A gripe about series….. or maybe it’s just me.
I love a good series. It’s a joy to follow a well-built world or hero through several books, watching their secrets and adventures unfurl.
And yet…..
I don’t love series with large gaps between release that rely on detailed knowledge of what happened earlier. This was experience with the last season of the wonderful BBC series Shetland. The most recent season, S6, was released earlier this year after a two and half year gap. Its plotline relied heavily on a series of events that took place in S4 which came out four years ago. In order to make sense of this season, I had to read a detailed recap of S4. Now I realize I’m old and not as sharp as I possibly once was. That said, I suspect I’m not the only viewer that was lost.
I’m having a similar experience with my advance copy of Raven Unveiled, the third book in Grace Draven’s marvelous Fallen Empire series. In order to make sense of this book, one must recall several subplots from book one, Phoenix Unbound, and from book two, Dragon Unleashed. Reading on the Kindle app makes this easier to manage–I just went back to both books, searched for characters’ names and read again their backstories. (This is Siora and Gharek’s book.)
This is a small complaint–I adore both Shetland and the Fallen Empire series and am thrilled to be able to experience them. Perhaps what I’m really kvetching about is my poor memory!
Is it just me? What do you think?
I mentioned on the “What have you been reading?” topic that I just reread the first 5 Elfhome books by Wen Spencer in anticipation of the Tuesday release of Harbinger, because it has been 5 1/2 years since the last previous release. I read Harbinger right away. It ends in a CLIFFHANGER! This is extremely frustrating, since I have no clue how long the wait for the next book will be.
Also, the publisher should be ashamed of their copy-editing. I read all the books in ebook, including the new Harbinger, and they are all loaded with extra and missing words. A really bad job of copy-editing, if any was done at all!
I just spoke about the quality issue in romance/genre fiction in my interview with LUV. I see more and more clearly un or poorly edited published work. It depresses me but I empathize with authors who are just trying to publish as fast as they can to support themselves.
The Elfhome series are not self-published. They are published by Baen Books. I have always viewed copy-editing as a PUBLISHER responsibility, because many people CAN’T see their own errors, even with multiple readings. Many people reviewing what they have written see what they intended, not what they actually produced.
A distressing recent trend is for writers to rely on their Beta readers and Facebook followers to do their proofing & copy editing. No, just no. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I once read a book where the construction “Theo and I’s” was used multiple times as a possessive (as in, “Theo and I’s house”). The worst part was that in her Afterword, the author thanked someone for being her “Godmother of Grammar,” to which I said with an eye-roll, “Godmother of Grammar, turn in your credentials.”
So agree with you, DDD. I just finished a kindle book that was so badly formatted that I gave up halfway through and got a refund. The grammar was OK but the lack of care and attention to the rest of it was annoying in the extreme!
KJ Charles, herself a former editor, posted something on Twitter about this recently, and I actually just read a thread by Cat Sebastian about the same issue. It seems the publishing houses are cutting down on their editorial staff although not on the number of books they publish, so the remaining staff are very overworked and obviously can’t give the proper attention to the books they’re working on. I’ve seen authors and editors talk about the fact that line, copy and developmental edits are all being done by one person at the same time (which is ridiculous – and no wonder so much is slipping through.) Conversely, it appears that big name authors are able to demand that their books aren’t edited at all (and some do.)
For a number of reasons, I probably read far more self-published books now than I used to, and I find those are often better edited and proofed than the traditionally published ones. But then, the authors I read tend to be ones who are prepared to pay for those things to be done professionally (and not by their mates!)
I love Wen Spencer’s books, but I have complained to a friend about the last several in the Elfhome series that as the series goes on, she’s limiting her fan base to those that are willing to reread it all each time. They are not really stand alones and she has a cast of 100s at this point. I might not buy Harbinger.
I used to always reread before a new book in a series, but rarely do now as my favourite authors are very prolific and there’s no way I could keep up!.
I’m quite relaxed about odd things I’ve forgotten and will go back to check on the rare occasion that I’m that bothered.
What really, really annoys me is when authors misremember things and get things wrong in their own ‘worlds’.
If they do this and apologise, fine, we’re all human. But shrugging it off isn’t enough IMO.
That’s awful. I can’t think of a time that’s happened to me. That would be a hard pass.
There’s an ongoing multi-author dark romance series called Midnight Dynasty. In the earlier books, one of the female characters was named Ava; in the later books, she’s Eva. No explanation, just now her name is Eva. You’d think they would have mapped that out a little more carefully.
sighs…..
Years ago there was a well-known example from Julie Garwood. A secondary character who became the heroine of a later book changed eye color between books. I think it was Guardian Angel to The Gift, but I’m not sure.
sighs… again
A few years ago, Eve Dangerfield was two books in on her Silver Daughters series about three sisters who are running their father’s tattoo shop while he went off the parts unknown. Then she decided to take a break from writing romance. When she returned, she started a whole new series and, as far as I know, never finished the Silver Daughters, leaving the youngest sister’s story untold and a couple of cliffhangers from the end of the second book unresolved. Not sure she ever plans to go back to the series, so that was a bummer. (I’m sure we all have favorite series that remain incomplete at this time.) That being said, I just don’t have the willpower to avoid starting a series by a favorite writer, even if all the books in the series are not yet available. I know writers don’t always control the publication schedule of their books, but I think 18 months to two years is the longest readers should be expected to wait for another installment in a series before sighing, shrugging, and moving on. I don’t always reread previous books before starting a new book in a series, but I have recently reread HEATED RIVALRY and ROLE MODEL in anticipation of the April 26 release date of Rachel Reid’s final Game Changers book, THE LONG GAME.
An author I follow on FB recently posted a similar question – do you re-read books in a series before a new one comes out. My response was an emphatic “no” – I read so many books for review that if I wanted to re-read everything that has gone before a new release I’d never read anything new! For a more… casual reader (i.e, someone not attempting to keep up with deadlines!) it might make more sense, although I can’t imagine reading books 1-10 in a series while I wait for book 11, then 1-11 while I wait for book 12 etc. every year. I may sometimes read blurbs or reviews to remind myself of what happened in the previous book if there’s been a long gap.
OTOH, I get what others here say about authors wanting to avoid massive info dumps, which can be irritating and obvious for long-time readers; it’s far better to check a site like AAR as we will usually say if a book doesn’t work as a standalone :) Or yes, the idea of a “story so far” page is a good one.
I don’t think you’re really kvetching about poor memory – there are a lot of books and a lot of plotlines and characters out there, and we can’t remember everything!
It’s a fine balance to be sure.
I think one question is COULD it be a stand alone? Many books in series are richer if you’ve read all the books but don’t require having done so for the book to make sense. Most romance and mystery series are like that.
Fantasy series are less like that, in my experience.
Agreed. Most romance series are basically built around friends or family but each story is separate. I don’t generally read mysteries that are ‘just’ mysteries; but I can see how that would be the case there, too. I’m reading more ‘short-term’ series these days – 3-5 books featuring the same characters with an overarching plot, and most of those I’ve read/am reading have at least two releases a year, so there’s not too much time to forget stuff!
The Draven book requires remembering all that happened in the first two books in detail. It’s more demanding in this regard than any book I’ve read since Phiip Pullman’s first entry into his Book of Dust trilogy.
I try to read series when they are finished, if possible. I do follow some series such as Psy changeling by Nalini Singh and she has been very consistent with her releases. I can decide if I buy a HC or (as I do now) I wait for the paperback.
I found out some older series – sometimes we “discover” things when they no longer are hyped – and some more hard to find books can have prohibitive prices. What a quest to get them!
But can I foresee I will love the series?
I have many books which are first in a series and now or I don’t find them as appealing or I like that one but the next ones aren’t available in my preferred platforms.
Dilemmas….
I try to be selective and read one book a month if the series is long and complete, so I can enjoy them without affecting other reads I want to do too.
If too long goes by without a release, even if I recall most things, even if I can simply follow the plot anyway, is that book yet a necessity when so long went by and the “momentum” is lost? Like with Munro by Kresley Cole, released after years with no word. I’ve read it and liked it but I no longer felt that rush of getting to one of her books, as I once did when I started reading them.
I love books that build into a series, and when a new book is released I read the series again from first book, knowing I have the delight of a new book to end my reading orgy. Currently re-reading Alice Coldbreath – and I bought the latest book last year. I love the world building and context for my newest read.
Re-reading helps me manage my book budget. Newly divorced in 2010, I set myself a goal of a maximum of $1000 a year. Take
12 years on, I am $2000 over budget, exchange rates impacted recently.
I am ok with my budget, I still work, travel but can’t thanks to Covid.
Does anyone else follow a budget to manage their book buying?
Maybe this is an “I’m old” problem as I share it too. For TV series, there were many delayed by the pandemic and then when they returned, I just didn’t have interest. I appreciate the ones with a “previously on” montage that summarizes the previous season. Many Netflix series have a 3-4 minute video doing this and sometimes I have found similar videos on YouTube for network shows. I have also taken advantage of written season summaries posted online by fan websites.
I have the same issue with books. For YA, it is common to have a trilogy where one book is released per year. Sometimes I have just waited until the trilogy is complete before reading it! For romance, books in a series often come out a bit closer, which is easier for me and often each book doesn’t rely heavily on the previous books. I may flip/scroll through the book just previous to the one I am going to read but I don’t have time to re-read the entire set of previous books!
For TV, it’s been a much bigger problem because there are so many show and the gaps are so big.
I was thrilled to start watching the second season of Starstruck because I’d just finished the first one this year! The show also did a great job of summarizing the previous season in the first five minutes.
I agree 100% I understand that authors don’t want long info dumps to get in the way of a gripping opening to the next installment in a series. But some authors don’t seem to recognize that not all of their readers reread all previous installments before starting the latest entry in a series. I read too many different authors to have the time or interest in compulsory rereading. A short “Previously” page would help enormously.
Some series I like, but I have limited time and patience for a lot of them. I find that a good deal of the time, I’ll read the latest book in a series and want to go back and re-read an earlier book. But, in other series, I keep finding that either the books get weaker until I give up on them or they keep repeating things until it just doesn’t seem like there’s anything new.
This is why I love wikki, I have too many new books to read to go back adn re-read each series to remenber what’s going on. Though, in fairness,when I was younger and before Wikki (gawd I’m old) I had to go back and re-read series all the time to remenber what was going on – Harry Potter and Mortal Instrustments being the ones that pop to mind first. I enjoyed it but my TBR pile is too ridiculous and too many other good stuff I want to read to go back for a re-read, but I don’t begrudge creators (authors or otherwise) for taking time to put out the best creativity they can.
I hadn’t thought of that for books. Thanks!
For the Harry Potter series specifically, I used to re-read the entire series just before the next book came out. Looking back, it staggers my mind that I was able to do this as books 4-7 are quite thick! Well, I was much younger back then and half the series came out before I had kids so I had a lot more time. There is no way I could do that now!
I listened to all those last year and was astonished, especially in the latter books which, unlike the first five, I didn’t read aloud to my children, how much I’d missed/forgotten. Those books are DENSE.
Sometimes I’ll wait until the series is over before I dive into it. I did that with The Sopranos and was happy I didn’t have to wait for new seasons. But I still start a lot of books and shows knowing there is more to come. I totally get the frstration with long gaps between new books/shows in the series and trying to remember what happened before. I’m still waiting for book six in the Game of Thrones books. I’m hoping G.R.R. Martin can finish before either he or I pass away. At this point, I will have to go back and reread the previous books in order to remember characters and plot points.
I’m guessing A Song of Ice and Fire will go the Robert Jordan route.
That said, the lack of a conclusion has given rise to some hilarious speculation on Reddit. My favorite was when someone predicted that the story will end with King Bran realizing the Others aren’t inherently evil, because Martin doesn’t write wholly-evil races like orcs, never mind the fact that every time the Others have appeared, they’ve slaughtered people.
Therefore, to help bridge the gap between Others and everyone else, Bran brings the Wall down. The Others then control all of Westeros and “the survivors leave for Essos”. So basically, the series ends with a child deliberately setting a genocide into motion and the world descending into an icy hell. I guess “A Dream of Spring” will actually be titled “An Endless Nightmare of Winter”.
I may just give up on it. Too many other books to read. But it would be interesting if Martin takes the final books in a different direction than the HBO series. Maybe Danaerys lives…
I’d say the books have already taken a different direction. Catelyn is still influencing events in the Riverlands, Bronn isn’t going on bro-trips with Jaime, Sansa isn’t being raped into Strong Womanhood, Stannis is alive and likely to win the battle outside Winterfell, and so on. Whether Dany survives, I’m not sure, but the books can hardly do anything worse to her than what the show did.
I do the same: wait until the last book is out and then buy and read the whole series.
But apparently there is one big problem with this approach – as I learned on a writer’s blog.
If there is not enough interest in (i.e. sales of) the earlier books of the series, the publisher might cancel the series. Since cancelation mid-series is one of my reasons for not starting a series at all, this seems to be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t :(
I’m still waiting for closure on some series I started to read. But first the rights have to revert to the authors, then they have to be willing to write and publish the other books (with no guarantee that they will sell.
So there are no easy solutions.
This is a great point and happens in TV as well. I loathe TV shows that don’t finish their storylines or don’t finish them well because the show got pulled too soon. Deadwood, Firefly, Mindhunter, and Angel all had deeply unsatisfying endings or non-endings because the shows were cancelled.
To this day, my husband is unhappy when we watch shows that aren’t finished yet.
I am on tenterhooks for the final half season of Ozark and am very happy I watched the first half recently and will be able to recall what occurred!
I think sometimes the author may get bored with the series and just start something else. I’m thinking of Katherine Kurtz and her Deryni series. I actually started reading them when I was a teenager. I’m 62 now. The last three books I read were disappointing and I never started the Childe Morgan books. There are plot lines that she started developing in the first three books (Chronicles of the Deryni) that have never been resolved. She has written other book series in the meantime. I’ve given up on her.
I’ll admit upfront that memory for details has never been great, so I really hate situations like you described. As I posted in the What are you reading” thread, I’m rereading/listening to several series in order to be up-to-date on the info for the next-in-series releases. If a series (written or visual media) goes on too long I generally lose interest after a while.I just can’t keep all the people, places, and happenings in the forefront of my mind and looking back just annoys me. I tend to stick with a series longer if it’s more episodic and has fewer long term characters to keep track of. (Like the Death in Paradise TV series.) Even so, 6 to 8 seasons/books is about my outside limit. And woe is I if there is a big break (because of release dates or my own life interfering) because I’m liable to give up. I own most of the Vorgosigan series by Bujold on audio and I’ve loved the series, but I had a 5 year break (my fault) and now it feels daunting to jump back into the series. I might look up some synopsis of the books I’ve already read so I feel able to continue without revisiting them all.