Wishing for a Comeback
It happens over and over. You start a new series or discover a new author and discover with delight that books like these are the reason you read in the first place. You glom onto every word, and then one day you discover you've run out. That series has ended, sometimes without ending the story, or that author has stopped putting out new books. A one-year break turns into a ten-year break, release dates get pushed back to infinity, or perhaps everything just goes silent when you go looking for any information about new books. And there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth (or that part could just be me.)
We've all had this happen, the series or author who stop before we're ready for it. What are some of mine? Well, glad you asked, since I just so happen to have a few of them handy here:
Christie Golden's Final Dance series was originally planned to be a four-book series, but after sales figures for the first two books weren't as high as the publisher had hoped, the third book was published as an e-book only and then the series was dropped. Which is a shame, because this series is criminally underrated. The premise follows five "dancers," each gifted with the power of one element and an animal companion. In each of their lifetimes, the dancers have to relearn their abilities and identities to join together and defeat the darkness. The battle's been fought four times previously, won twice and lost twice, and with the final battle creeping closer, the fate of the world relies on desert-dwelling Flame Dancer Kevla, Earth Dancer Jareth from the icy north, and Sea Dancer Copper in her island home.
The world-building in these books is beautiful. Each book focuses on a different Dancer, starting fresh with a new nation, climate, and politics, all of which are richly detailed and thought out. By the end of book three, the first three dancers have found each other and begun to work together to find the next one... and that's where their story stops. I don't believe "arg" is a strong enough word to express my dismay.
Since this series, Christie Golden has primarily worked with established franchises, writing novels for Star Wars, Star Trek, and Warcraft, among others. My understanding is these books sell quite well, but if she ever decided to return to her original world and finish the Final Dance series, there would be much giddiness and spending of money in my house.
Laura Resnick's Chronicles of Sirkara starts with In Legend Born, an epic fantasy that swept me away and made me fall madly in love. I picked this book up when it was first published in 1998, and it's been read so many times my tattered copy's been repaired more than once and is looking like it could be replaced. When I stumbled across the promised sequel five years later in the bookstore, I did the happiest book dance ever known to man. The immediate story wrapped up in a trilogy, but left a few threads open for future volumes with new protagonists.
Five unlikely allies, each from a different faction in a land constantly torn apart by infighting, try to join together to free their nation from the conquering Valdani, who are well on their way to taking over every nation in the known world. In Legend Born and the two volumes that come after it, The White Dragon and The Destroyer Goddess completes the story of the five allies and their nation, but the battle between the Valdani and the native occupants rages on in at least two other countries. Resnick's website mentions more volumes in the series, but the date keeps getting pushed back, and my face gets sad.
Of course, Resnick has been working hard on other books, including the Esther Diamond series, which I've enjoyed. Nothing else made me fall in love as madly as The Chronicles of Sirkara, though, and although it's been nearly ten years, I'd still love to see a new addition in this world.
No, I'm not saying Harry Potter needs more volumes. That world was conceived as a 7-book series, and while I'm sure Rowling could tinker around more with those characters if she wanted to, the basic storyline she'd been working with finished, the antagonist defeated, the world saved yet again. (It's a YA fantasy series, folks. Even if you haven't finished reading all seven books, you can't tell me that's a spoiler.)
While Rowling has come out with a few expansions to her world, things like Beetle the Bard, she hasn't published a new novel since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007. She's been very open about not wanting to write another Harry Potter novel, and I'm perfectly fine with that. I'd really love to see her tackle something else, though, something new. She has such a knack for creative and quirky characters and worldbuilding, I'd love to see what she could do with a fresh slate. I haven't heard any word about new things coming from the desk of Rowling, although I somehow doubt she'd have a hard time getting a book deal for any new endeavors.
So those are mine. What are yours? Do you give up and forget after a certain point, or do you continue to hold out a faint hope that one day shiny new books will show up (partially due in part to your elaborate dancing and offerings to various gods)?
We've all had this happen, the series or author who stop before we're ready for it. What are some of mine? Well, glad you asked, since I just so happen to have a few of them handy here:
Christie Golden's Final Dance series was originally planned to be a four-book series, but after sales figures for the first two books weren't as high as the publisher had hoped, the third book was published as an e-book only and then the series was dropped. Which is a shame, because this series is criminally underrated. The premise follows five "dancers," each gifted with the power of one element and an animal companion. In each of their lifetimes, the dancers have to relearn their abilities and identities to join together and defeat the darkness. The battle's been fought four times previously, won twice and lost twice, and with the final battle creeping closer, the fate of the world relies on desert-dwelling Flame Dancer Kevla, Earth Dancer Jareth from the icy north, and Sea Dancer Copper in her island home.
The world-building in these books is beautiful. Each book focuses on a different Dancer, starting fresh with a new nation, climate, and politics, all of which are richly detailed and thought out. By the end of book three, the first three dancers have found each other and begun to work together to find the next one... and that's where their story stops. I don't believe "arg" is a strong enough word to express my dismay.
Since this series, Christie Golden has primarily worked with established franchises, writing novels for Star Wars, Star Trek, and Warcraft, among others. My understanding is these books sell quite well, but if she ever decided to return to her original world and finish the Final Dance series, there would be much giddiness and spending of money in my house.
Laura Resnick's Chronicles of Sirkara starts with In Legend Born, an epic fantasy that swept me away and made me fall madly in love. I picked this book up when it was first published in 1998, and it's been read so many times my tattered copy's been repaired more than once and is looking like it could be replaced. When I stumbled across the promised sequel five years later in the bookstore, I did the happiest book dance ever known to man. The immediate story wrapped up in a trilogy, but left a few threads open for future volumes with new protagonists.
Five unlikely allies, each from a different faction in a land constantly torn apart by infighting, try to join together to free their nation from the conquering Valdani, who are well on their way to taking over every nation in the known world. In Legend Born and the two volumes that come after it, The White Dragon and The Destroyer Goddess completes the story of the five allies and their nation, but the battle between the Valdani and the native occupants rages on in at least two other countries. Resnick's website mentions more volumes in the series, but the date keeps getting pushed back, and my face gets sad.
Of course, Resnick has been working hard on other books, including the Esther Diamond series, which I've enjoyed. Nothing else made me fall in love as madly as The Chronicles of Sirkara, though, and although it's been nearly ten years, I'd still love to see a new addition in this world.
No, I'm not saying Harry Potter needs more volumes. That world was conceived as a 7-book series, and while I'm sure Rowling could tinker around more with those characters if she wanted to, the basic storyline she'd been working with finished, the antagonist defeated, the world saved yet again. (It's a YA fantasy series, folks. Even if you haven't finished reading all seven books, you can't tell me that's a spoiler.)
While Rowling has come out with a few expansions to her world, things like Beetle the Bard, she hasn't published a new novel since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007. She's been very open about not wanting to write another Harry Potter novel, and I'm perfectly fine with that. I'd really love to see her tackle something else, though, something new. She has such a knack for creative and quirky characters and worldbuilding, I'd love to see what she could do with a fresh slate. I haven't heard any word about new things coming from the desk of Rowling, although I somehow doubt she'd have a hard time getting a book deal for any new endeavors.
So those are mine. What are yours? Do you give up and forget after a certain point, or do you continue to hold out a faint hope that one day shiny new books will show up (partially due in part to your elaborate dancing and offerings to various gods)?