Here we go…
Why is it that so many writers of young adult series can’t actually finish a book these days? It seems to me that writers for young adults are getting so lazy! Three series I’ve read lately illustrate this point: Michael Vey, The Selection series and Cinder. There are many more that I have read in the past, but those are the most recent and fresh on my mind. The conclusion is so poor and plot resolution so sloppy that they might as well come to the last page and write, “If you want to find out more, please buy the next book.” When I read a conclusion like that I feel so annoyed that I don’t want to even go on to the next book unless the book is free (borrowed) and most or all of the books are already out and I won’t have to wait forever to hear the conclusion. I’m totally fine with an underlying conflict that is unresolved that threads itself through all the books, (Like Harry Potter), but the book needs to stand alone well enough that I want to buy the next book simply because I love the writing, characters, the world that the author has created. Some examples of series like this:
Anne of Green Gables: I wanted SO BADLY to find out more about Anne. Sure, I wasn’t sure who she would end up with (Please say it is Gilbert!!!), but each book stood on its own so well, and concluded so masterfully that I continued on simply because I wanted to BE in that world more. I breathed a sigh of contentment at the end, not of frustration!
Harry Potter: The whole series is about defeating Voldemort and that doesn’t happen until the last book. However, each book has it’s own, unique plot and conflict, which all resolves in each book.
The Giver: I have read this book many times. This is a unique series, I know since the first book was printed seven years before it’s sequel. In fact, I didn’t even know there was a sequel until I accidentally read it around 2007. However, the series work together so well, yet the Giver stands alone so nicely. I accidentally read the sequel only because I was at the library and saw a book by Lois Lowry that I hadn’t read and having loved some of her other books, decided to take it home!
The Goose Girl series: Each book is so marvelously written, so perfectly developed and concluded, yet I always wanted to know more about the characters and the world in which they live.
Here are a few more young adult series that I feel are well written and not so lazily written (in order of greatness-first being the best in my opinion):
Chronicles of Narnia – one of my favorites of all time
The Wrinkle in Time Quintet
Fablehaven
Flavia de Luce series (starting with Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
Percy Jackson
Any others that I need to know about?
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