I’ve been having some serious series burnout lately. Usually, I will greedily devour a series, binging all of the released books and welcoming a new hyper fixation. It’s one of the best ways to read books. But lately, I’ve found myself reading mostly standalone books, not wanting to commit to something too crazy. Let’s talk about that.

Now, I have read some books in a series this year. Some of these are like Twelve Months and Wind and Truth, where they are the latest installment in a series I’ve read previously. Some are like A Study in Drowning, which I didn’t realize was a series when I picked up the first book, and many of the books I’ve read are the first books of the series, but I have little desire to move on to the second book, for some reason or another.

I’m not fully sure why this is! Most of the books I’ve read this year are pretty good. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t pick up the next book in The Bound and The Broken, since the first one was pretty well done and I know the series gets better as it goes. But my desire to actually make the plunge to move onto the next book is very small, and I don’t know what my issue is.

It’s not like there aren’t upcoming sequels that I’m not excited for. I had a whole post of books that were coming out this year that I wanted to check out, and many of them I’m still eager for. I want to continue those stories. So why can’t I pick up a series that’s already finished?

I think some of that is from the commitment. It can be a LOT to dive into a book series. And when I’m trying to get through six or so books in a month, I have to go a little fast. What if a series slows down my pace? A lot of the books in a series that I’ve read this year have been long, and their sequels are, too. Heretical Fishing 2 is over 500 pages, and Children of Virtue and Vengeance is over 400. Should I commit to a second book when I only gave the first one 3.5 stars? Can I commit to several hundreds of pages worth of books by one author? What if I get part of the way through it, and have the urge to DNF it? I don’t like doing that.

A few months ago, I proudly shared that I rarely DNF books. But this year, I’ve DNF’d SIX books! Six! That’s unheard of for me. Normally, I like talking about ‘bad’ books, but this year, I’ve just started dropping them. I know this isn’t a bad thing, and I’m probably better off dropping books instead of forcing my way through them, but I worry about getting trigger happy. I’d hate to need to drop a series two or three books in. It would feel even more like giving up.

I’ve also been enjoying reading some shorter books lately! I’ve read some good novellas and have had fun getting to hop from thing to thing, genre to genre. I’ve gone through some horror, some romantasy, some great fiction. Committing to a series means committing to a genre!

“But Saige,” you may be saying. “Just read different books in between each book of the series!”

Look. You’re probably right that I should do that. But I think I’d be more likely to just add another first book of a series to my shelf, only to have the sequel sit on my Libby Suspended shelf for eternity. I dunno. Maybe I’ll try it out.

And it’s not like I’m lacking a series to read. I still have three more Red Rising books to get through. I now have access to a family member’s Audible account which has all of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books on it. I have four books in the Cytoverse that I need to get through. I keep telling myself I need to be done with the Wax and Wayne series before Dragonsteel this December, but that means I need to go through four books! I have good things on my TBR! I just need to get myself to read them.

So. How do I fix this problem?

I dunno! There are a few things I could try. Coming up in book club is our sequels round. We just finished reading The Art of Destiny, with Eldest and The Wise Man’s Fear being next. Maybe reading these three sequels will make me want to finish the series (well, for the two that aren’t by Patrick Rothfuss, that is). Perhaps this could be the answer.

Maybe I need to pick up something that I know I can manage. Robin Hobb has a lot of trilogies that I could probably manage well. Ava gave me some T.J. Klune books that I could munch on. I could read more Jim Butcher and try out the Codex Alera series. I have so many options!

Just recently, Ava started reading more of the Wings of Fire books. In solidarity, I’ve begun to sprinkle those in between my other reads, just since they’re quick and fun. But these are rereads, not books on my TBR that I should be dedicating my time to.

There’s something else I need to talk about. There’s actually not anything wrong with my preferring standalone novels right now.

I know I just griped and moaned about not finishing a series in a while, but at least I’m still reading! I’ve already read over 40 books this year, when my goal was 50! I’m 17 books ahead of my reading goal, and am on track to maybe hit 75 books by the end, smashing all of my recent years of reading out of the water. I’m not ‘doing’ anything wrong.

What I’ve been telling myself is that what matters is that I’m reading, and that I’m enjoying it. I’ve read some pretty good books this year. Not too many fives, but a lot hovering in that 4-4.5 range. I’ve read some books that will soon have sequels, so I bet I’ll tune into those soon. I’m enjoying my time, even if I feel some guilt for what I still haven’t gotten around to.

I’ve also been working on Book Bingo, which is easier done with stand-alone books. Since I want to get a black-out, there’s nothing wrong with me jumping around to fill in each space.

I guess this was just a long, meandering way to figure out for myself that I’m completely valid for not having a current book series obsession. If I don’t have the time to commit to something right now, then I shouldn’t! A good series deserves the attention. With moving, job hunting, and summer activities, I’m just not in the headspace.

So, if you’re like me, and you have a series you haven’t completed yet, or one you haven’t started (even though you probably should), take your time with it! Read what you feel like reading, and when. It will still be there when you’re ready for it.

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