"Revolt Of The Sequels - Part One!"

Sequal Mania drives me crazy as well! I dont mind authors that use the same characters - Jack Ryan, Dirk Pitt, but I want novels that stand on thier own, with a definite ending. Except for Lord of the Rings, and perhaps the Matrix, sequals in movies drive me crazy to. The former drive in movie critic of the old Dallas Times Hearld newspaper - Joe Bob Briggs, said it best - the only way to do a sequal well was to make the exact same movie all over again!

My biggest problem with the left behind series is that half the next book is spent explaining what happened in previous books!

 

I like some series...like some of Lori Wick's and Dee Henderson. The difference with Dee Henderson, from what I've seen, is that each book focuses on a different character's story. I don't feel that I can't die before I read the last one, but I was quite upset when the library didn't have it.

Oh, and sequels in movies tend to drive me crazy. They are never as good as the original.

 

TeaTime said:

I am probably not the only one who feels this way! Attention Christian-book authors: quit putting out multi-book sagas!!!

Don't sell sequels short. It used to be that all novels were published in serial form, and if people wanted the whole story they would have to go to the bookseller every two weeks and pick up the next issue. (The same way comic books are published today.) Only after the series was done would the book be published all together.

For example, if you read a Charles Dickens novel carefully, you can see the cliff-hanger endings where each number of the serial ended.

Stephen King experimented with a serial novel a few years ago, The Green Mile, publishing six volumes over six months. It was a resounding success - all six volumes actually appeared on the NY Times bestseller list simultaneously.

Of course, that's a far cry from the dog's breakfast that is the Left Behind series, which is not planned out so much as stretched out.