Have you ever finished a book or series only to be left with a strange empty feeling? A kind of longing for more, but then there is no more. And sure, you could just reread, which you undoubtedly will, but it’s not the same. It’s been years since I had one. In fact, I didn’t remember how terrible they could be, until last Wednesday.
I finished reading the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo that day, and I literally haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. It was just SO. GOOD. The heists, the banter between the Crows, and the characters in particular were all just phenomenal. Both as an avid reader and a writer, it amazed me. Talk about character goals. It took me a full week to get to a point where I wasn’t filled with an empty void. And even now, I’m looking at my to-be-read list and going, “but nothing will be like Six of Crows.” It doesn’t help that the Shadow and Bone show is coming out in just over a month, so getting away from that world is basically impossible.
One book that leaves me with a book hangover every time I reread it is The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater. I’m so sad it’s a standalone. It’s another situation where I just love the characters so much. Plus, there’s horses, and carnivorous water horses. It’s just so cool. It’s one of those books where, as a writer, I always go “Damn, I wish I’d written this.” Now that I think about it, Sean, one of the protagonists, might have been a slight accidental inspiration for Rowan from the first Enorians book.
While Harry Potter doesn’t generally give me problems anymore, the first time I finished the series was rough. After so many years of loving something that hard and waiting for the last book to come out? And then finishing it in about a day and a half? Talk about a wicked book hangover. It’s the first book I remember leaving me feeling that way. Though starting a reread with my writing buddy has helped me fill the void left by Six of Crows, because it’s comfortable and familiar.
What I wrote over the last week
Enorians Book 2 – Draft 2 Chapters Eleven through Eighteen
What I read over the last week
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
A Phoenix First Must Burn by Patricia Caldwell
A.M. Sӧtemann 