Thursday, August 10, 2017

Series I've Never Finished

Hello, my name is Abbey, and I have a problem. I read the first book in a series, and then I never finish the series. Even worse, I read the synopses of the rest of the series online because I'm curious to find out what happens, but I'm not curious to read the books myself!


If you have a fear of unfinished series, look away now.


1. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.
After reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time when I was fourteen, my mom suggested that I read Anne of Green Gables. I didn't want to read Anne of Green Gables, and I wasn't attuned to the language of classics yet, so I never read beyond Book 1.

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
This is another book that I read when I was fourteen that I didn't enjoy much. I read it because I love the movie that stars Martin Freeman, but the book fell short of my expectations (I still rated it four-stars on Goodreads, though? I'm confused. Maybe it's time for a re-read).

3. Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve. Also, The Mortal Engines. 
I didn't continue with Fever Crumb because Philip Reeve killed my favorite character! After that, I lost interest in the story.
The two reasons I read The Mortal Engines is because 1) Jack Lewis Baillot raved about it on her blog a few years ago and 2) Peter Jackson is making it into a movie. I read the first book a few weeks ago and liked it, but I didn't like it enough to continue reading the series (especially after I read the synposes of the other books online).

4. Crater by Homer Hickam.
This is a great space book where people have settled on the moon. Even though I loved the first book, I've never gotten around to reading the rest of the series. I don't think I ever will.

5. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
Again, a great sci-fi book. I've heard lots of great things about Ender's Shadow, but I never got around to putting it on hold at the library. I think by this time, I'd have to re-read Ender's Game before reading the next book.


6. Heist Society by Ally Carter.
This is a book that a friend recommended to me. It's about teens that go around stealing paintings for a reason that I've forgotten. It was okay, but I didn't feel compelled to finish the trilogy.

7. City of Ember by Jeanne Deprau.
I've read this book twice and enjoyed it both times, but have never been interested in continuing the story.

8. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.
I loved this middle grade book when I first read it. If I had been younger when I read it, I definitely would have continued with the series. Because I was sixteen, I didn't read any of the other books. It's on the "Books to read to potential future children" list.

9. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a fabulous book and a fabulous movie. I have several of its sequels on my phone, but I don't like reading electronically. I'd love to read more Pimpernel books someday...


10. Eragon by Christopher Paolini.
One of my good friends read the Eragon series and loved it. I gave it a try and enjoyed the first book, but *shame face* I read the synopses of the other books online. They are so long, and Eragon was similar enough to The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars that I didn't want to put time and effort into the series if I could watch the same plot in movie form.

11. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.
I've read this book twice, and, nope, I still don't have a desire to continue with the rest of the books.

12. The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer.
I picked this one up in the YA section at the library. It had an interesting premise, but too much romance. If the second book had been out at the time, I might have continued. Now, too much time has passed, and I can't remember the plot, so I don't think I'll ever finish this series.

13. From Earth to Moon by Jules Verne.
This book ended in a KILLER cliffhanger (and poor Jules Verne's audience had to wait FIFTEEN years for the sequel!), but the writing is so sciencey that I don't know if I could handle reading the sequel.

14. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.
This is the only book I've ever rated one star on Goodreads. Yeah, I won't be reading the rest of this trilogy. Ever. The characters were caricatures, the plot was cliche, and the writing was passive (just like this sentence).

15. Horatio Hornblower by C.S. Forester.
I have a love-hate relationship with nautical fiction. I love it because of the sea, I hate it because I have a hard time reading it, which is why I never continued on with Horatio Hornblower.



16. Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman.
Because this book has weird formatting and takes place in space, I thought that I'd love it. Unfortunately, I thought all of the characters were the same, and the swearing annoyed me because it was blacked out. Either commit to having swearing in your book, or don't include it at all. All that blacking it out does is draw more attention to it.

17. Heap House by Edward Carey.
This is one of the most unique books that I have ever read. I highly recommend it if you want something unlike anything you've ever read before. I'd like to continue this series, but I need to read the first book again before I can do that.

Here are three honorable mentions:

18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
I read this book right as it gained popularity and then read the synopses of the other two books. In 2015, I re-read The Hunger Games and went on to read Catching Fire as well. I doubt I'll ever read Mockingjay, so this series will stay incomplete.

19. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
I love Inkheart. I think it's a fabulous book. I tried reading the sequel, but didn't like how dark it became. Also, Cornelia Funke killed my favorite character, so I kind of lost interest in the series after that.

20. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
I loved the first book in this series! The second book dragged in the middle but became exciting at the end. I tried reading the third book, but I gave up. Maybe someday I'll finish Mistborn. I'd really like to because I really like Brandon Sanderson. He also killed my favorite character, though, and that's when I felt like the magic left the series (I'm sensing a trend here).

What I think we've learned here is that I lose interest in series when my favorite character dies, and that if I'm not invested in a series, I will take the lazy way out and read the synopsis online.

Have YOU read any of the series on my list? If you have, which ones should I continue?

13 comments:

  1. I have read many of these. My thoughts:
    Don't worry about finishing Mysterious Benedict Society. The first book was terrific and mind-boggling, but they go very down hill from there.

    I agree with you on Illuminae. The swearing. Ugh. And the stuff in it made no sense!

    I've read a few others. Mockingjay shredded my soul and turned me into a paralyzed sobbing mess, so if you want to avoid that... don't read it. XD

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    1. Aw, that's sad! The first one was so good!
      Illuminae had the potential to be such a cool book! Yet another YA disappointment, unfortunately (I've run into a lot of those... as this blog post shows. I just counted, and over half of the series that I haven't finished are YA! Oops).
      Hee hee, thanks for the warning!

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  2. I loved the Mysterious Benedict Society too! I don't know if I'll continue the series though...It IS a bit young for me...

    Haha, I don't blame you for not finishing the Twilight series.

    YES about Illuminae!! I thought the format was really cool and intriguing, but the swearing really bothered me and it didn't quite make sense to me. :P

    And don't you just hate it when authors kill your favorite characters? IT RUINS YOUR LIFE. *cries*

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    1. I agree. It was really good, but it was a bit young.
      It DOES ruin your life!!

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  3. Oh have you watched the Horatio Hornblower Movies/Shows thing ? Loved those!!! :) My sister went on to read the books too. But not me :P Have you read any of L.M. Montgomery's stand alone books? I think I loved Jane on Lantern Hill better then Anne of Green Gables :P I love her style of writing though, so that's a reader taste too.

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    1. I haven't seen the show yet! I want to watch it. Someday...
      I haven't read any L.M. Montgomery books (other than Anne of Green Gables)! Again, someday...

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  4. Personally I love the entire Mysterious Benedict Society series! I found them enjoyable even though I read them for the first time as a teenager. But maybe they're not for everyone.

    I AM THE SAME WAY with The Scarlet Pimpernel. I love it SO much and I'm DYING to read more of Percy and Marguerite, but somehow neither of those reasons have caused me to actually prioritize reading the rest of the books...it's an unexplained phenomenon.

    As for others, I think I read The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander probably three times over my childhood before ever reading the rest (I have now). And I've read Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson and loved it, but also for some unexplainable reason never continued. And usually I'm the kind of person to finish a series that I start...

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    1. I loved the first one! I can't see myself finishing the series any time soon, though. There are just too many other books that have my attention.

      Haha, that's exactly how I feel about The Scarlet Pimpernel!

      That sounds like me and the movie White Christmas. My friend and I watched the first thirty minutes of it SO many times, and then I would have to go home. Finally, we finished it one day.

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  5. My biggest unfinished series is the Wheel of Time. Twice I've started and gotten to about book 6 (half way?) and then it just dies for me. I can't see me ever finishing that one; partly because it's such an investment to get back in each time. Those books are HUGE!!

    I enjoyed the world of Ender's Game and read a couple more books in the series. Ender's Shadow was my favorite and really should be read, especially if you've already read Ender's Game.

    I enjoyed the Mistborn series, though the 1st book was far better than the next 2. His follow-on series in the same universe (Wax & Wayne Series), starting with Alloy of Law was great. It had me laughing a lot!! You don't need to finish the first series to begin the next. They take place in the same universe, but at significantly different dates on the timeline.

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    1. They are huge. I have the first one on my shelf, but I haven't read it yet.

      I want to read more Brandon Sanderson. He's a talented creator.

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  6. I can identify with a few of these. And I've read the full series of many others. Let's see...

    Anne of Green Gables - honestly, the first book is the best in the series. If you want to read more L.M. Montgomery, I would recommend the "Pat of Silver Bush" or "Emily of New Moon" trilogies instead of picking up the rest of the Anne series... this is one of those places where I do feel the movie was better.

    Hitchhiker's Guide - I think they're hilarious. But the British humor is not for everyone.

    Ender - You can read Ender's Shadow without rereading Ender's Game. The two books are parallel, so they are the same story from different perspectives and Ender's Shadow is better!!! I would then recommend continuing with the Shadow side of the series (Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant), and skip Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind altogether.

    I liked the sequels to City of Ember okay... but they don't stand out in my memory as amazing.

    I have also never read the sequel to The Scarlet Pimpernel... I am curious... but it's not high on my TBR pile currently.

    I haven't read the rest of the Eragon series, either. I hated the first book... so I have no reason whatsoever to read the rest.

    I feel exactly the same about Mistborn. I think Sanderson is a technical genius when it comes to world-building and magic systems... but I'm not convinced he actually knows how to tell a compelling story. (blasphemy, I know... ducks and hides) Also, Kelsier dying pretty much took all the happiness from the series for me. I mostly kept reading hoping he would come back. Spoiler: he doesn't.

    I read the second book in the Inkheart trilogy and liked it better than the first, but haven't gotten around to the third one yet.

    Fun post! I am a nearly compulsive series-finisher... so I don't have a ton of series that I've started and not finished... unless the series is not complete when I start reading it... then it will often happen that I will read until there's no more to read... and then I read other things while I'm waiting for the next book, and forget about the series I was reading, or decide to just wait until the entire series is out so that I don't get interrupted again... so then there will be long gaps between me starting and finishing a series. hehe

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    1. I'll keep that in mind about L.M. Montgomery's books. I've heard a lot of people praise Emily of New Moon. Maybe I should try that series before Anne of Green Gables.

      I love British humor, so I think if I read Hitchhiker's Guide again, I would enjoy it much more than the first time.

      I didn't know that about Ender's Shadow! That's so cool. *scootches it up on the TBR*

      Exactly! You put my thoughts about the Mistborn series into words. All that political stuff in the second book was genius, and his worldbuilding and magic system are incredible, but political drama for 400 pages does not make, as you said, a compelling story. I've heard the follow-up series to Mistborn is really good, though (and more in the flavor of The Final Empire than the other two Mistborn books).

      Haha, that's so funny about being a compulsive series-finisher! I am totally the opposite (as this post showed). It's so easy to be distracted by other books when a whole series isn't out yet, isn't it? *shakes heads* Books. *shakes fist* Books!

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  7. 1. I wouldn't worry with finishing the Anne series. The first one is lovely, but the others actually fell a bit flat for me??? I've heard the Emily series is good though, so I might give those a try!!!

    9. I have heard SO MUCH about The Scarlet Pimpernel!!! It's actually fairly high on my TBR because of that!!!

    10. Ughhhhhh. I quit after the first book two. Horrible writing. Not worth wasting my time on.

    16. I have NOT read this book/series, but I heartily agreed with what you said -- either have language in your book or don't. Halfhearted attempts to censor it make everything worse.

    18. Ooooooh!!! I WOULD encourage you to read Mockingjay!!! A lot of people were disappointed with it, I know. Thought it was depressing or hopeless, but I actually love it...

    AND I LOVED THIS POST!!! THANKS, ABBY!!!

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