Fantasy/Scifi Series: Are they getting tired?

[Shaun]

Given that the field is flooded with fantasy series and, to some degree, scifi series, and with the recent announcement that Dan Simmon's Hyperion Cantos is being turned into a movie, how do you feel about series in general? Do you feel they are getting old? Are you sick of seeing Book 3 of the Binklewood Chronicles on the shelves, but can't ever find Book 1? Would you like to see more standalones? Or are you okay with it all? What is your opinion on this matter?

[Imelda]

I like series, but it WINDS ME UP GRAGH when shops and libraries stock more of volume three than volume one. I mean, who does the ordering? Are they COMPLETELY RETARDED?! Gaaaaaaaaah.

Ahem. Ignoring that, I like seriesss unless they go on pointlessly forever. If you have a nice story arc, good characters, and keep coming up with fresh ideas for them, then go ahead. When you find an author you like It's nice to know they have lots more books for you to read.

[Shaun]

I agree. There have been series that I stopped reading because I got bored. Another thing that bugs me about series is the time it takes to get the next book out. I hate waiting and sometimes the wait makes me lose interest.

[Imelda]

Well that just means you're fickle.

I mean, come on, they're only human. I'm really into the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, which has about a year between books. Unlike with Harry Potter, I don't spend that year DYING to know what happens, I just read it, put it aside, ponder and speculate for a week, and then forget about it. Then a week before the next is released I go 'oh yeah' and buy it. I hate it when it's been rushed. Drowned Wednesday came out six months after Grim Tuesday, and it SUCKED. Lady Friday had twice that time and it was well-worth the wait. Seriesssss (what's the plural for series?) aren't supposed to be something you get heavily into and can't read anything else in between, they're a thread you drop and pick up when necessary. Unlike trilogies, which are designed to consume you till you've read them. :p

I'm going to stop rambling now ...

[Shaun]

Yeah, but if I have to wait more than a year for the next in the series I just lose interest and forget about the characters.

[Carraka]

I can't say much about sci-fi, but I have read a lot of fantasy.

I think fantasy is getting tired, but I don't really see it slowing to a walk, then stopping, then starting backwards. Not yet. The only series I wait for is ... yeah, A Song of Ice and Fire (who seriously didn't know I was going to say that?) and since it's only one series to wait for, it isn't that bad. Okay, okay, so it's two years late. So I love it. So I want to know what happened to ... AAARGH!! But it's only one series, and recently I've been reading a lot science fiction, older classics that have already been completed.

But waiting doesn't make me lose interest. I'm very good at waiting.

[Shaun]

On this very subject: what do you guys think about series that are standalone? Back in the old days trilogies weren't actually sequential like they are now, but were just three tales in the same world or with a similar theme or using the same characters, or something like that, but you could read them in any order and it wouldn't matter. Do you think such trilogies would do some good for fantasy and SF?

[Imelda]

I think they're good, but no better than the current incarnation of trilogies. I like both, really. I mean, if you read book one of a trilogy and it sucks, you're not going to read the rest anyway. If you read a book in a linked trilogy, and hate it, you won't buy the rest ... if you like it, you'll buy all of them, it just depends on the skope of the story, I guess.

[Pibs]

That's a tough one for me... I don't think sci-fi is really getting old, but fantasy... I love reading fantasy, and all the books I read seem relatively original, but whenever I try to write fantasy, I always get stuck on "No, they did that in ___." So, a little bit.

[Zombified]

I just watched Hollow Man 2 today and after seeing it I think that Sci Fi is still going strong. Granted I don't read any sci fi books, other than The Predator stories...

Fantasy? Well, I lost interest after I read Lord of the Rings.
Harry Potter is okay...but after seeing the shelves of books in the stores under the Fantasy section, I think that maybe they are waiting for the next "Tolkien/Rowling".

[Lykaios]

I like both standalones and series', what I don't like is when an author gets cocky because their standalone did well and so they then go make a sequel which is rubbish. I read series' because I like they way they are written or the world/characters. Or I'm just curious as to what happens next. (Has anyone read the Roman Mysteries?) You can pick up any of them and just read it.
I loved Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver, but I think it was a great book on its own, she's planned like eighteen books and I think that's ruined it as everything seems to happen to one person. She could have made some stories up about other characters or events in the same world.

[Majyk]

Sometimes standalones are so good that I want them to continue, but there is the possiblility that it could just ruin the first book if the second one isn't as good.

And I don't mind series when there are two, or three books, but when they go past four it becomes a little excessive. What I hate the most is when a book is so boring or bad, and then it becomes a trilogy or something.

[Syd Skydreamer]

Fantasy? Well, I lost interest after I read Lord of the Rings.
Harry Potter is okay...but after seeing the shelves of books in the stores under the Fantasy section, I think that maybe they are waiting for the next "Tolkien/Rowling".

What do you mean you lost interest in Fantasy? Have you tried Final Fantasy yet?
Oh, and i'm going to be the next Tolkien/Rowling when i publish "Nexusaga", which is an anime fantasy.

[Starry]

I think the problem is that when you've read enough of it (I assume this works for scifi as well as fantasy) you start to realize that there are a lot of parallels between worlds, storylines, etc, etc. That's when you can really only read the original stuff without tearing your hair out (or just do what I do, and get obsessed with satirical fantasy). But there's still a lot of good, original stories out there.

Normally I like series, only because fantasy oftentimes gets so complex with so many subplots and storylines that it's hard to fit in one book. But it's only good if the author keeps a cap on how many they're doing (if they realize, oh wait I have too much stuff going on, I need a 4th/7th/20th book, chances are it's not a good series).

[Guessed]

That's when you can really only read the original stuff without tearing your hair out (or just do what I do, and get obsessed with satirical fantasy).

Please tell me you've tried reading Terry Pratchett, then. He's really funny. Course, he has loads of Discworld books out - and that clashes with the second half of your post - but it's not a continuous-story kind of thing... each book just dips back into the world to focus on different people.

[Paradox]

When it comes to sci-fi and fantasy, I don't usually like the stereotypical space battles or medieval quest. I always look for something different in those genres and, yes, they are getting old because people write the same thing over and over again. But there are some people who are brave enough to try something new or mix the two genres in a way that isn't just "magic in space" and I read that.

*Paradox*

[Shukara]

Fantasy isn't really getting tired. It's just becoming harder to find books that are actually worth reading anymore. I am a very picker reader so reading is quite a hassle for me but it may take a while but you can still find good fantasy books. I think the biggest problem is not so much the ideas it's just people keep trying to stick to certain rules that other authors have already laid down. Fantasy can be anything you want it to be. There aren't any rules so the possiblities are endless, writers just have to discover that.

[Shaun]

Woah, no. Fantasy does have rules. It's not doing anything and everything you want. There are rules that have to be followed in every genre.