# Books: When good series go bad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043 "2003-07-08T17:30:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/21 "2003-07-09T11:03:11Z")
I pretty much take it as given that any series will go downhill. Though often the first book is atypical, the next few are good and then everything falls apart. It might be quicker to list authors who don’t deteriorate. That said, Xanth, Wheel of Time, Amber, Anita Blake are all very good examples. I don’t agree about Hitchhikers - the last book is different, but still funny IMHO. Oh, I know. Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights. The first book is a great rollicking read. The second and third disintegrate into inconsistant metaphysics. ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/22 "2003-07-09T11:08:26Z")
I loved Anne McCaffrey’s original Pern series - Dragonflight, Dragonquest and the White Dragon. The second series, the Harper trilogy, wasn’t bad bearing in mind it was written for young adults. But it went downhill after that. Got very repetitive, and the second generation of characters just wasn’t as interesting as the first. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/23 "2003-07-09T13:41:26Z")
I know it was already mentioned, but I definitely think _Wheel of Time_ needs to be very quickly wrapped up. I’m the most patient, laid-back reader on the planet. All I want is to be entertained when I read. So when I think a book series has gone on too long, it has _definitely_ gone on too long. Did anyone notice that the latest, book ten, had not one single action scene? It was all just talk and politics. It felt like a filler book. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/24 "2003-07-09T14:13:44Z")
Orson Scott Card’s Alvin the Maker series was really shaping up to be a great series, with magic and American Folklore coming together beautifully. In the 3rd book, _Alvin Journeyman_, Alvin gets put on trial and manages to prove he’s a thief or in league with the devil. Plus, Alvin’s brother Calvin, his rival, wants to learn how to be charismatic and lead armies of soldiers to his cause, so he goes to France and gets Napolean to teach him. (There’s some brilliant dialogue here, for instance when Nap goes into discourse about how the guillotine is a great equalizer of men) This would lead the reader to believe Calvin’s going to be up to something major in the 4th book. No. When he gets back to the States, he gets his soul captured by a voodoo priest. Alvin has to rescue him. Alvin does this while he’s on trial AGAIN in New England, essentially repeating the same plot line from book 3. In addition, both Alvin and his girlfriend practically become gods. She can see into people’s hearts; she’s effectively a mind reader. Eventually she finds she can _send_ thoughts as well. Plus, her range of powers can reach thousands of miles. Alvin can make anything at this point, and can run at blinding speed, so while his trial is going on in New England, Peggy communicates with him from Louisiana. He runs to Louisiana, frees his brother, then pops back to NE in a matter of minutes. There’s none of the challenge and overcoming of adversity that was present in the previous books, and the defanging of Calvin was a huge letdown. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/25 "2003-07-09T14:24:40Z")
The “Myth” series by Robert Asprin started out as a lightly humourous, inventive romp. After I read the fourth or fifth book (sorry, it’s been a while), I thought, “Here’s a guy who signed a contract for a series and couldn’t think of another idea. Either that, or his deadline ran out.” ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/26 "2003-07-09T14:46:33Z")
In general, I think that any series where additional books are written just because people liked the first books and the author decides to keep revisiting his universe is doomed to eventual failure. My favorite series have been those where the author had a roadmap for the entire series and the series had a definite end. Examples include: [ul][li]The unified series of books by Julian May that is comprised of the 4-part “Saga of Pliocene Exile,” the 2-part “Intervention” and the 3-part “Galactic Mileu.”[/li] [li]Peter Hamilton’s set of books that are comprised of “The Reality Disfunction” (Parts 1 and 2), “The Neutronium Alchemist” (Parts 1 and 2) and “The Naked God” (parts 1 and 2).[/li] [li]David Brin’s “Uplift Saga” series that is comprised of “Sundiver”, “Startide Rising”, “The Uplift War”, “Brightness Reef”, “Infinity’s Shore” and “Heaven’s Reach”[/ul][/li] In each case, the author had a story to tell that took a long time to fully delineate, but it was one complete story. When the story ended, it was over. It wasn’t just “The further Adventures of…” What bugged me about Asprin’s “Thieve’s World” and “Myth Adventure” series, BTW, was that he kept introducing mysteries about the characters’ pasts but never bothered to resolve those mysteries (or maybe he eventually did – I gave up after the first 9 or so novels in each series). Regards, Barry ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/27 "2003-07-09T17:45:52Z")
The first two books of Robin Hobb’s _Liveship Traders_ series are among the best epic high fantasy that I’ve ever read. But the final book reverts to pure formula and mush. An very improbable series of coincidences leads to all the major characters gathering in one place at one time, they fight until all the bad guys are dead, then there’s a Disney ending. Yuck. And I’ll third the _Hitchhiker’s Guide_ series. _Life, the Universe, and Everything_ and _So Long and Thanks for all the Fish_ both feel like they were written by some second-rate hack who thinks that he’s as funny as Douglas Adams but actually doesn’t come close. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/28 "2003-07-09T18:43:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nichol\_storm \* > \*\*I second Auel. I still have a soft spot for Ayla and the first two books, but Mammoth Hunters was awful. \*\* _Mammoth Hunters_ was awful? Try _Plains of Passage_ and _Shelters of Stone_. Beyond that, I agree with the Bean books of the Ender series - the first one (_Ender’s Shadow_) is ok, but the most recent one is just awful. I skimmed a little in the bookstore to decide if I wanted to read it and my brain hurt after about 2 pages). ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/29 "2003-07-09T19:52:32Z")
Okay, maybe I’m all alone here, but I loved the later books of the Ender and Alvin Maker series. _Children of the Mind_ was one of my favorite books. Those chemically-communicative “Descoladores” aliens really intrigued me (even though he _did_ make some pretty amateurish scientific and medical mistakes when writing about them)… I just wish he’d actually do what he said he was going to do and FINISH both series, but it seems now he’s sidetracked away from Ender and into the Bean books, which, while I will no doubt buy and read all of them, I don’t like nearly as much. ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/30 "2003-07-09T20:16:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PoorYorick \* > \*\*The “Myth” series by Robert Asprin started out as a lightly humourous, inventive romp. After I read the fourth or fifth book (sorry, it’s been a while), I thought, “Here’s a guy who signed a contract for a series and couldn’t think of another idea. Either that, or his deadline ran out.” \*\* Darnit, I though _I_ was gonna be first to mention that series! Anyway, I liked the series right up until _Sweet Myth-tery of Life_ which is the ninth or tenth book, then there was a long ass hiatus, something like nearly ten years. In _Myth-ion Improbable_ he writes that tax problems played a major role in the hiatus. Yeah right Rob, after ten years that’s the best excuse you can manage? Anyway the book was unreadable. I got maybe ten pages into it and had to put it down. Now _Something M.Y.T.H. Inc._ the long awaited next book in the series (_Mythion Improbable_ was a prequel Aspirin wrote to get back into the swing of things after so long) and although it may be that the previous Myth book was just a failed experiment, I have no intention of shelling out good money for additional books in the series. Maybe if the library has a copy . . . ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/31 "2003-07-09T20:42:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sparrow \* > \*\*I loved Anne McCaffrey’s original Pern series - Dragonflight, Dragonquest and the White Dragon. The second series, the Harper trilogy, wasn’t bad bearing in mind it was written for young adults. But it went downhill after that. Got very repetitive, and the second generation of characters just wasn’t as interesting as the first. \*\* I would also add that introduction of time travel by an author always ruins things for me. Even though McCaffrey made it only an occasional and difficult thing to do, the possibility of time-travel brings in “and with one bound, he was free” solutions to problems. It is just lazy and unimaginative. The Riverworld series went downhill too, when Farmer could not maintain the originality of the first book (which would admittedly have been very difficult to do). And although not really a series, Heinlein went downhill after entering (or exposing) his dirty-old-man phase. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/32 "2003-07-09T20:44:48Z")
Philip Jose Farmer’s _Riverworld_ books: The first was excellent, the second frustrating, the third/fourth (which were all one story that got divided into two chapters) were again excellent. But book five . . . it was so obviously an afterthought that it has no place in the series. It just betrays everything the series was supposed to be about. And the thing is, the Riverworld concept gave Farmer so much to work with, you wonder why he didn’t just use the extra novel to flesh it out more, rather than tear it all apart. ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/33 "2003-07-09T21:32:16Z")
Ooooh… I just thought of another great series that the author wrote into the ground: Harry Harrison’s “Stainless Steel Rat” series! Great concept, great first few books, and then it just limped along for book after book after book. Barry ---
**Author:** ![Tanaqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tanaqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanaqui)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/34 "2003-07-09T23:26:16Z")
What about all those science fiction writers who just keep writing and writing but get progressively more boring? Yeah, Arthur C. Clarke, I’m looking at you. Shoulda given up after the first Rama book. > [@](#): > > Hitchhikers was wonderful, Restaurant was passable, Life was inexcusably bad. Never even got through Mostly. Can’t agree with that. (You forgot “So Long And Thanks For All the Fish,” by the way.) “Life, The Universe, and Everything” contains some of my favorite lines and scenes in the whole series. “The regular early morning yell of horror was the sound of Arthur Dent waking up and suddenly remembering where he was.”; the scene where Ford tells Arthur about his experiences going mad, Eddie’s in the space-time continuum, the Chesterfield sofa, etc. “Restaurant” was also very enjoyable. “So Long” was fairly amusing at parts, though I wasn’t big on the whole love subplot in general. I do think Mostly Harmless was Mostly Suck, though. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/35 "2003-07-10T02:57:39Z")
I agree with several others on the **Hitchhicker** books. The first 3 were good, the 4th one really began to slide(though I liked the part at the end where Marvin was reading God’s message) and 5 was totally blah. Again, the romance subplot in _Fish_ got rather boring, and then they replaced that in _Harmless_ with the really annoying subplot about his bratty kid. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/36 "2003-07-10T03:23:50Z")
James Bond is now on what? his fourth or fifth author? Someone needs to remember this man is a WWII veteran and is long overdue for retirement. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/37 "2003-07-10T04:38:29Z")
Sorry, I meant I never finished So Long, never tried Mostly. Forgot my order there. I think my main complaint with Life was it explained too much of the first book. With all the mention of Asprin, no one has mentioned the Phule series. Oh wait, that was pretty bad from the start. And if you want to bring up Harry Harrison, gotta mention Bill the Galactic Hero. The first book was great then all those painful sequals not written by Harrison. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/38 "2003-07-10T05:01:22Z")
Janet Evanovich’s _Stephanie Plum_ series. The first four books were okay (the first one being best). Then it got ridiculous, IMO. Only then did I bother to find out that the author started out as a romance novelist. Explained a lot. She’s at book nine now, so I guess a few million people are still reading that series. ---
**Author:** ![TeaRoses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@TeaRoses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaRoses)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/39 "2003-07-10T08:25:39Z")
The Dave Robicheaux series by James L. Burke. I really enjoyed In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead (for example), but after a while he seemed to be writing the same book over and over. I gave up reading them. The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. I enjoyed most of them, but they got a little repetitive and weird after a while, and by the time she moved on to the adventures of the kids I had given up. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043/40 "2003-07-10T11:43:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DataZak \* > \*\*Janet Evanovich’s _Stephanie Plum_ series. > > The first four books were okay (the first one being best). Then it got ridiculous, IMO. Only then did I bother to find out that the author started out as a romance novelist. Explained a lot. She’s at book nine now, so I guess a few million people are still reading that series. \*\* Blasphemer! I read Janet Evanovich when she _was_ a romance author (I think I have all but one or two of her Loveswept books). I pre-ordered book nine just as soon as I got an email from Amazon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-when-good-series-go-bad/187043.md?page=3)