Do you prefer to wait for a whole book series to be out before reading it, or do you have to have the books as soon as they’re released? How do you handle the wait if a series is still being written?
I find that it kind of depends. A lot of the time I will borrow it from the library instead of outright buying it just to see if I like it enough. There have actually been a few series that I started from the library and ended up buying all the rest. I also have certain authors though that I will just outright buy it as soon as it comes out. If it’s a series I already collect then I just buy it too.
If I’m not sure that I will like it or I’m not interested at the time, I wait for the whole thing to be out and then check other people reviews and see what they think.
For the most part though if I’m really wanting to read it I don’t wait very long. And I think that throughout the year I have enough books to distract me while I wait for the next one to be written, but it’s always hard.
Feel free to list any goals below as well as your comments! I’m excited to see what everyone has to say 🙂
Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf 
Most of the time, I wait until the whole thing is out. I just want to read it all at once and lose myself in the story. And on those occasions when I’m reading the books as they come out, I go back and re-read each book every time a new one is released anyway… so that by the time I’m done with the final book, I’ve read the first book three times, the second book twice, and the third book once (if it’s a trilogy, for example). So it makes more sense for me to wait, unless it’s something I’m really excited for.
But most of the series I read are just ongoing, where the characters carry over but the plots mostly stand alone and there’s no planned end in sight. So these I obviously read as they’re released since waiting isn’t really an option.
There’s a few series I have right now where I know I’ll have to re-read the first few books, and I kind of wished I’d waited, so it’s good that you try to wait too.
I’m like you. If it’s a favorite author, I don’t have the willpower. Unless someone gives me a heads-up about a cliff-hanger. I hate cliff-hangers more than I hate waiting for a series to end. And if it’s a lesser-known (to me) and I don’t get around to reading book 1 for several months, that’s when I wait.
Yay to favourite authors!
Cliff-hangers are the worst, but I don’t usually ask other bloggers if there is one and I have to find out the hard way lol.
I don’t intentionally wait until whole series are released, but I love it when I find a book and discover that I can read the rest immediately! I’m in the middle of so may series lately that I’m not even bothering to continue in them, if they don’t really grip me. Waiting for something I’m only mildly invested in is just not going to happen.
I love finding series like that! It’s not as often since I’m trying to save money. I love if they’re in boxsets too 🙂
That’s understandable, I’ve dropped a few series that I started because it wasn’t keeping my attention, luckily most were from the library.
I get books out as soon as money permits, but that depends on the author. Some are on the Must-But-Now list, while others dawdle for months, and even years. Even when I purchase a book, there is no guarantee of a *reading* it any time soon.
You should check out your local library, they’re pretty good at getting new releases usually and it saves money for other must buy books 🙂
I try to wait until series are complete, but it doesn’t always work. Sometimes there are series that I know are just too good to wait for – for instance Rick Riordan’s books, he’s got a Norse mythology series coming out at some point and I will not be waiting for that – and other times I accidentally pick up a book without realizing it’s the first in a series and I read it and then I’m like ‘damnit!’ The latter happened with The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
Plus there seems to be a trend now of continuing series that were supposedly finished. Caroline B. Cooney just did it with The Face on the Milk Carton series and Meg Cabot is in the process (has?) done so with the Mediator, and there might be a couple others but those are the big ones for me since I loved both of them as they were.
Long story short, I do try to wait, but it’s pretty much impossible for me!
I’ve noticed series starting up from books that we thought were finished, and some of them I’m not sure if I want to continue just because I thought it was over. Thanks for mentioning that too!
Yeah, it’s rather weird that authors are doing that, but I guess they figure they have a market for them because of how popular the previous ones were in the past and people still recommend them?
I like the idea of waiting until all the books are released, but in reality, I just do not have the willpower to do so! Sometimes if I’m late to a series and the final book is about to be released I’ll wait as it’s easier to do so, but a lot of the time I read them as soon as they are released!
It can be really hard to wait for sure, sometimes the willpower just disappears for me too.
I’m super impatient when it comes to sequels, so in theory waiting would be a great idea… but I’m not patient enough to do that! I will say though, when I come across a series that’s new to me and all the books are already out, that’s a great feeling.
I try to wait but I usually pre-order them so I don’t have to go in store and get tempted by other reads lol. Full series books being out is awesome!
I’ve never waited for a whole series to cone out before I buy it; that is unless I never knew about the series until all the books in the series were out but I tend to buy as they release. I do wait a time or two before I actually buy the books but if it’s one I really want then I just can’t wait for it.
It’s definitely really hard, especially if it’s the third book and you’ve been waiting a year since reading the second.
Oh yes! I have so many of those kinds of books! *sighs shakes head*
I find that if I read a series back to back I get burned out and don’t enjoy it as much. So my answer is no, I prefer to read them as they release or about one every other month if they are already released.
I’ve read a few series back to back and it’s true, after a while I need a break from them. A few times though if the series was really good I had no problem.
If it’s a book I’m really, really looking forward to I usually can’t wait, but if it’s one I’m interested in and the first two are out, but I’m not *that* interested that I must read it ASAP, I can wait for all the books to be out. If the whole series is already out, I usually have to get all the books before I start reading just in case I love it!
I always tell myself that I will wait until all the books are out, or at least a few before I will pick it up but that usually doesn’t happen. I have horrible self control when it comes to books. But there are the ones where I read and loved the first one but by the time the second one comes out I can’t remember what happens. When that happens I will usually just wait until all the books are out and then rereading the first and finishing the series.
Sometimes I find a series and don’t realize that not all the books are out until I’ve finished the last book of the currently published series. It sucks, but you know what? That’s the best part about series’, there’s something to look forward to.
Pingback: Black 'n Write
Personally, I hate getting bogged down with the number of series that I’m in the middle of and I have an AWFUL memory…so I have this rule that I can only start series if all the books in that series have already been published. It just makes everything so much easier, even if sometimes I get a little bummed that I can’t read a recently popular book because it’s the first in a new series.
Pingback: Weekly Wrap-Up (#22) |