Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Top Ten Best Sequels

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Best Sequels.

I'm not 100% sure what counts as a sequel. Is that only book 2? Or any book after book 1 in a series? In order to narrow down my list, I'm only going with book 2 out of a series.

The second book in a series usually takes a hit, especially in trilogies. Book 1 is the build up and either ends in conflict such as a cliffhanger, or the conflict begins in book 2. Book 2 is usually the down period where we struggle through to get to the resolution in book 3. That's just how it is. Keeping that in mind, it was actually harder than I expected to create my list.

While there are tons of series that I love the series as a whole, when I looked at book 2 only, I had to pause. What's funny is that in my list below, a lot of these books are actually companion novels or novels that switch to a different MC and thus don't carry on the story immediately following book 1. I'm counting them anyway. I also excluded books retelling the first book (i.e. Walking Disaster, Losing Hope, etc).

    1) Rose Under Fire (Code Name Verity, # 2) by Elizabeth Wein (companion)
    2) Fragments (Partials, # 2) by Dan Wells (lenghty but worth it in the end) (review coming soon)
    3) The Dead-Tossed Waves (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, # 2) by Carrie Ryan (swaps MC and years after the events of book 1)
    4) Jet (Marked Men, # 2) by Jay Crownover (companion) (review coming soon)
    5) Point of Retreat (Slammed, # 2) by Colleen Hoover (so emotional)
    6) Fire (Graceling Realm, # 2) by Kristin Cashore (companion)
    7) Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, # 2) by Cassandra Clare (major events take place)
    8) Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, # 2) by Marissa Meyer (half companion, half continuation, enjoyed better than book 1)
    9) Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, # 2) by Maggie Stiefvater (love Maggie S.)
    10) New Moon (Twilight, # 2) by Stephenie Meyer (while I can't say I hated this book ever, I've changed my feelings on it and think it was a great sequel to Twilight)
    11) Frostbite (Vampire Academy, # 2) by Richelle Mead (such a pivotal book in the series)

What are your top favorite sequels? Let me know!