Series or Stand Alone?

[Midnight]

I was looking through what books I had the other day and it got me thinking which I prefered. A book series or a stand alone book.

I personally think I like a book series more as story lines and characters can develop throughout the series and they make you feel as if you are part of the book. For example, The Twilight Saga, Charlie Bone, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, The Inheritance Cycle.
Also I feel sometimes you can't fit enough into one book and when the story is left how it is, you NEED to know what happens afterwards but you can't. The only downside to a series is that it has to end sometime :(
Not that I don't mind stand alone books, just as long as they have a good ending! :D

So what do you prefer and why? Stand alone or a book series?

[Annie Woods]

Book series . When i'm buying a new book i allways ask is there a sequel to the book , because book series are more interesting and they last longer than stand alone books . Ofc. you can read the book again and again 'till you get bored , but in the book series it's more exciting and unpredictable :)

[Tancfan01]

I love book series. I will not read any book that does not have another book to go along with it. I don't know why I won't but I will not. Its not really that good I guess because I will miss out on a lot of good books, but it still will not chang the way I read my books. Its the way I have done it forever. :D

[nevermore]

Hmm... you know, despite my two favorite books (Harry Potter and ASOUE) being serieseses (what's the plural of that word? or is it already a plural? haha), I think I prefer standalones as a whole. My shelves are jam-packed with books on top of books (and even more in boxes), but HP and UE are the only series I own in their entirety. I guess I've got to really, really like a book to stick with the entire series. Come to think of it... HP, UE, and CB may be the only series I've ever read in entirety. I guess there's just too many series-books out there that are poorly (and quickly) written in order to generate as much money as possible... Once in a while you hit upon a story so big that it takes several books to tell it, but when a series feels like the author is meandering around and doesn't really have an idea where the story's going, it just feels like bad writing. So as a whole, standalones.

EDIT: Chronicles of Narnia, too. I thought there was one other series that I had read.

Also, I do not count books with a sequel as a series. Sometimes, years later, the author decides that they're not done with the story after all, or finds themselves wondering (along with fans) whatever became of the characters, and eventually they go off and write another book. I don't call that a series, I call that a revisiting. And I like those. :D

[BurningFire]

I prefer book series because they are more interesting.
Also when you have a stand alone book there sometimes too big, too thick, too heavy and too "flop the over way when you read."

[Leeny]

I much prefer stand-alone books. With the exception of a few series that I love, I think that plot lines in series of books tend to become drawn-out and unrealistic. Not to mention that I'm a very impatient person and waiting a couple of years for the next installment drives me nuts.

[SunnyHawaii]

Stand-alones, I believe.

I do enjoy series... my favorite books are Tolkien's, and he has a lot and varied, I dunno if you'd consider them a series. But Ranger's Apprentice, my second fave, is definitely a series, love it. I have some trilogies I like also. And don't forget A Series of Unfortunate Events.

But my reason is, there are two big risks with series:
1. At some point in life not having enough time to keep up with a series
-For example, I've had the most recent book of RA since Christmas, yet I still haven't finished it. :(
2. No matter how much you love an author, chances are, you can't trust him/her
-There's little worse than having fallen in love with a series only to have it end in disaster. For example... the LOST tv show. Not a book, but a perfect example nonetheless. The finale is my new definition of EPIC FAIL. When books keep going on and on, there's just that many more chances the author has to screw it up. Meanwhile, you've fallen in love and are always at risk of having your heart broken. I hated the ending of ASOUE, but I've kinda gotten over it. I want to re-read it, but again, it's 13 books, therefore I don't have time. The problem of series.

[Qwill]

I accidentally pressed series instead of stand-alone, please change it for me?
I agree, the ASOUE ending was horrible. Nothing much was tied up and the poor Quagmire triplets had to go missing. :(

[ZigZag]

The thing about book series that occasionally worry me is that often the author just doesn't know when to quit. Often the story is over with the first book and fans just keep on clamoring to find out what happened to their favorite characters. And so they go on past the point of interesting and relevant because either the fans, the author or both can't let them go. Stephenie Meyer and the Twihards I'm looking at you.

[SunnyHawaii]

The thing about book series that occasionally worry me is that often the author just doesn't know when to quit. Often the story is over with the first book and fans just keep on clamoring to find out what happened to their favorite characters. And so they go on past the point of interesting and relevant because either the fans, the author or both can't let them go. Stephenie Meyer and the Twihards I'm looking at you.

Ranger's Apprentice is probably like that... my favorite series after Tolkien's lot. 10th book will be published in November, and I haven't finished the 9th probably because of repetition caused by such as what you said up there ^.

[ZigZag]

One series that is VERY guilty of that is the Hannah Swenson Murder Mystery series. The author is clearly in love with and wants to be her main character Hannah who is super smart and runs her own bakery and has two of the towns most desirable men chasing after her. In one book they both proposed to her.

But personally I just want to hit Hannah. She's a total brat. She is clearly better than anyone else in her family- except maybe her little sister Michelle who wants to be just like Hannah when she grows up. Her mother, Delores, is a silly twit who only cares about her daughters getting married and popping out grandbabies. Her other little sister, Andrea, is blonde. And that says it all. She's fashion obsessed and is always dieting or worrying that her husband, the chief of police, is cheating on her. She is apparently so dumb that she needed Hannah to tell her she was pregnant.

Also, Hannah's a total hypocrite. She is dating both Mike and Norman and in one book she is crazy jealous because Mike is spending too much time with his secretary Ronni. See, she's allowed to date two people at once but the men aren't.

Not to mention that the author, Joanne Fluke, obviously has never worked in a bakery and didn't bother to research how they were run. For instance, Hannah bakes her entire inventory fresh every day and refuses to sell day old cookies and instead uses them as bribes to sweeten up suspects and other people who might have info on the case she's working on.

I have worked in a bakery and I can tell you that if you didn't make your dough in bulk and freeze or refrigerate it you would go out of business in less than six months. Especially since Hannah lives in a small town. And she's constantly leaving the bakery to sleuth and leaving her partner there to work by herself. Yes, there are only two employees at this magical bakery. And this woman, Lisa, is clearly so superior she's able to man the counter, refill coffee, attend to customers, be by the phone to take orders and bake and decorate cookies at the same time!

And while Hannah is clearly a know-it-all brat, everyone in town fawns over her. Even though the tidbits she's always dazzling people with are almost always wrong (like when she said that fun can only be used as a noun, never an adjective) or common knowledge (thumbs aren't fingers, most companies wire their tech support to India).

Also, the mysteries aren't too hard to figure out. In two of them, The Peach Cobbler Murder and the Fudge Cupcake Murder, I figured out who the killers were before the murder was even committed!

/rant