With the announcement of an adaption of Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings and my recent discovery of the TV adaption of A Darker Shade of Magic, I’ve been thinking about adaptions and how wary I am of them. Now I’m not a cold unfeeling person, there are some adaptions I’m a fan of! But there’s also a lot of adaptions I’m not a fan of. Here’s a list of some of the worst (in my opinion of course)!

  • Note: I’m slightly biased because I’m not a huge fan of movies in general.

For me, seeing an adaption has to transfer me. I’m the kind of reader who likes to see all the essential components of the story included. If they omit any plot point from the book (I’m looking at YOU Harry Potter), I become frustrated. I’m a purest in most of my opinions, and movies are no exception.

But when thinking a little deeper about it, I was thinking there’s some books that are better suited to TV adaption and some better for Movie adaptions. Books with many installments and with a complicated plot are best suited for TV. Trying to fit it all into one movie would be too complex and it’s how we get movies like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and City of Bones. To be honest, I just think TV is a better fit for the majority of fantasy books.

  • Examples: Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Throne of Glass, To All the Boys I Loved Before, Beautiful Broken Things

But stand alones, duologies (except SoC) and trilogies are probably better fit for movies. Most of the time, these books can be summed up in an 1.5 hours easily and don’t omit any major plot points. Sure, not every single scene will be included; but it will hit all major plot points. In this way most contemporary fiction books are better suited for movies.

  • Examples: Shadow and Bone, The Sun Is Also A Star, Fangirl, Anna and the French Kiss, Nimona, All The Missing Girls

What do you think? Which books do you think are better suited for TV/movies? Do you think certain genres are better fit for movies/tv shows? Let me know!