Feature: Let’s Talk About…Sequels
I really want to talk about sequels. A lot of times, the sequel gets a bad rep, especially in a trilogy. But nowadays the duology is the new hip thing and I personally freaking love it! So I would love to share with you all some sequels that I loved, some perfect duologies, and a few upcoming sequels that I am eagerly anticipating!
But first, I need to clear the air…some of my more recent features have been inspired by the Brooding YA Hero Street Team! If you haven’t heard, the twitter sensation the Brooding YA Hero, is now going to be a book! Brooding YA Hero: Becoming a Main Character (Almost) as Awesome as Me by Carrie Ann DiRisio so add it to your TBR or preorder it now!
Stand Out Sequels:
Gemina (Illuminae Files #2) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – Just go ahead and kill me already! This series will make and break you! No sophomore book slump here!
A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir – I am pretty sure Elias took lessons from Broody as he is the broodiest YA hero ever in this installment!
Siege and Storm (Shadow and Bone #2) by Leigh Bardugo – Some people still thought there was a little too much journey in this middle book of the trilogy, but not for me. I was hooked from start to finish!
Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2) by Alwyn Hamilton – This sequel stood its ground! Wow! I am officially in love with this series!
*titles link to goodreads
Stand Out Duologies:
Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – Might go down as my most favorite 2 books in history. I am obsessed. OBSESSED. I need more Kaz Brekker in my life.
Eurona Duology: The Great Hunt & The Great Pursuit by Wendy Higgins – Beautiful world building, scenery, and story. Perfect duology, and brooding hero included.
Ivory and Bone & Obsidian and Stars by Julie Eshbaugh – Lovely & unique series…and in this one the broodiest character is female…twist!
Not a Drop to Drink & In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis – Need some post-apocalypse in your reading life…I highly recommend. Plus also read everything Mindy has written!
Riders & Seeker by Veronica Rossi – I loved, loved, loved this series! So different but so good and yes if you follow me on goodreads you know I had to back-burner finishing Seeker but it has nothing to do with the book, just my blog commitments, but almost finished and my feelings will not change!
Most Anticipating Sequels:
Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab – Also a duology that was just released! I can’t wait to read this finally!
The Untitled sequel to Caraval by Stephanie Garber – I believe this is going to be a duology as well!!! Ahhh can’t wait…but I have to wait until some unknown date (most likely 2018)!
Chainbreaker (Timekeeper #2) by Tara Sim – I loved Timekeeper, and gods I hate waiting! November 7th is the day!
Robot Army (Boy Robot #2) by Simon Curtis – How do I keep going until 2018…I am still thinking about Boy Robot!
I would say let’s read Our Dark Duet together but it might be five years from now that we make that happen LOL
I am hoping for an audio listen…maybe next credit!
Cannot WAIT for that Caraval sequel. I adored that book! I have yet to ready anything by Wendy Higgins, but it sounds like I need to get on it!
I’m pretty excited about the new duology trend, but I still have trust issues so I haven’t read very many lol. I’ve been burnt on too many standalones and trilogies that either became trilogies or never-ending series (and don’t get me started on spin-off series …sequels, prequels, sidequels…ugh!).
I think I’m at the stage where I just want a series to be finished, like REALLY FINISHED before I even start it. And I’ve frequently experienced “middle book syndrome” in trilogies, except for The Selection which I thought was pretty consistent. For me, it didn’t tank until it became a series rather than a trilogy lol.
I used to do re-reads and it just takes so much valuable reading time.
I plan to read Boy Robot, but I’m holding off a bit.
I’m hoping to start Our Dark Duet any day now–maybe today–and one of my next duo sequels will be Ringer by Lauren Oliver (I got anxious with that duology and read Replica when it came out so I guess I’ll be testing out my memory – oy!).
PS: I believe Ivory and Bone is going to be a trilogy …at least. 😉
I would love to see more authors limit series to duets like the Eurona Duology by Wendy Higgins that I recently finished. I prefer to start a series after it’s complete these days because I just don’t have good enough recall or the time to go back and reread any more like I used to do with JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series or with Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Lux series. So now I’ve been known to completely delete longer series from my TBR list because realistically I know there’s such a small chance I’d be able to start them and give up weeks or months (Hello, Outlander but no!) of my time to binge read them.