Sequels, Chronicles, and Series

I’ve been reading Jean Auel’s The Shelters of Stone. I saw it at my sister’s place, and she was kind enough to send it to me. I appreciate that. Many years ago I read The Clan of the Cave Bear, Auel's first novel in what has become the Earth's Children series. Cave Bear was a very, very good book. New, fresh, thought-provoking. Her second, The Valley of the Horses, was still pretty entertaining. The Mammoth Hunters and The Plains of Passage followed. They were good enough, if not possessing the power (yes, I thought Clan was powerful) of the first. Not even that good, this one. Ms. Auel thanks various professors of anthropology, archeology and medicine, and well she should. So far, through 416 pages, they’re the real authors of a book that’s little more than a compendium of conjecture on the daily life of Cro-Magnon man (the term is dated, but here it’s apt, since the Dordogne Valley of France, where the first skeletons were discovered in 1868, is quite obviously the setting of this book) compiled without regard for much of a story line. Anyway, I’m going to stick with this in the hope it gets better.

The point here is that book series usually deteriorate, some more than others and some sooner than others. Only rarely is an author able to maintain quality – whether it be of suspense, interest, literacy, or delight – of that first book. It happened with B.S. Levy, whose first effort, The Last Open Road was a delight, he followed with Montezuma’s Ferrari, nearly as good. The Fabulous Trashwagon was just fair, and Toly’s Ghost got away from him – repetitive. Everything we don’t need to know about fixing a Volkswagen Beetle, but not much of a story – yet. B.S. seems to have decided he could write the War and Peace of auto racing comedy. There’s a concept for you. But, ever hopeful, I’m still working on that one, too.

Jeannie and I both ran out of gas on Harry Potter after Goblet of Fire. Of Ann Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, I thought The Vampire Lestat – the second book – was better than Interview… And generally, Ms. Rice’s novels have held up pretty well. But they, too, finally began to plow the same ground over and over. W.E.B. Griffin’s Brotherhood of War series was quite good through seven books, perhaps because the same interesting characters were followed through the entire series.

In far too many cases, an author loses the muse before giving up the writing.