The Book Nerd’s Guide to Breaking Up With a Series

As wise prophets throughout the years have said, breaking up is hard to do. Even in an amicable separation—when both parties choose to leave, parting as friends—it’s not a clean process. There are swirls of emotions, pangs of regrets, bookshelves to empty and split.
The process of breaking up with books themselves can be just as painful. As we discussed last time we were together, falling in love with a book is a real and powerful sensation. Within the space of a single narrative, you can form a long-lasting relationship; one book is enough ammunition to annoy your family, friends, acquaintances, and casual hangers-on with your repeated recommendations for the rest of your natural life.
That’s nothing, though, compared to the investment of time and emotional energy when you’re in it for the long haul with a book series. If I had a nickel for every tear I’ve cried over the Outlander series, I’d have enough money and financial stability to support two husbands. Two handsome husbands, each desirable in a unique way and conveniently separated by hundreds of years.
But I digress. The point is, I’ve invested a lot of myself into this continuing series of ever-expanding doorstopper novels, and I’m on the hook for the rest of forever. There’s no going back, just as there was no way to back out of Hogwarts and just as there is no option but to wait the interminable wait for Winds of Winter. I have entered into lifelong commitments, no matter the ultimately satisfying emotional distress each of these romances might cause.
But what happens when a book relationship becomes toxic? When is it time to pull the plug on a series? As I see it, all of these situations fall into four categories.
Pull the Plug
Let’s say you loved the first book in a planned four-book series, but you hated its follow-up. You’re halfway through the series, and you’re only 50 percent satisfied. I’m not a mathematician—which is why I’m here talking to you—but those numbers don’t yield a whole lot of return on investment. If you barely made it through New Moon, you’re not going to be in a good frame of mind by the time you hit Renesmee. Bail out before you totally forget the good times you did have with the story. It’s better for all parties involved.

There’s Some Gray Area
You absolutely adored the first two books—in fact, you forced them onto your book club’s schedule even though they were outside the genre specifications. You thought the third book was okay, but had to slog through the fourth and fifth novels. You thought the sixth book was going to be the last, but the author pulled a switcheroo and, no, now the series is going to have seven installments.
What do you when you’ve soured on a series with two full books left? You have to be honest with yourself: how much do you still care about these characters? Do you need to know what happens to them? Were your favorites killed off and now there’s only the annoying rabble left? Is your to-read list eight times longer than all the books in this series stacked together? If so, it seems safe to cut your losses.
But if you still hold a torch for the hero (you just question his life choices), then maybe two books aren’t all that much of a burden to bear. After all, conclusions are exciting, and you just might find the magic you lost in the middle of the story. 
Stick with It
If you’ve stuck by a series over the years, novel after novel, and it’s down to the final installment, just keep going. It doesn’t matter if you’ve disliked nine of the twelve books. If you truly loathed them, you would have stopped reading years ago. There’s something in this story you just can’t quit. Go back and reread the first novel. There’s a good chance it’ll remind you why you first flirted with the series, and that will help propel you to the finish line.
By the time you’ve read all but one book in a series, you’ve poured too much of yourself into the effort to quit. You owe your younger, less haggard self the closure. Stay strong and tie up the loose ends, though no one’s saying you have to run out and buy the hardcover on release day. Take your time. See it through. In the long run, you’ll thank yourself.

Chart Your Own Territory
But what if your book series doesn’t fall into a nice linear story? What if it’s a Discworld situation, and the story moves in one thousand directions across close to fifty novels? Let’s say of those thousand directions, you only like five. It’s important to remember that Congress shall establish no law tying you to the output of a genre, author, or expansive book series. You’re a free-thinking individual, and you should feel free to read only the installments you like in a nonlinear book series.
If you’ve lucked into falling in and out of love with a series of novels that work as standalones, you have the best kind of relationship trouble. You can follow the characters you love, and leave for dead the characters you don’t. This is living the dream, my friends.