In a word: Austraeoh.
"But Logan," you may object, "that fic is finished! It has a [Complete] marker and everything!"
Well, yes. But the series it begins is not. Apparently planned as a twelve-book epic, for almost two years now it's been stuck 670,000 words into book nine (Olfolrodi). If you started at the beginning in spring of the series in May 2012, you will have spent over a decade and four million words and been rewarded with what looks increasingly like a story that will never be concluded.
Now, some people don't mind having a story come to a halt in the middle of nowhere, so to speak. I am not one of those people.
And that's why with extremely rare exceptions where the incomplete tale doesn't feel like half a story (xjuggernaughtx's Cheerilee's Thousand is one), I will only even read, let alone review, stories tagged [Complete]. Too many people have been burnt by this before, and I'd rather not be another one.
I would like to read Austraeoh sometime, but I would absolutely treat it as a stand-alone and not the start of something longer. And not only for this reason!
ReplyDeleteI should have stopped after book one too, really. But at the time it looked as though the series would be completed, and I also didn't anticipate any one book being as long as FOE on its own.... :S
DeleteIn hindsight, the first comment on the story is hilarious!
DeleteOkay, that opening got an out-loud laugh out of me!
ReplyDeleteI read Austraeoh before I realized the scope of the project, and before I had sworn off reading incomplete stories. It was... okay. The setup was great, but the actual story didn't grab me the way it did a lot of people, though I'm told it really gets good later on.
It was enjoyable enough that I planed on reading the entire series once it was all done, and I dutifully downloaded each book to my kindle as they completed.
But now... Well, I guess I'll have to wait for the HBO series to find out what happened.
The writing didn't help in the earlier parts of Austraeoh, at least. There are only so many times I can see the word "seethed" without the gauge overloading. :P
DeleteI keep hoping to maybe one day write some more chapters for Cheerilee's Thousand. Someday... - xjuggernaughtx
ReplyDeleteIf you ever do, I will read them!
Delete