Has anyone noticed that trilogies (and “cycles” “sagas”, etc) kind of suck? Not as a whole I’m talking the crash and burn final book.Lets illustrate:
The first book starts out something like this:
Second book:
And then…Third (or fourth):
Can you say CRASH AND BURN? I don’t say this about ALL series, just most. City of Glass, for instance was an amazing third book. But, there are a lot more “Fails” in the third book arena than gold medalists.
Extras by Scott Westerfield, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, Gone by Lisa Mcmann. The Uglies, Hunger Games, and Wake series’ are all awesome until you get to book three (or in Scotts case book 4) where they just go up in flames.
I really wish I knew why this happens. Maybe the writer just got tired of writing the characters and didn’t put all they had into it. Maybe the third book just couldn’t be as amazing as the first two because well… how likely is it to get three mind-blowing books in a row? Not likely, apparently.
Granted, I think the last books in these series were okay by themselves, but when held up to the glaring awesomeness that was the first two books they suck!
That is why I hate the idea of writing a trilogy and why I will never write one if I have anything to say about it. (Which I do by the way) I think two books is plenty to get across your point, and I don’t think there are enough duos out there. The only one I can really think of right now is the Incarceron duo by Catherine Fisher (which is AMAZING be the way) and I understand the need to “let the characters lead the story” and “you need one more book because the readers want one” but readers don’t want a book that seems crappy in comparison to the first two or three.
Honestly, I didn’t even bother to buy Extras by Westerfield because I thought it would disgrace the other three books on my shelf. Dramatic? Maybe a little, but don’t you guys think that sometimes authors just write a third/fourth book to mak more money? Or that the third/fourth book in a series kind of crashes and burns?
Comment! I want to hear you guys’ thoughts.
UPDATE: I’ll be back this week with guest posts and many other random postings because of my absence last week.
