Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted by Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Since April 2022, the meme moved to another host, Aria @ Book Nook Bits. Let’s Talk Bookish is a meme where participants discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and share their love by visiting each other’s posts.

This week’s topic is Second Book Syndrome and I’m sure this one sounds familiar to a lot of us. At least, it did to me and I have experienced this numerous times while reading a second book in a series. Well, let’s dive deeper into this!

Prompts: Second book syndrome is often seen in series where the sequel, or second book, isn’t as good as the first, making the sequel less interesting or engaging. Do you notice this frequently in books you read? What are some of the best sequels you’ve read that avoid this entirely?

O I have seen second book syndrome so often! It mainly happens in fantasy. The world needs to be built up and it often feels like the second book is a filler which leads up to the climax in the final book. It occurs often in trilogies, I haven’t seen much of this in longer series. However, it also occurs in duologies. Here are several books that suffer from second book syndrome, but also books that avoid this entirely.

Second book syndrome

• Evermore by Sara Holland – The first book was Everless and so engaging, whilst this second and final book was dragging the entire time. In my opinion, it was best to extend Everless with just a few chapters and therefore make it a stand alone. This second book never added up to the actual story.
• The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa – This is a series I don’t particularly like at all and that’s probably because I’ve read another of Kagawa’s series first. However, this book is so slow and I was bored the entire read. I finished the series because I did a readalong with a few people, but I was the only one actually finishing it.
• Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin – I loved the first book in this trilogy, Serpent & Dove. However, this series was never meant to be a trilogy at all. Therefore, the second book was not great. I never finished the series because of this.
• Children of Virtue and Vengence by Tomi Adeyemi – It takes the author forever to release the next books within this series. Between the first and second book was more than 1.5 years and now the third (and final?) book is scheduled for mid 2024. That is nearly 5 years later. However, this second book was incrediby boring and repetitive. Furthermore, I can’t remember what happened so I might not finish this series at all. It’s a pity, because I loved the first book.
• Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa – Yet another Kagawa here, but all is forgiven because the third book in this series is so, so good. It just took 2 books to get there, with this second book being a little less interesting.
• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer – This book is basically Bella being all depressed and stuf until the final part. So, this partially counts right?
• Wildcard by Marie Lu – Warcross was exciting and all, but this book was a little boring.

Books that avoid second book syndrome

• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas – this entire series is awesome, but especially this second book. The author takes the time to let Feyre heal from her traumas from the previous book and the character development is beautiful.
• Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas – Yes, the Throne of Glass series is also great in world and story building.
• House of Sky & Breath by Sarah J. Maas – Let’s state that this author succeeds well in avoiding second book syndrome.
• Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros – Do I need to say more?
• The Wicked King by Holly Black – This is probably the most exciting book of the Elfhame trilogy, the others are less exciting and fall flat compared to this.
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – Oh I devoured this series within a week, do I need to explain more?
• The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty – I love how more complicated and rich this world gets.
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – In each book of The Lunar Chronicles we follow another main character, but we don’t loose track of the original story. They come together and I just love love love this series.
• Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong – I have the feeling the story actually starts here, because the characters grow a lot and their bond is explored more in depth.

These are just a few examples of second book syndrome. What about you? Have you experienced second book syndrome once or more? Which books do you think suffer from it and which books don’t? Let’s discuss!