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I really had no idea there was so much to say about sequels until I read the wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
I hate sequels. They're never as good as the first book.
Connie Willis
http://www.brainyquote.com/...
This quotation is a bit of irony since she wrote All Clear as a sequel to Blackout. Perhaps, it is not truly a sequel but the necessary outcome of having to divide a big book into two parts due to size. The theme of WW II is definitely large and to cover several characters using time travel who visit that era did take a lot of pages.
And, yes, Blackout left me with a cliffhanger in that one character has to be rescued before a certain date or she is toast. At least I didn't have to wait too long to get the sequel.
So what to say about sequels? When I have to wait years in between and when the cliffhanger is particularly difficult, I get ornery. Yes, I do want the sequel to be a good one, but if the author is writing other books instead of the next one in the series, I really wonder.
I saw on the net that others agree with Connie that sequels are not as good, but I have been fortunate to find many that were. What I really like is finding a series that is already written so I can read them all in a row. I just managed that with Michelle Sagara.
I read a series that I liked by her under the name Michelle West and didn’t realize she changed her name. By the time I discovered that, there were six in the series. That is good.
Chronicles of Elantra.
Cast in Shadow
Cast in Courtlight
Cast in Secret
Cast in Fury
Cast in Silence
Cast in Chaos
And, yes, now I am waiting for the next one which is to be titled Cast in Ruins.
Sometimes it is hard to find all of the books in a series, especially if they are older. My science fiction book club sometimes offers the stories all in one book and that really helps.
Then, there is the sadness when an author dies mid series or towards the end as Robert Jordan did. I am happy to end the series with the last one he wrote himself, but I have bought the next two with Brandon Sanderson for my youngest son who wants to finish the series.
I have several series going and I try to keep track of when the next book is due, but sometimes I just give up. I am often thankful for a stand alone book as Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris, Cryptonomicon and Anathem by Neil Stephenson, or To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts.
Some non-fiction sequels are written to let us know how things are going. I am thinking of Stones into Schools following Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. I was really glad to hear an update.
Then, there is the problem of mystery stories that are really sequels because the same hero is present, but things in his life change. It is good to read those in order, but it is hard to find them in order, too.
Almost all of the mysteries I know about do that so I just have to live with it.
Another thing I wondered about in a post I wrote in a diary by Rimjob is how are series books affected by movies being made before the series is finished?
In the case of Harry Potter, I felt as if the actors took over and became the characters in the books instead of the other way around. Maybe that is OK when the actors are wonderful. I also thought that readers’ reactions to the books and the films might have influenced the writer’s decisions in the direction the books took. Again, that is not all bad, but I just wonder about it.
In a series, some of the books are better than others and I think that is just the way it is. I am so happy to have some of the great series that I am not complaining, but just recommending that a reader keep trying. I am also the one who decided to stop with a couple of series and be happy with the last one I read as an ending. My example for that is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. The last one for me is A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I am too old to live to find out why Jamie is standing outside Claire’s window in the first book. I have stopped caring. I was perfectly happy stopping where I did.
Some series are published in another country, first, and I have to wait a long time for the book to come here after it is published. I could go to Amazon.UK, but Barnes and Noble is blue and lets me pay by phone. So, I am waiting for a new one by Janny Wurts. It is set in the world of her other trilogies and I think that it will have some of the same characters or children of them, but the first series did come to an end. That was good to have closure.
Other authors also will write trilogies that come to an end and then write three more for the series and that is helpful. Robin Hobb has had three sets of trilogies plus two more books that are set in one world and hook together. I was lucky to find and read them in order as they came out.
Robin Hobb (All these trilogies fit together).
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The Farseer Trilogy
The Farseer Trilogy follows the life of FitzChivalry Farseer (Fitz), a royal bastard and trained assassin, in a kingdom called The Six Duchies while his uncle, Prince Verity, attempts to wage war on the Red-Ship Raiders from The OutIslands who are attacking the shores of the kingdom by turning the people of the Six Duchies into Forged ones; a form of zombification which makes them emotionless. Meanwhile Prince Regal's jealousy and the indulgence of his own selfish whims threatens to destroy Six Duchies.
Assassin's Apprentice (1995)
Royal Assassin (1996)
Assassin's Quest (1997)
Liveship Traders Trilogy
The Liveship Traders Trilogy mainly takes place southwest of The Six Duchies in Bingtown (a colony of Jamaillia) and focuses on Liveships (sentient ships).
Ship of Magic (1998)
The Mad Ship (1999)
Ship of Destiny (2000)
The Tawny Man Trilogy
The Tawny Man continues the life of FitzChivalry Farseer from The Farseer Trilogy. It commences 15 years after the events in Assassin's Quest, a period covered in part by The Liveship Traders Trilogy. It focuses on The Fool's attempts to guide others to fulfill his prophecies.
Fool's Errand (2002)
Golden Fool (2003)
Fool's Fate (2003)
The Rain Wild Chronicles
Takes place in the years after the Liveship Traders and the Tawny Man trilogies.
Dragon Keeper (2009)
Dragon Haven (2010)
Robin Hobb has said that she is currently working on a third book for The Rain Wild Chronicles.
Michelle West’s series begins with two followed by the main series which is set in the same world:
Hunter’s Oath
Hunter’s Death
Sun Sword series
Broken Crown
Uncrowned King
Shining Court
Sea of Sorrows
Riven Shield
Sun Sword
Janny Wurts has several series that are good, but this one is my favorite:
Wiki describes the list this way using arc instead of sequel which works, but I am glad I read them in order as they came out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The Wars of Light and Shadow
Arc I
Curse of the Mistwraith (1993)
Arc II
Ships of Merior (1994)
Warhost of Vastmark (1995)
Arc III: Alliance of Light
Fugitive Prince (1997)
Grand Conspiracy (1999)
Peril's Gate (2001)
Traitor's Knot (2004)
Stormed Fortress (2007)
I am waiting for The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicles Series #2) by Patrick Rothfuss due on March 1rst which is the sequel to Name of the Wind.
One set must be read together even if the reader is exhausted after the first one. The powerful story of alien contact is not complete without the sequel.
The Sparrow and sequel by Mary Doria Russell
Children of God
Sometimes in a first book even by an author I like, there are no characters that I can like. Several times that has caused me to quit right there. Kate Elliott's latest fantasy series was difficult to read, but I kept on because I liked the characters very much.
Spirit Gate
Shadow Gate
Traitor’s Gate
What do you think about sequels? Are they good or bad? Should each book in a series provide some kind of closure or leave us hanging on a huge cliff? Have you given up on some authors?
Books that Begin with S
Sacajawea by Anna Lee Waldo
Sacred Cut by David Hewson
Sailing Alone Around the Room (poetry) by Billy Collins
Sala’s Gift by Ann Kirschner
Salterton Trilogy by Robertson Davies
Tempest Tost
Leaven of Malice
Mixture of Frailties
Sarah Bishop by Scott O’Dell
Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
Sarah Morgan, Diary (Civil War era) ed. Charles East
Sarantine Mosaic series by Guy Gavriel Kay
Sailing to Sarantine
Lord of Emperors
Savage Beauty bio. Of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
Sea Room by Norman Gautreau
Scapel and the Silver Bear by Lori Aviso Alvord and E. van Pelt
Scar by China Mieville
Songs from the Seashell Archives Vol. I by Elizabeth Scarborough
Song of Sorcery
Unicorn Creed
Vol. II
Bronwyn’s Bane
The Christening Quest
Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick William Marshal #2
Sequel to The Greatest Knight
Scarlet Pimpernell by Baroness Orczy
Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard
Scheherazade Goes West by Fatema Mernissi
Schindler’s Legacy by Elinor J. Brecher
Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally (Title is also Schindler’s Ark)
Schooling of Claybird Catts by Janis Owens
School of Night by Alan Wall
Science Fiction Hall of Fame...vol II ed, by Bova
The Seamstress by Sarah Tuvel Bernstein
Search the Dark by Charles Todd
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ by Sue Townsend
Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Secret of Platform B by Eva Ibbotson
The Secret of Santa Vittoria by Robert Crichton
Pete Seeger bio
The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger by Alec Wilkinson
Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Seeker by Jack McDevitt
Seneca Falls Inheritance and sequels by Miriam Grace Monfredo
North Star Conspiracy
Blackwater Spirits
Through a Gold Eagle
Stalking Horse
Must the Maiden Die
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler by Jason Roberts about James Holman
http://www.jasonroberts.net/...
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Serpent Garden by Judith Merkel Riley
Seventh Sword series by Dave Duncan
Reluctant Swordsman
Coming of Wisdom
Destiny of the Sword
Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb (Afghanistan)
Shabanu and sequel by Suzanne Staples (Pakistan)
Haveli
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
Shadow of Gulls and sequel by Patricia Finney
Crow Goddess
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
Shane by Jack Schaefer
Shards of Honor by Lois Bujold
She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
Sherman’s March to the Sea by General Jacob D. Cox
Shadows of a Childhood by Elizabeth Gille (daughter of Irene Nemirovsky...fiction)
Short History of a Prince by Jane Hamilton
Shroud for the Archbishop by Peter Tremayne
Silk Road: Xi'an to Kashgar by Judy Bonavia
Silver Oar by Howard Breslin
Singing Cave by Eilis Dillon
Sisterhood of Spies by Elizabeth McIntosh
Sisters of Henry VIII by Maria Perry
Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
The Slave by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Small Woman by Gladys Aylward
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Snow in August by Pete Hamill
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
Soldier of the Mist and sequels by Gene Wolfe
Soldier of Arete
Soldier of Sidon
Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip
Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris
Sonnet Lover by Carol Goodman
Sorcerers of Majipoor and sequels by Robert Silverberg
Lord Valentine’s Castle
Majipoor Chronicles
Valentine Pontifex
Sorcerer’s Stone and sequels by J. K. Rowling
Chamber of Secrets
Prisoner of Azkaban
Goblet of Fire
Order of the Phoenix
HP and the Half Blood Prince
Deathly Hallows
Sorcery Rising by Jude Fisher
Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver
Soul’s Code by James Hillman
The Source by James Michener
Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell
Space between Us by Thrity Umrigar
The Sparrow and sequel by Mary Doria Russell
Children of God
Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
Steel City Magic series by Wen Spencer
Tinker
Wolf Who Rules
Steerwoman’s Road contains (2) and sequels by Rosemary Kirstein
Steerswoman
Outskirter’s Secret
Lost Steersman
Language of Power
Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong
Spirit Gate and sequels by Kate Elliott
Shadow Gate
Traitor’s Gate
SPQR...#1 King’s Gambit by Ford Maddox Roberts
Staircase of a Thousand Steps by Masha Hamilton
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Stars Asunder by Doyle and McDonald
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Stolen Lives...bio of Malika Oufkir by Fitoussi
Stone Dust by Justin Scott
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
Sequel to Three Cups of Tea
Storycatcher by Christina Baldwin
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama
A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Sultan’s Seal by Jenny White
Summer Garden by Paullina Simons #3 in series
Bronze Horseman
Tatiana and Alexander
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home by Harry Kemelman
Friday the Rabbi Slept Late – 1964
Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry – 1966
Monday The Rabbi Took Off – 1972
Tuesday the Rabbi Saw Red – 1973
Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet – 1976
Thursday the Rabbi Walked Out – 1978
Sunflower Splendor...Chinese Poems
The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal
The Sunlight Dialogues by John Gardner
Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman
Sun Sword series by Michelle West
Broken Crown
Uncrowned King
Shining Court
Sea of Sorrows
Riven Shield
Sun Sword
Surely You Are Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman
Surviving by Hiller-Warren
Suspect by Michael Robotham
Swan Songs 6-in-1 by Brian Stableford
Halcyon Drift
Rhapsody in Black
Promised Land
Paradise Game
Fenris Device
Swan Song
Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
Sword and Lion by Roberta Cray
Sword of Flame by Maggie Furley
Diaries of the week
Write On! Two words.
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Thursday Classical Music OPUS 23: More, MORE Wagner!
by Dumbo
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Book Review: "Dream in Color", by Loretta and Linda Sanchez
by mole333
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Nurse Kelley Sez: KOS KATALOGUE UPDATE!
by KelleyRN2
http://www.dailykos.com/...
kOscars 2010: Let's talk
by kOscars
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NOTE: plf515 has book talk on Wednesday mornings early. Watch for extra editions on Sundays!
sarahnity’s list of DKos authorshttp://www.dailykos.com/...