My Thoughts on Sequels


I'm currently reading Sapphique by Catherine Fisher. This is the sequel of Incarceron, a book I read in July 2010. I rated Incarceron 4 of 5 stars when I was finished with it, showing that I quite enjoyed it so imagine the surprise I'm feeling as I'm reading Sapphique and not enjoying it one little bit...

I'm actually experiencing stress in this situation because I despise leaving things unfinished. So I'm trying to force myself through this book even though I'm finding I don't care about these characters, where the story is going, or what ultimately happens. Those are hardly good emotions when reading a book. And it's slowing my reading WAY down. I've been trudging through this book all week and I'm only on page 86 of 462.

So this has got me thinking about sequels and how disappointing they can sometimes be. How can a book be SO good, and then be followed up with something so unexciting, so unengageable, so... meh? And the sad thing is, I think this happens frequently. While I don't read many two book series, you see a dip in the second book in MANY trilogies. But in those instances, there's usually a third book that comes in and saves the day. Sadly for Sapphique, that is not the case.

Another example of a book two disaster, in my opinion, is Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund. Rampant, it's predecessor, was an AMAZING book. Now, Ascendant did not suffer from the same ailments that Sapphique does... I was highly interested in the story, but the ending left me pissed off, unsettled, and kind of bummed out. That's one series that I would jump for joy over if a third book was planned.

Anyway... that's my ramblings of the day. I really wish Sapphique was holding my attention more than it is now. I don't want to call it quits and put the book down because there was SOMETHING about the first book that I liked, some attachment I once felt to the story and characters and I think I would always suffer from a "what if..." if I put the book down for good. I just hate that it's this much of a struggle and that my personality prevents me from leaving things unfinished. I think I WILL start another book to read simultaneously though, a book that can provide a much needed relief when I'm ready to quit reading for good! A book that may prevent me from feeling like this:


Hope you are all having a fabulous week! It's almost FRIDAY!! *XOXO*

1 comment:

Sandy said...

I think picking up a book to read simultaneously will help, I was going to suggest that before I reached that part in your post. I also know exactly what you mean with the sophmore slump (that's what bloggers call it right when the second book in a series doesn't live up to the first?). The books that have done it for me were > The Lost Saint (Dark Divine #2) and Crescendo (Hush, Hush #2). I've also heard that Supernaturally isn't as fantastic as Paranormalcy so I've been putting if off out of fear lol.

 
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