Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat.
This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
Have you ever stopped reading a series before the end?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
Let’s chat!
Yes. I often have good intentions but sometimes when books are printed to close together I can’t keep up. Or one a year I tend to lose interest or just don’t have time. I find multi author series that are monthly I can sometimes lose interest especially if one is not the same standard as the previous ones. I have been reading a series with multi authors where each book has the same main characters. While I enjoy the series and stories at times I find the differences in writing styles can make me need a longer break and often don’t get back to the series.
Your turn.
I look forward to reading your comments here or at the FB group.
Hi Jenny, yes, I have, and thankfully it doesn’t happen often. Once I’m invested in a series, I usually happily read through to the end. The last time I stopped reading a series was a few years ago. It was a contemporary romance, beach reads type of series and, out of nowhere, the main characters go to a funeral. They weren’t close to the person who’d passed and it didn’t really make sense for the funeral service itself to be a scene in the story. The timing was awful because I’d just lost a loved one and the last thing I wanted to do was attend a funeral service with the characters. I DNF’d the book and series that I’d previously enjoyed and I’m reluctant to read more books by the author.
I can understand that. I had that issue with series when the author took it in a different direction and there was undesirable language in the book. The author said it was a non Christian character so it didn’t matter (which was incorrect cos it was the Christian character using it). To me it didn’t matter who it was I don’t want to read that sort of language in a Christian Fiction that is marketed as that and the author basically laughing it away really annoyed me. Like you it has made me wonder do I want to read more and pay for a book that I am questioning if I will have the same issues again.
I’m sorry to hear that happened to you. It’s unprofessional for an author to disrespect readers. It highlights how important genre is for meeting reader expectations. In my situation, it’s more of a ‘wrong book read at the wrong time’ situation. It did make me think more about what I include and don’t include in my own stories.
I don’t always read all books in a multi-author series.
For Gilbert Morris’ Winslow family series I made it through 25 books, but couldn’t keep going. I don’t even know how many books there ended up being in that series, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t even make it half way!
Thanks Beth, there were just over 40. Its interesting with multi author series. I have been reading one where different authors write the same characters in the books while I enjoy the books I notice the difference in the main character. Which can have a downside as the first sets up the character and then you may get one where she is moody or doing things that are not what you would expect to the next her being back to in control and can also pull you out of the series.
I often start series well 3 or 4 books normally do well. when it comes to yearly I may not finish and with multis that are to close I often drift away. It doesn’t help if there a book I don’t connect with.