2017-11 sequels - What will you read

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

HUGE apologies to everyone. I know the shelf is quite late this month as I had some family stuff last week. Our indomitable head mod Tien is the shelf picker this month since we are in a bind with the late time frame and all. She has picked Sequels and in her own words..."it's the second last month of the year so let's do sequels - let's pick up that second book in the series or finish a series before the year ends."

What sequels have you been dying to get to? Which ones on the list are your faves?

As your picking think about our discussion question for the month...Do you think sequels generally stand up to the first book, or are they often disappointing? "

[Marina]

I think I'll be reading either The Wise Man's Fear or The Silkworm. Probably the latter, since I don't much feel like a 1,000+ pages book right now.

I think it depends - sometimes sequels do stand up to the first book or might be even better, some other times they might be disappointing. For instance, I liked the sequels to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone better than the first book, because the characters become more mature and the story gets more interesting. On the other hand, it was the reverse with the sequels to Divergent - I still liked the second, but the third was not up to the first two IMO.

[Rosemary]

The only one on the list that I have on my TBR is:
Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan.
I'm not sure if I'll read it ... it doesn't fit any of my current challenges. Maybe if I have some time at the end of the month.

I agree with Marina, sequels vary. I think when the first book was the author's first ever novel, a sequel is often better because they've learned more of their craft. But in other cases maybe they have a great idea and turn it into a wonderful book, but then they've used all their ideas and there's nothing new in the sequel.

I loved The Silkworm, Marina, but some of the descriptions of the dead body are gruesome!

[Marina]

Thanks for the warning, Rosemary. I don't like gruesome. But I might just skip the gruesome descriptions and enjoy the rest of the book - I really liked the first book, The Cuckoo's Calling!

[Minttu]

I'm probably going to read Windwitch by Susan Dennard. It's one of my most anticipated sequels this year.
I hope I won't be disappointed. Other option is Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas.

[D.G.]

Great choice! Lots of options for me:


I'll probably read more than one as I'd like to start finishing series and working on all the audios on my TBR...some of these fit both. :)

[D.G.]

Rosemary wrote: "I loved The Silkworm, Marina, but some of the descriptions of the dead body are gruesome!"

Oh yeah...I remember that dead body and I read the book as soon it came out. :p

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

Rosemary wrote: "The only one on the list that I have on my TBR is:
Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan.
I'm not sure if I'll read it ... it doesn't fit any of my current challen..."

I haven't read them yet, but my Mom said the same thing. She thought the second one was a bit too gruesome for her.

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

The Sequels that I KNOW I will be reading are:

The Lullaby Girl
Darkness at the Edge of Town
Glory in Death
Foretold

And

Darkness, My Old Friend, which is the second book in Lisa Unger's The Hollows books, but not a true sequel, I guess.

[Karin]

I have a list of sequels! Not officially, but I am sure there will be something.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I am thinking of reading Days of Blood and Starlight

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

Karin wrote: "I have a list of sequels! Not officially, but I am sure there will be something."

Strangely enough, all of the books on the first several pages of the list are ones that I have, but haven't read the first one yet either. Luckily, I read a lot of series and have several that I will be reading the second book of next month.

[Bea]

Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "Luckily, I read a lot of series and have several that I will be reading the second book of next month."

I may have to pass this month unless I luck out in my reading. Most of my series are past book #2 (which it seems the list concentrates on) and I am not really wanting to start a new series at this time.

[D.G.]

Bea wrote: "I may have to pass this month unless I luck out in my reading. Most of my series are past book #2 (which it seems the list concentrates on) and I am not really wanting to start a new series at this time."

The list has a lot of books past #2 in the series (I found a #9) but you have to look at it a different way, specially since GR cut all the shelves at 1250 books/25 pages even if the shelf itself has more than that...

ETA: From your TBR, I found two books shelved by 1 person as 'sequels' - one is #4 and the other is #8
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/users...
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/users...

[CluckingBell]

Looks like I'll be trying for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, as I also want to do NaNoWriMo in November and an audiobook I can listen to while doing non-NaNo necessaries will work best. Though the Harry Potter audiobooks tend to have enormous waitlists, so my back-up options will be Go Set a Watchman or Children of God.

I can't think of many sequels that have been standouts, but I'm rarely disappointed, either. That first book has to be pretty good for the second to even have a shot. If the sequel is a big improvement, the mediocrity of the first may have already prevented me from reading further. You often see that later books in a series are rated more highly than earlier books, but I think that's because only the most enthusiastic readers kept going. Anyone who thought book one or two wasn't so hot isn't there to assess the quality of the later books.

[Bea]

D.G. wrote: "Bea wrote: "I may have to pass this month unless I luck out in my reading. Most of my series are past book #2 (which it seems the list concentrates on) and I am not really wanting to start a new se..."

Thanks, D.G. As I read my series books, I will check the shelves to see if any qualify.

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

Bea wrote: "Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "Luckily, I read a lot of series and have several that I will be reading the second book of next month."

I may have to pass this month unless I luck out in my reading. M..."

As you know, passing is always fine, and we did post the shelf quite late this month. But just in case, any book that is after book #1 is acceptable, even if it is not on the list, especially since they cut the lists off as D.G. pointed out. So if you happen across anything that fits.

[Bea]

Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "Bea wrote: "Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "Luckily, I read a lot of series and have several that I will be reading the second book of next month."

I may have to pass this month unless I luck out in m..."

Thanks, Lyn.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

So will it count for a sequel if a book is part of a series even though it may not be on the sequels shelf?

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "So will it count for a sequel if a book is part of a series even though it may not be on the sequels shelf?"

While we encourage people to pick items off of the shelf, or that you can tell are shelved this way based on the books top shelves pages, we are not as picky with the monthly reads as we are about shelves for the challenges. The main object of the monthly shelf reading is to get us to read outside our normal genres, so we are a little more open here.

So the short answer is yes.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

Okay, thanks.

[Klela]

Surely I will read A Clash of Kings by George Martin

[Marina]

Klela wrote: "Surely I will read A Clash of Kings by George Martin"

I hope you'll like it. I read the whole series, and I think the first book is the best. I gave this one 3 stars. It wasn't bad at all, only not up to the first.

[Klela]

That's my fear!

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I read all of them that are out and I liked A Dance of Dragons best. They are all chunkster reads.

[D.G.]

I've been meaning to start the Game of Throne series but the books are soo long! One of these days...

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

If you have a commute you can listen to them on audio books.

[D.G.]

I mostly listen to audiobooks already and I'm still leery of listening to those!

[Lisette]

I've no idea yet what to read. I'll have to look at my unfinished series

[Joyce]

Since we can read other books that are not necessarily #2 in the series or at the end of the series I'm going to start with
Reunion in Death as I love that series

Although now that I've looked at the shelf it seems I have a fair number of #2 books to be read.

Inkspell
The Twelve
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Clockwork Prince
Scarlet
Onyx
Beautiful Darkness
Days of Blood & Starlight

It seems I start a lot of series then go onto another one.

I usually find the sequels to be just as good and sometimes better as the author has worked through their world building and gets into meatier storylines. But sometimes If I really loved the first book I am reluctant to continue in case it does not live up to the first.

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I read Beautiful Darkness and it was really good.

[Bea]

D.G. wrote: "I've been meaning to start the Game of Throne series but the books are soo long! One of these days..."

If you decide to try Game of Throne, D.G., I would be willing to do a buddy read of it.

[Lyn (Readinghearts)]

Bea wrote: "D.G. wrote: "I've been meaning to start the Game of Throne series but the books are soo long! One of these days..."

If you decide to try Game of Throne, D.G., I would be willing to do a buddy read..."

I've been meaning to read this series forever, too. They just seem so daunting, and I can't do audiobooks...they literally put me to sleep, especially when driving

[Tien]

I really enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling too & have yet to read The Silkworm. Has anyone seen the tv series yet? Is it good? I believe it has been released...?

I'm going to pick up Wayfarer (Passenger #2) which I bought when it was released in Jan & it will completed Round 1 of Christmas in July for me.

I have a thousand other sequels to read too, of course, but I'll keep my list modest & see how I go ;p

[Lisette]

I will read one of these

[Marina]

Joyce wrote: "Since we can read other books that are not necessarily #2 in the series or at the end of the series I'm going to start with
Reunion in Death as I love that series

Although now that I..."

Joyce, if you liked book 1 in the Millennium trilogy, I recommend you read The Girl Who Played with Fire - I found all three of the books to be just great! I think you're going to love them all if you liked the first one.

Tien wrote: "I really enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling too & have yet to read The Silkworm. Has anyone seen the tv series yet? Is it good? I believe it has been released...?"

Oooh, I didn't even know there was a TV series! Sadly I don't have a TV, do you think it might be on Netflix? I'll have to look into this. I've only read the first book so far and loved it.

[Bea]

Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "I've been meaning to read this series forever, too."

Big books intimidate me. However, reading in chunks is do-able.

[Lisette]

Tien, one of my frieds said she disliked the tv series of The Cuckoo's Calling. I haven't seen it myself yet, but according to her the acting is bad.

About the milenium triology, has anyone read The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye?

[Marina]

Lusie wrote: "About the milenium triology, has anyone read The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye?"

Argh! So it IS true! I had read about a fifth Millennium book due to come out. Lusie, I haven't even read the fourth one (let alone the fifth), and I refuse to do so. I loved the Millennium trilogy and I don't want for another author to spoil it for me. I know Larsson had planned to write more books and that it wasn't supposed to be just a trilogy but a whole series - however, he wasn't given enough time to write it and I don't think anyone should take it on themselves to do so. It's just for money in my opinion, which I hate. Sorry about the rant!

[Lisette]

Marina, I couldn't get into the first book of the Milenium Triology. I felt like we received too much not useful information, which made it boring for me.
I love the Swedisch TV serie of the books though.

I tried book 4, but couldn't get into the story. I'm not sure yet if I'll try book 5.

It's sad he wasn't able to finish the rest of the series. Would have been interesting to see what he would have come up with.
You are right, it is all about money.

[Tien]

Lusie wrote: "Tien, one of my frieds said she disliked the tv series of The Cuckoo's Calling. I haven't seen it myself yet, but according to her the acting is bad."

aw, how disappointing!

@Marina, it's not on Netflix AU :(

[Jayme(theghostreader)]

I didn't know there was a tv series for the Cuckoo's calling. I read the first book and liked the first book. I hope they do put in on netflix.

[Karin]

Lyn (Readinghearts) wrote: "Karin wrote: "I have a list of sequels! Not officially, but I am sure there will be something."

Strangely enough, all of the books on the first several pages of the list are ones that I have, but ..."

Oh my gosh, I forgot to check the list. I was going to go by mine. I am sure there is something there, though.

Okay, The Last Colony has been shelved sequels 5 times and I have it here from the library--all set!

[D.G.]

Bea wrote: "If you decide to try Game of Throne, D.G., I would be willing to do a buddy read..."

Go away, you temptress!! :p

LOL, maybe next year? For the rest of 2017 I'll try to read all those yearly challenges I haven't finished yet.

[Coralie]

I am looking at
Nemesis Games
An Autumn War
The Painted Queen
Half a War
The Waters Rising
The House of the Stag
Inheritor
The Philosopher Kings
even if I couldn't find them on the shelf. I have so many series to finish!

[Bea]

D.G. wrote: "LOL, maybe next year? For the rest of 2017 I'll try to read all those ..."

Sounds fine to me.

[Bea]

Coralie wrote: "I am looking at
Nemesis Games
An Autumn War
The Painted Queen
Half a War
The Waters Rising...

Coralie, checking the top shelves for your list, I found
The House of the Stag - 60 users
An Autumn War - 23 users
The Painted Queen - 16 users
Half a War - 43 users

and that is just half your list showing a listing for the shelf. As someone above mentioned, the GR list truncates so I checked the top shelves on some of your books. I think that is what I will have to do for this shelf also.

[Christina]

Oh my gosh I'm in such a reading rut lately. For one my library is almost completely packed up at the moment so I can find nothing. But still gonna keep trying.
This month will be Hallowed. Hopefully.

[Laure]

I have quite a few series on the go (mainly fantasy or Sci-fi!), and I am hoping this month to read number 2 in the 'Red Rising' series by Pierce Brown. The first book was really good, so onto the second:
Golden Son by Pierce Brown.

[kay]

this themes perfect for me to pick up Crooked Kingdom !!! i know that i'll love it but i feel like i've just been waiting for the right moment to read it.