Recommendations: Duologies

Hey all, Dani here.

As promised with my last recommendations post, I’m returning to book themed posts for a little while, though I do still have some game related recommendations stocked up for the future. I was looking through my recommendation ideas list, and realized that I had done standalones and series, but skipped out on duologies and trilogies, so I figured I would focus on duologies now.

Just in case you don’t know, a duology is a pair of related books, movies, or shows, so in the case of today’s post I am talking about pairs of books, or a two book series, if you want to state it that way.

Obviously, I am only including completed duologies here, namely because I feel it is wrong to recommend an uncompleted set of two books. You know, because though rare, it has happened a couple times where the first book was really good but then the concluding novel absolutely paled in comparison. Also, wow, I usually link to my already posted reviews, but I’ve realized that most of these are not ones that I’ve actually written and posted reviews on, so I may need to skim or re-read them and then get reviews up.

All right, let’s jump into my recommendations.

The Wrath & The Dawn and The Rose & The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh. I absolutely adored the writing and descriptions in this particular duology. Also the main pair was insanely intriguing to me. I flew through these books so quickly and definitely need to do a reread of them sometime in the near future.

Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. This duology is my favorite story from the Grishaverse so far. I adore the entire cast of characters and think the whole heist story was so vastly interesting. And while I made sure to read the trilogy before reading this duology, I don’t think it is wholly necessary. Though reading this may make you want to know more about the world it takes place in, so start reading at your own risk. Haha.

Between the Blade and the Heart and From the Earth to the Shadows by Amanda Hocking. There’s just something compelling to me about Amanda Hocking’s writing. Her stories may not be the most mind-blowingly awesome or original, but they are pretty darn fast reads. This one has some interesting romances and nice action because a few characters are Valkyries, which is just awesome.

Truthseeker and Wayfinder by C.E. Murphy. Oh look, I do have some more C.E. Murphy books I can recommend to you all. This is an interesting faerie story that follows a main character who can tell if people are speaking truth or lies, which is really cool. Plus any time I can bring up books written by one of my favorite authors is a good enough excuse for me.

The Crown’s Game and The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye. I very much enjoy magical competition centered stories and this is definitely that. It was interesting to see how this love triangle played out considering the circumstances of the characters. Then add in the twists, turns, and revelations, and the ending of the first book made me very curious about jumping into the sequel and getting answers.

Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. I took a little while to pick this duology up because I hadn’t exactly been a fan of my previous Laini Taylor read, but I’m glad to be proven wrong. This was such a complex and wonderful and descriptive duo of reads. They have made me interested in trying more books by the author in the future.

All right, well that’s all for me for today. What are some of your favorite duologies? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.