Comments on: To Be Continued

By: Merc

Merc — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:29:59 +0000

Thank you. You’ve beautifully articulated the issues, in a much clearer way than I could. (I’ve had this discussion with a friend before, but you say it so much more coherently. I had a lot of flailing about instead. )

I read a YA book awhile back, which I loved all the way until the last two pages, when it pulled the TBC stunt with no warning. There was no conclusion or resolution to the story I had just read, which made me really annoyed as a reader. I wouldn’t have minded at all had the book been properly MARKED as ‘book 1′ or ‘part 1′. If I’m expecting a two-parter, that’s one thing. When I go into reading a book expecting (even in a series) a proper ending, and then I don’t get one, I’m tempted not to continue the series.

I don’t blame the author as much, though I really don’t know if it was a publishing decision the author went with or not. Either way, it made me much more leery to read that imprint’s titles and the author’s books now. *sigh*
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As for the questions, I think the Redwall books were the first series I waited to keep coming out… they were all stand alones, however. Possibly Greg Keyes’ Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone is the one I best remember waiting (in agony, heh) to finish.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:30:15 +0000

I don’t mind the series style, I used to love things like the Belgariad when I was a teenager. Recently read The Night Angel Trilogy, but I checked first that they were all out or forthcoming. I actively seek out standalone books now because I think they’re tighter, better books quite often. I think writers tend to pad out a story to make it a series because there’s this perception that it’ll sell better.

Prime example is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. That would have been awesome as one thick book. But three thick books got tiresome.

Either way, it needs to be very clearly marked exactly what it is.

By: Kaia

Kaia — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:55:25 +0000

God, yes. I read a book a few months ago which was the first of a series, but it was also a spin off of an earlier series in the same world, but it didn’t SAY so, and kept dropping all these references to earlier books which was just annoying. I spent half the book wondering why it felt like I read the second or third book of a series when it said on the cover that it was the first, and later (thank you Google) learned why.

That wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was that the things it kept alluding to was stuff like “oh and then my sister was raped and tortured and murdered”, and such violence really should be afforded more than a throw-away line, or it looks like a cheap ploy to sell more books. And I really hate that.

So, yeah. I would’ve liked this book more if I hadn’t had to dig through Google to figure out it was a second series. And btw, there ARE series that does this well. The Tamora Pierce books about Kel does this beautifully, only mentioning Alanna in passing, for example.

Not mentioning the name of the first book I spoke about here, as I’m very critical, and that’s just mean to the author. But in all, I really hate when the publisher lies, even if it’s just by ommison.

As for your last question:

Harry Potter. I read the third book first (as you know) and then went back and started from the beginning. When I was done two books was still to be released, and it was well worth the wait.

Currently I’m waiting for the second book in The Demon’s Lexicon series, and May can’t come soon enough!

As for waiting too long I wish that Meg Cabot’s third Airhead book would be released already, although it’s not fantasy…