I Don’t Like When Books Know They’ll Have A Sequel
That’s not to say that I dislike sequels, or trilogies, or what have you. I enjoy staying in a world, watching characters grow and change, seeing how they react to different challenges, etc etc. But there’s a certain type of book that simply knows there will be another book after it is finished. These are often easy to spot as they leave hanging so many threads and, often, will end with blatant sequel bait.
Something about that never sits right with me. Not when books do it, not when movies do it, not when anything does it really. It’s one thing, to my mind, to be exploring a world, developing characters, and having them not quite complete their goals in book one but still have a satisfying total narrative. It is quite another to be blatant, predictable. To introduce an obvious long running villain only to have them escape the hero multiple times, or to slow walk the hero’s development so that it only really occurs in a singular blast at the end of book one, only to assuredly be scaled back and in need of further development in any given sequel, or to have an epilogue entirely detached from the story who’s sole purpose is to introduce a character that will be important in future books.
It neutralizes the story, I think. That’s really my main complaint. I have no problem with an author weaving a grand narrative, but I still want the book I’m reading to be a self-contained work. It doesn’t have to have a happy ending, or indeed even a completely airtight ending - it needs only a satisfying ending.
But the book that knows it is but one work of many can punt on these conclusions, on these establishments. Threads can be woven and left to be spliced into a tapestry later. Characters can move little and grow less, because there is always time in the next book. And so on and so on. It is irksome to reach the end of a novel only to have nothing of true consequence occur, and to know the same awaits you in book two. Contrary to its goal, it only encourages me not to read further - for what’s the point?
I don’t know if I’m making sense here, and I’m being intentionally vague because this isn’t some sort of author call-out post. Just a small frustration I wish to share.
So yeah. Authors, please, your book is not the cliffhanger end to season one of a three season guaranteed Netflix show. It is a story. And yes, while the overarching narrative may not be complete in book one, the episode still must come to a close. I ask that you provide that closure. I promise I will be more interested in your sequel that way, as opposed to having learned to expect no conclusion whatsoever.
But that’s, perhaps, just a me problem. Your mileage may vary.