[Guest]

I've followed several book series over the years, including the Earth's Children saga. Thinking about The Land of Painted Caves, I swore blind I would not buy another book in the series. Then I remembered I'd sworn the same thing the book before it...

There have been a few others I've dropped completely, when the author lost interest but was still under contract, changed (Dune), the series quality disappeared, or when continuity vanished - Black Trillium and its contradictory sequels.

So, thinking about book series, when do you stop following one?

 

[backslidr]

I don't even start following them until I know that the series has ended. For me, trying to read a series of books a few months or a year apart ruins it. I can't remember enough of the previous books to keep my interest. So, I have to wait and read them all at once. The two things that irritate me the most are when the author doesn't identify a book as the beginning of a series and when they've seen some success with what they've done and decide to continue on with it after it was supposed to be over.

 

[Tony Rabig]

Usually when the "Been Here, Done This" feeling gets stronger than my interest in whatever variations the writer's brought in for the newer books in the series.  Doesn't necessarily mean the series has gone bad, but it's just not for me any more even though I may not hesitate to recommend it to someone else looking for a good set of reads.

These days I don't even want to start a series, though there are a couple I'll still follow; I'm a bit behind on Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books, and any time Lawrence Block wants to put out another Matt Scudder novel I'm there.

 

[thedavebright]

Sometimes I get the feeling of a series dragging on too long or introducing elements that stray from the original tone and message. I kind of feel like some series lose what they started as an end as something different (in a bad way) That's when I stop reading, although this is rare.

 

[Ann in Arlington]

When I feel like every book is the same.  Sometimes that's 2 books in.  Sometimes it's 20 books in.  Sometimes it never happens.

If I'm reading them at a sprint -- one right after the other, I'm more likely to get overloaded and stop with it entirely.  So I've learned to space out the books.

 

[The Hooded Claw]

When I feel like every book is the same. Sometimes that's 2 books in. Sometimes it's 20 books in. Sometimes it never happens.

If I'm reading them at a sprint -- one right after the other, I'm more likely to get overloaded and stop with it entirely. So I've learned to space out the books.

The above are pretty accurate for me. I abandoned several of Harry Turtledove's alternate history series that I had been thoroughly enjoying, but got tired of. Now I seldom even check out his new novels, even though he used to be one of my Go-To authors. For the Honor Harrington series, I was a huge fan till I tried rereading all of them in fairly shore period of time. Probably a mistake. I stopped about halfway through the 8th or 9th book, and have never opened one again. About the same time I stopped, I had bought the just-released new book in the series, and I never have touched it, and I have no clue or interest now about the status of the series. So when I do get turned off, I tend to completely divorce from an author, not just the individual series.

 

[bordercollielady]

I used to read the latest book in a series - but then a friend introduced me to stopyourekillingme.com - which lists all the books by an author in order.  Now I find myself "catching up" - to read my favorite author's earlier books..  

I would stop reading  if I stop enjoying them - but so far that hasn't happened.. except maybe when James Patterson stopped writing his own books...  the change was really noticeable and I didn't like the new authors' style.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

I stopped reading Stephanie Plum when the price skyrocketed. The same with the Miss Julia series, although I do reread both every once in a while.

I lost interest in the Outlander series when it started becoming the same old, same old. Every time the action lagged, someone got kidnapped, for example. I still love Jamie and Claire and I'll probably read the next one which is supposed to be the last, but I doubt if I'll enjoy it much.

I read a lot of the Kinsey Milhone series before I realized that I didn't really like it very much. Don't know why I kept on.

I guess I stop when I'm no longer invested in the characters or the story stoops to sensationalism to keep it going.

 

[crebel]

I have quit reading a couple of series when it has seemed the author's writing style completely changed to the point the characters did not even seem like the same people I had come to know.  

Two series I can think of where that happened are Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta medical examiner series and Robert Tannebaum's Butch Karp crime/thriller novels.  At some point in both series, they just went off the rails and felt like they had been written by someone else.

With the Cornwall books it happened in a single book, Black Notice.  I hated it.  I have tried at least one other book since that one and they are just not the same.  With the Tannebaum books, I have continued to read them, but the later books are not as believable as the early books (like Gertie said, they stoop to sensationalism).  When you start rolling your eyes while you are reading and just skimming pages to get to the end, it's probably time to let them go.

It must be difficult to keep writing about the same characters, let them grow, find fresh yet still interesting scenarios in which to involve them, but many authors do it successfully.  A few, not so well.

 

[bordercollielady]

With the Cornwall books it happened in a single book, Black Notice.

Was that the one about the Werewolf? It was so "out there" - I agree. I haven't read a lot of Cornwall - but Black Notice did nothing to make me want to.

 

[crebel]

Was that the one about the Werewolf? It was so "out there" - I agree. I haven't read a lot of Cornwall - but Black Notice did nothing to make me want to.

Yes, the "loup-garou". Her books always had graphic violence, not unexpected for forensic mysteries, but that one was so dark it was more like a horror novel and she seems to have remained in that vein.

 

[Avis Black]

When it's plain the author has lost the inspiration.  I'll sometimes skim-read the later books in the series. 

 

[Gertie Kindle]

I stopped reading Janet Evanovich because they're all the same, and I refuse to read another until she has Stephanie pick Ranger. Okay, I'd probably read them if she picked Morelli, just to see how the whole thing ended, but still.

Morelli, cupcake.

 

[Gertie Kindle]

Nooooooh! He only wants her because he can't have her and he knows it. As soon as that ring is on her finger, he'll be cheating with the first skank who lifts her skirt. Can you say skank on KB? Guess I'll find out when I hit "post."

Ha! Morelli is all grown up now. He doesn't do that sort of thing anymore. Besides Grandma Bella would put a curse on him and Grandma Mazur would shoot him with her 45.

Ranger is just a mystery man who only wants Steph's body and then only as exercise. He's way too cool around her.

 

[RJMcDonnell]

I was a fan of Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar Series until I read Drop Shot. In order to hang with the author around a significant twist you have to buy into the notion that everyone from a particular race looks alike to the average cop,reporter, and bystander. I realize that it's just the 2nd novel in the series, and authors often improve over time. But, had I opted to read them in order I never would have made it past this one.

 

[rjspears]

There are a couple multi-book series I was dedicated to for years, but there are times when I feel a series has run its course. 

I was devoted to the Dune series but after all the different variations, I had to give up following it book-after-book.  Now, that said, I did pick-up a trilogy of Dune books and read them one summer.  So, maybe I can never say never, but ....

--
R.J. Spears

 

[Gone 9/21/18]

I recently stopped following 2 different cozy mystery series when IMO the price for the new releases exceeded the value of the couple hours of entertainment.

Other than that, I usually stop when the newest releases no longer live up to what attracted me to the series in the first place.

 

[Anotherdreamer]

I had to stop reading Dune too. I can't remember which one i stopped at, it was a while ago. I thought that he died and his son started ghost writing and that's why the writing went south. I might be wrong.
I dropped the Sookie Stackhouse too. I was never a huge fan of her writing style though.
I think when it becomes a chore, it's time to cut your losses.

 

[Lyndl]

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series -  Laurell K Hamilton.  I loved the first few. I thought Anita was great, until she slept with the vampire and then became a nympho having sex with 3 or 4 people at once.  The books then became about how many sex partners she could have and who was watching, with almost non- existent story.  After reading 3 or 4 in a row I noticed whole passages copied word for word from one book to the next.  Very annoying.  Nothing could induce me to continue reading them now.

The Southern Vampire Mysteries  ( Sookie Stackhouse)  I thoroughly enjoyed the first few, then kept reading past the point of real enjoyment.  Now, I prefer the alternative storyline in True Blood and watch instead of read. 

 

[Guest]

I had to stop reading Dune too. I can't remember which one i stopped at, it was a while ago. I thought that he died and his son started ghost writing and that's why the writing went south. I might be wrong.

You're not. Frank Herbert wrote the first five, then his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson picked up about twenty years later to write more sequels.