Yesterday I posted a vlog review/discussion of the Covenant series which I binge-read about a week ago. I decided to do the vlog and talk about the whole series because I thought that reviewing each and every book would be repetitive. I post on average 3 reviews per week. So that would be almost two straight weeks of reviews of just one series. I thought that content might get boring. But I also didn't want to write a series review because I feel like it would have been epically long and you all would have laughed in my face and immediately clicked off the page upon seeing its ridiculous length. So I opted for the vlog. I had to film twice because the first time it was over twenty minutes. Yep. Fail. My husband actually had to sit on the other side of my computer with a stopwatch and time me, giving me signals on when I needed to wrap each book up. Isn't that sweet of him? :)
So that whole thing got me thinking, would you guys have rather seen an individual review of each book in the series? For me personally, I think I would get bored. I would rather see a series review or a vlog or whatever, than read six straight posts about the same series. Which is why I did what I did.
But now, I'm feeling a little stressed because I'm behind on my review schedule. That was a week and half's worth of reviews that I dumped into one post. So naturally I feel behind now. I still am happy with the way I did it and I am really happy that I got to binge read. But part of me wonders if I should have spread them out more and done individual reviews. What do you guys think?
Has this ever happened to you? What did you do? Do you individually review books when you binge read a series? Do you write a series review? Have you ever done a vlog review/discussion?
I've discovered that reading a series all at once doesn't really work for me if I'm doing it on my own because I can't appreciate or enjoy the characters and world since I finish it so quickly (for some reason, when I'm reading a series back to back I fly through the pages). If I do, like I have with Percy Jackson, I'll write A Series in Summation post on the blog which is like a mini/paragraph review of each book. I think that works well, although I can understand it affecting your schedule. Recently I reviewed a bunch of books on Goodreads as I read them, which I like doing in addition to blog reviews, but means I don't have many book reviews to schedule for next month. So, it's all a balancing thing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've noticed that when I buddy reads a series (like I'm doing now with Hex Hall), I can enjoy it more because we're discussing it, all catching up, etc. But anyways, I think series reviews are good to have if you read the books all at once. Other times, I'll review each book as I read it if they're months apart. Good luck with your schedule, and your discussion posts are wonderful, they always make me think about blogging and the different aspects of it- love this addition.
Really?? I LOVE binge-reading series. I think it's so fun! I've done it that way before too where I've done a mini review for each book i one post. I think that's worked. Yeah, I've never actually posted a review on Goodreads that wasn't posted on my blog. Probably because I review every book I read on my blog.
DeleteYes. It was definitely more fun to binge-read Covenant since I was texting Wendy the whole time. She wasn't reading with me, but we were gushing together since she's a HUGE fan of that series.
I definitely think that if I read the books months apart I would review each one. But when I read them back to back I think some kind of series review works best. And I'm sure I'll get ahead on my reading schedule again. I just need a good long beach weekend.
I really enjoy it sometimes, but other times I feel like it goes by so quickly I don't have enough time to appreciate the series. It's just me though. That's awesome that you review every book you read. Sometimes my thoughts aren't organized/cohesive enough for me to review, and then other times I've got other posts I want to write and schedule.
DeleteI completely adore that series- Seth is a character that I love even when it's times you just want him to see reason. I'm sure you know what I mean. I promise I will read Sentinel sometime!
I actually just finished A Million Suns, the sequel to Across the Universe, and since I reviewed that book awhile ago, I think I'm going to review that one as well on the blog. Good luck, and that sounds like blogging haven.
Yeah, I can definitely see that. I'm kind of already craving a reread of the Covenant series because it was over so fast and I want more. Which is why it's great that the spin-off series is coming out. Because I definitely want more of that world and more Seth. :)
DeleteI enjoyed the series review and I agree, if they were back to back, it might get a bit repetitive. That's why most of the time, if I'm reading the books in a series close together, I review the first book, but then I usually don't review the others. Instead, I think I should do what you did and review the whole series. It is hard to do, though, without spoiling it for people who haven't read it. So if I do that, I may just highlight what I liked about the series, whether it ended satisfactorily or not, whether the middle book (if it's a trilogy) was just a filler, etc. I was also thinking about writing a post where I highlight series I've read that are under appreciated, that I loved, and that's another way of doing it without a traditional review. There's so many different ways to do it, and a vlog is a great way! Just my two cents. ~Pam
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, I feel like I want to review all the books mostly because if it's something I loved I want to gush about it. Lol. And what better way to do that then to make a vlog. :D
DeleteThis is so timely! I'll be following. I've been reviewing Grisha, and was really struggling over whether to write one review or separate them!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I definitely think that series reviews are the way to go. I'm going to be binge-reading Grisha soon too!!!
DeleteI think you should use your older releases as Throwback Thursday reviews and link up with me on Thursdays. <3 And I get the appeal of both ways. However, I think the first book should get the most detailed review, and after that perhaps more of a general statement about if it lives up to the first & whether or not it leaves you wanting the next.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't often read reviews of books in a series past book 1 if I haven't read the 1st already, because I think spoilers for the 1st book are to be expected (kind of unavoidable). Still, it's definitely tricky. But in my mind, reviewing older titles is something that will interest: A)People who haven't read the series, but plan to, and B) Those who have already read the entire series and love it enough to be curious about a new reader's opinion. Fun discussion, Rebecca!
haha yeah, I should do that. I never even think about it. Lol. I really liked doing the vlog so I feel like I may try to continue that in the future. But I could still link that up to your Throwback Thursday. Although I may not post them on Thursdays... bc I usually do discussion posts on Thursdays. Lol.
DeleteYeah I don't read reviews for 2nd/3rd books unless I've already read them too. I worry about spoilers too. A lot of times they are unavoidable. (like mortal instruments). But I do love reading reviews of series that I love that someone else has read because I love to gush over it with other people. :)
Ugh, I had the same problem with the Vampire Academy series which I binge read in May. I didn't read them all back to back... I slipped in a couple other books, but I still had a really hard time writing all of the reviews. I felt like I was getting really repetitive, but I LOVED the series so I wanted to get it the attention it deserved. I think part of the problem is that when you are so wrapped up in a series, you just don't want to take the time to review so you put it off and just start another book.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's definitely true. Which is why I did a vlog. Because I didn't feel like I could actually WRITE a coherent review for the entire series. Lol. Writing a review felt like it was really over and I totally didn't want it to be.
DeleteThis is a tricky one!! I think as far as completed duos/trilogies go, I personally like writing/reading individual reviews. I like being able to read the individual reviews as I read the series, whereas when it's a series review, I can't read it until I finish the series because of spoilers (which would take longer than individual reviews). When it comes to series that are 4+, I would probably do a series review, especially if it's one I loved. I would probably feel like I was just shouting GO READ IT for 4+ reviews otherwise. The same concept applies for not being able to read it until I finished the series, but I think if the series was longer, I probably wouldn't mind reading it even with some spoilers so I could decide if I was really ready to commit to X amount of books.
ReplyDeleteWhen I binge series (no matter the length except for duos), I usually can't fully 'binge' them where I read them back to back. I like to put a book in between each installment so the back of my mind can soak what happened in while reading something else before I plunge into the next book in the series. Or at least watch a few episodes of something on Netflix beforehand. I really like your idea of the vlog though! And great discussion topic!
I am completely 100% against spoilers. Lol. I will definitely not read/watch if I think there will be spoilers. Definitely 4+ books should be a series review in my opinion. Trilogies maybe not, but I don't think I would want to see them back to back on someone's blog. I think that I would rather have the reviews spaced out.
DeleteThat's a good point. Binge-reading the Covenant series worked for me, but I can see how some other books would need something in between them. Like Game of Thrones I would not be able to binge. Information overload.