Many readers feel compelled to finish any book they started. I am one of those readers. But that’s a bad compulsion. It makes you cautious about trying new things. You read more books, and greater variety, if you quit reading any book you’re not enjoying.

I’ve been reading an acclaimed science fiction trilogy that totals 1,100 pages. I liked the first book, but did not love it. I liked the second book less. Tonight I got within 100 pages of the end of the third book and said, “I’m done.”

I went to the Wikipedia page for the book and read the plot summary, which is something I do when I’m considering abandoning a book, and confirmed I was not interested in finishing.

The trilogy could have been a single good novel. Say, 250 pages.

Though the series is hard science fiction, the structure is fantasy. A band of characters, led by a hero, travel through a series of lands populated by strange aliens to defeat an antagonist that’s essentially a powerful evil wizard. This is not a genre I enjoy.

I’m intentionally not saying the name of the series or author. The author is aging, and I hear they’re having a hard time. I don’t want the karma of saying anything bad.