Random pretties to help you get your thoughts in order.
Judging from the comments made to my previous post it seems that there were only a couple who, like me, have hit the ‘mehs’ very early in a series, others have peaked much further along and are still plowing on regardless, but the majority tend to get ‘book 5 fatigue’ (told you I would steal it, Jen š ).
So, my next question for you… as readers which do you think is/would be the most disappointing? Losing omph at the beginning, middle, or near the never ending end of a series??
Kris + Books = Good. *Sometimes*. 
Stupid thing ate my post. Starting over.
For me it would be near the end of a series. At the beginning I don’t have much invested but if I’ve been following a series for years like Harry Potter and after 5+ years of following the characters, anticipating the next release and it was a big fat blah, it would be depressing as hell. If its book two, then its annoying and disappointing but more of a “whatever” kind of thing.
Oh and they are some pretty boys. Clean too.
Book 5?? Jeez, I wish. I tend to get tired of a series after the second book…if I even get that far in the first place.
Take Tam’s comment.
Copy.
Paste š
The worst is getting disappointed once you’ve really gotten invested in a series. That would be, after at least-4-5 books, to anywhere later than that. And since I love series, read so many of them, and it’s almost not humanly possible to keep the quality and originality for more than a certain number of books, I am inevitably disappointed at some point, always, unless the author has the good sense to stop before he/she reaches that point.
Tam: So what you’re saying is if – hypothetically speaking – you knew someone who was pretty far into a series, had FINALLY got tired of the crud being published and then, possibly in a fit of temper, pulled the books from her shelves and threw them into the ‘secondhand bookshop’ pile you would totally understand?? Good to know. š
*pretties*
Interesting. So do you just read stand alones then, JenB? Or do you sometimes read the first book, but knowing your own incliniations give the rest of the series a miss??
What even Tam’s “Oh and they are some pretty boys. Clean too.” as well, Mary?? LOL.
I think that’s it in a nutshell. The emotional investment that a reader has in a series grows/ deepens/ etc as it continues and inevitably this leads to major disappointment when things go meh.
I agree with you that the quality, originality and, I guess, the freshness of series can be lost along the way. I get very disappointed when an author’s lack of interest is very obvious to the reader. That is when I really wish they had just admitted that they wanted to try different things and put the series on the backburner for a while. I would have much more respect for them if this was the case rather than have them publish a half-hearted story.
<>Random pretties to help you get your thoughts in order.<>Thoughts in order? *splutters* Aft erlooking at that photo my brain has gone completely haywire š
The end of a series would be worse IMO. LIke everyone said, it’s all about emotional investment. *SIGH* I’m currently struggling through the 7th book in a series…and it’s not pretty…
Oh yeah, I’d totally understand. Once you lose interest in a series, if there are more books to follow and you aren’t going to read them, may as well get rid of the lot.
Anyone read the Wheel of times series by Robert Jordan? I started more then 10 years ago, its going to the 12th (and last) instalment but last year R. Jordan died (and was ill in the years before) so he did not finish his project.
I worked my way through the last 2 books because I want to know how it will end. But honestly he could have finished it earlier.
Now another writer is completing the series with drafts and notes from Jordan. About time.
Yep – end of the series would be worse. You want to go out with a bang and instead go out with a small pop.
Orannia: *tsking* So easily distracted. LOL.
What book could you possibly be talking about I wonder?? š Ya know. I think I might actually be starting to get a bit scared about reading LA, especially with my mixed feelings towards LE. Oh well. We’ll see…. *whoa, deja vu* š
Tam: *Phew*
Tracy: For a minute I thought you’d written ‘a small poop’ and I’d wondered if you’d been drinking margaritas again last night. LOL.
Ingrid: I started reading this series and then got to book 6 or 7 and hit fatigue. I also got a bit dizzy from all the circles within circles of the plots – symbolic I know, but, for me, ended up being a little too repetitive. I kept thinking to myself this will be the last one and then another one would come out. I just got tired of it.
I’ve heard a lot of talk about the writing of the last book. Can you imagine the immense pressure the author would be under?? I don’t think there would be any way in hell that I – you know if I could write and all š – would take it on. The readers’ expectations will be huge.
I am a little stubborn and read on *g*.
But I certainly don’t want to be in that writers’ shoes!