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I enjoy a series, but it has to be a certain type. I like the series books that tell a different story in each volume. And that story ENDS in that volume. Like Harry Potter or The Dresden Files. It's the same character, but individual adventures.

I'm not a huge fan of the series books that are one drawn out story, with cliffhangers at the end of each, forcing the reader to hang on to the story until the writer gets the next one out. Like The Hunger Games, or The Summoning. Also comparable to soap operas or nightime dramas.

I do enjoy the epic adventure stories. Like Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower, and The Wheel of Time. There is rarely a cliffhanger, and there is a goal, foremost in your mind, throughout the story.

I also love single novels. I love the feeling of contentment and fullness after finishing a novel. I like sitting and mulling over the characters and their futures in my mind and devising my own sequels for them. And I like feeling free to step into a new story instead of feeling like I need to read the next volume.

A series is fun to read, however at the end of each story I always feel slightly dissatisfied.

I prefer a single novel that has a conclusion so that I can move on to the next book without feeling I've left something unfinished if the next in the series is unavailable.

When I first clicked this question, I had every intention of choosing a series - because if its a good novel than the story will live on for longer.

But just like single novels, series also come to an end.

So I'll choose a single novel due to it gives you the oppotunity to read other books and have a variety of stories etc to choose from.. rather than just following the same storyline through 4 other books

I have the feeling that only epic books are good to divide on a series of books, whether it is historical fiction epic, or fantasy epic, or scifi epic. Normally, I wouldn't recommend to split a book into a series if the whole thing is going to be less than three books, or any book under 75000 words, otherwise it feels like a cheap serialization, in my opinion. Something like "The Green Mile" that was originally written in something like ten books (I don't remember exactly) but each book was a small booklet could be read in three hours at my pace (I am a rather slow reader, we are talking about ninety to a hundred pages of a regular A5 paperback)

That would really depend on the nature/genre.

With fantasy/sci-fi probably a series because it allows for more development of this alternate world.

But with other types, a single novel tends to make what is written more poignant.

Or at least I think so...

A series of books always enraptures a reader's attention more thoroughly.

A single novel, however, is very useful for either a quick read or a deep one.

It really depends on what the plot calls for, cause there are pros and cons to each.

Single novels are a complete story in one book, very convenient, but it's also definitely over when it's over.

A series can be frustrating when you don't have them all, or have to wait, but exciting to finally get the newly released one.

It depends on the book. I don't want to read over 9,000 pages just so the author didn't have to split it up, but it's also nice to just have a one-shot book too. A lot of times the impact of a story is much more powerful if it's restricted to one book (like The Elegance of the Hedgehog) instead of spread out over several (like Abarat -as much as I love it, waiting for the new one gets so frustrating).

I would rather read a series because I get more used to the characters and it becomes easier to read the books.

I prefer book series, I always like finding out what happened next