Would you pick up a trilogy you knew wasn't complete?

[ambiguity+]

Picking up incomplete trilogies fires anticipation, but I actually like the feeling of waiting because of the thrill involved. So I don't care about a trilogy being incomplete if I like it.

[malime6]

Yes and then hate myself after because I may never read the unfinished chapters.

[Tiffanye1]

This is a great question. I think personally I would not want to start a series if I knew it wasn't finished but then you also run the risk of missing out on a great writer or story.

Think of how disappointing it would have been if Tolkien had not finished his Lord of the Rings Trilogy. We would never have known if Frodo Baggins had succeeded in his quest to throw the One Ring into Mount Doom. But, if we refused to read this trilogy based on the fact that it was an incomplete work we also would have missed out on one of the most astounding authors in literary history.

Thankfully for us all Tolkien did complete the story.

[Sallydlee79]

I still read them. It doesn't matter to me if they are finished as long as they're good. It's like they say, "it's better to have loved and lost (a good book), than never to have loved (a good book) at all."

[hasreadit]

I mean I can do it, but I dislike doing so... It's just so frustrating having to wait a year, forgetting about the series, only for the next book to have been released once I've forgotten the plot line and characters. Books are better about it nowadays, but it has always been kind of annoying for me anyways.

[alangner]

I used to just read them as they came out. I changed my mind while reading the Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton - you know, A if for Alibi, B is for Burglar. I started reading them 24 years ago. At that time, she had A-F done. G came out while I was reading those. Then nothing. It was 2 years before H came out. I decided to wait until the series was finished before reading it. Well, guess what? I'm still waiting. She's only on W as of 2013. That series has spanned 31 years.

I do things differently now. If I know the author, have read other books they've written, and like them I will gather the entire trilogy or series before I start reading. If it's an author I'm not familiar with I'll get the 1st book and read it. If I like it I get the rest of the series and then read the whole thing.

I prefer to trade books rather than buy them outright - although I do buy them if I find them at a yard sale or on 50% off day at Goodwill. I even do work on Amazon Mechanical Turk because I can use that money to buy books from Amazon.

Since I prefer to trade, I have 15 or more series in my book closet that are still waiting for books to complete them so I can read them. I rubber band them together with a list of the books in the series and as they come in I highlight them so I know when they're complete. Once they're complete they get moved to my TBR shelf.

Doing it that way I always have 25-50 books or more to choose from when I'm ready to start a new one.

[Ladybug]

I have picked up a series that wasn't complete and I was very unhappy waiting for the next book. I now just wait until the whole series is for sale so I can read till the end.

[Smokey]

Of course, if no one bought the first of a trilogy before the entire set was published, I'll bet there would be fewer written.

[daisy21]

I'm reading one now. Just discovered there's a 4th book coming out in 2015. The series is so good that I don't mind. But I may have to reread them by the time the 4th one is released!

[amber_dawn]

Absolutely. I do it all the time. Currently with the House if Night books. I've been reading them for 3years. I love the anticipation. As long as the books are good, i don't see why anyone would have a problem reading like that.

[Smokey]

I used to just read them as they came out. I changed my mind while reading the Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton - you know, A if for Alibi, B is for Burglar. I started reading them 24 years ago. At that time, she had A-F done. G came out while I was reading those. Then nothing. It was 2 years before H came out. I decided to wait until the series was finished before reading it. Well, guess what? I'm still waiting. She's only on W as of 2013. That series has spanned 31 years.

I do things differently now. If I know the author, have read other books they've written, and like them I will gather the entire trilogy or series before I start reading. If it's an author I'm not familiar with I'll get the 1st book and read it. If I like it I get the rest of the series and then read the whole thing.

I prefer to trade books rather than buy them outright - although I do buy them if I find them at a yard sale or on 50% off day at Goodwill. I even do work on Amazon Mechanical Turk because I can use that money to buy books from Amazon.

Since I prefer to trade, I have 15 or more series in my book closet that are still waiting for books to complete them so I can read them. I rubber band them together with a list of the books in the series and as they come in I highlight them so I know when they're complete. Once they're complete they get moved to my TBR shelf.

Doing it that way I always have 25-50 books or more to choose from when I'm ready to start a new one.

This is a good point. There are series that exceed the trilogy length, although many times these can be read out of order without loing the main plot. Parker's Spencer, Kellerman's Alex Delaware, Robert Crais' Elvis Cole and/or Joe Pike...

[jhollan2]

I prefer to wait until it is finished, unless I accidentally read book one without knowing it was the start of a series and get hooked. It's a big commitment and I am terribly impatient. I have enough problems waiting for my favorite tv shows to come on each week. That said, there is something nice about those series that stay with you, if the author consistently puts out new books and you grow and change with them as they are published. So, long story short...sometimes, maybe.

[Kelly_Marie]

Normally I dont mind at all waiting as long as there is a release date! That's only because a few years back I was at a Car boot sale with a friend and she saw the night world series and told me I had to get it, what she neglected to tell me was that people have been waiting over 10 years for the release of the final book, now I wait with them and check dates so I dont do this to myself again.

[Esrever]

Hmm, the last series I read that at the time was unfinished was Sword of Truth. Due to the length of books (and the fact that I had other books to read) I wasn't really bothered that the series wasn't finished. There are a few trilogies now that I'd rather wait for the author to complete.

[serena08max]

I would not want to get involved if I knew for sure that it wasn't complete. I started the trilogy that I am on with the third book. I found out about the other two when I read the inside cover. I immediately went to the library and checked out the first two. I finished them before the due date. They were that good. Sweetheart, Sick at Heart, and evil at heart,/i] by Chelsea Cain are the best.