Do you ever close the cover of a really good book and then just sit there and think, why did it have to end? If you’re a voracious reader like me then you probably know what I’m talking about. Thankfully there is a solution to this problem: trilogies. While I’ve read many book series before, these five trilogies all kept me hooked all the way through, and I highly recommend all of them.
1. Divergent/Insurgent/Allegiant by Veronica Roth
The Divergent trilogy follows the life of a teenage girl, Beatrice, and her struggle to realize her true identity and the ways of the world in which she lives. The story is a futuristic dystopia focused on a community of people separated into five different factions, each having their own unique characteristics: Abnegation represents selfless, Amity is peaceful, Candor is honest, Dauntless possesses the brave, and Erudite is home to the intelligent. When Beatrice turns sixteen she takes an aptitude test to determine which faction she belongs in, but her results prove inconclusive. I don’t want to give too much away, but the Divergent series is a fast-paced page-turner filled with life, death, love, and much more to make it a great thriller.
2. The Hunger Games/ Catching Fire/ Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
With the recent release of the second film in this series, The Hunger Games trilogy has been all the rage. Katniss Everdeen must fight for her life in what is known as the “Hunger Games” set up by the government to keep peace among its people. Her experience in the games is gripping, and the tale becomes more complicated when love-interests and family are brought into the mix. The series is a tale of courage and bravery and what it means to fight for something you truly believe in. If for one reason only, read this series because Jennifer Lawrence plays the main character in the films, and who doesn’t love her?
3. The Maze Runner/The Scorch Trials/The Death Cure by James Dashner
The Maze Runner trilogy is focused on a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a strange place and can only remember his name. Or is Thomas even his real name? He enters a world filled with only other young boys whose lives revolve around solving a maze. None of them can remember anything about their pasts or why they are there, and they only hope that solving the maze will give them answers somehow. This series keeps you on the edge of your seat as the reader struggles to uncover every question that the boys come across. What happens at the end of the first novel and continues into the second is incredibly interesting and very creative. An added bonus: the author included a prequel to the series called The Kill Order which is just as good as the three in the original series. I highly recommend this series to everyone, but make sure you have a couple days to isolate yourself because you won’t be able to put it down.
4. Fifty Shades of Grey/Fifty Shades Darker/ Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
Anastasia Steele is a college student who goes to an interview with the incredibly gorgeous entrepreneur Christian Grey. She is completely stunned by his beauty, and he finds something attractive about her innocent nature. After the interview, Ana is flustered and embarrassed by her clumsy performance, so she is stunned when Christian shows up at her workplace soon after. The two eventually hit it off and become involved in a very sexual relationship. But the trilogy is more than just a raunchy fantasy – the characters (especially Christian) harbor deep secrets that prevent the relationship from blossoming at more than a glacial pace. This series is certainly not for the faint of heart, and is definitely a different kind of fairytale, but certainly a compelling read nonetheless.
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/The Girl Who Played with Fire/The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson
Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist who works for the Swedish magazine Millennium. Through a series of many events, he comes in contact with a Mr. Vanger who wants to hire Blomkvist to discover the truth behind his niece Harriet’s disappearance 40 years ago when she was sixteen. Her body was never discovered, and Mr. Vanger believes she is still alive because he receives a pressed flower every year on his birthday. Blomkvist ends up working with Lisbeth Salander, an edgy young woman with a photogenic memory to help him study the mystery. Salander is a troubled young woman with a disturbing past so the two make quite a pair. The first book is a little tricky to follow at the beginning because it introduces a lot of names and details, but I promise if you push past the confusing parts, the rest is totally worth your time. The mystery reveals a fascinating twist at the very end of the first novel, and the tale only deepens with the last two in the series.
It’s hard to explain why these five trilogies are so awesome without giving too much away, but trust me when I say you won’t regret giving any of them a try.
Happy reading, Collegiettes!