Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying To Read, But Don't Exist

I've never done a meme before, so I thought I might participate in the Top Ten Tuesday list hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's challenge seemed fun (Top 10 Sequels I'm Dying to Read), but I realized that I would be repeating several titles from my list of TBR books from last week. So, I've decided to spin the meme a little, and do mine as a list of books that don't have a sequel, but should. In no particular order:

1. The Princess Bride - I would welcome books about many of Goldman's characters from this fantasy classic (esp. Inigo Montoya and Fezzik). Sorry, but Buttercup's Baby just doesn't cut it.

2. Peter and Wendy - Sure, there were a few additions Barrie wrote to expand on the original play, but no real continuation of the novel was written.

3. Foxfire - It was one of my favorite books when I was an angsty teen and I always wanted more. What happened to Legs, yo?

4. Good Omens - In fact, another collaboration of any kind between Gaiman and Pratchett would be appreciated.

5. Dracula - Despite the fact that the title character has had many incarnations over the last century (even though he was totally dusted at the end of the book), I'm interested in how Stoker might have expanded on his idea. More hunting for Van Helsing perhaps?

6. Franny and Zooey - Technically, Salinger wrote several stories about various members of the Glass family, but I wouldn't say they were a real series (so, not cheating, heh). This installment and the title characters were by far my favorites, and I would have loved to have read more of them.

7. Sunshine - One of the most interesting and well-written urban fantasies from the last decade and truly deserving a sequel. McKinley is supposedly planning a novel set in the same world, but that's all I've heard so far.

8. Darwinia - This one definitely had mixed reviews and wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it and would really like to read more from this world.

9. The War in the Air - I could have chosen several of Wells' novels for this list, but settled on this one because, well, flying machines are awesome folks.

10. The Little Prince - This is another one where later authors have continued the tale, but I can't imagine any of them could match Saint-Exupery's original work. He was a fascinating and talented man, and I believe he would have come up with many more delightful stories if his life had not been cut short. You can probably tell that I've been a huge fan since childhood, LOL.

So that's it. and it was a tough list to narrow down. Obviously, several of these choices have no possibility of a sequel, and some still have hope. There were also a few I considered because I liked them so much, but decided they were perfect on their own or wouldn't benefit from additional works (Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World in particular).

I almost added Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey, but when I checked it out I discovered that there is finally a sequel coming later this year - yay!

What novels do you think deserved a sequel? Any characters whose story should continue?

7 comments:

Alexis Morgan said...

I don't have one to add to the list, but I did have to wait about eight years for Barbara Hambly to write the sequel to Those Who Hunt the Night. When I finished reading it, I really REALLY wanted to know what happened to the vampire Don Simon. It was such a relief to read the sequel and know that he was all right.

Ella Gray said...

Alexis - Eight years certainly is a long time to wait! I guess that's one way for an author to build suspense, LOL.

Alexis Morgan said...

So true--he's still one of my favorte characters--

Rebecca Zanetti said...

This is a great blog post! I'm with you on the Princess Bride - that sequel would be fantastic. :)

Ella Gray said...

Thanks Rebecca! I think we'll have to settle for Princess Bride fan-fic :-)

Meredith said...

Oh, I fully agree about the Princess Bride one. How fun would it be to have a book all about Inigo Montoya taking over the role of the Dread Pirate Roberts?

It's funny how some books we crave a sequel for, and others have sequels that really should not have been written. IMHO I think Anne Rice should have quit her Vampire Chronicles after Queen of the Dead; Tale of the Body Thief just did not do it for me.

Picking one of my own? I've always been curious how Jem Fitch grew up after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird. Did he become a lawyer like his dad? Did he and Boo Radley become friends?

Ella Gray said...

Meredith - Good choice with Jem Fitch. It would be very interesting to see what kind of people all the children grew up to be. And Boo should get his own book, too :-)

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