The “Middle Book Syndrome”, sometimes referred to as “Second Book Syndrome”, is what happens when the second book is a HUGE disappointment compared to the amazingness of the first book. Here are a few books, some books from my favorite series, that just have unfortunately fallen victim to this terrible event.
Caliban’s War (The Expanse #2) – James S.A. Corey
Following up a masterpiece like Leviathan Wakes must’ve been hard, but I was seriously disappointed with this one! I was hoping it would follow up with the protomolecule and everything that had happened before, but I ended up being disappointed with the difference in plot. I was also disappointed because they added more characters and took away some of my favorites, and I really couldn’t get over that. Thankfully, the other books got better, and The Expanse remains one of my favorite series!
Odd Thomas, the first book in the series, is really what hooked me on Dean Koontz’s books. I read a few between the first and second, but when I finally got to this one . . . it was painful. Nothing really made sense, considering that Koontz had established Odd’s position in the community fairly early in Odd Thomas, and then conveniently forgot to mention someone Odd considered a close friend. This entire second book was everywhere and nowhere, and nothing that furthered Odd’s story happened in this book.
After having my mind blown by A Game of Thrones, I immediately jumped on A Clash of Kings. But compared to the first book, it felt like nothing really happened in this book. The majority of it felt like it was politics, instead of the intrigue and interest of the first book. (And, after this book with A Storm of Swords, this one didn’t really feel necessary. As much as I love the A Song of Ice and Fire series, there were a lot of flaws. Especially with the way he split it in the last two books, which just confused the series and made the fourth, A Feast for Crows, much slower.)
Empire of Night (Age of Legends #2) – Kelley Armstrong
I had the first book come highly recommended by a friend of mine. The first one was okay, but seriously? This one was a full-on trainwreck. I haven’t even bothered reading the third one yet, although I am a little interested in seeing how the series ended. However, I just really didn’t like Empire of Night at all, and it seemed all over the place, like the author didn’t plan to get this far in the series. You can also tell that they’re not much used to writing YA novels with how they executed all of the characters-they were all too immature, while also being portrayed as grown adults. It just didn’t sit well with me.
This Shattered World (Starbound #2) – Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
While These Broken Stars isn’t my favorite, I thought it was still a fairly decent YA read. However, getting to this one just felt so weird? It had very little correlation with the TBS, except for the very short, very unnecessary inclusion of Lilac and Tarver. Sure, I was glad that they were included, but they ended up not doing anything. I just felt that this book, and it’s characters, were unnecessary, and it’s drawn me away from ever reading the final book, Their Fractured Light.
John Flanagan’s books are what interested me in reading and writing. I was ecstatic when I heard he was writing The Early Years trilogy, and even more excited after reading the first one, The Tournament at Gorlan. However, this one was so different from the first, and everything, from counting characters to remembering basic facts from the first book, was so off, that it was the second most disappointing read of Flanagan’s books. Don’t get me started on my first most disappointing.
Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #2) – Ransom Riggs
I loved Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and was pretty happy when I finally got my hands on the next book. But, just like a lot of other books on this list, this one just felt everywhere, like Riggs didn’t know where he had planned to go after the first book. It felt like the characters were running place after place with no real thought as to where they were going. I still haven’t read Library of Souls, and have frankly lost interest in the whole series. Quite a few aspects are underdeveloped, so why waste the time?
The Riyria Revelations are some of my most favorite high fantasy books ever. Rise of Empire wasn’t so much as a disappointment, but it seriously didn’t compare to the rest of the series. There was a lot of rising action in this book, compared to the amazing introductions and conflicts in the first and the stunning conclusion and heartbreak in the last. I love all of these books, but I do have to admit: Rise of Empire could have been more.