There’s lots of serious discussion going around lately about how readers and reviewers are supposed to act and feel when a highly anticipated sequel to a book is … how do you say it … not what they were expecting? Should readers even HAVE expectations for a book sequel? Maybe desires is the better word. If a book disappoints us are we allowed to talk about it? Surely – SURELY – readers are never entitled to threaten or harass an author. Are we entitled to our bafflement? Can we own our WTFs? Eh, I don’t know the answers to these questions. What I do know is that gifs help me express my feelings.
When I finish the penultimate book in the series
When the title/cover/release date for the sequel is announced
Subsequent tweets to the author and the expected response
When the first summary blurb about the book comes out
When you realize you could have gestated an entire human being in the time it’s taken to get the damn book
When it’s finally book release day
When the author introduces an alternate point of view or a totally new setting
Two-thirds of the way through the book
When it becomes obvious your ship is NOT going to get it on
When that girl on tumblr who read it in like 2 hours spoils the whole she-bang
When you get to the last page
The author’s first tweet after the book release
My first tweet after that
When crazies on the internet start hurling death threats at the author
When sycophant fangirls declare it the BEST BOOK EVER!!!!1!!
When you find out that all your reader friends felt the same way you did
When book bloggers with SRS BZNS opinions start analyzing
My last word to authors
And the last word to readers
Seriously. Let it go.
No matter how disappointing the end of a series may be, I’ll always be grateful to authors who create characters and craft stories that mean something to me. And I will still WTF the whole thing if need be. You?
