Today, the bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish have asked us to list the Top Ten Best Sequels in books.
Finally, a topic that I can whole-heartedly enter into. The topics in the last couple of weeks didn’t rock my boat and I just couldn’t be bothered to take part, but awesome sequel books? there are so many that I love and want to list down here.
- First up, let’s deal with the classics. Yes, classics. My most amazing classic sequel has to be Through the Looking Glass. OK, technically it may not be a sequel, but it is the second book by Lewis Carroll about Alice, so it counts.
- Using the same logic (and in honor of Banned Books week), I nominate The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is the amazing sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. I missed mentioning Huckleberry Finn in my top ten secondary characters post, so I am correcting that omission here. Both the book and Huck Finn rock.
- Couple of other sequels that I like are Anne of Avonlea, and Anne of the Island, which are the sequel to Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I am blah about the rest of the books in the series, but I loved the first 3 books.
- Next up comes the Fantasy genre, which is chock full of amazing sequels. Of course, first mention goes to A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords which are awesome sequels in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R.Martin.
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K.Rowling was the sequel that cemented this series in my heart. This series has a huge jump from the beginning books, which are nice but still childish to the later epic books in the series. In my mind, The Prisoner of Azkaban is the book that handled this transition in the series perfectly.
- The Two Towers and The Return of the King by J.R.R.Tolkien. The first book in the series was really a setup book to introduce the characters and the situations, but The Two Towers really ramps up the action, and The Return of the King was such a satisfying ending.
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis. Does anyone even remember much about the first book in the series? This sequel is seriously so good, that a lot of people read it as just a standalone book.
- The Golem’s Eye and Ptolemy’s Gate are also lovely books that make up the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.
- Now, on to thrillers. The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson is awesome. I love the intense focus on the character of Lizbeth Salander, and the strong feminist slant of the book. This is the best book in the series.
- Another thriller that I read recently and liked a lot is The Snowman by Jo Nesbo. It is one of the books in the Harry Hole series. The first book in the series The Bat was disappointing, but the sequel more than makes up for in terms of the thrills.
So, folks, that makes up my top ten awesome sequel list. I know I have left out a lot of wonderful books, the Dune series by Frank Herbert, the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, the Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card…the sequels in all these series were wonderful.
But, it’s a top ten list, so I am determined not to drone on forever. What are your favorite sequels?
With you on Anne of Green Gables and Harry Potter! Chronicles of Narnia, I’m not much of a fan of the entire series but I have heard good things from fans of high fantasy series. My list would surely include Maria V Snyder’s Study series.
@Shweta: I am not a fan of the Narnia series either. I read only the first 3 books, and The lion…was the best of the lot. It’s not that the other books are bad, it just wasn’t compelling enough.
Now I should check out the Maria Snyder series you mention
Sent from my iPhone
>
I really enjoyed the Millenium trilogy books, you have me curious about Jo Nesbo now 🙂
Nice list!
@Melinda: The Jo Nesbo books are typical crime/police procedural thrillers. If you are into writers like Michael Connelly (the Harry Bosch series), you will like these books too.
great post and thanx for listing down the best sequels.
Great list Nish. Agree with you about most of the books here, except for Narnia, dragon tattoo and Bartimaeus trilogy where I have only the first book of the series. Yet to read the rest of them.And havent read Jo Nesbo series yet.
I have read only *(typo)
Lists like these are worse than “best books list”. I don’t just have to read one book, I’ve got to finish the whole series too, hehe 🙂 Will probably get my hands on Stroud or Nesbo.(Thanks!)
GoT is highly recommended but the series is not yet done so that’s something to look forward to.
Have not read the Fire and Ice series, but agree with you totally about the Bartimaeus Trilogy. And LOTR.
@Ava: Oh, you should try the Ice and Fire series. Highly recommend.
Stroud and Martin are amazing, love both authors so much 🙂
Nice list!
My TTT
@Ula: I haven’t read any of their books other than these series, but their writing style is so great, I think I would love anything written by them 🙂
Even I enjoyed the first 3 books from the Anne of Green Gables series. I couldn’t relate to the rest of them, but the development of a girl and her ambitions was the best part in those 3.
@Akshita: Somehow, the charm ended for me with the third book. Once Gilbert and Anne got married, it all started sounding very stale. Also, I started finding it unrealistically sweet.
Gifts let the emotions loose to fullest, and no matter whether a simple one or a gorgeous one, gifts are always very close to heart. Gifts are the silent messengers between two hearts, and even when the giver not around, the gift keeps reminding about the sweet terms spent together. Watch out http://www.gifts2japan.com for more details.
Like your list. We have some specific books in common which is funny 🙂
Really have to get around reading the Bartimaeus series
@Ciska: Oh, really, heading over to your blog 🙂