The Trouble with Series

I have this terrible problem with starting series or trilogies and then not getting around to finishing them! It is a terrible habit! It isn't even always intentional... I buy the next book as soon as it comes out and I am really excited about it, but then it just sits there. I thought discussing just why people can and cannot finish series would be fun, so I am going to start with admitting my problems.

1. Reading habits: I have several high fantasy series on the go. This is because fantasy is my first love and I really want to read it all the time! The last couple years, though, I have been relying too much on the library and the library lacks a lot of high fantasy authors that I love. So, really all I have to do is read my own books. I just can't seem to actually do so! This means that I haven't read the next book by Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, Sara Douglass, Raymond Feist, Jack Whyte, etc, etc. It is also a page thing... I find this year I am sticking to books in the 300 page range because I keep putting longer ones to the side. For example, the newest Robin Hobb and Sara Douglass... I started both of them and still haven't finished either of them! And, I was insanely excited about the new Sara Douglass!

2. Disappointment: I think one of the reasons I stall sometimes on reading the next book in series is because I am worried that it will ruin the series for me. Take Jack Whyte, for example. I have loved his series so far, but then I started seeing blog posts about how the series sort of slows down and isn't as good anymore. So, I keep looking at the next book and agonizing over what I want to do. I will finish the series one day, but I am really slow about it. This works other ways, too. I didn't love the newest Ariana Franklin this year as much as previous volumes in the series. When the new one comes out next year I will likely read it quickly because I am hoping the series will get better again.

3. It is the End: I should have thought this out more and came up with more creative ways to word my points, but anyways... Sometimes I put off reading a book because when it is done, the series is done. Next year the last book in Carrie Ryan's series is out. I think this is part of the reason why I haven't read the newest Sara Douglass and I still have to read the third book in the Robin Hobb trilogy I have on the go. I have other books to read by both authors, but still... I loved the story and characters and I really don't want to have to say good bye!

4. Fear: Okay, this is actually another part of point 2. The best example is Kelley Armstrong. I was loving her Women of the Otherworld series. Then, I read Dime Store Magic. Words cannot describe how much Paige drove me crazy in that book. I stopped reading the series because I was worried that I wouldn't like the next books... I got over it, though! I just need to put some distance between me and the annoying character. That being said, I still haven't read Industrial Magic (the next book after Dime Store Magic). I actually plan to, but I misplaced my copy so I have been reading the later books instead. Paige has grown on me, but I will never reread Dime Store Magic. I would like to pretend that book does not exist!

5. Spoiler-Alert: The best example of this is Mockingjay. I was seeing people talk about it everywhere and I wanted to read it on my own terms before anyone ruined anything for me. I don't love this trilogy as much as other people, so if it wasn't for twitter and blogger I probably would have waited to finish.

6. I Hate Waiting: Sometimes I wait to read books until it is closer to the next book coming out from the author. Especially if there is a really long wait involved. I just make it so there is a more even wait involved. Sometimes I can't do this, though, because I am too excited about the book.

Which brings me to the last one I can think of...

7. Excitement: There are some series that I can just barely wait to get in the mail before reading the next book. One good example is Fables. I started that series last January and I have read every single book in the series since. Now I have to wait for the new ones to comes out, but when they do I am really excited! There is also Patricia Briggs, Ariana Franklin (even though what I said above about the more recent book), Carrie Ryan, Kristen Cashore, Kelley Armstrong, and many other authors.

So, now that you know I am crazy... Why do you read or don't read all the series you have on the go?

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel...

Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He's been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump. It's part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid over a hundred years earlier.

But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump back to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right--not only to save the project but to prevent altering history itself.

Over the years I have heard mention of Connie Willis many times for many reasons, but I have never actually read her for myself. Recently I decided to see what the library has by her and give her a try. I am really up in the air about the book, though. On the one hand I enjoyed the story, but on the other I found the book way too long. I know she was making a point when she didn't have her characters clear thing up really quickly, but I would get impatient. I had many of the plots worked out, so I wanted to know if I was right or not. When it finally came time for the big reveals, though, you would still have to wait for the characters to get around to the point. My impatience was probably my biggest problem with the book. I know why she did it, but it still bothered me.

This was a book that had a lot going on. There were many characters, adventures, sub-plots, time travel, history, and much more worked into the pages. Ned Henry is the main character and the eyes through which the novel takes place. When we first meet him he is in desperate need of some sleep, so they send him to the Victorian era to right a wrong and then he can sleep when his work is done. This doesn't happen quite as it is planned. Things happen when you encounter love-sick man, a dog, and a cat who in true cat fashion does what she wants and not what anyone actually wants her to. Cats are extinct in Ned Henry's world, so they are not quite sure what to make of them. There is also the absent-minded professor, a family where the father is obsessed with fish and the wife and daughter are having seances, a woman from the future who made a mess of things in the first place, and other characters that appear from time to time just to make things interesting.

Even though I didn't love this book as much as I had hoped to, I still really liked it. There is so much going on that it is impossible to explain it all and not give something away, so I will just recommend that you give it a read and lose yourself in a strange mixture of the future and the past.

The Ask and the Answer: Chaos Walking Book 2 by Patrick Ness

Part two of the literary sci-fi thriller follows a boy and a girl who are caught in a warring town where thoughts can be heard — and secrets are never safe.

Reaching the end of their tense and desperate flight in THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Todd and Viola did not find healing and hope in Haven. They found instead their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss, waiting to welcome them to New Prentisstown. There they are forced into separate lives: Todd to prison, and Viola to a house of healing where her wounds are treated. Soon Viola is swept into the ruthless activities of the Answer, aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical government. Todd, meanwhile, faces impossible choices when forced to join the mayor’s oppressive new regime. In alternating narratives — Todd’s gritty and volatile; Viola’s calmer but equally stubborn — the two struggle to reconcile their own dubious actions with their deepest beliefs. Torn by confusion and compromise, suspicion and betrayal, can their trust in each other possibly survive?

I FINALLY read the second book in the Chaos Walking series. I preordered it, so I had it right away. That was last year! I also apparently never reviewed book 1, so isn't it impressive that I am reviewing book two the day after finishing it? I was a lot better at reviewing books last year than I have been this year. It is rather funny because I read a lot more last year than this year, but anyways... I finished the book. My initial reaction was that I liked it and I am looking forward to book 3, but I didn't love it. I didn't love book 1, either, so it is not surprising. There are a lot of people that love this series - which is why I read it in the first place. I am sorry I am going to have to vent for a moment here!

One of the reasons that I went years without reading young adult books is because I find that I cannot relate to their decision-making, etc. This was my problem with this book. I know I am not that far away from my teen years, but even in my teen years I found teens annoying in books. I am not sure what it is, maybe I grew up fast, but I can't relate. Todd and Viola, the main characters in this book, think so black and white. They would be freaking out about something and I would not get what the big deal was... They are just too wholesome! It's what makes all the drama in the book, though, so if they changed a lot would be missing from the book and people would probably not be as captivated by it as they are at the moment. So, I guess what I am saying is that I didn't always relate very well to the two main characters. That can be a problem, but I am still looking forward to book 3.

On the good side, the books are page-turners. Even if I didn't always agree with what Viola and Todd were doing; I still wanted to see what was happening. I like a book with a lot of action and this book fit the bill. I get tired of books that nothing every seems to happen in them. The strange thing is that I do like Todd and Viola. There thought-processes don't always make sense to me, but they still were interesting and I enjoyed watching them progress. I am a little afraid that this is ANOTHER book series for teens where the main characters are more obsessed with each other than in love, but at least it isn't entirely as blatant as other series.... I think part of the minor issues I had with this book is that I am getting a bit tired of that plot device, but until the Twilight obsession dies down a bit I doubt we have seen the last of it.

Anyway, if this review makes any sense at all I am happy. I don't want to give too much away, but I also feel like this review sounds more like a negative review than a positive one. Is it possible to enjoy a book that you essentially disliked? Whatever the case, I am going to read book three and then we will see what my thoughts are on the series overall.