Series? Or Stand-alone books?
I have complicated feelings about this topic. This shouldn’t be very surprising.
Let me explain. I love books. This much is obvious, right? I like books in series and I like standalone titles, too. I’ve gone on at length about my love for the Sweet Valley High Series on here, and we all know that I maintain a blog devoted to recapping the books (yeah, I know, I’ve been slacking in my duties there). But lately, I’ve found myself frustrated by an increase in titles that are part of series or trilogies. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a good trilogy now and then (hello, Hunger Games), but these days, I feel like nearly every YA book being published has a #1 after the title.
What is it with the multiple-book trend these days? Is it about making money? Do authors and publishers really think that all of these stories need to be told over multiple books? What happened to the craft of writing strong characters and a layered story over the course of only one book? Why do things need to be drawn out over 3, 4, 5 books?
Does this frustrate anyone else? I know I’m not completely alone: Jordyn at Ten Cent Notes did a great post on the rise of series and the decline of standalone titles last year. I encourage you to check it out.
Rant over.
What do you think? Am I way-off here, or am I on to something?
You cited great books here!
For me, it is always stand-alone books. There are exceptions though. Check out those in my BTT: Headlines post!
I totally agree. There are way too many series, particularly too many YA series. Many of these series also seems to be released very quickly, a bit too quickly for quality to be their main priority.
I agree with you about the speed in which titles are released, which makes me think that it’s about making money before interest dries up.
That bums me out.
I like both, but books in a series more. Here is my answer for this week’s Booking Through Thursday.
OMG I have been pretty much feeling exactly the same way lately. Every book I pick up is part of a series and it is soooo frustrating.
Sally.
http://theelifylop.blogspot.com/2011/03/booking-through-thursday-10.html
I like both as long as it keeps your interest.
You’re definitely onto something! It’s ridiculous the amount of books that are part of series these days – YA in particular. It’s like everyone wants to cash in on the Harry Potter/Twilight phenomenon. The worst is when you literally need to read the next one to finish the story – at least with series like Harry Potter, each book has a story that stands alone as well as connecting with the bigger picture. For example I recently read Lauren Conrad’s series (I know, what was I expecting, right?) and the first books doesn’t resolve ANYTHING. But by the time I got to the second book months later I’d half forgotten/didn’t care about everything that had happened in the first (and didn’t like it enough to reread). It’s definitely frustrating.
You’re totally right about how frustrating it is when the cliff hanger is so ridiculous that nothing gets resolved. If I can’t remember what happened in the previous book, I’m going to be irritated and might even give up on reading the sequel. I’m having this problem right now with The Dark and Hollow Places, Carrie Ryan’s third book in her zombie trilogy.
Thanks for the comment!