Ever read a good first book in a series only to discover that none of the following books measured up to the first one AT ALL? This has happened to me a lot recently, so I thought I'd make a list. For each of these you may want to read the first book, but skip the sequels. *This post contains (minimal) spoilers for all books mentioned*
Game of Thrones
This is definitely an adult book with adult content (
just a disclaimer). The first book is mainly about the Starks and the events that surround them: Bran's fall, Ned's journey to King's Landing to serve as Hand of the King, Jon's initiation as a member of the Knight's Watch guarding the wall, and glimpses through the eyes of the Stark girls. We're introduced to the Lannisters, and their scheming and plotting as they play the "game of thrones". Far away, Dany is in exile, waiting for the day when she can reclaim the kingdom that should be hers to rule.
Each chapter is told from a different characters' perspective, but the story flowed very well, and each character had an interesting point of view, as well as something to contribute to the story as a whole. I was surprised that I was actually excited to hear from each character. The story was woven together seamlessly and didn't get confusing or boring despite the multiple perspectives. In the
first book.
In the second and third books, Martin adds even more narrators. The most notable is Jamie Lannister. It's interesting getting into the mind of the "villain" and discovering that he may be more empathetic than you first thought. The problem is there are
so.
many.
characters. We become familiar with Robert's brothers, Renly and Stannis, and the key players in their entourages. We get to know Varys and Littlefinger, and other members of the King's Court. We meet all of Jon's "brothers" in the Knight's Watch. Not to mention Robb's bannermen, Arya's crew, the Tyrells, the Martells, and many more minor characters. It becomes difficult to keep track of them all.
Also, in the first book, there was one main story (the Starks going to King's landing) with two side stories (Dany across the sea and Jon at the wall). In the second and third books, the characters are all over the place: the Iron islands, Winterfell, Riverrun, Harrenhal, the Twins, the Eyrie, Dragonstone, Storm's End, and various places in the woods/villages in between. I had to keep looking at the map to figure out where everyone was and why it was taking so freaking long for anyone to get anywhere!
There is just too much going on in the books: too many characters, too many places, too many narrators. Yet not enough is actually happening: there's a lot of plotting, but not enough action. In the second book, everything basically sets the stage for one big epic battle at the end of the book. In the third book, nothing really happens until the last third of the book: then there are three weddings, two dramatic murders, a lot of people die, and Dany gets an army. The ending of the third book almost makes up for all the text you have to plow through to get there, but not quite. It just takes way too long for the story to culminate in something meaningful, and a lot of insignificant things happen along the way.
I really think Game of Thrones could have been great if George R.R. Martin had a better editor who had weeded out some of the extraneous information. And maybe if he'd stop killing off all my favorite characters.
Divergent
I like dystopian novels. I'm willing to suspend reality and delve into a futuristic world created by the author. In Divergent, I liked the idea of factions and the division of people into separate parts of society based on their strengths. However, Divergent was less about the dystopian society and more about conquering fears. In a way, it was more like Harry Potter than the Hunger Games. The main character, Tris, joins a new faction, the Dauntless, which is basically a whole new way of life for her. She discovers she is special ("divergent"), makes new friends, deals with adversity, and discovers strength and courage that she didn't know she had. Plus she falls in love! The first book was a fast, fun read.
I don't know if I've ever read a series where the books go downhill so fast. In the second book, Tris leaves the Dauntless compound, and kind of travels around to the different factions, trying to figure out what the antagonist is planning. Tris, and the book, are aimless- with no clear direction driving the decision-making. It also becomes clear that the factions don't make much sense. The dauntless are the protectors, the erudite are the leaders, the abnegation are the servants, but what real purpose do amity and candor have? Being peaceful and telling the truth don't exactly qualify them for any type of position. This dystopian world just starts to seem really dumb. Add in characters needlessly dying, Tris's poor decision-making, and a character's unlikely and unbelievable betrayal, and the story just starts to fall apart.
The third book just gets even worse, if that's possible. Now Tris and a few of her friends venture outside the city. It turns out the factions only exist in Chicago (and a few other cities), and there's a "normal" world without factions outside the walls. It seems fairly easy for them to get out, which begs the question, "why has no one done this before?" But let's not question it too much. Tris and her friends get to a compound of sorts, where they learn that scientists in the real world have set up cities with factions as a genetic experiment. In the real world, there are genetically pure people and genetically damaged people. The experiments, over time, are supposed to create a genetically pure line ("divergents") with all the best genes for a perfect society. Don't think about it too much, because it makes even less sense in the book.
The third book was so stupid, I just stopped caring. I almost didn't finish it, but managed to pull through to at least find out what happens to Tris and her love interest. It basically comes down to the fact that the factions are about to go to war inside the walls of Chicago (they still don't know inside the city that they're all part of a big experiment), and the only way to stop them is by releasing a memory-erasing serum from the genetic compound. However, the serum that will save the day is guarded by a death serum, which will kill anyone who gets inside the chamber to release it.
I'm getting bored just typing this. You can imagine what a struggle it was to finish this book.
*Major spoiler* To sum up the ending: one of the main characters sacrifices themselves to release the serum and save the city, but by this point, you won't care. Usually when a character dies at the end of a book, I will cry, or get mad, or be all emotional at the unfairness of it all. In this book, I can actually say I was glad that the author made me stop caring, because I had no emotions at all at the tragic ending. Except disappointment at the stupidity of the book. And relief that the series was over.
Maze Runner
This was definitely a weird book, and it took a little bit of reading to get into it. The book starts out with no real context, and you start out as confused as the main character (who's had his memory wiped, so he's quite confused). As the reader, you figure things out along with Thomas; basically he has been dumped in a place called the Glade, which is surrounded by a giant maze. The only way out is to find a way through the maze; however the maze is guarded by Grievers and the doors to the maze close each day at sunset. You don't want to be trapped inside the maze at night with the Grievers. Thomas must help the other Gladers find a way out of the Maze before it's too late.
So the first book was initially kind of confusing, but as the book goes on, you pick up more information, get more clues, and have some idea as to what's going on. The second book is so all over the place that I can't even begin to describe the plot, except to say that there's a disease called the "Flare" that they're all infected with, and for some reason they have to race across the desert to get a cure. Random things happen that don't make sense: the Gladers discover tattoos on the back of their necks, friends that Thomas trusts act strangely and tell him to stay away from them, Thomas has "memory dreams", Thomas sees words printed on a brick saying, "Thomas, you're the real leader", creatures/machines attack out of nowhere, and finally friends betray Thomas, but then it turns out through some ridiculous explanation, they didn't
really betray him. Huh? By the end you still don't know what's real, what's part of the experiment, who's good, who's bad, or what the heck happened in the last hundred pages.
The second book was pretty confusing and brought up a lot more questions than it answered, but maybe this series could have been redeemed by a final book that made sense. No such luck. I never actually read the third book, but my mom and sister told me not to bother. They said the third book is just as convoluted as the second, and that there's no satisfying explanation for anything that happens. I trust them and I didn't want to waste my time on another disappointing book.
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The sad part about all of these, is that the first books were so GOOD. I was excited to read the next book in each series. Unfortunately, I think some authors do not have a clear game plan for their stories and haven't thought them out much past the first book.
