Discussion: What are Your Favorite Sequels?

Photo credit: nedrichards on Flickr

There are a lot of sequels coming out this year, many of which I'm incredibly excited about. From Heidi Heilig's The Ship Beyond Time, to V.E. Schwab's A Conjuring of Light, to Emily Skrutskie's The Edge of the Abyss, to Roshani Chokshi's A Crown of Wishes and more, 2017 is jam-packed full of awesome-sounding sequels.

Between that and impending Into the Black revisions, I've been thinking a lot about sequels lately, specifically what makes a sequel successful. Part of it, I think, is every book should build on the previous book and continue to be better than the last—the author, after all, should be growing as they go along and should, in theory, be able to apply what they've learned from their last book into the next one.

Then of course every sequel should, for the most part at least, stand on its own with a full plot arc and character development and building on whatever the previous book established. Something I love about sequels—especially SFF sequels—is they allow the readers to learn more about the world the books have established, so there are more characters, more twists, more details and nuances to the initial setup. The world of the book can—and should—get bigger with every sequel, and it's something I never really tire of seeing when done well.

Some of my favorite sequels that have accomplished this include Beth Revis's A Million Suns, Sally Green's Half Wild, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Each of these books expanded on what readers knew from the previous books and gave us more—more powerful (and conflicted) characters, more problems built upon problems from prior books, more nuances to the world the author had established earlier in a way that doesn't feel contrived.

When done right, sequels can turn a book you liked into a series you love; they can make you question the way you felt about a particular character and have you cheer or cringe as they develop book to book. They can forge a connection that runs deeper and deeper with every sequel and leave you feeling like you know some of those characters better than you know yourself.

Sequels are pretty magical, and I look forward to enjoying many more this year.

What do you think makes a sequels successful? And what are some of your favorites?

Twitter-sized bite:

What makes a sequel successful? And what are some of your favorites? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet) 

Mini Book Reviews 2: Spaceships and Faeries

As far as reading goes, this month has been pretty excellent. It has also been a month of sequels.

Photo credit: Goodreads

I mentioned I was reading The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa last month, and as I’ve continued the series, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The Iron King (the first book) was a good read, The Iron Daughter was interesting, but The Iron Queen simply blew my expectations out of the water and became my favorite of the series thus far. I’m now currently reading The Iron Knight, which has been different from the previous three in many obvious ways (such as a complete change in POV), but has been so far equally good, in my opinion.

As far as the series goes, what I said last month stands: the series is definitely targeted towards the female half of the population, with swoon-worthy characters, a couple love triangles and pretty eyes, and although there were a couple things that bugged me along the way (i.e.: a certain female protagonist who is lost without her man), the series certainly never gets boring, the characters are memorable and the faery world Kagawa created is just fantastic.

Now, the spaceships—or rather, spaceship.

I read and reviewed Across the Universe by Beth Revis in this post way back when, and as I thoroughly enjoyed it, I’d been waiting quite eagerly for the sequel, A Million Suns.

Photo credit: Goodreads

Well. Before I go any further, I’ll share with you the Goodreads summary:

Godspeed was once fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. It’s been three months. In that time, Amy has learned to hide who she is. Elder is trying to be the leader he’s always wanted to be. But as the ship gets more and more out of control, only one thing is certain: They have to get off the ship.

I’m not even sure where to start, because A Million Suns was simply amazing—so amazing, that I’ve told more than a few people that it’s one of the best sequels I’ve read thus far.

I think what I loved most about it was that it doesn’t read like a sequel—it was full of action, intrigue, slam-your-head-against-the-wall moments and mystery—can’t forget the mystery. The characters make mistakes, the love interest is far from perfect and with every solution, two more problems crops up until the climax.

In short, A Million Suns was a fantastic read and if you’ve read Across the Universe, you have to pick up the sequel. If you haven’t read Across the Universe I suggest that you give it a try.

What’s the best book you’ve read this month? Any recommendations?