Investigated – Series

I like the fact that if you are reading books in a series, you usually know what books to read next. There is no need to go browsing through the books in the library to find your next read. Chances are, if you liked reading the first book in a series, you would probably like the others as well… usually. 

The only problem with that is that you are usually stuck waiting to the next book, unless you are reading a series that has already been finished. Some series are worth the wait, others are not. The latest book leaves with a cliffhanger, and you just can’t wait for the next one to be published. But when it finally is, you are really disappointed on where the author decided to take the story. Also, I find that if I spend a lot of time waiting for the next book, more often than not, I’ll forget what happened in the books before it. Then I’m stuck rereading a bunch of books in order to understand what’s going on.

Another thing I hate about series, especially the really big, long ones, is that it feels like they are being elongated. That they are longer than they need to be. When it comes to those series, it is difficult to keep reading them. It’s even worse if they follow the same theme. Take the Alex Rider series for example. I have nothing against them, but for at least the last 3-4 books, I could almost predict what was going to happen. Why? Well, because the author used basically the same formula to write all of the books. And after reading the first few books, I figured out the formula. There were really no surprises. Nothing unexpected happened. 

Then, there are the series that deteriorate over time. A prime example of this would be the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. The first five books were all pretty good. The sixth one was pushing it. The last two? They were horrible. I felt that James Patterson should have ended them while he was still ahead. While the series was still untainted and had overall positive reviews. Because believe it or not, a bad book reflects on the whole series.

But sometimes, there are the series that are different. Take Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians for instance. Yes, the books technically do follow the same formula, but it often strays from it and brings unexpected surprises. It was successful enough that Rick Riordan was able to create a spin off series, the Heroes of Olympus. It really just depends on the reader.

How do you feel about series? Or this new feature? Feel free to leave your thoughts below.