Why is there a book 6?

[smartycope]

I love the Alcatraz books to death, but the 5th book ended so nicely! Well, not nicely, but it wrapped everything up. Why is there going to be a 6th book and what's it going to be about?

[Lunamor she/her]

4 minutes ago, smartycope said:

I love the Alcatraz books to death, but the 5th book ended so nicely! Well, not nicely, but it wrapped everything up. Why is there going to be a 6th book and what's it going to be about?

The sixth book will be narrated from Bastille’s perspective. A note that she put in the end of the fifth book says that Alcatraz was being a bummer with the sad ending (with his dad’s death and everything) and that she was going to write a book that told the whole story.

[smartycope]

Oh! That actually makes sense. Cool!

[LewsTherinTelescope]

Also, there's several things it didn't wrap up that were mentioned in earlier books as things he'd get to, like the Worldspire and him Breaking gravity.

[Weltall]

Yeah, I wouldn't say 'the antagonist gets what he wants and is free to do Bad Things' is exactly an ending that 'wrapped everything up'. Sure, we know that Team Smedry prevails eventually because, well, Alcatraz and Bastille are around to write the books, but knowing that and actually seeing what happens next are two entirely different things.

A similar example from my go-to comparison to Brandon is in the Kiseki/Trails JRPG series. A series of major events happen during the end credits of one game via a timeskip but being told how they ultimately resolve is no substitute for actually seeing it resolve... which finally happened five games later when the plot finally caught up.

PS, Brandon always planned for there to be a sixth book.

[smartycope]

On 10/15/2020 at 2:26 PM, Weltall said:

I wouldn't say 'the antagonist gets what he wants and is free to do Bad Things' is exactly an ending that 'wrapped everything up'.

I don't know... considering the books, I would expect nothing less than an abrupt, unsatisfying ending that favors the antagonists. I personally don't mind books having an ending where the bad guys win; it spices things up.

 

[Weltall]

Having an ending to a series where the antagonist wins is one thing, having an ending that leaves half the cast and several major plot points in various forms of a cliffhanger is quite another. The former can be enjoyable when it's done right and it fits the tone, the latter is unsatisfying in the extreme and makes you ask why you bothered with the journey in the first place. It's also not the kind of writing Brandon does and it's not the kind of writing you'd expect for a book aimed at preteens in any case..