Friday, June 6, 2014

Discussion Question: Skipping Books in a Series?



On an earlier post Pam, my co-blogger,  lamented about not wanting to start any more series unless they were complete because she hates to have to re-read the books in between installments.  I currently have  the opposite problem.  I have so many complete series that I want to read that I am a little overwhelmed and am thinking about taking a "short-cut."
 I have just begun the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, and there are four books approximately 350 pages in length.  While I really enjoyed the first book I’m not sure I want to read three more in the series and I definitely don’t want to read them back to back which is what I often do in a series. So I am actually considering just jumping straight to book 4 and skipping books 2 and 3…..should I? 
For those who have read this series, what do you think, definitely read books 2 and 3, or can I go straight to 4? 
In general do you ever skip books in a series? 
Posted By: Sheri

10 comments:

  1. I wouldn't even know how you could skip books in a series. How would you know what was going on? You'd miss out on so much character and plot development that the 4th book would probably not make much sense. I couldn't imagine reading book one of the HP series and then just jumping to 7. I definitely say no skipping ;)

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  2. oh that is a really great example since so much changes over time. I guess I am becoming a little cynical since so many of the series I have read recently really could have been just one really long book. ~Sheri

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  3. I've felt like this in the past too but ultimately I didn't end up skipping ahead because I would have gone crazy not knowing what I missed in other books. Usually, if I don't absolutely fall in love with the first book in a series I won't read anymore in that particular series. There's just too many other books out there that I want to read, you know? Great discussion topic!

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  4. The fourth book is more of a epilogue because one character's part of the story wasn't really finished. The third book is more of the series closer. I would say you would need to read the third and fourth books with maybe some skimming if you're really trying to cut down. I have never skipped books in a series until Article 5. I just couldn't get into the second book, so it was a DNF. I haven't even read the third yet, but if I do, I will still be skipping the second book.

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  5. I read the first and second books I don't think anything momentous happened that you will feel completely lost about reading book three or four but I haven't gotten that far. I like the series but it didn't like blow me away or anything so I put it on the back burner. I often consider jumping around in a series but then I will always wonder what I missed so I wind up never doing it. Great question though!

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  6. While I do feel like many middle books fall victim to middle-book-syndrome and don't add much by way of plot or character development, I wouldn't feeling comfortable skipping them. How would you know what you are missing? I've never even thought of skipping books in a series. If I don't feel compelled to read the second book in a series, I'll just drop it.

    I've never read the Iron Fey series so I wouldn't know if they are worth reading =/

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  7. I love reading series back to back and this one that I actually did that with. I personally think you're going to miss something if you skip the middle books. Also book 3 is the strongest and the real conclusion, so please don't skip that one! Book 4 is from a different perspective, and could be seen as sort of an extra. I think that's one that you could skim or read the end to see what happens. But I think 1-3 are must reads if you're into this series.

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  8. Nope. I would never be able to skip books in series. I feel like too many important things happen especially the introduction of new characters. So for me, that would never work.

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  9. I have to agree with everybody else here. I don't think I could ever skip a book in a series. I often just stop reading series if I'm not feeling it anymore. I can't even list all the series I just stopped reading, but if they aren't holding my interest what's the point? Interesting topic!

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  10. I don't think I could ever skip books in a series! There are too many big AND little scenes and acts that would mean so much to the overall storyline that I would miss out on if I skipped any part of the series.
    If I am not a huge fan of a competed series, I will generally just google the end of it, simply because I have an interest in how everything ended up, but am not invested enough to keep reading, haha.

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