Thursday, September 30, 2010

Booking Through Thursday: Series

 Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading.

This week's question is:

If you read series, do you ever find a series “jumping the shark?” How do you feel about that? And, do you keep reading anyway?

I recently experienced this feeling with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I've really enjoyed reading about Stephanie and her wacky friends though ten books, but with Elevn On Top I suddenly realised that this is as good as it gets. There will be no character development, no surprises plotwise, no life-changing decisions made. It didn't jump the shark in the traditional way of creating an absurd storyline (Evanovich's storylines are pretty absurd anyway) or changing the characters' personalities, but in the sense that it just isn't going anywhere. I'll probably still pick up Twelve Sharp when I need a fluffy read, but I'm in no hurry to find a copy.

I can't think of any other series jumping the shark – I've started quite a few series, but I've only read one or two books of most of them, so I haven't reached that shark moment with any. Yet.

You should ask me this question about television shows instead. (On second thought, don't. It will be a novel-length post.)

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