I just wish there were more standalone fantasy books-I hear about these amazing series’ and then it’s like ten books long 😭😭I enjoy my chunky stories but I can only get through so many when fantasy is filled with them.

I loved the points you made in this. I think personally a lot more series should do duologies.

I really don't mind trilogies or duologies, I've read both done well and done badly. For trilogies though, I do not mind the middle book syndrome nearly as much as I hate a badly done ending. I find that if the middle book was slower it was still interesting enough and it will not destroy the whole trilogy. But if you don't like the last book it impacts a lot on the whole story because you don't get a conclusion for a story that has been building up for 2 books (And as you said, usually book 2 is very tied to book 3 it doesn't stand on its own as sometimes book 1 does). On the other hand, if you don't like the second book in a duology (without a too big cliffhanger) you can ust pretend it's a standalone and be happy. Hope that made sense :)

"It's such a privilege to be able to read books and enjoy them." Spot on. I've never thought that much about it, but well said. There are a lot of things we expect to have in our everyday lives that many people don't due to poverty, illiteracy, government restrictions, etc. Books are harder to come by in some areas, and those areas don't have as good of education systems, so people couldn't enjoy them if they wanted to. Then there is also the fact that some countries have very heavy censorship laws for education/entertainment. The internet is another good example for something we take for granted that it is always going to be there. In some areas, the internet goes out a lot, and even electricity in general is not as consistently available. These things can malfunction more for them. Not even to mention how oppressive governments limit the general public's access to the internet.

Love this! Also, a point in favor of duologies: if I only mildly enjoyed the first book, I am waaaaay more likely to continue with a duology than I am a trilogy.

I love the Shades of Magic trilogy as a whole. I can't really pick which book is my fave, but the 1st one definitely ends in a way that would have worked as a standalone. And the 3rd one does introduce some elements that feel like set up for future spinoff in the world. I adore everything in that universe so far tho 😍

My favorites are quartets, it’s not a super long series but I also get a lot of time with characters I love.

The way you talk in such an organized way....🤧🤧❤❤ I watch all your discussions to learn to get more articulate, while I dicuss stuff with people. 🥰🥰🥰

I think trilogies can often be an overrated way to tell a story. It's very popular, so I feel like a lot of authors force themselves to make the story fit within three books, when often times, it could have been a very compelling standalone, or even a good longer (4 or more books) series.

I just watched your review for Mistborn yesterday and loved it! ❤️😇 Love the discussion!

I loved this video! Totally agree that duologies need more love ❤️ the ones u mentioned are chefs kiss***

Mistborn was unique in that what I thought would be the climax of book three happened in book one. When the impossible happened and the plot twist of a deeper problem surfaced it required a different set of skills allowing another character to take prominence and different sides of other characters to immerge. I think it was a great trilogy to the point I haven't read the other trilogies in the series because I don't know how they could fail to be pale reflections of the first 3.

You have so many beautiful copies of books. I love looking at them in the background, and I love when you show the ones you are talking about up close in the video. Do you have a video showing the most beautiful books you own? I'm going to look.

A book that should've been a trilogy was Priory of the Orange Tree. There was just way too much going on that she was trying to stuff into 800 pgs

What a great discussion!!! Love your thoughts!

The topics of your videos have been great lately. It would be great if you could maybe one day a science fiction recommendations as a nice entry point for fantasy readers (deeper than Skyward, which I read but more notable or impactful books like Dune) Great work on the Vids, love from London

Excellent breakdown! You are so passionate about books!

I love duologies… but I also love trilogies… I honestly have no idea what I prefer 😂😅

beautiful discussion as always

This was beautiful explained. I agree with all your points. I am actually wishing more duologies existed. Standaloned for me feel too short to get to know characters, trilogies are dragged out and often fluffed with unnecessary details. Duologies hit all the right spots 🥰

This is a very interesting thought experiment, if one can call it that! I don't think I've read enough to really have an opinion, but I'll definitely think about this going forward.

I've honestly been completely loving Dulogies this past year or so. I've read quite a few now that have been complete standouts, and made me adore the format. I think they occupy that space between standalones and trilogies perfectly. You get more than you would from a standalone. More time with the world and characters, but also some duologies do the "follow a different set of characters" aspect very, very well too. But it's so nice knowing that you will be getting the ending with the second book. First book of set up, and then straight onto the finale - with no middle book slump in between. Of course though, the best duologies always leave me wanting more than just that!

Haven’t finished many of these series but completely agreed with you on The Curse breakers one. I enjoyed the first book and the characters so much that the second and last one just felt frustrating.

I believe ve schwab talked recently about the third villains book. I’m not sure if she mentioned when it’s coming out but I think she confirmed that it’s happening

LOL I was just thinking about this topic last night!

I hope that there will be more duologies, too. It's a little bit like BBC mini-series. For lots of stories just the perfect length! I am reading "A Heart so Fierce and Broken" right now and I must say I love it even more than the first one. Grey is my favourite character and I am just a sucker for animal companions. I'm halfway through, I hope we get more of Iisaac 😍

When I read the Final Empire I wasn't blown away as much as I hoped and ngl I was terrified I wouldn't like the trilogy but as I continued on I loved each book more than the last one. Also I agree. We need more doulogies. I get so happy when I find a solid doulogy. Sometimes I just wanna read a story and finish it quick

I haven't finished Spin the Dawn duology, but I definitely think the first book could've been two books that were fleshed out more, due to the rapid pacing and story shift midbook.

Very good points. I also do think sometimes the trilogy seems so much a default while duologies are very rare, and I'd like to see more of them That said, I have one slight disagreement - I wouldn't put Vicious & Vengeful with duologies. There are currently two books, yes, but the 3rd book is in the works, so it's moreso an unfinished trilogy (composed of three standalones, in a way, it'd seem)

Watches video and realizes that I haven't read a single one of these duologies. 😐 Every one of them is on my tbr already though. Guess I should get on that. Shadow and Bone definitely made me even more curious about Six of Crows. I love the Grisha trilogy and agree with you that it feels seamless from one book to another. Edit: VE Schwab has talked a little about writing the book that comes after Vengeful. I don't know if she has yet though because she said she can only concentrate on one book at a time.

I think some of these reason have played a part of why I read more thriller, horror, mystery stand-alones. I love more time with characters when I like how the characters are written. But sometimes I find it less stress and less disappointing (with the second at least) with stand-alone. Also does anyone else have these problem with movies too!?😂

I am very excited for the Darker Shade of Magic continuation!

I quite liked the ending for first law. To be honest i don't even really think of it as a trilogy in my mind, it much more feels like one big story that just happens to have been split into three chunks (same as LotR)

A few years ago I read a darker shade of magic and I loved it. I then read gathering of shadows and was pretty bored reading felt. It felt like a boring mashup between the hunger games and the goblet of fire contest in harry potter. I never got around to book 3, but I might give the series another try.

My favorite duology (I've only read a handful) is Ashlords by Scott Reintgen (Bloodsworn is the continuation). So far I've rarely found a duology worth reading because I think it's difficult to strike the balance between needing a second book and not needing a third book. Many duologies can just be one big book, but a book larger than 400 pages seems to daunt/be against the marketing of YA. I don't think I know any adult books that are duologies (I often view VE Schwab as the cusp between YA and adult).

Happy reading to you!! 😊🎬📽

Excellent video. Well thought out. IMO, there is a difference between a doulogy and a sequel. I duologuy is 2 books but one overiding story that goes across two books. Like a two part episode of a TV series. A sequel, on the other hand, is a second self contained story in the same world. It can involve the same characters and give additional character grow to the characters from the first book. This is like another episode in a weekly TV series. Under my reasoning, Vengeful was a sequel (I did not read any of the other duologies you discussed so I cannot comment on them). It seemed to me like a 2nd self contained series. VE may have planned to write multiple books in this world. But she may have wrote the first so if it was not successful enough, there would still be a ending for her fans.

Have you read either of Renée Ahdieh's duology's? As duologies I have mixed feelings about them (one I think should have been a standalone and the other a trilogy) but they were fun reads and the relationships in them gave off the same vibe as the Cruel Prince's relationships

Something I keep thinking about is if standalone fantasy can even work when I want rich worldbuilding, deep character arcs, and plot twists in my fantasy. Maybe if authors focused on single POVs instead of multiple POVs in books? It's just something I've been turning over in my head a lot.

These days, I just consider all series in total page counts. I usually binge read series (as in, if I enjoy the first I probably won't dnf the series, and I'm in the middle of Wheel of Time so I'm prepared for marathons) so for me the story is important, and I like to believe that good authors don't get hindered by them being split into books if it's a continuous story. But agree that I want more standalones, mostly because gathering books with matching covers can be a pain haha

I really want more duologies! I'm terrible at finishing series so it takes me forever when it's 3 or more books long 😂

I recently finished the third book in the Wax and Wayne series. Very different books than the Mistborn Trilogy, but I wouldn't say they're worse. Actually, I think the story transition from book to book feels a little smoother.

I've definitely read more trilogies than duologies, but I would not be opposed to reading more duologies in the future. Then again I do love my long series too. So what do I know?! Lol

How do you remember all this stuff about these books? You must have an incredible memory!

I like both - I think my head prefers a trilogy as it feels more logical (beginning, middle, end) but if I think of the series that I enjoy I am often more blown away by a duology (e.g strange the dreamer). It removes middle book syndrome I guess. Though like another commenter mentioned a bad ending is more of a killer then middle book syndrome

I wish that there were a lot fantasies that are standalone or duologies out there

I just read A Gathering of Shadows and it felt like it had middle book syndrome to me.

I don't know if mistborn really fits. As I understood it the plan was always to have 3 sets of times (past present future basically)

I really wished in the ravenous dark by a.m Strickland was made into a duology or a trilogy I absolutely loved the world the author created and I especially love the character of rovan 💖💝🥰😊🙂

Broken Earth feels like it should have been a duology, or just one long book. The first book is written in such a specific way that the other books have a hard time matching it. The middle book is also kind of bland and uneventful. The Magicians is a good trilogy in that each book had it's own thing going on. The first two books especially parallel each other really well, while the third book gives some closure, even if it is a bit weaker.

to me, ACSDAL and AHSFAB felt like separate standalones to be honest, because i started reading AHSFAB knowing we follow different people so i treated it as it’s own thing from the beginning and then AVSBAD felt too short for me. it could have used 100 extra pages to flesh everything out better! i loved hearing your thoughts and YES i agree ACSDAL works as a standalone and i personally see it as such.

I loved spin the dawn! But for some reason once the sequel came out, I quickly lost interest? I might've not been in the right mood but I want to try it again. And while I love strange the dreamer so freaking much, I feel like the sequel was too happy for all the dark stuff in the background and could've been a bit less busy

For me, I've often found the second book in trilogies to be the best. However, it often raises my excitement and expectations, but unfortunately the third book doesn't deliver on these expectations enough, thus often leaving the second installment as my favorite.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness! I’m on book three and not sure how I’m feeling about where the story is going.. however I looooved book 2 😂

I really liked Spin the Dawn. I haven’t read Unravel the Dusk so not sure about my thoughts on the duology.

I'm so sorry to say this given how much you love that trilogy Elle, but I really thought the Well of Ascension dragged lol. Definitely felt it was the weakest of the three and is honestly the best example I personally have of "middle book syndrome". 😅

I agree with you on This Savage Song. I felt let down by the second book.

Hi, do you have any recommendations for hiest books which are not six of crows?

I love Vengeful though, the new characters were very interesting to me than the main characters.

I really perfer trilogies or duologies. They are the best for me. Its not to long yet you get more, there is a beginning, middle, and ending. I dont have a preferrence, honestely I am either or.

I love spin the dawn !!

I don't think well of ascension has middle book syndrome, but the tone shift really didn't work for me. I thought I was signing up for something entirely different. After book one I thought I had found my new favorite series ever, but then book two and book three changed my mind. They were way too different from book one so it felt too conflicting and jarring and unharmonious as a whole.

beautiful eyes

Ok… weird question. Where did you get the beautiful white cover copy of Mistborn? I have waited on buying this series because the only covers I can find are UGLY!!!

Never read a duology, think mostly its because you see it more in the YA fantasy genre. Nothing wrong with YA, just not my taste. Wonder why we dont see many duologies in adult fantasy? Maybe just of the scope that authors go for in adult fantasy.

First Law is done very well and Age of Madness fills in some of the gaps most people felt was not satisfying in the FL trilogy. Overally Joe Ambercrombie is sooo underrated it bothers me a lot.

I loved darker shades of magic trilogy ❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️

Duology and then throw in a spin off

I cannot stand series longer than 3 or 4 books. I don't pick them up directly. The middle book syndrome is a thing but depends on the reader's taste. I liked Thunderhead more than Scythe and Vengeful much more than Vicious 😉

Big Standalones and Duologies >>>>

So trilogies do the Star Wars format. Well…. For the OG trilogy anyway. 😅

I couldn't finish the video because I'm in the middle of Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy

If you’re a good author it doesn’t matter

There’s also series that you never finish because you hear that the future books are shit

Fck everything. Twelveologies are the best.

The king of scars duology does ruin the original trilogy 🥴 lol. I still love the trilogy so much though.

Every trilogy has one book that is just not as good as the other two. I have yet to come across one that doesnt

As long as it's not a quartet I'm fine. I absolutely hate quartets. It always feels like a money grab.