Discussion: Continuing Series

Olivia

Hi guys! As promised in my review yesterday, I have another discussion post. It’s been over a month since my last discussion, and I want to start doing them again. They’re fun for me to write and I love hearing you guys’ opinions. 😀

discussions

Today’s topic: continuing series

Let’s face it — we all have huge TBR piles that grow more than they shrink. It’s just part of being a bookworm. 😛 Because of that, we (or is it just me?) try to add to it as minimally as possible. So that brings me to my question: what does it take for you to continue a series?

All of us read series. I don’t think I know of any bookworm that solely reads stand-alone books. But with our TBR piles being so massive, we don’t really have time to read all the books in a series. How do you decide whether or not you’ll continue a series? Do you only continue if you loved the first book? Do you keep going even if the first wasn’t that great, in hopes that the second book will be better? Or do you read the entire series regardless?

Personally, I only continue series if I really enjoyed the first book. If I didn’t like it, I won’t bother. If I was more neutral, I’d make a note to look for the sequel and maybe get around to it later. (By the way, does anyone add whole series to their TBR? I only ever add the first, even if I liked it. Then it looks like I’m making steady progress. 😛 ) Honestly, I don’t have time to read the sequels to less-than-stellar books. My TBR already has 243 books, and I’d rather keep knocking books off of that than continue with series I didn’t enjoy very much.

I’ve also heard of people…

  • Reading a full series, because a) they genuinely like it (and I do the same thing), b) they hope it improves, or c) to say they’ve read it (which I don’t really understand).
  • Reading the first book and either liking it or just wondering if it gets better, and reading the second book, but stopping during or after that.
  • Reading the first book and not liking it enough or at all, and not continuing the series.

How often do you continue series? How do you decide if you will?

I’ve said my piece. What are your thoughts on this? I’d love to know! 🙂

I’m off to have some food and continue reading The Assassin’s Blade by SJM. I hope you enjoyed this discussion! 😀

post end

20 thoughts on “Discussion: Continuing Series”

  1. Interesting discussion topic! I will always continue on to the next book in a series if I loved the first one. Even if I didn’t love the first book, I will sometimes continue a series if there’s enough hype about subsequent books being substantially better. But, alas, I rarely read entire series–I’m too easily distracted by other shiny books along the way.

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    1. I agree. If it’s a really popular series I’ll give it more chances, just to see if I can relate to the hype. 😉 I tend to read entire series often if I like them, because I always want to know more. But I can get distracted as well. XD

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  2. Like you I will mostly finish reading a series if I enjoyed the first book, most of the time the second book of a series is my least favorite so if I dont enjoy the first there is a 99% of probability I’ll hate the second and I’ll only get behind with my TBR, which as you mention it only gets bigger so it does not good continuing a series I know I won’t/don’t like.
    Excelent post, loved the topic! 🙂

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      1. Exactly most of the time I feel like they are a filler, a lot are miss and just a few are hits but is okay I guess because then authors blow your mind with the third and leave you wanting more.

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  3. It really depends on how much I liked the first book. If I loved the first book I will continue on without a doubt! If I didn’t like it that much but did at the same time (I’m not sure if that makes sense) I will give the second one ago also 🙂

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  5. I usually just assume I’ll continue the series if I read the first book. But it normally takes me aaaaages to get the next book, so by then I might have gone off the series. Like the Miss Peregrine’s series, I still need to read the last book because I’m waiting for the paperback release (which is taking forever), but I can tell I liked the series because I still want to read the next book, after all this time. But with The Maze Runner, after waiting too long, I went off the series and won’t be finishing it. I only ever don’t finish series’ if I hated the previous book or get bored of it through time 🙂

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  6. Interesting post, Olivia! For me, it’s not the question if I’ll continue a series or not (because I always do not matter what) but how soon I’ll finish them. So I’m also the type that hopes a meh first installment to improve as the series pushes along. :3 Some books are just so good that I have to marathon all the way, others don’t really have much priority and it may take me years to finish a series even if all the books are released. 😛

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    1. I used to think like that, but I have too many books on my TBR to do that. XD Now I continue series if I either loved the first book or it’s really popular. 😉 It can take me a while to continue series too. I go to the library most of the time, and they don’t always have what I’m looking for haha.

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      2. It can be really frustrating! Especially because sometimes I’ll look for a book and they’ll have every book in the series or by that author except the one I’m looking for. XD But I deal with it and hope for the best because I can’t go to the bookstore as often as I’d like. 😉

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