The Curse of Book Two

I, like most of my peers, devoured Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros when I got my grubby little hands on it. It took me five days (slow for my typical standards, but I wanted to savor the story) to read and after I was done, I was left with a heightened sense of excitement for the next installment. BookTok, Bookstagram, and Twitter went insane over the story and bogged down my daily feed with spoilers, theories, and thirst-traps for the male lead, Xaden Riorson. I read it directly after my best friend did, so I was able to bounce ideas off her and daydream about bonding with our own dragons.

Unlike most of my peers, however, I understood that what I was reading wasn't the next Hemingway or even the next best thing in fantasy. I didn't watch the entirety of The Vampire Diaries because I was expecting it to win an Emmy. No, I watched it because I was craving mindless entertainment. Oscar-winning movies and Pulitzer Prize-winning books all have their time and their place. They make you think critically. They give your mind a challenge. They help make you a better person. I still think about the beautifully crafted plot twist in Citizen Kane and lay awake at night thinking about how I'll probably never be able to create something so iconic as that. It doesn't mean that all I ever want to watch are timeless classics. Consuming classic, mind-altering media has a time and a place and gives you something to appreciate.

I read Fourth Wing and immediately deemed it my guilty-pleasure, my Vampire Diaries. Because who doesn't want to bond with an all-powerful dragon? Who doesn't want to have the hottest, most muscular guy you've ever seen in your entire life fall head over heels for you?

Then, we got Iron Flame and everyone turned their back on the dragons and their riders. People read Fourth Wing so fast they forgot or didn't want to analyze the text critically. The same pacing, structure, and character problems arose in this story that were prevalent in the first. The difference? Readers started paying attention.

It's also a book-wide phenomenon called the curse of the second novel in a series. It's called a curse because a lot of books (and even movies) fall prey to its infectious disease. The poor middle book has a lot of work to do and almost always falls flat on its face. Two Towers is highly regarded as the worst book in the series. And Lord of the Rings is the best fantasy series of all time. Why do middle books fall flat? It's simple, there's too much pressure. The middle book must continue to have the same charm as the first while not being a regurgitated plot. It has to add subtle character details while not giving too much away or overbearing the audience. And most importantly, it has to set up the climax to come. The readers who didn't enjoy Iron Flame in its entirety do admit that they liked the last part of the book. Why? Because it's the midpoint of the series. The midpoint is the big event that happens that sets our heroes up on the final arc of their journey. It's where the stakes are raised. Think of Alan Grant, Ian Malcom, and the kids being attacked by a T-Rex in Jurassic Park.

So, the next time you want to curl your lip up at the poor quality of Iron Flame, remember that this is your guilty pleasure. Remember that this is the cursed second novel. And finally, remember that this is geared toward young or new adult readers who are just getting into reading. We want teens and young adults to be excited about reading. A lot of children are not at grade-level in terms of reading literacy, which leads to teens not knowing how to read, pick up context clues, or think critically. If these books are what gets people back into reading, then that's okay with me.