Top 5 series I wished were shorter

Hello friends!! Welcome to Top 5 Tuesday!! This week’s topic is top 5 series I wished were shorter!

You know when a series just hits that point where it feels like it’s dragging and you just KNOW this is a filler book? Like, the author really only probably had a duology in them, but the publisher insisted on it being a trilogy? (*cough* Mahurin…)

Or those series where they just go… forever? With no end in sight? So the overarching plot just absolutely loses its way because all of the characters forgot why they were there. And then it just feels like the Simpsons because no one ages and then they all start acting really weird. And the reader is left thinking “I’m sure I enjoyed these at one point…”

Yeah, I’ve read some of them. Yeesh.

Normally I include the blurb of the book and then move to the next one. This week month I’m also adding why I’d like it to be (fill in prompt title here).

So, without any further ado, let’s go see my top 5 series that I wished were shorter!!

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top 5 series I wished were shorter

Stephanie Plum — Janet Evanovich

Meet Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter with attitude. In Stephanie’s opinion, toxic waste, rabid drivers, armed schizophrenics, and August heat, humidity, and hydrocarbons are all part of the great adventure of living in Jersey.

She’s a product of the “burg,” a blue-collar pocket of Trenton where houses are attached and narrow, cars are American, windows are clean, and (God forbid you should be late) dinner is served at six.

Out of work and out of money, Stephanie blackmails her bail-bondsman cousin Vinnie into giving her a try as an apprehension agent. Stephanie knows zilch about the job requirements, but she figures her new pal, el-primo bounty hunter Ranger, can teach her what it takes to catch a crook. Her first nail Joe Morelli, a former vice cop on the run from a charge of murder one. Morelli’s the inamorato who charmed Stephanie out of her virginity at age sixteen. There’s still powerful chemistry between them, so the chase should be interesting… and could also be extremely dangerous.

Look, I love this series. So so much. And I know it hasn’t aged well. (But apparently things were different in the 1990s when it started.) And I also know people have very strong feelings about Morelli and Ranger (#teamRanger). The books are really good trash. And it’s kind of like the Simpsons where no body ages even though it’s been 30 years. And close to 40 books.

However, can we please get an ending for this soon, Ms Evanovich??

Private — James Patterson (and others)

Former CIA agent Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe, for maximum force and maximum discretion.

Already deep into the investigation of a multimillion-dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of eighteen schoolgirls, he learns his best friend’s wife, Jack’s former lover, has been killed.

The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet come to Jack daily — and his staff of investigators use the world’s most advanced forensic tools to make and break their cases.

But Jack doesn’t have to play by the rules.

I actually feel this way about ALL of James Patterson’s series. I have started, but lost interest in the Alex Cross books, the Women’s Murder Club books, and now Private. Although, I keep buying the Private books, so in my head I must still be reading them…

And they are good. I even rated one of them 5 stars. (Shocking, I know.) My issue with them is that there are SO MANY of them. Also they have so many ghostwriters that only get a partial credit. But seriously, at this stage if I want to catach up I have 7 books to go. And they are still going!

Shadowhunters — Cassandra Clare

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…

I think I’m up to Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, but I also think that means I still have about 800 more books to go. WHY are there so many?? I just want to catch up because I do enjoy the series. I just don’t enjoy how many I have unread.

Caraval — Stephanie Garber

A legendary competition.
A mesmerizing romance.
An unbreakable bond
between two sisters.

Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval — the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.

But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval… beware of getting swept too far away.

I have to say, I have not even started this series, although I own evey book, and every time a new one is released, I buy it. (Thanks FairyLoot!) And maybe every book is amazing. I wouldn’t know.

I also likely won’t know, because the more books there are, the more intimidating the series is to start… and I don’t know that I will ever catch up, or start, because of this!

Undead — MaryJanice Davidson

It’s been a strange week for Betsy Taylor — first she loses her job, then she is killed in a freak accident only to arise as a vampire.

Now she has superhuman strength and an unnatural effect on the opposite sex — but what she can’t handle is her new liquid diet.

And now her new friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen, and they want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious power-hungry vampire in five centuries.

I really loved this series when it first came out. It was funny and irreverant and just so good to see a vampire series that wasn’t taking it self seriously. But, as inevitably happens with successful books, it spawned a thousand novellas and tie-in series. There’s the werewolves and the mermaids and honestly, I had no interesr in keeping up.

Then the series lost its way around book 10. Like, totally went off the rails. Unhinged plots and super discordant storylines that didn’t even feel like the main character was the same character any more. But, Davidson pulled it back and ended the series.

Until she didn’t. Since 2016 there’s been more books released and honestly, please just stop.

PARTICIPANTS

What are your top 5 series you wished were shorter?