Duologies/duets/duos… whatever you want to call them, series that only span two books seem to be a new trend in YA and I am positively loving it! It’s so nice to be able to be invested and still get more to a story but not end in a trilogy (not sure why but I think people are getting tired of the trilogy! Too many of them?) and it’s easy to wrap up the series without going on forever. I like being able to get more of a story from the characters that I love but not worry about jumping into a series, not knowing when it will end and how many books it might add to my reading list!
Lauren from Bookmark Lit recently asked for duology recommendations and naturally, I put my recommendation hat on and I couldn’t stop the ideas from flowing! I’d actually been planning to do a “guide” about series for a long time but never quite got around to starting is so when this topic came up, it happened to be the perfect place to start! Without further ado, here are some of my favorite and also reader-recommended YA duologies!
** Note: Some of the duologies DO have novellas and/or prequels. Some are just short stories to bring more to the series and some actually include full-length releases. For the full-length releases, I did not consider this addition to make the series into a trilogy. They are not a continuation of the series and therefore remain a duology with an additional story, prequel, or novella.
This post is also part of a (hopeful) series (no pun intended)! I’ve got some plans to make a few more “guides” for trilogies and series spanning 4+ books!
BOOKS MENTIONED
All links will lead you to the first book in the series
- If I Stay/Where She Went by Gayle Forman | Amazon // Goodreads
- Just One Day/Just One Year by Gayle Forman | Amazon // Goodreads
- Nantucket Blue/Nantucket Red by Leila Howland | Amazon // Goodreads
- Also Known As/Going Rogue by Robin Benway | Amazon // Goodreads
- The Rules for Disappearing/The Rules for Breaking by Ashley Elston | Amazon // Goodreads
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before/P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han | Amazon // Goodreads
- Time Between Us/Time After Time by Tamara Ireland Stone | Amazon // Goodreads
- Dissonance/Resonance by Erica O’Rourke | Amazon // Goodreads
- Alienated/Invaded by Melissa Landers | Amazon // Goodreads
- Pivot Point/Split Second by Kasie West | Amazon // Goodreads
- Loop/Twist by Karen Akins | Amazon // Goodreads
- Reboot/Rebel by Amy Tintera | Amazon // Goodreads
- In the After/In the End by Demitria Lunetta | Amazon // Goodreads
- The Program/The Treatment by Suzanne Young | Amazon // Goodreads
- Starters/Enders by Lissa Price | Amazon // Goodreads
- Seraphina/Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman | Amazon // Goodreads
- A Need So Beautiful/A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young | Amazon // Goodreads
- Hold Me Closer, Necromancer/Necromancing the Stone by Lish McBride | Amazon // Goodreads
- Anna Dressed in Blood/Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake | Amazon // Goodreads
- The Dark Unwinding/A Spark Unseen by Sharon Cameron | Amazon // Goodreads
- Prisoner of Night and Fog/Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blackman | Amazon // Goodreads
- Born of Illusion/Born of Deception by Teri Brown | Amazon // Goodreads
ANTICIPATED DUOLOGIES!
I actually wanted to include quite a few more in this post but some didn’t have covers, some weren’t 100% confirmed, and others won’t be out for um… years. But I did still want to mention them in the post because they’re either great reads or I’m really excited for their upcoming release!
- The Orphan Queen/The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows
- The Wrath and the Dawn/The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
- Passenger/Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken
- Untitled 2016 Veronica Roth duology
Which two-books series are your favorites? Any more to add to this list? Do you find duologies more appealing than longer series?
Looking for more reading recommendations?
Here are some more posts to check out!
- The Book Addict’s “GUIDE” to “Crossover” Books: Know adult readers who want to get into YA? Or YA readers who want to pick up new adult reads? Check out this guide to “crossover” books!
- The Book Addict’s “GUIDE” to Male POVs: Sometimes I’m just craving a good male POV or want to diversify my reading away from the females. Check out some of my favorite books from a guy’s perspective (mostly YA, some adult, some alternating male/female POV)!
- If You Liked… If I Stay: For fans of IF I STAY, here are a few hand-picked selections of books you should read next!
- If You Liked… Divergent: The “If You Liked” series is back! See which books I recommend for fans of Veronica Roth’s hit series DIVERGENT!
Want to help me with my next post? Share with me your favorite YA trilogies!
My next project will be compiling a collection of YA trilogies. There are SO many out there that it will definitely be a big post but I want YOUR help to gauge which ones should make the cut! If you’d like to help, check out the link below! It’ll lead you to a Google Form where you can share which trilogies you think should be on this next recommendation list! Thanks for your help!!!
25 thoughts on “The Book Addict’s “GUIDE”… to Series! | Duologies”
Two of my favorite series EVER are duologies! The Red Necklace/The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner and Three Wishes/Four Winds by Lisa T. Bergren ♥ Four Winds actually isn’t out yet, but I’m sure it’ll be just as good as the first one. I personally love duologies and i’m so glad they’re becoming more popular!
Thank you so much for this!! I’m an author and I’m completely in love with my cast of characters and story in my current WIP. I knew there wasn’t enough of a story to drag it out into three books (which gives me anxiety). But I also wanted the story to keep going. I thought of a duology, thinking that people didn’t like to read them as much, but this makes me feel so much better! 🙂
I hadn’t though I’d read a lot of duologies, but I’ve read 5 of these series, so I’m doing alright. Some of the others I already have on my TBR, but I’ll deficiently check the others out. Thanks for the recommendations!
Sophie @ Sophie Reads YA
I haven’t read any duologies yet, but I really want to read several that are on this list.
I think you’re right, there are SO many trilogies out right now that it just feels over done, when did it become normal for it to take three books to finish a storyline?
Thanks for sharing the list!
Starters was really good, but Enders was a disappointment. I’m so excited for The Mirror King! At least there are novellas to hold me over until than! I’ll have to check out these duologies!
Yay, I added a bunch of these to my TBR 🙂 Thanks for these great recs!
I am really enjoying the duology trend lately. I hate when stories were forced into 3 books. I actually didn’t realize The Orphan Queen was a duology – I think I still assume all non-standalone are series and I need to break that habit!
Another fantastic guide although I have some work to do in the Science Fiction department! I do plan on reading Loop in the somewhat near future!
I haven’t read any of the books on this list apart from Seraphina! I did like that one, even though the beginning half was wayyy too slow for my liking. I am hoping to read Shadow Scale soon. And I will be reading some of these books soon, especially as I own a couple 😛
This is SO incredibly helpful!! Thanks for the list! Duologies are my nemesis. Haha. LOVED Pivot Point and Anna Dressed in Blood but I still haven’t finished either of them. Also adored Wrath and the Dawn so freaking much and am kind of sad it’s a two-part because I know I’ll just want more and more of these characters and their stories. 🙂
I think I prefer duologies to trilogies, because in a trilogy most of the time the second book is lackluster and feels like filler. Or the whole story could fit in one book and then it feels like a cheap ploy by the publisher to make more money by teasing out and slowing down what is essentially a one-book story. But you can’t slow the pace in a duology- it’s there or it’s not.
Also, I’d add to the list The Diviners and Lair of Dreams, by Libba Bray. Although, to be honest, I have no idea if that’s going to be a longer series.
Oh I am so happy Wrath & the Dawn is a duology! Ultraviolet/Quicksilver by RJ Anderson is another great one.
I loved Pivot Point and Going Rogue! I had no idea Aleinated was a duology. I thought it was a trilogy. lol I probably thought this since that is usually the norm… a good example that duologies are becoming more of a thing! I have yet to read Dissonance but I plan on it! Great list as always!!
I LOVE THIS! You’ve reminded me of a few of the duologies on my shelf that I’ve been really, really wanting to read (Time Between Us is one that jumped out at me!). There’s something great about series that just go on and on, but sometimes it’s nice to have a little more than just one book, but less than a whole series. Fun!
Yay, I’ve been looking forward to this post since you asked for suggestions on Twitter. Such a great idea! I hope you end up writing more of these. 😀
Duologies are my favorite! I usually like them better in the series because the wait isn’t so long for things to be concluded.
The ones that come to mind are If I Stay, Until the Beginning, Pivot Point, Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke…
Great post!
I didn’t know some of these were duologies (my favorite kind of series because they’re so short!) so thanks for that. definitely have to check some more of these out or finish the ones I’ve started.
I love this! I have read 6 of these and the first half of 4 others. Duology’s are awesome because you don’t have to wait so long to find out what happens. And you don’t get that book in between that changes everything that it shouldn’t change!
The Orphan Queen is going to be a duology and this makes me very very happy!
What a fun post Brittany!
This post was so interesting! I had no idea that some of these books were parts of a duology! I didn’t know about Alienated and Prisoner of Night and Fog and I also didn’t know that Veronica Roth was writing a duology!
I also love the duology trend! I didn’t realize Also Known As was a duology! That makes it more appealing to me. I like Robin Benway a lot but I wasn’t sure if that series was going to be a Gallagher Girls type thing or not….. guess not. And I can’t wait for PS I Still Love You!!! I’m dying!
EEK I love this list!! This is amazingly helpful. Glad I could inspire the post with my endless request for recommendations 😉
Jacqueline Carey has a couple of duologies – Banewreaker / Godslayer, on the fantasy side, and Santa Olivia / Saints Astray on the SFF side. They’re not YA, but I’d happily recommend Santa Olivia to a teen reader.
Love this! You have the best graphics!
Ooh there’s quite a few on here that I want to read! And a few others that I didn’t know were duologies, I figured they were a trilogy like every book out there now. Thanks for sharing, and I love your graphic!
I personally LOVE duologies for many of the reasons you mentioned. They extend the story some, but don’t suffer from a potential “middle book syndrome.” And there are fewer things to remember by the time the next one publishes/you don’t tend to have to wait as long for the duology to be complete. I find the increasing trend among YA contemporaries to be the most exciting here, I think.
Some of the ones you mentioned here I had no idea were duologies. I’ll have to look into them!
And some other fantasy duologies include: Tamora Pierce’s Trickster’s Choice/Trickster’s Queen from the early 2000s, Alison Goodman’s Eon/Eona, and Elizabeth Knox/s Dreamhunter/Dreamquake. 🙂