The Fifth Season

N. K. Jemisin is a brilliant writer, and I can’t get enough of her novels. Still, I feel like I should offer a trigger warning every time I suggest this book to someone. I’ve flat-out told my husband not to read it—and that makes me really sad, because it means he’s missing out on some…

Allegiant

So, I think I was right about the direction the trilogy was headed in. This third book introduced a bunch of new characters who I could care less about. They don't have a lot of depth or complexity, and we don't spend enough time with them to get to know them. The new setting is…

Insurgent

I see it so, so often in trilogies nowadays. I think I first noticed it when I was reading the Chaos Walking trilogy. Book one is fantastic. Fast-paced, intriguing world, exciting characters. Then book two is kind of a journey, obviously a bridge to get to the finale, but already things are getting sort of…

Divergent

There’s good and bad parts of this trilogy, and a large portion of the good ones happen in the first book. Which isn’t to say that people shouldn’t read them all—but the first book is the best, in my opinion. I know the story well by now, having read the first book a couple times…

A Meeting at Corvallis

As the third book in the first trilogy, you expect the stakes to be raised. War, definitely. Probably some of the characters we know and love dying. Political intrigue, more fun weapons and farming hacks from these people still adapting to a changed world. I was a little disappointed at first when everything seemed to…

The Protector’s War

This book takes place eight years after the events of Dies the Fire. We get more Juney and Mike, with all the supporting cast of characters that you grow to love during the first book. In addition, we get some awesome British characters thrown into the mix, which widens the scope of things. There’s war…

Dies the Fire

Post-apocalyptic fiction is a big deal for me. I’ve always thought that raising the stakes is the best way to see who a character truly is. On a small scale you could say that’s why I prefer YA over adult fiction so often—because for teenagers things are often perceived as life or death, even if…

The Key Trilogy

Nora Roberts generally has a sort of pattern to her trilogies. The first woman is fighting for her self-respect, the second generally has some sort of specialization to round her out, like knowledge or fitness or a business, and the third is courageous and stubborn, fighting against all the odds. The Key Trilogy is one…