Weird Book Quirks #1

I recently found out that a book I thought was the first of a trilogy is, in fact, the first of six.  I’ve been alternating between extreme excitement (I love the characters, the setting, their interactions) and flat out panic.  You’d think that I’d be over the moon finding out that a world I love will be around for a while, but I can’t help but be rather freaked out about it all.

 

One reason is because it’s been my experience that the longer a series goes on, the bigger the chance that VERY BAD THINGS will happen to characters that I have come to love.  I also HAAAATE it when I settle on a romantic pairing (even if it’s not a major focus of the story) only to have someone else show up/horn in on/make the characters (and readers) question their choices.  It’s just a major pet peeve, being an author myself I know that things like that add drama and character interest, plus it serves to test the character’s resolve, but still, I can’t help but find it extremely annoying.

 

Then there’s the potential of watching my favorite character die a painful death (or just die in general).  Considering that I’ve been dealing with the “Curse of Losing Favorite Characters” for a while now, this is a VERY likely scenario.  Hell, it happened in another series I was reading and that was in book two!  And it was a damn stupid death, too, and I’m STILL upset over it (not telling details or the book series because spoilers) and not too sure what’s going to happen when book three comes out.

 

Then there’s this weird little habit I have of refusing to start the first book of a series until the second or even the third book is out.  If I know it’s a trilogy, I’ll wait until I have the whole shebang in my hands before I even crack the cover of book one.  This impulse is so ingrained that the few times I picked up a book and read it thinking it was a stand alone only to find it the start of a new series had me sulking for about a week.  On one hand I was glad the story wasn’t over and would learn more, on the other hand . . . . yeah.  I guess I should get used to it, I mostly read YA now with some fiction that catches my attention tossed in, and it seems that the majority of YA books are now part of a series (or a greater whole sometimes). 

 

I guess I need to try and revise my book hoarding tendencies; I was able to read “The Last Apprentice” series as it came out up until recently, but still.  Habits are very, very hard to break.  XD