Endure to the end?

As a reader, one of my favorite things to find is a wonderful series. A good series means that I get to look forward to future reading. Of course, the drawback to a good series is that 1) it is easy to become obsessed, and I find myself walking around with a book in my hand every spare moment, and 2) if you get on to a series that is in progress-meaning it hasn't been completed--you find yourself experiencing the agony of waiting for the next book to come out.

But what do you do when you start a series that you think is going to be good, but halfway in, you realize it just isn't? (Yes, it DOES happen. Promising series do not always live up to their potential). Do you finish the series or is it okay to give up? It is a tough decision, because, as my brother pointed out, it is easy to feel a literary obligation to see the thing to the end. If you are facing this dilemma, here are some things to consider:

1. How far into the series are you? If you are almost done--say, one or two books left--and you have no other pressing books on the to-read list, you may as well finish it. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and it will take off in the last two books. (I actually have read a series that got progressively better, so it can pay to hang in there. But it improved with each book, so if you are almost done, and it hasn't gotten better, you probably shouldn't get your hopes up).

2. Why are you reading it? In my brother's example, he wants to have read books his children will someday read. If he has read enough to know that it isn't going to be harmful to them at all, then he may not need to keep reading. If there are things that make him wonder, perhaps he should see it through, or just not recommend it to his kids. If you are reading the series because everyone is talking about it, you may want to see it through to the end, so that you have a thorough knowledge of the books. But if you are only part way into it, and feel that you are sufficiently versed in why you don't like it, why keep reading?

3. How much damage will your ego take if you don't finish it? I have no qualms about quitting things I don't enjoy, so for me, my pride will not be injured if I have read enough of a series to sufficiently be able to say, "Not my kind of literature." And there are several series off the top of my head that fall into that category. But if you will forever feel like a quitter, and have trauma because of the stigma that brings, then by all means, finish the series.


So, should you finish a series, even if you don't enjoy it? My personal philosophy is that there are too many good books to read to spend time on something that doesn't interest you, but there are bound to be exceptions. The decision is yours. But you don't have any kind of obligation, so defenestrate that sense of guilt, and let yourself walk away from a bad series scott free!