Thursday, June 23, 2016

Literary Life: Sequels and Series

Two weeks ago, I read The Rose and the Dagger which is the sequel to The Wrath and the Dawn. I enjoyed the sequel as much as the first book. The characters were compelling, the writing moved at a wonderfully breakneck speed, and I was captivated by the story. But it was a rough re-entry. The six months between reading the first book and the second one made lots of details blurry and it took me a few chapters to remember what had happened before and get back in the rhythm of Renee Ahdieh's writing.


So maybe I've learned my lesson. I read The Cuckoo's Calling earlier this month. Then I went to the library and picked up the next one. This way, I will remember everything from the first book that impacts the second. One of my favorite reading memories is when I sped through several Flavia de Luce books all in a row. Some of my most frustrating moments have been while reading books in series when the previous book was published (and read) many years before.


So tell me, bookish friends. How do you deal with sequels and series? Do you read them all in one glorious spree? Do you re-read earlier books before a new release? Or do you just jump in and hope that you remember enough of the previous stories?

8 comments:

  1. Series are tricky. My preference is to have all the books in hand before I start reading the first one, but in reality, I can never wait that long. So I read them. Forget them. Reread them when the next one comes out. Then wait impatiently for the next... It's a little exhausting. :)

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    1. It is exhausting!! But I find it difficult to wait for a complete series because so many people talk about them and spoil the books anyway...

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  2. I recently read the sequel to a book I had read in August 2013. It was a little confusing. A lot of times I just don't read the second or third book. That helps. ;)

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  3. I can't wait for a whole series to be released. I do prefer, though, to find a series with several books already out at least, then start with book 1. If the author writes on a schedule I shouldn't have much of a gap in between.

    One series that got ruined by very long delays between each was The Passage series by Justin Cronin. He had *years* between book 1, 2, and 3 and they are huge chunksters with a large cast of characters. I had to refer back to book 1 in order to read book 2, and now I don't own them anymore and have book 3 on my kindle. Not sure if I'll enjoy it without "cheat sheets".

    By the way, now I'm interested in the first-mentioned series by Ahdieh. Will look for it, so thanks!

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    1. Yes, sometimes I feel like I should take notes so I remember what happened during earlier books.

      Let me know what you think when you get to The Wrath and the Dawn! :)

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  4. Ooo... Great topic for a discussion post. It's interesting to learn what works for others when it comes to series.

    I have such a horrible memory and for that reason I tend to avoid series all together. On the few times when I am tempted by a series, I've learnt to try and read the books in as quick succession as possible. This doesn't always work out to be a good thing as sometimes I can overload on the general plot and then need a breather, but if I want to have a 'good' reading experience, I find that is what I need to do. It seems like we are similar in that way.

    Love that you included pictures in the post - the last picture is so colourful!

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  5. I use the blog Recaptains to get reviews of older books in a series, but it's not the same as reading them closer to one another. I'm a little turned off of series lately for that reason. I think I'm going to do more waiting until series are done in the future :)

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