@Da_Gut@bookstodon I read a a coupe books in the series at the time, and enjoyed them - but I was a much more forgiving reader in my tweens and tees than I am now. Sprawling, large cast of characters, I even still remember some bits… but I know I didn’t finish the sequence, so maybe not that enjoyable…?
@CommonMugwort@Da_Gut@bookstodon As I recall, the actual Pleistocene Exile books were OK, but the related series set in the future was a slog and left a bad taste in my mind. Not sure I ever finished those.
i was extremely upset, it did not have an ending & i vowed ( a vow I kept) never to read this author again
i don't even remember what happened, just the author's name & how cheated i felt
a hard cover book should have a f'n ending
we're not talking some indie author who has to break up their book into a 6-book series because Amazon won't pay fair royalties on any book over $10, we're talking the f'n 1980s...
@peachfront@Da_Gut@bookstodon It is a four novel series, collective title being The Saga of Pliocene Exile. I thought the series started strong, lagged in the third book, but ended satisfactorily. Although I have to say it was the mid-80s when I read it, so I might react to it differently now.
all i can say is i remember nothing about Julian May except much hyped out of nowhere & then Book #1 ends with, "to find out what happens to Elizabeth, buy another book"
screw that
we know that stuff going in now but books are $3.99 ebooks a pop not hardback trad pub releases...
what this author consented to (without objection as far as i know) was refusing to provide readers with the whole story for what was a good bit of money then
ha never got that far but figure
people into Tolkien knew what they were getting, some of the Boomers (the generation immediately before mine) were a bit pushy about him
maybe Julian May is famous now but at the time this author was out of nowhere yet couldn't be bothered to write an ending better than, "buy the next book to see what happens" -- disgraceful by the expectations of the day & honestly a betrayal of the reader's trust
@peachfront@Da_Gut@bookstodon I read a book review in F&SF that clearly stated The Many-Colored Land was the first in a series, so I knew that before I started reading. I can understand preferring stand alone novels, but series have been the default for a long time.