YA Series I Haven’t Finished (And Probably Never Will)

I was looking at my bookcase recently. I mostly have everything in order of when I read it, and I realised there are quite a few YA series I’ve started and never completed. Some I only had the first book, others I even made it to the second, but all were unfinished.

Because it’s been about ten billion years since I started some of these series, I’m probably never going to finish them now. In truth, they clearly didn’t capture me enough to make me eager to buy the next installment. Maybe one day, I’ll pick these series up again, but for now here’s a list of some YA series I just never finished and why:

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

I’ve said this once before on this blog and I’ll say it again: I’m just not really a fan of The Mortal Instruments. I managed to get to City of Glass but DNFed halfway through. Sure, I enjoyed the writing and the world-building was pretty good, but there was something about this series that just never really captured or gripped me.

Since then, I’ve never totally understood the hype around these books, although I have heard The Infernal Devices series is supposed to be better. But something tells me that I won’t ever be picking those books up if I can’t even finish the original series. I know they overlap and it would just get too confusing.

Divergent series by Veronica Roth

Now, I did enjoy the first book. Tris did really get on my nerves, but I liked the world and most of the other characters (even if that ending was totally OTT if I’m honest). I read Insurgent too and was actually pretty eager to find out what would happen next after another bombshell ending.

However, I left it quite a while before I even considered picking up Allegiant and by then the reviews started flooding in and oh… Yeah, all those reviews totally killed any faith I’d had in the series. And after I read a spoiler for the finale of Allegiant, just no. I’ve never bought the final book and I don’t really plan on doing so. There’s nothing worse than an unsatisfactory ending, especially in a series.

Penryn and the End of Days series by Susan Ee

This is actually a series I may continue with. Someone in the blogosphere, I can’t remember who it was, was raving about the character of Penryn and how she isn’t all about saving the world but instead about just protecting her family. I admit, it’s been quite a while since I read Angelfall and I don’t remember a lot except for Penryn’s very unstable mother and some kind of angel nightclub. But what this blogger said kinda made me want to give this series another go.

I only read Angelfall and planned to continue but just never got round to it. I think I did enjoy it, yet I have a feeling the romance annoyed me a bit. I was getting tired of normal human girls falling in love with supernatural beings at this point. Thankfully, that’s all died down now so maybe I’ll give this series another go.

The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

I actually bought Shadow and Bone as soon as it was released because it sounded so promising. Because of this, I have one of those copies called The Gathering Dark and when it got renamed it was all quite confusing. But anyway, I did actually enjoy that book! Some of it annoyed me a bit, I can’t actually remember what, it’s been so long, but when I think of the book I have a nagging feeling that something about it got on my nerves. Still, I know I enjoyed it overall and loved the world-building.

I was never so invested in the story though that I wanted to get Siege and Storm upon it’s release, so this was another trilogy that I just put off continuing and by then I’d moved onto other books and series.

Saying that, I really want to read Six of Crows as I’ve heard so much about it and, to me, it sounds better than the original Grisha trilogy. I know having read that trilogy enhances your reading of Six of Crows but I also know it isn’t necessary, so who knows if I’ll continue with the trilogy. I do, at least, already know a bit about the world. So, we’ll just have to see!

Crewel World series by Gennifer Albin

This was a really strange novel. I only read the first in the series and all I can remember was that it was just a bit complicated and baffling. I think I enjoyed it but can’t quite remember. However, that ending! I wasn’t too sure about the book until the ending which totally shocked me. Not because it was bad, but because it was really unexpected and intriguing!

So, I think one day I’d like to pick this series up again to find out what the hell was going on. For now though I’m not too bothered. I haven’t actually heard much about this series in the blogosphere, so I’m presuming it wasn’t overly popular, or was just average.

Newsoul series by Jodi Meadows

This, like Crewel, was another book that was just a whole load of what is even going on?! Seriously though, what was this book? It was really quite strange and didn’t ever really capture me. I don’t think I’ll be continuing with it, although it was a unique (and wacky) idea.

The Other Life duology by Susanne Winnacker

The Other Life was pretty creepy. I did enjoy it (it’s apocalyptic with monsters, of course I’d like it) but, if my brain is working correctly, I think what I didn’t like was the romance. However, the world-building and monsters were good and I think the writing was fine. I had 100% planned on continuing this series but the sequel took aaaaages to be released and by then I’d lost interest. Maybe I’ll finish it one day as it’s only a duology.

Starters series by Lissa Price

I think this book was pretty much a no from me. Interesting concept but a clumsy plot and romance. (Can you tell I’m very picky about romances in YA? It’s because too many are insta-love!). I knew after finishing this that I was probably never gonna pick up the sequel.

Partials Sequence trilogy by Dan Wells

I actually liked this series and have the final book waiting to be read. The problem was actually me: I took way too long to get round to each book and so my interest and understanding waned. However, I will finish this one day because I did like the first two books. And, guess what, no insta-love!

And there you have it! Do you think I should continue with any of these series? Or should I stay clear? Let me know in the comments below!