How I Learned to Quit Crying and Love the Sequel - Maya Darjani

Loyalty to the Max, the second book in the Broken Union series (following Ancient as the Stars), tried to kill me.

No, really.

You see, I was reading a review of Ancient as the Stars. It was a good review. A wonderful review. But I was distraught.

Because what if the sequel sucked?

So I was worrying about this, and not paying attention as I walked down the steep wooden stairs of my hundred year old house, and went flying. I'm sure it was comical. I have a bum ankle, so of course I sprained it. Thankfully, nothing more than that and a few gnarly bruises.

I'm not sure I can adequately describe the gut-wrenching dread I had throughout 2024 as I was writing Max. I had actually started the book years and years ago—probably in 2020. It was a fun side project that I thought would never see the light of day, as I was pursuing traditional publication and book 1 had already died in the trenches.

But now … now—

Now I had to live up to Ancient as the Stars.

Funny thing to worry about, really. Ancient was my very first book, written in a sort of 2 month fever dream in 2019, coincidentally during NaNoWriMo season. It wasn't bad, as first books went. But I had to learn a lot over the years about characterization and plotting and pacing and interiority. I revised it quite a bit, and to the point in 2024 that it was something I felt comfortable publishing. But it's far, far from my best writing. I've written much better novels since. And my writing style has changed. So I was writing Max multiple years and multiple books later.

Yet…

There's something special about that first book. I said on Twitter that it had “the breezy quality that can…come with the unearned confidence of a new writer.” And I was afraid Max wouldn't align with the sometimes unhinged quality of that first book. Or the snark, or the incentive cussing. It wasn't just the passage of time. This is also a reboot of sorts—a standalone novel starring a former side character, with additional POVs from the snarky profane main character from Ancient, who had, in fact, matured quite a bit in the intervening time and therefore was much more tame.

So let's just say I've been nervous.

As I write this, though, I've seen messages from people telling me the book is stronger than my debut. Stronger characters, tighter plotting, ramped up tension. And therefore the knot in my gut has loosened quite a bit. Not everyone prefers Max to Ancient. ‘Tis subjective, after all. But maybe, just maybe, time and experience can create a better novel from scratch than polishing that rough diamond from 2019.

I still feel like there's too little cussing in the sequel, though.

Loyalty to the Max is the standalone sequel to Ancient as the Stars, part of the Broken Union series.

You can order it using this link.