Series, Series … Who has a Series?
March 23rd, 2009 by Liz Kreger
I didn’t set out to find a new series to read … really I didn’t. It just happened. Not my fault. I was moseying on through the local Waldenbooks (as is my wont) and I spied the latest Patricia Briggs book. It was front and center as I entered, very visual. Great cover, too. I glanced but it was in hardcover. I stopped for a moment to sneak a peak at the inner jacket and saw that it was the fourth or fifth book in series. I never read a book out of order. What’s the point? With a series you gotta read these things in order. Plus, it was a hardcover. I had no intention of purchasing a hardcover … particularly by an author I’d never read before. I save purchasing hardcover for my auto-buys such as Jayne Ann Krentz, Amanda Quick and/or Sherrilyn Kenyon.
Still — I was intrigued enough by what little bit I’d read to go see if I could find the first book of the series. Now, I love series. Give me Keri Arthur, Laurrell K. Hamilton, or Sherrilyn (of course) and I’m a happy camper. But I had no intention of starting a new one. I’ve got plenty to keep busy … thankyouverymuch.
Cindy, the romance buyer at Waldenbooks was telling me that she’s had readers bemoan the fact that an author has come out with yet ANOTHER series. They just cannot afford to keep buying series. Me? No problem. I’d rather invest in a series than a stand alone any day. I’m thrilled when I find a new author with a series. It’s how I found Jeaniene Frost, C.L. Wilson and Christina Warren. Decided to give their first book a shot and was immediately hooked.
Still, I will sometimes hesitate to try the first book of a new author (or in this particular case, an author who is new to me) to see if the story catches my attention. Well, Patricia Briggs did that — in spades! Old story … werewolves, vampires, fae … yadda, yadda, yadda. But she gave it such a fresh twist that I was immediately intrigued. I blasted through that first book in about two days. (And which I’ll be reviewing in the very near future). I HAD to get the next book, and within a day, I was back at Waldenbooks picking up books two and three of the series. Will I pick up the hardcover when I finish book three? Don’t know. Given the economic environment (and my lack of bookshelf space), I might have to wait until it comes to paperback. I’ll have to see how Patricia leaves me hanging at the end of this book and if I’ll be able to wait a six or so months before it comes out in paperback.
How ‘bout you? Are you a series fan or do you feel that some authors use this as an easy out? After all, the characters are established, your world is built and all you gotta do is come up with an interesting story. I’d love to hear opinions.
20 Responses to “Series, Series … Who has a Series?”
Series or stand-alone doesn’t matter to me. If the author is good enough, they’ll know how to work their world to keep it interesting.
On the other hand, I do have a problem with how an author might end each of the books. Anyone who leaves me hanging, I will never read their books again. I don’t care how many times they hit the NYT list or who rant and raves about them.
And I don’t blame you about the hardcover books. I love Patricia Briggs and Kelley Armstrong, but I’ll wait until their books come out in MMP before I even think about buying them. In the mean time, there are plenty of other books I can read while waiting.
Oh, yeah. It’s gotta be a good series. I will forgive an author an occasional bad story, but if it becomes consistent (or predictible … which has recently happened), they lost me. I know it has to be difficult to keep a series interesting but I think part of the secret is knowing when to wrap it up. Now, I LOVE Christine Feehan, but in my opinion, she should have wrapped up the Carpathian series several books ago.
I love series, and your blog reminded me I haven’t read one in a while. I’ve enjoyed several of Nora’s in the past, and Debbie McC. I know after reading this, I’ll have my head in the storage space upstairs later to see what I’ve got.
I’m a series fan … up to a point. I have a saturation point where I love the author’s writing but I want to see something new by the author.
I like ‘short’ series, like a trilogy. Otherwise by about book four I can’t recall everything pertinent that happened in book one and I get irritated
. Has anyone else ever bought the books and waited until the collection is complete before reading? Guilty!
I agree with all of you. I love series–to a point. I love stand alone books also. It depends on what the series is doing and the characters.
Book series, like series on TV can get old and tired after a while. Unless the writer does something to really refresh the concept, in which case, doesn’t that become a new series??
Just wondering…
Great post, Liz.
I absolutely love series because it allows you to get to know the characters so much better. Modern books so often cut straight to the chase that you never learn much about a character’s past. In a series, you pick up all sorts of those tidbits, which I like.
Seriously, I’ve only read one series my entire life, and that was just recently – The “Dexter” series by Jeff Lindsay. And I probably wouldn’t have picked them up if not for my being hooked on the Showtime “Dexter” series.
But I might be lying, now that I’m thinking about it. I was a huge fan of John Jakes’ stuff. If not for him I’d never have known that the North won the Civil War.
I love series too,
But I must have a saturation level as well. Because come to think of it after a certain point (maybe six or seven) I stop buying the series. So maybe I got bored? I don’t remember being bored with the books at the time, but I just quite buying them so something must have happened.
Okay, I’m a slacker … or flippin’ busy here at work … but I gotta respond to some of these comments, so the hell with work for a moment.
Good luck finding your books, LaD. One thing I like about not reading a series for awhile … you can go and find the rest of the books and absolutely wallow in one series to get caught up.
I’ve noticed that, too, Edie. There was one series that I really fell in love with … um, St. Crow’s series and after the third (or was it fourth) book, I totally lost interest. Just couldn’t bring myself to continue. I still have the last two books but will I get to them? Don’t know.
That was the problem I had with Robert Jordan’s series. He took FOREVER to get the next book out that I literally had to re-read the previous books to recall what was happening. This got a bit difficult by the time he got to the 8th or 9th book. Could no longer spend the time refreshing my memory. And now he’s passed away. I understand his widow has hired/allowed another author to complete the series. I hope so. I’ve invested (literally) years in this series and will be royally pissed if it fades away.
Good question, Mary Jo. I think as long as the author sticks with the core of the story … or the world he/she built, its considered part of the same series. Keri Arthur has a werewolf/vampire series going (into the fifth or sixth book, I believe) and just started a new series based on dragons. I’m intrigued.
Excellent point, D.A. Instead of dumping all the information regarding a character in one book, you can draw it out. One example of an excellent character development is Carrie Vaughn’s “Kitty” series. Kitty starts out as such a submissive character in the first book that I really didn’t like her much. But you can see her growing with each subsequent book.
Too funny, Kath. I remember reading John Jakes ages ago. Yeah, I’d say that was a series. He certainly used a lot of the same characters throughout … if I remember correctly.
Didn’t know “Dexter” was part of a series. Interesting. Never managed to get into that show, though.
I don’t know if I can recall any author who’s wrapped up a series … although I suspect that Laurell K. Hamilton might have wrapped up the Merry Gentry series. At least that’s what it sounded like to me when I read the last book. I’d be interested in knowing if she did wrap it up.
I am an avid mystery and fantasy fan, and my series started young with the Wishing Tree by Enid Blyton. But by the time I was reading her, I think she was either retired or had died, so the whole series was there, ready and waiting. I read her Famous Five series, her Secret Seven series, I read Nancy Drew and The Bobbsey Twins. The Lone Pine mysteries were another early favourite. Same goes for The Hobbit and LOTRs. I was an early series fan
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But I have found nowdays I prefer a 3 book triology, and that’s it. Nora Roberts has that concept well-honed. PD James, Elizabeth George and Anne Perry all lost me for a good year or two, because I just couldn’t read any more in the series, but I recently picked up the latest Elizabeth George, and I have to say I devoured it in about two days. Very interesting change in her writing style, as well, from when I last read her, which was refreshing.
Oh, Liz, I LOVE series. Nothing better, for me. If I fall in love with characters, I want them to go on FOREVER. It’s why I’m suddenly loving mysteries: romances tend to focus on different characters each time.
A three book series does tend to be manageable, Michelle, but I do enjoy revisiting characters. There’s a series I’d read … who was the author … dang. Oh, Michele Bardsley. She writes in the first person, yet each book was written in a different person’s POV. So she was writing first person on the different characters in her story.
I found this interesting because Michele (for the most part) managed to keep each character’s voice distinctive. Not an easy thing to do.
Hey, Spy, I’m with you. Its hard to let a character go when you’ve been in their head for the past three or four books. I just finished Patricia Briggs’ third book and am itching to pick up that fourth one (the hardcover) but am refraining. Trying to be brave here …