Which non-series book would you most like to read the sequel to? Do you have any wishes for what might happen in it?
Despite being a huge speculative fiction fan, I’m not actually a huge series fan. I mean, I read series, of course—I’m planning to read A Feast for Crows over spring break, per the demands of a friend of mine who needs someone to talk to about it—but there’s such a difference between books that are part of closed series, books that are part of open-ended series (which I tend to shy away from), and books that are one-shots, to borrow a term from fanfiction. I just feel like an after-the-fact sequel rarely adds to the narrative power of the first, unlike a planned series. I believe it can be done, of course—I think anything can be done well—but it’s not something I would seek out on my own.
That said, I wouldn’t mind a short story about Ash and Kaisa being adorable set after the end of Ash, but as Malinda Lo herself says, “I feel that Ash’s story is complete, and I won’t be writing a sequel. (Also, I’m pretty sure Ash has a fairly boring — though very happy — life after the end of the book. There really wouldn’t be much to write about!)“. And I think that really nails it on the head. Stories are about the most important moments in a character’s life; what happens after is probably not as exciting and dramatic.