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October Daye / Inheritance - Essay Series Part Five: Long Series and How to Read Them

Hello Patrons and general audience members! Welcome to another Books That Burn essay by Robin. Thank you to Case Aiken, who receives a monthly Patron shoutout. [Full Audio Available Here] This is the fifth and final entry in a five-part essay series discussing two long-running book series by queer authors: October Daye by Seanan McGuire, and Inheritance by A.K. Faulkner. I chose these series because I love them both, they were intended from the start to be long series, neither of them are finished yet, and the authors have different structural approaches to developing each series across so many volumes. Purely coincidentally, they are both long-running contemporary fantasy series mainly set in California in or near the 2010's, with major characters named Quentin, and whose fast-healing protagonists have a tendency to quasi-adopt a gaggle of magical teenagers. After a brief moment in the 1990's, October Daye begins in earnest in 2009 and has reached 2015 as of the eighteenth boo...

Animorphs Book 7: The Stranger by K. A. Applegate

Rachel is offered a way out of her current life, and the Animorphs are offered a way out of everything when they meet the Ellimist. The nightmares and secrecy build a miasma of isolation that is gradually permeating the series.

This was the first series I read that dealt with divorce from the perspective of one of the children who was affected. I appreciate that it's part of Rachel's life without being the point of the book, let alone the point of the series. It affects her, but we mostly see it when she's the narrator instead of it being treated like the main trauma. It matters without sucking all the air out of the narrative.

I'm also really appreciating how much changes as the book moves on, I know 62 books seems like a lot, but they really have to handle a lot of moving pieces to get where I know the series ends up going.

A girl (Rachel) turns into a grizzly bear

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