I'm sure that's happened for a few people. But there's a reason it's the same couple names referenced over and over again for unfinished series - they're the exceptional cases, not the rule. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

When series are ongoing, they're unfinished for everyone - even if the new book is coming out the next day. People find other things to read in the meantime. Some "meantimes" are longer than others. As long as you can jump around, you can read a partial series and still find enjoyment.

I try to avoid unfinished series, but it's not just for the risk of them not being finished, but also because I tend to forget a lot of the details if I have to wait, let's say, a year between books. Authors/publishers could help by including a summary of the story so far at the beginning, but they seldom do.

Avoiding unfinished series hurts authors and means they'll never get finished, cause the sales aren't there. It's really sad to me that two big names seem to have ruined this for everybody. I advise treating them like the exceptions they are rather than assuming all authors are going to be like this.

I have a rule that I will not start a series until it is finished because if I really like the first book I am just going to power through in the matter of months. However, my partner who is a writer said that's a bad rule to have because writers need you to buy their books because it funds and motivates them to keep the series going.

Unless we are talking about a mystery where if you don't read the ending, the entire book/series is basically a waste of time, I personally don't worry much if a series is going to be finished. As long as I enjoy the individual volumes, I can easily live without the grand finale. Especially when it comes to extremely long fantasy series where those series that I have finished pretty much always ran out of steam before the ending and limped across the finish line.

And, as mentioned, the vast majority of series do get finished. If you want to be absolutely certain you will get the ending, sure, you should wait until it comes out but the possibility of this never happening isn't anything new.

Here is a thing I think you are forgetting, how many series do you actually read all the way to the end anyway? There are a lot of series I have started that I stopped not becasue I ran out of books but because it stopped landing. Are these series bad? No. It's just that readers tend to wonder off. A lot of series lose 40% of sales book to book. So if there is a series you do want to read you should buy it. After all, a lot more series end from lack of sales than author inaction.

The Dresden Files isn't complete yet but he is like 18 books in...

I stopped reading unfinished series in the 80s, not only for fear that they'd never be finished but also so I can finish them while I still remember the early story.

I don't care if authors don't finish a series, or if I start a series that's unfinished and it certainly wouldn't affect me buying a book I wanted. Life's way too short to worry about wether a book series will be finished or not. There are more important things in life.

To be honest I wouldn't read Rothfuss' now anyway after book two was so laughably disappointing. If Martin eventually publishes another Ice & Fire book, I'll happily read it.

I think it's safe to get into the Cosmere, assuming you treat the entire opus as one series

Same, I started Berserk in the middle of the boat arc.

Series wont be published if the first books dont sell....

Meh. As much as I would love to have the authors finish both series, I don't regret reading (and re-reading) them. They are both among my all-time favorites, endings or no. They certainly aren't going to turn me off to series still in progress.

If it's longer than 4 books I don't care for it anyway, unless it's an episodic kind of series where I can quit at any point. The chances of both the book quality and my enjoyment of it remaining the same for more than a couple months, are close to nonexistent.

It's orders of magnitude more likely for a series to be discontinued by the publisher due to poor sales than because the author is taking too long to produce the next volume. Martin and Rothfuss became so infamous for this exactly because it's so rare. On the other hand, midlist authors get their series cancelled before their completion all the time.

Anyway, personally I find this worry strange. For me if a volume in a series is not worth reading unless it gets a sequel, it's not worth reading at all.

I've also been burned by those series, but if an author has a good consistent release schedule I do still start unfinished series, example would be the expanse that I started before book 8 had been released, but the authors had a consistent 1-2 year release schedule

In my opinion, mysteries are the only genre where the lack of final is important - cause their whole schtick is the riddle and the answer, and if the plot is unfinished, you are left without the answer. In all other cases, the value lies in emotions and thoughts that you get while reading. ASOIAF, for that matter, brought me more joy and influenced me more than almost any finished series I've read.

>I was thinking Martin and Rothfuss backstabbed other writers by delaying their work by decade, and I was wondering if thats true, or just me overthinking.

I don't think they owe anything to any other writers, even as a fan, the only thing that I would ask is that they try to write the best books that they can. I wonder if the idea that an author should put out one book in a series per year is a relatively new idea

It is the same process now for TV shows. People want to binge and not be let down by a cancelled or unwritten series (show or books).

BUT, living through and taking part in the Harry Potter series as they were being released... I would not have wanted to miss that for anything.

So I wait until a series is established, and I will jump in. You never know when the lightning in a bottle is opened again :)

There is something I’ve read more than once from authors about ”not starting unfinished series;” one of the problems is, sometimes the contracts they’re working under stipulate that if there isn’t enough interest in the first books, the publisher isn’t required to order up sequels. (Not in the publishing industry myself, so I don’t know how the details work.) So, if enough people refuse to read a series before it‘s finished, that becomes WHY it never gets finished. While this probably doesn’t apply to authors who are already super-successful like Martin or Rothfuss, it’s food for thought. Support the authors you love when they start new series.

That's why I read brandon sanderson books. Cause you know he will finish a series.

I was first burned by the Mages of Ambrai, but those are such wonderful books that I still recommend that people read the first 2. I guess I'd rather have half of an epic story than none of it.

Idk, I think the authors work for themselves, and I buy their product. They don't work for me so I don't take it personally when they dnf writing a series

Not only do I not read unfinished book series, I don't watch TV shows that are still in production or movies that are designed to be (or are based on) a series. Waiting for a horrible ending (How I Met Your Mother) or no ending at all (effing GoT) or even just having to wait FOR E VER for the next installment (screw you, Fast franchise!) Is absolute torture.

I refuse.

I read the Earth's Children series. (Jean Auel) They were 8-10 years between each one. I bought the 1st 3 in a set: read in a weekend. They were good enough to wait for. Finished now, if you want to read them.

Read series if not finished? Sure, why not.

Good luck

I started reading the Storm light Archive becuase I'd read someone say it was a complete trilogy. I didn't look further into it for fear of spoilers. And then came to discover it's not a trilogy, it's just that 3 books are out, one is due next year and he has 6 (!) more planned. And each of them is 1200 pages long. As much as I've loved it so far I doubt I'd have started it if I didn't know it wasn't complete. I'll likely have forgotten a lot of the story by the time the series progresses over the next 5 years and I don't really have the time to reread 1200 page long books.

I would really like to read ASOIAF but fuck doing that until it's finished.

Depends on the type of book series. If it's a grand high fantasy series I tend to agree. More episodic series like Bernard Cornwell books I don't care because they may never be finished but a new book added here or there doesn't really change the series.

Isn't ASOIAF considered the best fantasy series by many? I would still read it even without an ending.

The Brothers Karamazov was supposed to have follow-up books but didn't, people still read it.

And if you are including any series that wasn't completed from the original author, that takes away a lot of good books. Including Wheel of Time, Dune, Foundation, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Odyssey/Iliad, the Bible, Grimm/Arabian Nights/Aesop's Fables/pretty much any older compiled story collection of old.

I still look for series that aren't finished to explore. I had read the asoiaf series and I was fine with where it ended in the books. I guess it could be because I still had the show to look forward to at the time.

I've finished lots of manga where the ending was bad or there's no real progression of plot, that's sort of like unfinished types to me. Like the Rozen Maiden manga, original 1-8, they don't have an ending to the arc, where the Anime actually completes the story. Comedy stuff is more of an experience too so I can handle if it ends upruptly.

I decided to trust Philip Pullman with the Book of Dust, book three is still unfinished. I'm wary in general though. Not enough to refuse to read an unfinished series if the author has a good track record... I'm unlikely to ever forgive Rothfuss, far more upset with him than GRRM

I read Kingkiller, but won’t touch ASOIAF. Yet. I’m even hesitant to tread too far into Stormlight given the projected timeline. There are too many completed series that are published to spend time on the unfinished ones. For me at least.

Those 2 also ruined unfinished series for me.

The Wheel Of Time ruined series longer than trilogies for me.

So I generally only read stand-alone novels now, which makes it hard to find very good books to read.

I feel your pain.

I feel like there are 2 types of unfished series. There are those like ASOIAF where we don't know if GRRM will actually get it done strictly to his complete lack of attention to it, or things like Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson where its just an absolutely massive project that he is continuously chipping away at (ie publishing books every 18 months or so)

One thing you have to keep in mind is that a series has to keep up a certain amount of sales. If book one does not sell because people are waiting for the end, than there won't be anymore. So I just...buy the book. Have I been burned before sure, but it was once. Out of the hundreds of books I have read, that's not so bad.

Here is my new benchmark:

Does the author seem to take their authoring seriously? Do they seem dedicated to finishing their series?

Yes to both example:the king of serious authoring, Brandon Sanderson. At any point one can look at his website and see exactly where he is at with multiple series. He also does a lot of conventions and Facebook chats and other social media moments.

Yes to the first/no to the second: GRRM. He does enjoy writing in general and loves to shore up his main magnum opus with side stories to flesh out the world. However, I think a combination of being too much of a Gardener and the show having an ending has killed his ability to finish the series.

No to both: Rothfuss. Not only has he scammed with his charity but he seems no closer to doing anything. Lol.

Scott Lynch is making me sad.

No, and honestly I find people who choose not to read unfinished series kinda ridiculous. One as many people have mentioned, not reading an unfinished series actually makes it less likely to be finished. Two i hardly if ever just burn through a series, I'll enjoy one or two books and then read something else to avoid burning out on a series.

Three, most series including 95 percent of popular ones, get finished within reasonable schedules you're actually an outlier if you have crazy time between books. You getting burned by two series that are famously unfinished and constantly memed upon as works that will never get finished is not the same as waiting like two years for the final book in a trilogy; especially with how many authors now keep fans pretty well updated with their progress via socials.

Also modern series are now airing on the side of shorter for the most part ,duologies and trilogies, with the first books often being very satisfying in their own complete narrative arcs. Plus you don't get to participate in book discussions in the same way once a series is complete with communities having fan theories, art that's constantly being updated and just sharing questions you have with the larger community. They hype of waiting on a final release for a highly anticipated series is just a very different experience imo.

There is a big difference between a series in progress and one that has seemingly been abandoned. I will buy books if there isn't like 10 years since the last one.

It helps when authors don't promise a complete series, with a predetermined finite number of books, and a promise of closure to a specific story arc.

Neuromancer was a standalone story when it first got published. Were there readers out there wanting more, when they got to the end of the book? Yes. Did anyone avoid reading it because there wasn't yet more? Of course not. William Gibson has followed the same pattern for every series he's written.

When Pattern Recognition and The Peripheral were first published, there was no promise that any further stories would follow. But people read them anyway, because they were complete stories already. All Gibson had to do was return to the setting and build new stories there, whenever he wanted. Revelation Space books sell just fine, because each one is a complete story in the setting.

Meanwhile, ongoing serial fiction thrives by never promising any kind of overarching narrative closure. Nobody avoided reading the first few Jack Reacher books because there was no end in sight to the series. Nobody skipped Charles Stross's Laundry Files because they knew there were more books coming.

Martin and Rothfuss made the mistake of promising a complete story, and then releasing it piecemeal. Tolkien actually wrote a complete story, and then publisher released it three volumes. Dan Simmons' Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion were both released the same year.

The moral is this: If you haven't written your ending, don't publish the beginning with a promise of closure. Just write each book as a complete story in itself, and build on what you've already written as you go.

And whatever you do, don't start writing Zeno's Closure, like Rothfuss did, where each successive episode makes half as much progress towards the conclusion as the previous episode.

I literally came to this Sub to ask about Kingkiller.

3 years ago I was gifted book 1 and 2.

I read book 1 in 5 days. Unheard of for me. Loved it. Got 150 pages into book 2 and found out B3 isn't even out yet. 9 Months later, today, I'm picking it back up.

Is there even word when 3 will be out ???

I think if 1 or 2 books are out and the rest are still being written I would read it.

The GRRM situation would keep me from reading a series where 3/5 books have come out and it’s been a while since the last book

I just look at the consistency of the author first from now on.

This thread is basically why I read Sanderson now.

If I can be sure of anything, it's that he is going to write a book on his lunch break for fun.

Yeah I’d really like to read ASoIaF but I’m not about to put in the energy for a story that will likely never be finished.

A Song of Ice and Fire, Kingkiller and Stormlight are all unfinished. I’m glad I read each one.

This is a hard thing to think about. There is a point in which yeah, if the series isn't done, it sucks to read and want more. But on the other hand, if we did that to every author, there would be no more books as they would not get funding after the first to continue the second or third.

I’m the same with tv series that don’t get released all at once. I generally wait until I can watch all the episodes over the course of a few days or a week rather than watching on episode a week when it comes out because I forget things, lose momentum, etc.

I like the anticipation of having read I fished series and then trying to anticipate what is coming next.

Suppose similar to binge watching tv series rather than an episode each week.

In saying this, yes very keen for both series OP mentioned to be released. When is too long to wait?

For me it depends on the author. I'm a lot more willing to start a series being written by someone prolific than someone with puts out one bike a decade.

I know what you mean man. I got back into the 1632 series last year.

But most of the time IMO it isn't a big deal. Any series where the individual books can't stand on their own isn't worth reading in the first place.

Or just enjoy it for what they are.

Me to bub unless it's someone like Sanderson. Now that I think about it - I do this with friggin TV shows too! I started ASOIAF in college and there's been so little progress since then. What a great way to not keep me involved.

Fuck JK Rowling for her shittiness, but the books came out on a schedule and were fun.

I am the same now, there’s too many good books out there to get involved in series’ that make you wait 10 years for a sequel.

That being said I came to this decision after reading the gentlemen bastard sequence and ASOIAF so its really just the king killer chronicles I’m boycotting at this point

I've also stopped watching fiction on Netflix for this reason. A good story that needs to span 8 15 episode seasons?

Naw, cancel that shit after 2 seasons of 8 eps.

I'm with you. I feel so burned by both I only do finished series now. I think most people don't even finish a series, but I just get too invested in the characters and world.

Haven picked up ASOIAF in years, I won’t even get the next book IF it even comes out, chances are slim for books following. I would have to reread everything at this point to keep track of everything and I don’t want to invest in an unfinished project.

I don’t typically avoid series that aren’t finished, but ASOIAF is one I won’t start until it’s finished. I get attached to books and stories really easily and I’ve heard such great things about the series that I don’t want to be left hanging. I’ve already been badly burned by dropped storylines in the old Star Wars EU books that Disney axed when they bought the property.

The only exception I make is Brandon Sanderson. He churns books out regularly and gives progress updates every week. Other authors? I wait till it's done.

I am starting to agree with you, at least with series that are supposed to end. books like Alex Cross, Joe pickett, etc don't bother me if they don't finish, each book usually can end on its own. If the book has an ending point, these are the series I am really thinking about not starting until the author finishes. Diana Gabaldon will hurt me alot if she doesn't come to a finishing point in the Outlander series soon.

I started the practice of waiting with comic books and it's carried over to some shows and books as well. For me it's the rule but there's always exceptions

Someone should just write one crossover book that wraps up both series.

I read both because at the time I had the delusion that the wait wouldn’t be that long. When I read ASOIAF, Winds of Winter was still listed as coming out in 2020 and we all know how that went. Something similar happened with KingKiller, I had no idea that the third book had been underway for so long, so I just figured I would just wait a little and then I could read books 2 and 3 together, which hasn’t happened yet.

In general, I usually engage with new series all the time and have no issue waiting for the sequel to come out, sometimes a book will be in my tbr list but it’s not top priority so when I come back to it I have the nice surprise that its series is now finished and I can binge read it. I’ll only avoid series where the author has been vocal about cancelling or not wanting to finish them, which is not that common.

I don't mind unfinished series, but my desire to return to them especially when the books before were all 600+ pages of dense, dense writing. It makes my desire to return to them significantly less the longer they are taking between books.

For example, I have had 0 desire to return to ASOIAF long before season 8 aired.

When Robert Jordan made it public he had cancer, he also began the process of securing Brandon Sanderson to finish the series based on all his notes and how he wanted it to feel and flow from discussions with his wife. I was saddened and terrified as I was probably 8-9 books in at that point. When he passed and Sanderson co-authored the last 4-5 books, I was so relieved. It barely felt like Jordan hadn’t written them until the final 2 books.

I don’t think I want to go through that again lol. So, OP, I would count myself as NOT wanting to start a series left unfinished.

I think that makes little sense. Statistically, most writers finish the series they wrote. Rothfuss and Martin belong to the rare exceptions to that rule.

So I will have no problem starting series that are not finished. Most of the time those series will eventually be finished, and in the few cases where the series is left unfinished because the author had a burn-out or suddenly dropped dead, then that is just bad luck, so I will just move on and read other series. The only exception I make is when I know for sure that the series will never be finished, which is one of the reasons I will never read the Name of the Wind or Game of Thrones or Berserk.

If anything, I find the way Martin and Rothfuss are still such big names in the fantasy genre despite never finishing their series and never publishing anything else afterwards quite puzzling. Their fans seem amazingly dedicated. I would have stopped waiting for the next book and moved on a long time ago in their place.

I'm the same way... Kingkiller chronicles was recommended to me by multiple people and is in my TBR since years but i haven't started on it for the sole reason that its unfinished.

This is tricky.

If nobody reads an ongoing series, it will die out before it's finished.

On the other hand, I haven't read ASOIAF and Kingkiller because there's no expectation for them to be finished. But these are very specific cases.

The majority of the book series actually are concluded, eventually.

So, if I get good recommendations for an ongoing series, I'll try to read it. But if it's a recommendation for a dead series, I'll pass.

I think avoiding an unfinished series is a bit of a slap to the face to the author. I love supporting creators that make things I love, whether it's finished or not. It also seems like a terrible thing to judge or condemn authors for not finishing their works while not even giving series a shot until it's finished, which can literally take decades.

I wouldn’t have started the Patrick’s books if I knew I’d be waiting a lifetime for the wrap up.

I started reading Wheel of Time in 1990 and waited book by book for...19 years? By then there was no way that the ending could have ever met my expectations.

Fuck GRRM.

I still have a soft spot for Rothfuss because of some of the charity work he has done with Hefer Int etc, and it was not a 20 book series but dang...

I started reading a series by another author JV Jones who vanished after a couple of books...

Plenty of books out there but I hear ya.

It depends on the author. With Brandon Sanderson, he’s written 4 books in the time it’s taken me to get write this comments, so I have full confidence in him finishing the series and will pick up unfinished books

I personally don't care if it's done or not. Good reading is good reading, and there's enough good reading out there to tide me over until series completion or death.

I am a huge WOT fan and started reading the series when book 5 (out of an eventual 14) was out. It was a long time of waiting and anticipation. Then I started reading ASOIAF thinking that I wouldn't have to wait as long as that...who could hold out that long LOL! So I'm not reading another series that isn't at least 80% finished with an author that is actively working on it. I won't even start on Sanderson's Stormlight Archive until he's at least on book 8 or nine.

for me personally i enjoy the journey more than the destination. i also really enjoy the feeling of a long awaited book release to come out. reminds me of waiting for harry potter as a kid and going to the midnight releases.

I will read an ongoing series, but it might fall in my TBR to a series I’m equally interested in/excited for that’s complete.

But I’ve only truly had one experience with this issue, but the author I believe developed early-onset dementia and died back in 2020. First two books were excellent, but it is such a strange feeling knowing I’ll never know the ending. RIP Kathleen Duey

I'm very wary of unfinished series now thanks to ASOIAF.

Actually yes, it does affect authors and publishers. I know as an author and newly started publisher that people actually not starting some series because they wait till all the books are finished to buy results in several new trends:

1. not publishing new and unfinished series

2. Not buying translation rights because some big publishers pull series after sales if the second edition are much lower than the first, even if it is because the "I will buy the rest when the all come out" effect, actually fueling more people to not buy series

3. Rapid publishing, putting out a new book of a series every couple of months, because they have bought the finished series. Creating unrealistic expectations with readers who then wonder why their "author" has not published something for "so long" because other work only gets picked up after the whole lot is written, which can take years, by whitch point the author is manly forgotten and might not get picked up again. Unless offcoarse it was an extreme succes.

But yes, it has changed a lot.

I'm with you, in fact I stopped reading altogether because I got so disgusted by the unfinished last few series I picked up, all those you named and some more, series that got a new one so much later that honestly I couldn't remember any of it, and so on. I even had to put Sanderson's aside, even though he's a quick writer and has yet - to my knowledge - to drop the ball. I wasn't enjoying it anymore.

I'm looking to delve into new genres to rekindle my love for reading, but for now, I'm just dulling my brain with simple youtube videos on gaming speedruns at night. Not even joking.

I’m the same as you, it’s hard to invest myself in something that might never conclude. I also forget a ton of shit if I have to wait 5+ years between books.

My only exception if the series isn’t finished but the author has very consistent output, ex: every 2-3 years we get a book. That said, I might have to abandon this rule because I was knee deep in an unfinished sci fi series and, even though the author was very consistent in releasing books, he tragically passed away.

Started WoT when it was half finished. I now have all the books to the end of the series but haven’t read them yet, it’s not stopped me from getting into incomplete series but has made me more cautious.

Has anyone ever said they regretted reading asoiaf? I certainly am glad to have read it.

That said I get my books from the library these days so I'm not really supporting authors anyways and with such a backlog I only ever get around to reading series once they are finished usually.

[deleted]

I was in the same boat as you. ASOIAF, Kingkiller, and the Gentleman Bastards (also a little Wheel of Time) for me caused me to set the following rules for myself on deciding what Fantasy to read:

-Only start series that are completed. -Only start series that are five books or less.

There were a couple exceptions for particular authors that I liked, but that's it.

Lately, I feel like I'm just depriving myself of reading good books, so I'm currently reading The Blacktongue Thief which is rhe only book for that out right now.

Dude, The Dark Tower almost ended me!!

When King got flattened by that self-driving semi (it was caused by a Romani curse while he was in a life or death speedwalkathon) and we all thought the series wouldn’t get finished; a bunch of us fans snorted his body weight in cocaine (to break the curse).

A bunch of us died, and the others got brain damage. But not me!! AND he made a dramatic comeback to give us 3 mediocre books with a very adequate ending.

Bonus: I also got superpowers, so when I touch someone I know which bathroom they will shit in next. It’s not as useful as you would think…

If I ever meet George RR Martin I'm gonna punch him in the nose

[removed]

I am 100% in the if it’s not finished I don’t start it camp and I am a voracious reader.

First asoiaf and then rothfuss, now it’s gotta have at least the first “trilogy” done and some kind of conclusion if I’m gonna start it.

Those are two of the absolute best series in the genre. Sometimes it's worth being high and dry.