Weekend Update: Sophomore Slumps
I've been thinking about this topic quite a bit since posting Does Urban Fantasy Age Well? a few weeks ago. Actually, that post spawned quite a few follow-up topics in my brain, and this is the first of many.
What originally inspired that post was reading the second installment of an urban fantasy series whose first installment I loved and feeling UBER-LETDOWN by it. Because it was the second urban fantasy title this had happened with, I ran with the post I ran with. However, there's something more general, more applicable to be focused on here:
Sophomore slumps.
Now, I need to be clear about something: I'm not referring to authors whose first two books are stand-alones, or aren't related. One can easily say that literary darlings Audrey Niffenegger and Alice Sebold both had serious slumps for their sophomore books, but because those sophomore books were not sequels to their debuts, it doesn't count.
What I'm referring to, regardless of how long the author has been in the business, is installments of a series. Books where you loved #1 so damn much and you were so excited for #2 that when you finally got it and read it, you seriously questioned your own reading tastes and seriously considered not moving forward with the series.
Clear as mud?
At first, I only thought of a few books that fit this category, but as I browsed through my collection on LibraryThing, I realized more books fit this bill than I realized. There were also books that didn't quite fit this bill of such an adverse reaction, but did fit the bill of simply being disappointing. Those books are not listed here, because being disappointed doesn't mean you won't read forward.
Behind the cut are my sophomore slumps, in which I was IN LOVE with book one in the series, but when I got to book two, I had to seriously reconsider reading forward. Take a look at mine, and then feel free to share yours in the comments (just follow the aforementioned criteria!). I should also note this is a criticism-free zone. You might think I'm crazy for loving book one. You might think I'm crazy for disliking book two. That's the nature of opinion, and that's fine. But for my picks, as well as the picks of others in the comments, please be constructive instead of critical. Saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry that book didn't work for you, I loved it!" or saying "Oh, but it gets SO MUCH BETTER in book three!" is perfectly acceptable. Saying, "Book one was shit, I can't believe you loved it!" or "Are you batshit crazy? Book Two was a PIECE OF ART, you cretin!" is not acceptable in the slightest. You guys are great here, and normally, I wouldn't put up such parameters, but I can see how this topic might rub people the wrong way, because for some reason, someone hating something you love gets really personal, really fast.
With that downer of a note, let's hear what I loved, what scared me to pieces, and why I did or did not continue with the series:
So here's how I'm breaking it down: I'll give the author's name, then the name of the series, the title of book one with a link to my original review, then the title of book two with the link to THAT original review, and then finally, the verdict, which explains whether or not I have (or plan to) continue the series and why.
NOTE: there may be teeny-tiny spoilers in the verdict section. They're so tiny that if you blink, you'll miss them, or you may not even consider them spoilers. But, there's your fair warning.
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld
Book #1: Bitten
Book #2: Stolen
Verdict: The difference between these two books was quite startling for me. Bitten was more of a paranormal romance venture, and I really liked learning about Armstrong's werewolf culture while trying to see Elena establish herself as normal even though that wasn't possible. Elena and Clay were awesome, and I couldn't wait to see how they hooked up. But everything I liked about Bitten wasn't in Stolen, and Armstrong gave her readers a crash course about ALL the paranormal elements in her world, and it was way too much. The stuff Stolen focused on was not the stuff I cared for, and knowing book three, Dime Store Magic features a different heroine, well, I've been in no hurry to continue. That being said, I will: I have it in my TBR pile. Not the rest of the series though: I'm going to take it one book at a time.
Author: Jacqueline Carey
Series: Santa Olivia
Book #1: Santa Olivia
Book #2: Saints Astray
Verdict: There is no third book, and I pray there won't be. The difference between these two titles is the difference between night and day, so starkly different in tone and atmosphere and focus that I felt like I was reading two different authors. To say that Carey phoned in the second book with a fanfic-esque sequel of her own work would be putting it kindly, and the kicker is, once you're expecting the disappointment, you CAN enjoy the sequel. I just don't want to see her come back to this world. It's bad enough that I'm questioning my love for Santa Olivia (which got my top rating). I don't need to see her ruin the super-shiny-happy ending of Saints Astray, because I know it'd give us, yet again, another style of book that doesn't match what came before.
Author: Kim Harrison
Series: The Hollows
Book #1: Dead Witch Walking
Book #2: The Good, The Bad, and the Undead
Verdict: I got over my indignation pretty quickly, partially because I already owned books three, four, and five, and I wanted to get my money's worth. But for a good portion of book two, I couldn't stand the heroine and her attitude, and it made me worry that I'd just overlooked the very same problems in book one. That being said, interesting developments and a promise that book three was much better kept me going, and now I'm on book four, with the intent to read book five soon too.
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Series: Theatre Illuminata
Book #1: Eyes Like Stars
Book #2: Perchance to Dream
Verdict: The difference between these two books was pretty stark. I absolutely loved the first book, but the second book felt all over the map, both literally and figuratively. The first book provided a tight setting with a set of magical rules that were easy to grasp, but once Bertie left the theatre, my sense of setting and place and time went out the window, and the second book was far more surreal. I do have the third book of the series sitting in my TBR though, and it's pretty high in the pile, so with any luck, you all will get that review within a few months.
Author: George R.R. Martin
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire
Book #1: A Game of Thrones
Book #2: A Clash of Kings
Verdict: Yeah, I fell IN LOVE with the first book so much that I bought all the books in the series (which, at the time, went through book four). I waited a few years, and then read book two, only to realize I was having a horrible time with it: Martin went on and on and on and on and on about details I didn't care about, like the specific design of banners and armor or the specifics of each meal being eaten. I was bored, and while cool stuff happened, by time I was done, I was seriously scared about continuing. However, I already had books three and four, and all of you promised book three would more than make up for book two. And as I discovered last year, you were right! Which is a huge relief, but now I've got book four waiting in the wings, and I hear that's the weakest book in the series….
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Series: The Last Survivors
Book #1: Life As We Knew It
Book #2: The Dead & The Gone
Verdict: What a sad, sad disappointment. I remember adoring the first book, being utterly captivated by such a unique post-apocalyptic setting. The second book tells us the same story, but with a different character in a different situation, and sadly, that story was no where near as compelling, nor fresh. Of course not, it's the same story. You'd think getting the experience from a new pair of eyes would be awesome, but I found the second book so lacking that I didn't bother getting the third book, despite the fact it's supposed to take the POV characters from both books and stick them together in the same setting.
Author: Carrie Ryan
Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Book #1: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Book #2: The Dead-Tossed Waves
Verdict: The first book was haunting and compelling, and I loved how the author created a zombie story without ever resorting to the word "zombie." However, the second book was essentially the same story, only set years later, and backwards (in other words, the heroine retraced the steps of the previous book's heroine). Having a new heroine also highlighted the first book's flaws, something I didn't like having pointed out to me when I'm no longer in a position to ignore them. I went ahead and picked up the third book in order to complete the trilogy, but it's not a priority in the pile. I may get around to it this year, or early next.
Author: Jordan Summers
Series: Dead World
Book #1: Red
Book #2: Scarlet
Verdict: The first book had such a delightful premise for a paranormal romance, and while it was flawed, it was set up to be the kind of fun series I'd be happy to stick along for. However, book two pummelled me with unnecessary points of view and even more unforgivable, a scene where a supposed love interest forces himself on one of the heroines, and she suddenly realizes how "good it feels" and wants more of him. Book #2 was the last book to receive my lowest rating of "A Waste of Time & Money," and I refused to continue reading the series, which is saying something, because it was only a trilogy.
Author: Megan Whalen Turner
Series: Queen's Thief
Book #1: The Thief
Book #2: The Queen of Attolia
Verdict: This is one of those cases where your expectations for this series is determined by which of the two books you read first (oddly, a lot of people read book two first, loved it, but when they went back to read the first, they hated it). This is because the two books are completely and UTTERLY different in tone and style. If you're like me, reading book one was a light and clever romp with interesting world-building. The second book switched to an uneasy third person omniscient POV that Turner never got a good grasp on, and the things the characters do in this book? Did not feel like what those characters would've done in the first book. I was utterly crushed, because this series is beloved by so many people. However, I already had book three, and with great trepidation, I dusted it off and read it, and fell in love all over again. The series' style is definitely more in the style of the second book, and Turner's figured out how to write the POV she wants, and it finally just CLICKED. I'm caught up to the series now, and to date, it's one of my favorite fantasies. I can't wait for the day it's completed so I can go back and re-read it all over again.
Please note: if you've read a series out of publication order? It doesn't count. So in the case of Turner, you may have LOVED The Queen of Attolia but hated The Thief, and seriously questioned whether or not to continue. Or one of my cases was Catherine Asaro: I read book one and it excited me to pieces, but the second book in that series had me worried to no end. However, the second book I read? Was book three. To make matters more complicated, I learned later that book three was actually the first book she wrote in the series, but the first book she published in the series was the third book she wrote in the series. It's all perfectly valid, but that's not the topic of this post: the topic is starting a series and loving it, reading it in order, and falling out of love with book two. We'll talk about the length of a series and how long is TOO long in a later post, so if book five or six disappointed you, make a note, and save that for future discussion!
With that clarification, are you ready? What series did you fall out of love with when you read the sophomore installment? Lay them on me!
What originally inspired that post was reading the second installment of an urban fantasy series whose first installment I loved and feeling UBER-LETDOWN by it. Because it was the second urban fantasy title this had happened with, I ran with the post I ran with. However, there's something more general, more applicable to be focused on here:
Sophomore slumps.
Now, I need to be clear about something: I'm not referring to authors whose first two books are stand-alones, or aren't related. One can easily say that literary darlings Audrey Niffenegger and Alice Sebold both had serious slumps for their sophomore books, but because those sophomore books were not sequels to their debuts, it doesn't count.
What I'm referring to, regardless of how long the author has been in the business, is installments of a series. Books where you loved #1 so damn much and you were so excited for #2 that when you finally got it and read it, you seriously questioned your own reading tastes and seriously considered not moving forward with the series.
Clear as mud?
At first, I only thought of a few books that fit this category, but as I browsed through my collection on LibraryThing, I realized more books fit this bill than I realized. There were also books that didn't quite fit this bill of such an adverse reaction, but did fit the bill of simply being disappointing. Those books are not listed here, because being disappointed doesn't mean you won't read forward.
Behind the cut are my sophomore slumps, in which I was IN LOVE with book one in the series, but when I got to book two, I had to seriously reconsider reading forward. Take a look at mine, and then feel free to share yours in the comments (just follow the aforementioned criteria!). I should also note this is a criticism-free zone. You might think I'm crazy for loving book one. You might think I'm crazy for disliking book two. That's the nature of opinion, and that's fine. But for my picks, as well as the picks of others in the comments, please be constructive instead of critical. Saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry that book didn't work for you, I loved it!" or saying "Oh, but it gets SO MUCH BETTER in book three!" is perfectly acceptable. Saying, "Book one was shit, I can't believe you loved it!" or "Are you batshit crazy? Book Two was a PIECE OF ART, you cretin!" is not acceptable in the slightest. You guys are great here, and normally, I wouldn't put up such parameters, but I can see how this topic might rub people the wrong way, because for some reason, someone hating something you love gets really personal, really fast.
With that downer of a note, let's hear what I loved, what scared me to pieces, and why I did or did not continue with the series:
So here's how I'm breaking it down: I'll give the author's name, then the name of the series, the title of book one with a link to my original review, then the title of book two with the link to THAT original review, and then finally, the verdict, which explains whether or not I have (or plan to) continue the series and why.
NOTE: there may be teeny-tiny spoilers in the verdict section. They're so tiny that if you blink, you'll miss them, or you may not even consider them spoilers. But, there's your fair warning.
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld
Book #1: Bitten
Book #2: Stolen
Verdict: The difference between these two books was quite startling for me. Bitten was more of a paranormal romance venture, and I really liked learning about Armstrong's werewolf culture while trying to see Elena establish herself as normal even though that wasn't possible. Elena and Clay were awesome, and I couldn't wait to see how they hooked up. But everything I liked about Bitten wasn't in Stolen, and Armstrong gave her readers a crash course about ALL the paranormal elements in her world, and it was way too much. The stuff Stolen focused on was not the stuff I cared for, and knowing book three, Dime Store Magic features a different heroine, well, I've been in no hurry to continue. That being said, I will: I have it in my TBR pile. Not the rest of the series though: I'm going to take it one book at a time.
Author: Jacqueline Carey
Series: Santa Olivia
Book #1: Santa Olivia
Book #2: Saints Astray
Verdict: There is no third book, and I pray there won't be. The difference between these two titles is the difference between night and day, so starkly different in tone and atmosphere and focus that I felt like I was reading two different authors. To say that Carey phoned in the second book with a fanfic-esque sequel of her own work would be putting it kindly, and the kicker is, once you're expecting the disappointment, you CAN enjoy the sequel. I just don't want to see her come back to this world. It's bad enough that I'm questioning my love for Santa Olivia (which got my top rating). I don't need to see her ruin the super-shiny-happy ending of Saints Astray, because I know it'd give us, yet again, another style of book that doesn't match what came before.
Author: Kim Harrison
Series: The Hollows
Book #1: Dead Witch Walking
Book #2: The Good, The Bad, and the Undead
Verdict: I got over my indignation pretty quickly, partially because I already owned books three, four, and five, and I wanted to get my money's worth. But for a good portion of book two, I couldn't stand the heroine and her attitude, and it made me worry that I'd just overlooked the very same problems in book one. That being said, interesting developments and a promise that book three was much better kept me going, and now I'm on book four, with the intent to read book five soon too.
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Series: Theatre Illuminata
Book #1: Eyes Like Stars
Book #2: Perchance to Dream
Verdict: The difference between these two books was pretty stark. I absolutely loved the first book, but the second book felt all over the map, both literally and figuratively. The first book provided a tight setting with a set of magical rules that were easy to grasp, but once Bertie left the theatre, my sense of setting and place and time went out the window, and the second book was far more surreal. I do have the third book of the series sitting in my TBR though, and it's pretty high in the pile, so with any luck, you all will get that review within a few months.
Author: George R.R. Martin
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire
Book #1: A Game of Thrones
Book #2: A Clash of Kings
Verdict: Yeah, I fell IN LOVE with the first book so much that I bought all the books in the series (which, at the time, went through book four). I waited a few years, and then read book two, only to realize I was having a horrible time with it: Martin went on and on and on and on and on about details I didn't care about, like the specific design of banners and armor or the specifics of each meal being eaten. I was bored, and while cool stuff happened, by time I was done, I was seriously scared about continuing. However, I already had books three and four, and all of you promised book three would more than make up for book two. And as I discovered last year, you were right! Which is a huge relief, but now I've got book four waiting in the wings, and I hear that's the weakest book in the series….
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Series: The Last Survivors
Book #1: Life As We Knew It
Book #2: The Dead & The Gone
Verdict: What a sad, sad disappointment. I remember adoring the first book, being utterly captivated by such a unique post-apocalyptic setting. The second book tells us the same story, but with a different character in a different situation, and sadly, that story was no where near as compelling, nor fresh. Of course not, it's the same story. You'd think getting the experience from a new pair of eyes would be awesome, but I found the second book so lacking that I didn't bother getting the third book, despite the fact it's supposed to take the POV characters from both books and stick them together in the same setting.
Author: Carrie Ryan
Series: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Book #1: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Book #2: The Dead-Tossed Waves
Verdict: The first book was haunting and compelling, and I loved how the author created a zombie story without ever resorting to the word "zombie." However, the second book was essentially the same story, only set years later, and backwards (in other words, the heroine retraced the steps of the previous book's heroine). Having a new heroine also highlighted the first book's flaws, something I didn't like having pointed out to me when I'm no longer in a position to ignore them. I went ahead and picked up the third book in order to complete the trilogy, but it's not a priority in the pile. I may get around to it this year, or early next.
Author: Jordan Summers
Series: Dead World
Book #1: Red
Book #2: Scarlet
Verdict: The first book had such a delightful premise for a paranormal romance, and while it was flawed, it was set up to be the kind of fun series I'd be happy to stick along for. However, book two pummelled me with unnecessary points of view and even more unforgivable, a scene where a supposed love interest forces himself on one of the heroines, and she suddenly realizes how "good it feels" and wants more of him. Book #2 was the last book to receive my lowest rating of "A Waste of Time & Money," and I refused to continue reading the series, which is saying something, because it was only a trilogy.
Author: Megan Whalen Turner
Series: Queen's Thief
Book #1: The Thief
Book #2: The Queen of Attolia
Verdict: This is one of those cases where your expectations for this series is determined by which of the two books you read first (oddly, a lot of people read book two first, loved it, but when they went back to read the first, they hated it). This is because the two books are completely and UTTERLY different in tone and style. If you're like me, reading book one was a light and clever romp with interesting world-building. The second book switched to an uneasy third person omniscient POV that Turner never got a good grasp on, and the things the characters do in this book? Did not feel like what those characters would've done in the first book. I was utterly crushed, because this series is beloved by so many people. However, I already had book three, and with great trepidation, I dusted it off and read it, and fell in love all over again. The series' style is definitely more in the style of the second book, and Turner's figured out how to write the POV she wants, and it finally just CLICKED. I'm caught up to the series now, and to date, it's one of my favorite fantasies. I can't wait for the day it's completed so I can go back and re-read it all over again.
Please note: if you've read a series out of publication order? It doesn't count. So in the case of Turner, you may have LOVED The Queen of Attolia but hated The Thief, and seriously questioned whether or not to continue. Or one of my cases was Catherine Asaro: I read book one and it excited me to pieces, but the second book in that series had me worried to no end. However, the second book I read? Was book three. To make matters more complicated, I learned later that book three was actually the first book she wrote in the series, but the first book she published in the series was the third book she wrote in the series. It's all perfectly valid, but that's not the topic of this post: the topic is starting a series and loving it, reading it in order, and falling out of love with book two. We'll talk about the length of a series and how long is TOO long in a later post, so if book five or six disappointed you, make a note, and save that for future discussion!
With that clarification, are you ready? What series did you fall out of love with when you read the sophomore installment? Lay them on me!