Addicted to YA discussion

So the simple explanation for what the trilogy curse is: a phenomenal first novel, a good second novel, and a mediocre/poor last novel. I can personally name at least a dozen victims (The Hunger Games, Divergent, Matched, The Hunt, etc), but I can not name a single survivor. I am beginning to believe that a YA trilogy cannot avoid this pitfall. Thoughts?

I experience this curse differently. And not with every trilogy, just with most of them. First book is amazing/OMG I need more. Second book sucks/is terrible/I drop it. I don't read the third book.

I agree! I hate the most when the first book went so great with the relationship and the love between the two main characters were good with enough drama and then the next two books will introduce a third character and suddenly it becomes a love triangle. I CANNOT stand when that happens. When they introduce a love triangle in the second or third book, i'll immediately give up on the series.

That's what I'm going through with the sequel to my novel. I'm trying desperately to not make it a ho-hummer after having written a first novel that's been well received.

A sequel, or 3rd of a trilogy, should all be stand-alone novels based on the same setting and characters, and maybe even the same issues as in the first novel. It isn't easy, but if you want a successful second or even 3rd novel, don't just make the 2nd and 3rd a continuation of the first.

As far as the curse itself, I have often thought that the second in a series is bad, usually because the author is too worried about setting up the third book, that we end up with cliff hangers and lack of good story telling. I think this can be true is movies too (think about Empire in the original Star Wars trilogy). The with the third book, it is more polarizing. By the third book, the fans have been there long enough to have favorite characters and have already decided in their own minds how it should go. There is so much anticipation, that it is almost bound to fall short.

I think another reason for the trilogy curse is because if an author doesn't start sliding down, and actually writes a good third book, then they often go on to write more than three (Harry Potter, Michael Vey, Cinder, Percy Jackson, I am Number Four, Gallagher Girls, The Naturals, etc.) So maybe the curse is less that three is bad, and more that people only stop at three because they are already out of good ideas.

Personally (and I know I am in the minority), I liked the endings for both Mockingjay and Allegiant, but I am good with not having a happily ever after sometimes.

Finally, a couple of votes for potential survivors of the curse...
I thought this series held on pretty well through all three books
I enjoyed all three of the books in this series, and loved the characters all the way through.
I was still interested in what happened to them in book three
I think all three held their own (although there is now talk that there could be more books coming, so then it won't stay a trilogy)
Not sure if this 100% qualifies as YA, but I have loved it since I was like 13, so I am including it.
Yes, I am an Ally Carter fan.

Anyway, interesting topic. Those are my ideas.

I don't commpletely agree with you as i've experienced a different thing with trilogies. Even though i read few of them i didn't find the third book boring on the contrary i generally don't like the second one^^
But i'd like to made an exeption for the Winner's Curse cause this trilogy was gorgeous from the first page to the last

KimyQueen wrote: "I don't commpletely agree with you as i've experienced a different thing with trilogies. Even though i read few of them i didn't find the third book boring on the contrary i generally don't like th..."

I have to agree for the Winner's Curse trilogy! For me, it was the second book that was the best!


When it comes to other book series, I hate it when the author gets the main characters together in the first book, only to separate them in the second and to emotionally torture me until the end of the third book when they finally get back together.

I agree almost completely with that, but I have a few exceptional exceptions- there's only one I can think of off the top of my head.
Clockwork Princess is really, really, great and it's better than Clockwork Angel/Prince.

Cruel Prince is good tho. I enjoyed all three books. Shadow & Bone however is definitely cursed. Ruin & Rising’s ending was SO bad.

Honestly, for me, the first book is amazing, the second book is the worst and the third book picks back up again. I think Matched and Twilight are like that. (Even though Twilight isn't a triliogy)

omg. the matched series is so accurate for this

Yazzy wrote: "Cruel Prince is good tho. I enjoyed all three books. Shadow & Bone however is definitely cursed. Ruin & Rising’s ending was SO bad."

If you want to discuss Shadow and Bone and the whole love thing, you should join a discussion I started...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Okay, I hate to say this because the first 2 books are number 1 in my alltime favourites, but...
Scythe series.
First book - superb
Second book - best book I’ve ever read
Third book - so meh
It was annoying, bc the cliff hanger at the end of Thunderhead actually destroyed my soul so many times, but then the third book just veered off from everything good about this series! I really didn’t like the ending.
I think the characters were great, world building as good as it was in the first 2 books, but the plot! So disappointing.
Anyway, I’ve began pretending that it all ends with Thunderhead.

Also, The Lunar Chronicles. The first book was really good, but from there? They just went downhill in my opinion.

The one series, for me at least, that survived the curse is The Selection series (not including the books about their daughter because I hated those). For me, this series is amazing and is one of my favorites. I loved all three books and I really enjoyed them. Though I’ve heard that there are a lot of people that don’t like this series so idk.