The Fireside Chats

So, the question of the day is do I prefer to read a whole series or do I prefer to read a standalone novel. It really depends on certain things. If the story surrounding the character or characters is really interesting then I can see doing a whole series. The Harry Potter series is a good example. The series involves Harry Potter (and usually his two friends Ron & Hermione) during his many adventures. Seven books in that series wasn’t too many to round out the story on that one because there was always something different going on in each book. Each book had it’s own story and yet, they were all tied together because of the dynamics going on between Harry and Voldemort. Also, it’s a good coming of age story. You see Harry (and ultimately Ron & Hermione) growing older as you continue through the series. So you’re essentially watching your characters grow up as you’re reading.

However, there are some books that are just fine as a standalone. If you tried stretching some stand alone books out into a series then I’d imagine it would get a little tedious after a while (not just from the readers point of view but from the authors point of view as well). Let’s take “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie for instance. That was one of the books that I read last year and I really enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, it was an excellent book, especially if you’re someone who likes a good mystery. But I imagine that that book would probably get old after a while if that story was spread out over several books like the Harry Potter series was. Of course, I think a good author will know when a good story has run it’s course or not, regardless if that’s at the end of one book or after several.