Long Series'

[Mathius]

I recently read an author's note in the second book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and in it he says that at age 19, it was one of his ambitions to create the largest series (page volume) ever written. He didn't succeed, (which he fully admits to) but it got me thinking about the people on this forum complaining about Robert Jordan's WoT series being so long.

So I'm just wondering, do you guys not enjoy long series. Do you enjoy it so long as they can be read separately? Do you not enjoy them at all?

Thought I'd start a little poll and leave some room for comments.

I started thinking about authors who make a very popular series of books, how they keep going back to the same characters that people love. Drizzt is an example, I suppose the Dragonlance crew is another. I personally don't have a problem with it. I think as long as the books are good, I think if a character is well done, I don't mind reading about them 100 times. If its a good read, the longer the better. I hate when I get done with something really good, and then I have a lull where I can't find anything decent to read.

Mathius

 

[Jez]

I personally don't have a problem with it. I think as long as the books are good, I think if a character is well done, I don't mind reading about them 100 times. If its a good read, the longer the better. I hate when I get done with something really good, and then I have a lull where I can't find anything decent to read.

You summed up how I feel right there. One thing I do prefer though, is to wait until all of the books are published before reading them, especially if the books are not stand-alone.

 

[Libra]

Is this question just this particular genre or all?

good question by the way!

 

[Litany]

I like a defined story arc and I like to not see the characters being painted into a corner while they wait for the deus ex machina ending to show up and save them all. The trouble with too long a series of books is that often the author gets lost along the way and the story turns to drivel long before the end. There's also the Terry Goodkind school of writing where an increasing percentage of the book is turned over to recapping what happened in the previous books every time a new character shows up.

I read a couple of The Wheel of Time series to see what the fuss was about and it really didn't seem to me to be a strong enough plot to carry that many books. Same with Wizard's First Rule. That needed to be over with a lot sooner than it was and I just stopped reading. I think around six or seven books is about my limit. When they go on for longer than that then you know it's just a money making scheme.

For stand alone books I think it's a little different. If the author is just using the same world and characters as a way to tell the stories and the stories themselves are new and interesting then I'm happy for there to be as many books as they can churn out. If I notice that book eight is just the same as book three but with the names changed and a different coloured dragon then I'm not going to buy any more of them.

 

[sparkchaser]

+1 on what Jez and Litany said.

As long as the overall story is interesting and well written then it can be 50 books for all I care.

 

[saliotthomas]

I read a couple of The Wheel of Time series to see what the fuss was about and it really didn't seem to me to be a strong enough plot to carry that many books. Same with Wizard's First Rule. That needed to be over with a lot sooner than it was and I just stopped reading. I think around six or seven books is about my limit. When they go on for longer than that then you know it's just a money making scheme.

.

I agree with those two and would add the sword of Shannara.
On the other end the Black Company serie by gleen Cook,or the 9 books by Robin Hobb as well as George Martin get you always asking for more.

 

[Libra]

I don't like them but I am stuck in one I can't let go. The writer is doing a very good job in keeping us engaged in the story and asking for more.

 

[Ronny]

I don't like them but I am stuck in one I can't let go. The writer is doing a very good job in keeping us engaged in the story and asking for more.

That's how I got hooked on the few series, I've read or reading, I don't look for long series as I tend to not be patient enough to wait for the next book but I won't not read something I think is good because it's a series.

 

[Zolipara]

Same with Wizard's First Rule. That needed to be over with a lot sooner than it was and I just stopped reading. I think around six or seven books is about my limit.

But dont you want to find out what happens to the chicken that is not a chicken?

 

[Litany]

No. It is not a finger lickin' good chicken.

The series turned into a perverted wet dream for Goodkind and it made me feel queasy to read it. And not in a good way. He's a very disturbed man.

 

[Sneaky Reader]

Bump

I found Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth extremely addictive. I did get impatient with both due to the increasingly slow pace, but I continued to find the stories and characters interesting right up until the end. I finished Sword of Truth and I will finish Wheel of Time when the final book is published.

Stephen King's Gunslinger series is another of my favorites. The end disappointed me a little, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I thought it was really clever of him to work in bits of his other novels the way he did. As a result of that, probably every third or fourth novel I read is by Stephen King.

I think sometimes an author bites off more than he/she can chew - maybe signing a contract for ten books without really realizing what is involved. Are there many authors who have written more than one mega-series? I don't know enough to say yes or no to that, but if the answer is no, maybe there's a good reason.

As far as any book or series being a money-making scheme, I say bring it on! I get most of my books from the library, so it's no skin off my nose. No one is forcing me to buy them.

Does anyone remember the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew/Bobbsey Twins/etc? I loved those when I was a kid. Eventually I realized that they were essentially the same story told fifty different ways and I started to lose interest. Even so, I think the business model was ingenious - if you don't know what I'm talking about, Google "Stratemeyer Syndicate."

 

[Champagne]

I didn't like the Wheel of Time series. The first few books were interesting, but after that it seemed as though he was dragging the story out deliberately. He'd kill off some major bad guys and you'd think the book was going somewhere, and then they'd be resurrected and we'd be going round the loop again. I think Robert Jordan was showing contempt for his readers with the way he milked that series.

I like the Discworld series, but some of the books aren't anywhere near up to the standard of the others. I also like Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series.

 

[Peach]

if the story takes my fancy, it can run into as many books as the author likes to write.. but! i think Robert Jordan's demise before he finished WOT is an example other authors should steer well clear of..

 

[Migey]

i useally like long seiries because it means theres alot of stuff about the same char,the problem is it ends making you want more and you have to wait for each book to come out

 

[Mulluane]

Saga of Recluse by L.E. Modesitt (15 books) is another LONG series that will have your eyes crossed way before you read them all. That dead house was beat to death over and over and over......

The other series weren't bad however, they weren't 15 books either....

 

[Canker]

The series with the most books I've read is McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern series. Think there are around 20 books in that series now including the ones her son has wrote. My favorite long series is Brian Lumley's Necroscope series. Think thats up to around 15 books now. The last 4 or so haven't been very good but the first 8, 10 if you add the 2 lost years books which are alright, were great and thats where it should have ended.

 

[bren]

There are too many authors in this world and too many books on my list, intentionally to tie myself to a long string of novels all by the same person. I've done it with a few series that I started with my children, but they're fantasy and SF which are not preferred genres overall.

Yes, there are a few writers who can sustain many stories in a fixed world, and as Litany said, I can read as many as Walter Mosely can churn out! Okay, so she didn't actually say that.