Series? Trilogy? No Thanks! (Most of the time)
Series and trilogies seem to be the "thing" these days. Just about every book I pick up is some part of either of these. It annoys me to no end! Don't get me wrong, I love a good book series/trilogy, but these days everyone is getting into it. The worst book feeling in the world is getting to the end of a really great story only to find out that it will be continued in the next book. Of course, it won't be published until next year. I will forget about it before then. If I don't forget about it, I more than likely won't read it anyway because surely it is going to end the same way- waiting for the next book to be released. If an author is going to do this, it better be a damn good book or they will lose me as a reader before they even had me!
A great series that had me hooked from day one is Chelsea Cain's Gretchen series. Mind you, the fact that I have to wait so long between books is giving me way to much time to build up my expectations of each new book which in turn is creating disappointment when the books fall short of my expectations. The Hunger Games trilogy was fantastic, but I read the entire trilogy one after another. I think if I had to wait between books I probably would not feel the same way. An example of this is the Divergent series. I read the first one and really enjoyed it. At the end of the book I found out there would be more (for some reason I did not know before I started reading that this was the first book in a series). I was disappointed that I couldn't get the next book right away but figured I would read it when it was released because, well, I liked the first one. Nope, I didn't read it or any other the others that followed it. I did buy the second book and it still sits on my e-reader, never opened. I can honestly say right now, that I probably won't ever get to it. I can't even remember what the first one was about anymore!
The exception to this is a series that is made up of stand alone books. In other words, the books contain the same characters but it isn't necessary to read all the series to know what is happening. Karin Slaughter is a great example of this type of writer. All her books are amazing. The first of her books I read was number four in a series, and then I read every book she wrote and impatiently await more! Her characters are great and the stories she tells are not so interwoven that they cannot be understood without lots of information from past books.
My new mode of operand e when book shopping is to first check if the book is a part of a series. If it is, I usually don't even read the back cover let alone buy it. I may be missing out on some great books by doing this, but what is the point of starting a story that I know I most likely won't ever complete? I don't beleive there is one! The exception to this is if it is a book for my book club, then I will at least read the back before deciding if I'm going to risk it.
What do you think of trilogies and series? Do you remember to buy the next installment when it is released? Do you have a favorite completed series? Let me know your thoughts!
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