I recently finished Marissa Meyer\u2019s delectable YA series, \u201cThe Lunar Chronicles.\u201d Or so I thought.<\/p>\n
Originally planned as a quartet with one book per fairytale heroine: \u201cCinder,\u201d \u201cScarlet,\u201d \u201cCress,\u201d and \u201cWinter,\u201d a prequel, \u201cFairest,\u201d got added between books three and four. That was all well and good with me, it was actually interesting to read how the evil queen got evil.<\/p>\n
But then, on closing the pages of \u201cWinter,\u201d I learn not only about a book of short stories, \u201cStars Above,\u201d which Meyer herself views as \u201cThe End\u201d but also spinoff graphic novel series focusing on an (admittedly awesome) side character.<\/p>\n
Cool. Cool. I will read your short stories \u2014 because I honestly do love the series \u2014 and I\u2019ll probably read the graphic novels too. Just one question: When is it actually going to end?<\/p>\n
Seriously, not complaining. I was the one who went to your signing last fall and fangirled terribly. The type of fangirling where you find yourself both unable to form coherent sentences and unable to stop talking. You were incredibly kind and gracious.<\/p>\n
But where will it end? I\u2019m not sure if I can sustain the tension.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just Meyer whose success has triggered an avalanche of sequels and tie-ins. For instance, there\u2019s Kiera Cass, whose original Selection trilogy I wrote up in \u201cWhat YA novels taught me about how America will be destroyed\u201d (Still one of my favorite columns ever, http:\/\/bit.ly\/21sbDym). Then she published four tie-in stories in a companion book, \u201cHappily Ever After.\u201d Then, suddenly, there was a sequel series following the children of the characters in the first series consisting of \u201cThe Heir\u201d and what I\u2019m told is the fifth and final book, \u201cThe Crown,\u201d due out in May. Right, \u201cfifth and final.\u201d I\u2019ll believe it when I see it.<\/p>\n
I mean, I get it. I love what you guys do and it seems to be working for you too but don\u2019t you ever worry about diminishing returns. I\u2019m talking about the Tolkien Conundrum: One good book in \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d one astonishing series in \u201cThe Lord of the Rings.\u201d But then he couldn\u2019t leave Middle Earth and we were stuck with such works as \u201cThe Silmarrillion\u201d and \u201cThe Children of H\u00farin.\u201d*<\/p>\n
We get it. Some of us never want the story to end, but if each succeeding work has a decreasing literary value, maybe it\u2019s time to move on to fresher pastures? Or is it possible for a writer to get stuck in one imaginary world and never, ever move out?<\/p>\n
But then there\u2019s the opposite problem, what I will call the J.K. Rowling Experience: Nobody really likes her other work as much. Sure \u201cA Casual Vacancy\u201d and her three Cormoran Strike mysteries have sold millions, but they\u2019re frequently met with disdain by a press and fans still moon-struck by Harry Potter.<\/p>\n
Is it any wonder then that she has moved back into the world of Harry Potter with the upcoming \u201cFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them\u201d movie series \u2014 her screenwriting debut \u2014 and the highly-anticipated \u201cHarry Potter and the Cursed Child,\u201d a play being billed as the 8th story (a collaboration between her, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne).<\/p>\n
I know I for one met the announcement with childish glee and went eagerly to Hearthside to pre-order my copy of the script (release date: July 31). And even as I stood there browsing, I overheard the employees debating whether a midnight release party was merited nine years after Harry Potter 7, an argument in which I weighed in decidedly for. (Come on Hearthside, I never got to go to them as a kid! I want to dress up as Harry or better yet, come in my house colors \u2014 Ravenclaw rules!)<\/p>\n
So maybe Meyer can\u2019t win either way, if she keeps extending the story or tries her hand at something new. Speaking of which, her new novel \u201cHeartless\u201d is a standalone take on a young Queen of Hearts and will come out this November.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
* Admittedly, this isn\u2019t Tolkien\u2019s fault but the fault of his estate which decided to posthumously publish everything he\u2019d written about Middle-earth regardless of its state or worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I recently finished Marissa Meyer\u2019s delectable YA series, \u201cThe Lunar Chronicles.\u201d Or so I thought. Originally planned as a quartet with one book per fairytale heroine: \u201cCinder,\u201d \u201cScarlet,\u201d \u201cCress,\u201d and \u201cWinter,\u201d a prequel, \u201cFairest,\u201d got added between books three and four. That was all well and good with me, it was actually interesting to read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-20036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20036"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}