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

I haven’t read No Longer Human (yet) I can’t comment on the similarity. Crime and punishment is where the main character has a superiority complex, an inferiority complex, suicidal tendencies, egomaniac tendencies, and maniac depression all at once and it’s a glorious ball of character complexity. Beware, the main character goes in twenty page monologues which might not be your cup of tea.

If you’re going to read it in English, I recommend the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation.

I would read a book that stays away from the major events to start with. In my opinion, the omnibuses are the perfect place to start, s they represent some of the best writing in short form and they cover a breadth of the setting.

That's because you think it is a single story. If you can't find value in all the stories within, I can understand it, but it is truly sad. If you truly believe endings are all that matter and not journeys, I find that tragic in the truest sense. I mean the end for you, will be death. Same as mine. Same as everyone. That's it. But I don't want to rush to the end, I want to live the stories in between and they are worth it. That's it with every story, be it a life or a book or a show.

And it's fine that different people value different things, I just find it a tragedy to miss the journey just because all the focus is on death.

Yeah, George is broke! Lol

This comment reads like someone why follows the overarching lore and less the books and the like, which is honestly a very fair take from that perspective.

I think the books do a good job of setting up interesting characters. The issue is that the major players in the Universe are typically not allowed to have any major development in order to move the universe forward for the game. These characters constantly make bad choices . It's a TTG first and foremost and they need a reason for there to be a universe ending threat coming form chaos for that next edition, and they need the Space Marines to save the day last minute to keep the story going.

This means the overarching storyline and the main drivers of the plot tends to be extremely basic as they only exist to move the world forward for the next edition. It's usually the books exploring underdeveloped characters, or the history of the main players, that do some decent development.

We also live in the age of instant gratification. Thanks to, well, capitalism and it's quest to sell everything to everyone!

Games are a big culprit in that with pre-orders and early access. People throw fits and get their way when Games don't pan out or are taking too long, why would they act differently elsewhere?

lol. spot on. I read I think all of the harry potter books. The past books were basically a hazy blur as I read the new ones.

For me the issue isn't if the series is finished but instead does each book have a satisfactory ending. Meaning while the overall plot may not be finished does each book itself have a plot that is finished. If it does I'll read them but if the author doesn't accomplish anything because the main plot is the sole focus hence each ending is meaningless without the entire story then no I won't read a series.

I dunno. I've been waiting a decade for Rithmatist II, which is more terrible for being an unfinished series for children. Few who read it will be anywhere near childhood if/when the sequel is published.

In the case of Netflix, I'd say it's different because Netflix has brought that lack of trust on themselves. They even made a small statement about how they didn't want to cancel shows without giving them conclusions then outside of a couple of high profile cases they went on to not change their behaviour at all. (Which was obviously going to be the case, so I don't know why they lied about trying to give shows conclusions).

Authors on the other hand aren't a monolith, George RR Martin isn't responsible for what any other writer promises and visa versa so it's not fair to decide not to read someone else's books because GRRM took a while to write a couple of books.

Martin does not owe anything. Rothfuss on the other hand… he promised in 2009 Kingkiller was completely written and would be released at the rate of one book per year. Add on to that he conned a lot of people in donating to his charity promising content arriving by Feb 2022 at the latest, that has still not materialized.

The next book is 12 Months which will cover the 12 months after Battleground and leading up to his arrange marriage.

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

Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry is about the plight of America's wild horses. It led me to become an activist at around age 9 and I continue to pursue issues around Mustangs. I adopted a Mustang from the BLM about 15 years ago and she is a great little saddle horse. When I was a kid I used to write the author all the time and she always answered me; I still have her letters. I loved her other books as well, but this is the one that really stuck with me, although reading Brighty of the Grand Canyon to my kids led us to adopt a miniature donkey named, "The Reckless Peanut."

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 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.

This is an old device as has been pointed out. Wilkie Collins, Bram Stoker, and Dickens (Bleak House alternates onmiscient and first-person chapters).

My favorite example is Shaw's "An Unsocial Socialist" which concludes with a letter from the main character itemizing how the novel we just read is unfair and inaccurate.

Edgar Allen Poe springs to mind. Most of his stories were originally published in newspapers as episodic filler.

I agree, writing is an art and thus shouldn’t be pushed, Martin and Rothfuss have taken a ridiculous amount of time so it has even become an inside joke in the book community, but they’re already name brands and have the luxury of doing that; in the meantime we should be looking and supporting other authors.

Wheel of Time First Read: Why are there so many books?!

Wheel of Time Re-Reads: I wish there were double the number of 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.

You can read the plot summery of the previous book on Wikipedia; I've done that occasionally.

Warhammer is a massive series with some outstanding worldbuilding. Everything is over the top sure, but a lot of authors do a great job of capturing what it would be like to live in said universe (and usually why it's terrible)

As a note, a lot of authors have had their hands on the series which can cause some of the overarching lore to get a bit muddy every once in a while, and quality can be hit or miss. But it's still a lot of fun, theres a reason why theres a large fanbase for Warhammer despite arguably most not actually playing warhammer.

Ooh I’ll add that to my list for sure, thanks for the rec! I think I just loved all the different characters in her world. It was so far fetched from an average girl and average boy fall in love type story that it was so intriguing.