Punctuation can be very fun to use. One can create variety by changing punctuation, and the right punctuation can make a relatively weak sentence into a strong, powerful sentence. When writers learn how to use the elusive semicolon, therefore, they tend to try to use it in every sentence they right, just to show off their "mastery" of this skill. While that's perfectly fine in writing exercises - writers should always practice things they learn - it is unacceptable to use them throughout a serious piece.
Why do I bring this up? While out at a coffee shop today I saw a book that looked quite interesting. I later picked it up at the library, and I began to read it a few minutes ago.
The book begins at the end of a fierce battle. So far so good, right? It's always a good idea to hook the reader with an immediate action sequence. The first sentence contains a semicolon. I don't really have a problem with that. It's used correctly, and it helps intensify the beginning.
However, there are two semicolons in the next paragraph, as well as a colon. I stopped reading after a while and simply began counting semicolons. In seven pages, only two paragraphs did not contain semicolons, and that was because they were short dialogue paragraphs.
Why should semicolons not be used in large quantities? They're powerful pauses. I'm sure most people, would agree, that too many commas, even when used correctly, but especially when used incorrectly, can get, especially one sentence after another, extremely annoying. Commas indicate a pause in the sentence, helping the reader concentrate on the story as he reads it aloud in his mind. When the sentence is broken up in a way that is unnatural to the way someone would speak, the reader spends more time trying to understand what the sentence is trying to say than on the actual story.
Semicolons are a more powerful pause than the comma and are used so rarely that they attract a lot of attention. I'm sure you've all heard other writers suggest that you use "said" instead of other dialogue tags because it draws a lot less attention. The same is true of semicolons; one should only use them on rare occasions. Otherwise, one should see if one can simply write the sentence as two separate sentences. Readers are okay with sentences that end in periods!
I flipped the book open to a random page in the middle of the book, just to see if the author improved at all. I found seven semicolons on that page, and this is a rather small paperback book.
The moral of the story is that if you wish to make an impact, less really is more. If you like to go the "pattern->surprise" route (developing a predictable pattern and then interrupting it for emphasis), please develop a conservative pattern. I think I'll personally strangle the next author who writes a book full of semicolons - or perhaps I'll strangle the editor who let them pass.
Of course, there was the deliciously painful irony that I found a sentence in the book that should have had a semicolon and didn't. I'm not sure if I was more annoyed or relieved...
Semicolon overkill can be very painful to read. And please don't make a habit of strangling editors quite yet. 
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