series around the same time (Narcissus, which I think was book 10). I really like series books b/c when I’ve spent time with a couple or a group of characters in a novel, I want to see how it goes on. But when the characterization suffers or the series doesn’t grow, I wane. The Anita Blake books had me sucked in – they were GOOD books – but then the sex took over to the detriment of everything else. More than that being boring, that wasn’t Anita and her previous conflict over such behavior dissolved without even a whimper.
I was never as die hard for the BDB, but broke up for good with Butch’s book for the same reasons others mentioned in earlier comments. Ditto for Evanovich, though that’s more a break up with my dollar going to her books than a break up of reading. I now just hit the library for the books to keep track of Joe (sigh, Joe). Even the J.D. Robb books have gone from must buy (I once made a poor B&N employee go into the back room to get a book because I knew it was the release date and they had yet to get the books on the shelf) to reserve at the library.
My series breakups are Joanna Lyndsay, her books became so formulaic in nature, I just felt like she was inserting names in the blanks. Sherrilyn Kenyon, the Dark Hunters became one in the same and there was too much of everything else…I could keep up and the books I was reading, were to me, poorly written, or rushed or something. Although, I did read and enjoy Archeron.
Series that I am now hooked on is F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack series, there will only be 17 of them and we are on books 13 and 14. I love Jack and Gia and can’t wait to see how their story unfolds.
Greg Hurwitz’s Tim and Dray Rackley series, this couple have been through so much with the series and they continue to stay strong and have a deep love for one another. *sigh* 🙂
spamword: right59 I wish.
For me it’s all about watching the main character grow and change & secondary to that is the comfort of reading about a setting/world you enjoy. The only series I’m still into is Sookie Stackhouse. I think Sookie’s personality is miles away from what it was at the start of the series, and the books still feel like they’re building up to something as opposed to treading water.
I’m less enthralled with romance series because you get a new couple in every book and so you don’t get to see a character you love continue to grow and change. Also I despise the scenes where the happy couples from books past reappear solely to show off their children/pregnancies and make goo-goo eyes at each other so the current couple can see what’s in store for them. Blah.
I gave up Anita when the sex started taking over the plot. And the plots have gotten down to a single sentence: New baddy arrives in town, baddy threatens Anita’s friends, baddy must die so everyone can have lots of angst-driven sex.
One series that I truly enjoy because there are not only plots but the characters continue to grow are the In Death series. It’s the only series that I look forward to and wait for. When one comes out, my evening is pre-planned so I can sit back, relax and visit with “old friends”. As long as Dallas and Roarke continue to grow and don’t turn into sniveling angst-driven sex fiends, I will buy this series until it ends. The fact that we’re at book 28(!) bodes well. One thing that I love about this series is they can be read again and again. I can’t say this with the Anita Blake books past the 5th or 6 (and that is being generous).
The only series I still keep up with is Robb’s Eve Dallas. Still buy them in hardback when they come out, too. I’ve left all the rest behind for all the reasons stated above. Sometimes I get lucky and an author I like will start a new series. It’s happened.
While the world is important, it’s still the characters for me. When I lose interest in them, I’m out the door. RL is full of boring people I have to relate to. I don’t have to do so with my choice of reading material.
What about series that ended before you were finished with them? Melanie Rawn’s Dragonprince books come to mind. I loved them! I so wanted to see how things settled after the war, but no… no more books in that world. I’ve bought everything she’s done since, and I liked them well enough, but come on, Melanie! Give us some more!
All this talk of LKH made me think of her blurb on the back of Gaiman’s Graveyard Book. Essentially she said she wished she could read about Bod’s continuing adventures. And even though I loved the book, LKH made me throw it against the wall.
Not every book is suited to become a series! This was a beautiful story about life, how it changes, how your family grows and shrinks, you make friends and loose them, and finally how you grow up. Turning it into a series would reduce its message.
Lately I’ve been looking for stand alone books in all the genres I read. I have too many series going, and I’d like to avoid starting another. I think a lot of the commentors here have said something similar. It’s hard after 10 or 12 or however many books not to loose track of the story.