The sad truth about being a reader is that sometimes we have to DNF books. Sometimes a book is just so frightfully bad that you just cannot make yourself push through! (At least, that’s how it is for me.) Sometimes you finish the first book in a series and shudder at the thought of picking up the second. But do you ever read multiple books in a series and then give up?
Over the years I’ve found myself DNFing more than a couple series after reading more than one book in that series. Usually these are trilogies where I find the first two books to be so incredibly “meh” that I have literally no desire to push through an additional 300+ pages. Often, these are series that have been incredibly hyped and that everyone else seems to adore, but then once I read them, I find myself underwhelmed. A few come immediately to mind.
Each of these series was recommended to me by countless people and each of these series received very mediocre ratings on the blog. I wasn’t particularly impressed with any of them, but decided to go ahead with book two in all three series. I didn’t continue to the next book in a single one. Did I feel a little guilty about not giving them a chance until the very end? Sure, maybe a little, but not enough to commit any more time to find out what happened. In the case of Eve, I may decide to pick up the last book at some point in the future, but I don’t feel particularly compelled to see how it ends. The next series might be particularly shocking to some of you, but here it is:
That’s right. After much deliberation I’ve decided NOT to continue with the Throne of Glass series. After I fell completely in love with A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, 2380197 people told me I absolutely had to read the ToG series. I finally gave in and, while I did enjoy the first book, I wasn’t blown away by it. I continued on with
Crown of Midnight and did enjoy that one a little more, but still was not in love. When I realized that 1) Heir of Fire takes place in an entirely different place with a cast of new characters, 2) these books are progressively getting larger, and 3) this series is going to be 6 books long (plus novellas), I decided to officially call it quits. While I respect that a ton of people adore these books, they just are not for me and I can’t commit that much more time to a series I’m not in love with.
While I tend to approach reading with a “life’s too short” outlook, I also see tons and tons of bad reviews for second and third books in a series by people who openly admit that they hated the last one (or two) and I have to wonder why they’re still even reading the series! Here’s an example:
Okay, so I found Passion, the book 3 of the Fallen series in library and decided to give this series another try. The first two books had given me little satisfaction, with the romance between the two main characters so paper-thin, the pace of the story so off-beat, the plot so shabbily constructed and the mythical and historical references being so water-downed (I almost wanted to say ‘bastardized’ instead of just ‘water-downed’, but it sounds a bit too harsh so I changed it), I just didn’t dare to put my hope up.
So now I’m curious. Do you power through series you aren’t enjoying just for the sake of finishing them?
Do you call it a day when you realize you haven’t enjoyed 2 out of 3 and the odds aren’t looking good?
Let me know in the comments!
