The Books We Wished Had Sequels

Robert McCammon’s Swan Song is most often compared to Stephen King’s The Stand, but the books really share only the setting of a post-apocalyptic world. They are equally good and full of well-developed characters–in Swan Song, it is, of course, the little girl Swan, giant ex-wrestler Joshua, and the bag-lady Sister who stand out.

McCammon’s novel has the stronger ending of the two, though, and, in fact, it’s the beauty and hope at the end of his book that make me want to read more. The horrors may be over, but I’ve always wanted to watch the society rebuild in Mary’s Rest (the survivors’ home at the end of the book), and I want to see that day when Swan might come back . . . because Joshua says she will “in time.”

-Brady Allen