Why it is ok to give up on a book series

For the last few months I’ve been working my way through Phillip José Farmer’s The Dungeon, a shared-world fantasy series that was published from 1988 to 1990.

Let me go back a quick step here:

1) A shared world fantasy series is one where different authors continue the story forward from novel to novel, think of it like an elaborate, and book series length, game of telephone.

2) I started reading this particular series because one of my favourite Canadian authors, Charles de Lint, wrote two instalments (Volumes 3 and 5)

3) I tend to be a sucker for series, whether the 50+ books in the Dragonlance series, the expanded Universe Star Wars Novels, or the increasingly depressing, but always engaging Wild Cards series (edited by Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin)

So a series really has to let me down for me to decide to jump off during the last book...

Strongly influenced by pulp magazine stories of the 1920s and 30s and involving everything from dimension hopping to dinosaurs and spaceships, The Dungeon, at first glance seemed pretty tailor-made for me. I've read a number of series with different contributing authors and when done correctly,, shared world series can be fascinating and exciting for a reader who wants to get different perspectives on the same world.

The Dungeon series starts out all right, and then with each new author just seemed to get better and better, yes de Lint was a high point for me, as he found ways to make the stories move faster and also came up with some very interesting plot twists and great character moments.

The problem actually came when I hit about page fifty in the final volume. Author Richard Lupoff (who wrote the first book in the series) seems to have either not read the rest of the series or simply decided to ignore it - he comments about the adventures of the protagonist, Clive Folliot by going into in-depth description of his adventures in book one, and then simply mentioning there were other adventures as well.

The book seemed incredibly dismissive of the rest of the series and as each book ended on a cliffhanger, also managed the ruin the one presented at the end of book five by IGNORING THE ENTIRE THING! Seriously, I could have finished the book and had worse things to say, but after being figuratively slapped in the face by the first few chapters, I decided it would make more sense to state the following.

It is ok to put down a book you don't like - even if you've read everything else in the series and this book promises to give you all the answers you've been craving since you began. The best part about any entertainment medium is that as the consumer (reader, player, audience, etc.) you have the right and the ability to simply say

"No Thanks".

Sorry for my rough words (as a Canadian they may be less rough than yours, but trust me, they're pretty bad here).

Things I've noticed: The Trouble with Jerry Cornelilus

Here’s the thing about my relationship with author Michael Moorcock – as an older teen getting out of Dungeons and Dragons and into Vampire the Masquerade, I started to notice that my fellow gamers were talking less about Dragonlance novels and more about Elric of Melniboné, who was apparently the Emperor of an alternate Earth, an albino, and an elf. At the time I was getting pretty heavy into reading Role Playing Game rulebooks from cover to cover so I decided to hold off on the character.

My next brush with the author came with a book called Nomad of the Time Strems, a collection of stories about Oswald Bastable, a British Captain travelling through an alternate earth through some of the coolest Alternate history stories I’ve ever read.

Last month I hit my most recent connection, in a best of SF novels list I've been working through I came across The Final Programme, the first of the Cornelius Quartet. I decided that I'd try to read all four of the books, and as there are many people who say how great this character is I thought I'd have a great treat ahead of me.

The first book was, okay. A little weird, with more than a little creepiness thrown in, it went all over the place, following multiple characters and forcing me to read and re-read chapters to try and understand what was going on. In the end I was confused, but assumed the series would make more sense as I worked my way through.

Next up was The Cure for Cancer, and I'm sorry to say this is where I stopped. The chapters followed Jerry through a desolate future wherein most of the western world was clearly running down and althrough I could follow the events from chapter to chapter it was mostly an exercise in frustration for me.

Here's the thing, I've heard a lot of good stuff about this series, but as I was really not enjoying myself through the second book I figured that I should take a break and re-visit the books later (maybe in my '40s the story will make more sense).

In the end I love reading, and challenges can be fun as well, but if I'm not enjoying myself, I don't see anything wrong with taking a break.

Things I've Noticed: Wating for a series to finish can be tricky

Here's the thing, I'm not a big fan of cliffhangers. I don't like reading a series and getting really into books two through five only to catch up to the author and be stuck waiting for him/her to deliver number six. That's simply not my style.

Instead I'm a big fan of waiting for the entire series to come out and then enjoy it after the fact. This is how I watched Star Trek DS9, Buffy, and Battlestar Galactica, and I've got to say that I am a big fan of watching TV shows at my own pace.

When I was in Junior High, all of my friends were reading Robert Jordon's Wheel of Time series, it seemed that everywhere I looked I found another friend recommending this series to me. Now back then it was going to be a series of seven books, and as the first two had been released I figured that I could simply wait and check the books out after they had all been released. As of right now, the author has passed on, and the final book is due out late next year. If after that I get told by all sorts of people to give the series a go, I probably will.

There are some series I'll read as they come out, I've reviewed both The Passage and The Strain here, and both promise to be the first of a series, but that is the exception, not the rule. I'm not sure if I'm missing out, but what I am sure of is that usually I'm not reading the sequel to some book I read a dozen years ago and no longer remember the main character or what the whole thing was about.

It may not work for you, but it definitely works for me - what do you think? Should series be read as they come out, or should the be read only after they have completed?