Happy Birthday, Mundie Moms! (and giveaway)

I am thrilled to have been asked to celebrate the momentous occasion of the Mundie Mom Birthday: you guys have been looking better in black than the widows of your enemies for a year now, and that can only mean a party!

And so as any good guest at a party, I will now do a trick: which is to say, a guest blog on the Second in the Trilogy.

The dread second. We've all been there. People always regard the second in a trilogy with some suspicion. And well they might.

I saw The Matrix Regurgitated. (That was the title, right?) I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Reader, I saw Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones. Never was a movie better named: the second book or movie often does feel like being attacked by the clone of the first book or movie, the one you loved, created all over again but without its soul. (Not that I'm saying I loved the Phantom Menace... I've watched a lot of bad movies, obviously, but I'm not nuts.)

I've read a lot of second books like that. There is a reason people cringe away from the second in a series.

WOW, Sarah, some might say at this point. You are such a FUN guest to have at a party. And you are not really making us look forward to the second book in your trilogy.

But I do have a point. Obviously writing a second book made me think a lot about the second book. Indeed, I have an Infallible Rule for trilogies. Book 1, set up. Book 2, make out. Book 3, defeat evil. I feel that if you think back on all the trilogies you're aware of, they will follow this rule.

Now by 'making out' I do not mean, well... a ton of make-out scenes. (Though I may mean that TOO.) I mean that the characters and the relationships between them (romantic and otherwise) are now established, and now is the time for tension to rise and bonds to sever. Now the reader knows what to expect, it's time to prove them wrong.

I will use an example which I am certain you guys are aware of: Cassandra Clare's City of Ashes is my favourite in the series. Because of the Thing That Happens With Simon. (You know what I mean.) That was the dramatic change, that was what made me go 'ooooh.' That was the point where the book was brave, and kicked it up a notch, and left the reader dizzy.

That's what second books have to do. They have to bring us that horizon, and do it right.

That's why I like second books. Because you can get a clone. But you can also get a transformation, shedding new light on all that has been and showing an adventure to come. That's what a second book should do.

Of course, that is not easy. But when pulled off, it is awesome. And I felt this was the place and the time to discuss awesome things.

As part of the birthday bash, I am giving away a sterling silver Irish knife charm. (A quillon dagger, in fact. My hero's favourite kind of knife. Yes, the jewellery shop judged me pretty harshly...) So, comment to win it: what second books or movies have you loved? What second books or movies are you waiting for?

For myself, Carrie Ryan's The Dead-Tossed Waves is UP THERE. Also, can I have Star Trek 2 yet? Oh Star Trek 2, I know you're sci-fi, but please, please, for the love of Zachary Quinto, don't be a clone...