For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:
August 23: Completed Series I Wish Had More Books
I changed this one up a little bit. These are series I’m glad are over. That’s not necessarily a bad thing! Some of them I really liked, and thought that they ended in just the right places. Others I felt went on a bit too long…
Tarien Soul by CL Wilson – I really liked the first two or three books in this series. But it was a five book series. If it had been a trilogy I would have really loved it. It just went on way too long.
Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden – A rare series that was just the right number of books. It developed everything without dragging anything out too much. Actually it was also rare in that I liked the second two books more than I did the first.
Wilderness series by Sara Donati – Depending on my mood I sometimes think this series (six books) outstayed its welcome a bit. But I did really enjoy a few of the later books. Either way, it ended in a pretty good place.
Sevenwaters series by Juliet Marillier – Initially this was a trilogy. Then Marillier revisited it with a second trilogy. I loved the first trilogy and liked the second. But I’m happy where she left things, and I don’t think she needs to revisit it.
Anne series by LM Montgomery – This one is eight books, but I actually consider the last two books to be sort of spin-offs because they’re about Anne’s children more than Anne, herself. I actually considered going with Emily for this one, but I do sometimes wish there were more of her books. I think Anne got the right number, even not counting the last two.
Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray– This is also a rare fantasy series that didn’t really have a weak entry. Even more rare, I felt like Bray really stuck the landing.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy by Jenny Han– I read these for a book club. I enjoyed the first one a lot, liked the second, and was kind of “meh” on the third. Basically, I felt like the material was enough for one to one and a half novels, but not three.
Earth’s Children by Jean M. Auel – Another example of a series that went slowly downhill with each book. I usually finish series for the sake of closure, but I skipped the final one here.
Night and Nothing trilogy by Katherine Harbour – Again I think a trilogy here was the sweet spot. Not too long, not too short.
Fran Laniado- Author 
Great twist! There are definitely series where I’m glad they stopped when they did—though you’re right, sticking the ending like that can be really tricky. I only ever read the first Gemma Doyle book, and I haven’t started the Winternight Trilogy yet, so I’m really curious to see if I agree with your assessment when I (eventually) read those books.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2022/08/23/top-ten-tuesday-completed-series-i-wish-had-more-books/
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I started by thinking of series I wanted more books for, but I kept thinking of series where I was happy with the ending being where it was. I think so often if I writer has a successful series they just keep going with it, past a natural ending point.
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Yes, I agree that many times authors seem to just keep going when the series is working. Sometimes you can tell that the author has an endgame in mind with a long series, but so many other times it feels like they’re just writing because the books are still popular. And who can blame them? It is their income. But I do wish that branching off sub-series was done more often when the original series reaches its natural end.
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I have a hard time blaming them, because as you point out, it’s income. I think spin-offs are a good way to go though. With the Sevenwaters series the first 3 books are sort of one trilogy and the second 3 take place a generation later and are sort of a secondary trilogy. Maybe that’s why I felt like it worked!
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There are some really long series that work well because of secondary trilogies or other kinds of spin-offs. I haven’t read Sevenwaters, but there are other series that do similar things that I feel worked as well. Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, for example, is HUGE… but the series is made up of a bunch of trilogies (usually) showcasing different narrators or storylines, and that makes it all manageable.
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I really like your angle this week! I loved the Winterbight books and thought they were just the right length too.
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