TOP TEN TUESDAY | STAND-ALONE NOVELS THAT NEED A SEQUEL

This week’s prompt is stand-alone books that need a sequel. I’m going to attack this from a couple of sides. A few will be books that I felt needed more information or that the story didn’t quite feel finished to me. The other is books that I just loved so much that I would do anything to be able to spend more time in that world. There might even be at least one series that I just wish would keep going, and unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you already know which one that is going to be!

Books I felt I could use a bit more of:

      

I’m going with some recent reads because, frankly, I can’t really remember which of the books I read more than a year ago left me feeling like I needed more. None of these really need a sequel in the sense of being incomplete without one. They were all left with some dangling ends very much on purpose. But I am a curious person, and while I understand why the authors made the choices they did, and they work, I would absolutely love to know what the authors saw happening to their characters after they penned the last line.

Books I loved so much that I want to dive back into their world or find out what the characters are doing now:

            

   

All of these books had me completely hooked and if any were to come out with a sequel I would read it in a second. The irony is that three of these authors have since come out with new books and I either didn’t finish them (Andy Weir and Gabrielle Zevin’s newest books) or read them and enjoyed them, but didn’t find myself quite as entranced as I was by the first one (Angie Thomas). But if any of them were to write a new book that directly followed on from these, I would be first in line!

And one sad one:

As I’ve talked about many times on this blog, this book is one that I will never recover from. It was absolutely brilliant, the writing was full of promise and a finesse rare amongst young authors. But Marina Keegan tragically passed away in a car accident before this book was even published, and all that talent went with her. I will forever wonder what that wonderful mind of hers would have brought us had she had more time in this world.

One series I would do anything to read both prequels and sequels to:

Yep, you saw this one coming. And I know pretty much every person on the planet would agree with me here. But it’s not just that I loved this series and wish there were more of it. It’s also that I really feel like this series would really lend itself to expansion. There are so many options of how this could be done. There could, of course, be a direct continuation where we see our heroes as adults and find out what adventures they get up to as professional witches and wizards and as parents and adult friends. There could also be a perspective shift and we could follow the next generation to school and see what they get up to. Or, and this is my personal favourite and the one I think is just begging to be written, we could experience at least two possible prequel ideas. The first has been touched on in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – learning more about the teachers as younger witches and wizards. The other is the story of Voldemort’s first rise to power and how Harry’s parents’ generation fought him. There are just so many options. And I understand why J.K. Rowling has moved on. She spent years of her life living in this world, and she bade it farewell. I get why that’s enough for her. But I just feel like there are so many possibilities, and part of me will never stop hoping she decides to dive back in!

That’s it for this week – as always, I’d love to hear from you guys! Which books made your list this week? Do you agree with (or disagree with) any of my picks this week?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.