How Many is too Many?
Many times,
authors discount the first in a series to hopefully hook a reader into
downloading the next. I recently finish a post-apocalyptic novel that was good,
not fantastic, but enough was left unfinished that I was contemplating downloading
the next in the series. When I located it on Amazon, I saw that I just finished
the first of twenty-six novels in the series. I’m not sure if any story could
be good enough to entice me to commit to that many books, so I stopped at just
one.
So, how many
books in a series is too many? It probably depends on the series. If each novel
has recurring heroes or heroines and contains a complete story, at least enough
to find some closure, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’ve read every book in
James Rollins’s Sigma Force series and Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series. I don’t know
how many in those series, but it doesn’t really matter. They’re best read in
order, but it’s not essential. However, if a novel could end with the phrase, “To
be continued,” my patience is challenged after about three books.
I’ve written
two series. The Risky Research series contains four novels. Each novel has a
complete story but also contains recurring characters and threads that continue
through each successive novel. The Beartooth Chronicles has five novels. Again,
each book focuses on different challenges to survival, but watching the
characters mature and become stronger and more determined is what ties the
series together. I’m hoping four or five novels respectively isn’t too many,
but just enough to ensure the reader is invested in the characters overcoming
the obstacles and trials thrown at them and leave the reader wishing for more.
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