• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

And then they all died

Jenna

Jenna

New Member
Series! We love em, we hate em. Most of the successful tv shows are series. Some go for a few years, others go for a long time. Books are the same way. People seem to like reading series - as long as they don't go on too long. So, what is too long? When should a series end? How should a series end? I didn't like the way the TV show Hercules ended. I didn't like the way Xena ended. I like happily ever after. So, how should a good book series end? I figure mine will be with the above five words - and then they all died. :D
 
Meh, a good book is a good book whether it's a stand alone or part of a series. The correct number of books in a series is one less than one too many. Simple. As to how they should end, in a way that gives the readers what they deserve for reading about how the characters came to be at that climax.
 
It depends on the series for the length...end it before it gets unoriginal and stale. As to how to end it, leave part to the imagination of the reader/viewer....
 
Originally posted by Oponn
Meh, a good book is a good book whether it's a stand alone or part of a series. The correct number of books in a series is one less than one too many. Simple. As to how they should end, in a way that gives the readers what they deserve for reading about how the characters came to be at that climax.
Click to expand...

***Um, ok. Maybe what I should do, then, is to destroy the last book I write, as that will be the one too many :confused: But I see what you mean. I would have preferred to have thought about Hercules and his sidekick going off to do more butt-kicking together. Heh.
 
Actually the way I've done my series is that each book can be a stand alone. It's sorta like a TV series in that each book has it's own crisis that is resolved at book's end. There are some continuing threads through all of the books though. Still, since it's a series dealing with magic, it's the same premise for each book - the heroes are either taken or go to a place with little useable magic, and have to use their wits to get back home and solve problems along the way. Those who have read some of the books like them, because they feel they know the characters like family. But I still wonder about when to pull the plug on these things. They are no longer in print, but I am thinking about recontracting them with a small press in Australia.
 
As long as the series still has some original ground to cover, I say keep on with it. I noticed that Mercedes Lackey was getting a little stale with the last couple Valdemar trilogies, and she's going back to 1 or 2 book sets for some of the supporting characters. It's filling in the gaps on some interesting background, and has livened up the whole thing.

Series that have gone on too long: Xanth, Modesitt's Recluse, that annoying Brian Jacques thing with the talking mice. If you are writing the exact same book over and over again, please, no more!
 
Originally posted by Ashlea
that annoying Brian Jacques thing with the talking mice. If you are writing the exact same book over and over again, please, no more!
Click to expand...

... But it's got talking mice... that makes it good. Right?

RIGHT!?!
 
Originally posted by Jenna
Actually the way I've done my series is that each book can be a stand alone. It's sorta like a TV series in that each book has it's own crisis that is resolved at book's end. There are some continuing threads through all of the books though.
Click to expand...

I prefer books like that, they can stand alone, but when you're ready to go back to them, you have some familar friends.
 
Ashley, i love the Redwall series, how could you!! :mad:

Well .... i did when i was ten anyway!! Anyway, theres not just talking mice, theres badgers and hares and voles and weasels and ... well, you get the picture!!

Personally, i find it very amusing when they kill off all the characters at the end of series - Blake's Seven was a particular highlight .... whats that, popular series by the BBC?? Screw that, lets have them all mowed down in a climactic firefight!! Hilarious stuff :p

Phil :)
 
sorry, Phil, talking rodents = suck. ;)

Actually, I liked the 1st one. I just didn't feel the need to re-read in with new character names upteenth times.
 
It all depends on the series really ie Xanth by Piers Anthony the book Golem In The Gears was the last I could stand for me that's where it ended. With the Recluce series by L.E. Modesitt Jr. I ended up only liking three of the books the first, second and fifth the rest of the books didn't really do a thing for me but if he had ended it at the second I would never have gotten the enjoyment of the fifth book. So it's a very hard choice to distinguish when a series should end.

In fact there is only one series in which I pretty much enjoyed every book and that was the Witch World books by Andre Norton. Not a whole lot of fans anymore but for me it always had great characters and you never new what time line you were going to start in when you picked the book up.
 
Recently I've read alot of 6-7 book series. I really dont seem to have a problem as long as the books are good.

Whats even more annoying is reading a masterpiece then finding out that the author only wront 1 other novel which wasnt a sequel....John Steakley anyone.
 
I revise my earlier comment. The rat in Charlotte's Web is pretty cool. Otherwise, not a big talking rodent fan. ;)

LOL, my husband is always recommending that John Steakley book to people. He even claims the novelization of the Vampires movie is pretty good.
 
I have read Vampires, which wasnt bad, but not Armor, which is the one everyone thinks is great!! :)

Phil
 
You should read it Phil if you get the chance, i wondered why they didnt make a movie out of Armor instead of Vampire$
 
A corollary

Some excellent series have come up short--the Riverworld books by Philip Jose Farmer come to mind: the first two were excellent and somehow the third book fell flat. It was a long time ago, but I don't recall even finishing it ...

The Seventh Son series by one of my favorite writers, Orson Scott Card, also lost me around the fourth or fifth book...

O
 
I know what you mean Oberon, when i was reading this 6th one i keep think of other books i wanted to read...so i tried to finish it really fast.
 
A good book or TV series really depends on many things. I don't think everything should have a happy ending, there needs to be some spice in entertainment besides typical happy endings.

I enjoy books where there are some open ends but most of the major stuff can be closed up. And perhaps with movies I like happy and sad endings, with the open endings too, it really makes one think. Plus I like twisted endings that aren't really good, bad, or open (Like Memento).
 
Originally posted by Jenna
and then they all died. :D
Click to expand...

I've got a feling you'll like
GRR Martin's 'A song of Ice and Fire' series
- the way that's going so far everyone's going to snuff it by the end.

As for endings, the 'twist ending' that puts the whole thing on another level is intriguing in short stoies but it's difficult to pull off successfully and convincingly. I've seen cliffhangers in many books that whilst they leave you hanging, are probably the best conclusion the author could have written in that context.

I'm not really a fan of series that outstay their welcome either. A reasonable, non-padded middle's essential to set up an effective ending IMHO.

In longer books, the conclusion has to be both satisfying and do justice to the characters that you've followed so far. 'And they lived happily ever after' is a bit cliche, but it still works once loose ends have been wrapped up in many fairy tales.

Need to dissappear- will finish later
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top