After devouring one trilogy after another over the years, I've come to this climax in my YA reading career where I no longer feel driven to read and complete trilogies. No matter the story and how different it is from others I've read, I still experience a strong lull between 3 book series.

I feel like trilogies are a type of pizza: Hawaiian, barbecue chicken, cheese, pepperoni; and I've had them everyday for the past several years to the point where after downing the first slice I can't look at another.

I'm going to say it once:

I AM SO SICK OF TRILOGIES. 

I want to read more about a world I love but the number 3 is like the freaking 666 of the YA literature.

RUN SAM! IT'S ANOTHER TRILOGY!

Remember last year when all the New Adult books consisted of the same plot aka: girl and boy with rough past meet and lick each others wounds but don't want attachments? I read one, then another and by the third I couldn't even get past the synopsis. Same story.

TRIL-YAWN-OGY

Why are we subjecting ourselves to the same formula? What about YA readers is so standard that publishers and authors feel the best type of stories for us come in 3 parts?

It's such a boring:

1. Beginning 
2. Middle 
3. End 

that it's killing me. Seriously.

I'm saying all this as a person who's read mainly trilogies, but how many of them have I finished? So how effective is the ploy besides leaching money off readers? The formula gets old. It's time to break the mold, show us some great big standalones and some nice duologies. The number 3 shouldn't be our standard. There should be no standard. Each story is unique and its size should be too.

MERCI!

-MARI

This week I've kind of been obsessed with Leigh Bardugo's books, Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm. I practically devoured the two books. They were amazing to read, so after finishing Siege and Storm (ohmygodtheending!) I eagerly went to Goodreads to find out all about the next book.

And then I realized The Grisha is a trilogy.

I'm in some serious pain right now. I will take this out on trilogies.

First, trilogies seem to follow a certain pattern. The first book is always heavy on the set up because it's setting up a series, and by the end there's usually some sort of twist or cliffhanger.

The second book is definitely an in-between book. A lot of stuff happens but often there isn't a specific story or plot that ends. It's very much an installment which will lead to the third book.

The third book slays me.

The finale is always so amazing and full of everything I love, but it's the ending! Just as it gets to epic, it ends!

I guess my real complaint is that when I love something, I want more. Trilogies whet the appetite but very rarely do I feel completely satisfied by the end (Melina Marchetta is the exception, and that's because she's a goddamn genius).

I always prefer longer books to shorter ones, I always like series instead of standalones because I like the commitment. I want to get the details and get very close to characters. I want to know everything! It's so rare these days for me to get hooked to a book and so when it happens, I always want more.

You can imagine the tears when I realized The Coldest Girl in Coldtown didn't have a sequel.

How about you guys? Do you cry on the inside every time you realize you only have three books with some of your favourite characters?

-P.E.