Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This week our list (brought to you by Becky!) is about the top ten series I still need to finish (or don't want to finish).
I'm really terrible about finishing series. I just get so excited for the first book, but my attention peters out after the major character development is finished. I end up leaving series strewn all over the place like my shoes and I forget to finish them. Anyone else have this issue?
Maybe it will help me to have some of them listed.
I'm really terrible about finishing series. I just get so excited for the first book, but my attention peters out after the major character development is finished. I end up leaving series strewn all over the place like my shoes and I forget to finish them. Anyone else have this issue?
Maybe it will help me to have some of them listed.
Young Adult Series
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1. Escape From Furnace, by Alexander Gordon SmithI just love these covers. They really give you a taste of the atmosphere in the books, which is gritty, nightmarish, and bleak. If you strip this story down to one sentence, it's about a secret prison where the boys are turned into monsters. Literal monsters, after all, this is horror. I just finished Fugitives, after an obscenely long wait on the hold list. Execution doesn't come out in the United States until NOVEMBER. GAHHHHHHHHH. Oops, sorry. I guess I'll just wait patiently.
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These books are action packed and almost as nightmarish as the Furnace series. A one sentence description: One giant, deadly conspiracy game. I wasn't as keen on the writing style, and the whole conspiracy mystery gets a bit old in book 2. I'm ready to know what is actually happening. I'm on hold for The Death Cure, but I doubt I'll go so far as the prequel and the 1.5. I really do not like when an author decides to squeeze a book back into the series when they have already finished it.
3.Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare
Talk about amazing cover art. These are some of the most stunning books I've ever seen. I do find the cut-off faces annoying at the beginning, but maybe it is symbolic. In a sentence, this series is about Shadowhunters: half angels who fight just about every supernatural creature you can think of. I love the atmosphere of this series but the whole incest thing weirds me out. I'm done with City of Ashes and I'm not sure if I'll finish the others. I think there are more coming out.
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This series is still being written. I've read book one and I liked it enough to go onto book two eventually. It had a lot of logic flaws, but I think I will overlook them for the sake of the unique world-building. In a sentence, this series is about a futuristic society that is divided into set categories, and those don't fit are called divergent. This is another one of those series where there is a book 1.5 (shudder). No thanks. You should have said it better the first time.
5. Graceling Realm, by Kristin Cashore
These books had stunning covers, but the characters and setting felt extraordinarily flat and underdeveloped to me. I doubt I'll read the second or third book since there are so many dystopian series to sample. In a sentence, Some people are born with a Grace, meaning a special ability. It felt a bit like X men set in a fantasy world.
I was really surprised by how much I liked the first book in this series. In a sentence: teens rise as zombies and fight for their rights in school. The character development and real-life parallels made this an instant favorite. I'm a bit burnt out on zombies right now so I'm waiting a bit to read number two.
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I was lukewarm about book one, so like Graceling, it could be a while before I return to it. Maybe when I'm in the mood for candy-lit I'll think about it. I loved Scorpio Races, so I thought I'd enjoy this more. In a word: werewolves.
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Yet another dystopian series that I just didn't care about. It wasn't bad, but there are so many stronger dystopias that I'm not sure I'll ever finish. In a sentence: the government makes all of the choices for people, including who to marry, but one girl and a boy find love outside the rules.
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I wanted to like this series, both for the amazing covers and the zombies. However, the action took far too long to begin, and I didn't really connect to the underlying theme or the characters. The writing style was incredibly heavy handed. It's pretty unlikely that I'll pick these back up. In a sentence: Benny apprentices as a zombie hunter for his older brother, and things get really bad really fast.
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I was all set to read book two, and then 10 zombie books came in for me at the library and I forgot all about this one. I'll probably finish it in the next few months! Summary? Secret key, secret prison, scary monsters.
That's all folks! Ok, well not really. Since I compiled this list I've tossed more series' to the winds. I have a bunch of children's series as well, but I'll save that for another time :).
I haven't actually started any of these series on your list but have SO many of them on my shelf! Graceling, Shiver, Divergent, Mortal Instruments, Matched and the Maze Runner! Jeez I don't even know where to start out of that list.
ReplyDeleteThe author of Rot & Ruin is local to my area but I've just never gotten into that series.
My Top Ten
I can't STAND it when authors do the "book 1.5" in a series, it's such a chump move! I've been meaning to try more YA novels, though. Perhaps I'll try that Escape From Furnace series. Great post, saved me some time in narrowing down my to-read list!
ReplyDeleteOh, I hate the half stories too, so annoying! Great list and I love the cover art on most of these. I have several of them on my to-buy list too. :)
ReplyDeleteYou have so many on your list I have read and/or have same issues with! I really do love the Divergent series! I do not know of a 1.5 book though. Incarceron and Sapphique were so strange and different. And of course I am also behind on the Graceling books and The Maze Runner. I hope you get to read the ones you want to read soon! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my TTT!
~Sara @ Forever 17 Books
KEEP READING the Mortal Instruments series. It's worth it! I actually really enjoyed the Mercy Falls series, because I love the way that MS writes. But The Scorpio Races was better.
ReplyDeleteOkay clearly I'm out of the loop here, but what is a book 1.5?
A book the author tried to squeeze in between 1 and 2 after deciding they needed to fill in story gaps :(
DeleteHmm... I can tell our taste differs a bit (isn't it funny how you can tell from these lists?), but I have to echo you on The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. I didn't have much of a reaction to the first book, so it's unlikely that I'll pick up #2 and #3.
ReplyDeleteNice list - thank you for sharing!
I loved City of Bones and was borderline disliking City of Ashes. When I posted that on my blog a lot of people urged me to read City of Glass-I did and LOVED it! I would suggest giving the third book a try!
ReplyDeleteMatched also wasn't my thing. I'm glad to see someone with similar tastes because everyone seems to enjoy it! I just thought there was farrrr better out there.
My Top Ten
I read Divergent and I can't say that I liked it to terribly much. I haven't read Insurgent yet. I don't know that I will. Maybe, some day. As for The Wolves of Mercy Falls- I did not like Shiver, but I really liked Linger, I thought the story progressed and the characters were WAY more interesting.
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
I still need to read the latest in the Mortal Instruments series (and book 6, final book comes out maybe in the spring?). I read The Infernal Devices series and decided I liked it WAY more. So, yeah. Still need to read Insurgent!
ReplyDeleteYou know we totes disagree on Graceling! ;) I still need to read the other two books though. I think I'll return to the Benny Imura series eventually, though it's not on my priority list. And I really need to read Incarceron. Rick really liked it too! I have a copy of Matched, so I'll probably read that eventually. Other than that, I'm not sure whether I'll try out any of these series or not. Great list, Becky! :)
I was not a fan of Incarceron or Shiver so both of those were quit series for me :(
ReplyDeleteI have Lockdown on my shelf and you really have me wanting to start that one (shame on you! LOL).
Le GASP. You MUST finish TMI and Divergent soon! Ooh as well as the Graceling series! Fire was my favorite book in the series and the Shiver series gets better because there are new characters introduced :)
ReplyDeleteHere’s my TTT