Crossovers, to me, do not refer to the books that appeal both to teens and adults. To me, crossovers are books that merge two books, usually two series, together in one. Crossovers are the books where two different worlds collide and meet.
For the longest time, I though crossovers only existed in fanfiction. If I wanted to read a crossover between two of my favorite series, I would search FanFiction.net, not Goodreads. But official crossovers are becoming more common these days. At least ones between the different worlds created by one sole author. Take Double Crossed: A Spies and Thieves Story by Ally Carter. In this novella, characters from her two different series, Heist Society and Gallagher Girls meet. Rick Riordan has written similar novellas where characters from his series, Percy Jackson meet up with characters from another one of his series, The Kane Chronicles.
It’s quite interesting to see what is hopefully the rise of a new trend. It makes sense why some authors would want to write crossovers – they help sell books. They are like a promotional device. In crossovers, not only do readers of one series get to read about characters that they love, but they are also introduced to the characters of a whole new series. If the reader likes these new characters, they will be persuaded to dive into the new series.
That being said, while they are becoming more common, crossovers are still hard to find. It’s probably because of copyright and legal issues. Both Heist Society and the Gallagher Girls are published by the same publisher, Disney-Hyperion. (Coincidently, The Kane Chronicles and Percy Jackson are also both published by Disney, but that’s besides the point). The point is because both series are published by the same publisher, there really isn’t any problem with who has the right to the crossover since Disney owns the rights to both series. In short there are less legal issues to deal with. I doubt Ally will be able to publish a crossover between Gallagher Girls and her latest series, Embassy Row because it’s being published by Scholastic. At least fanfiction is still a thing.
I’ve always liked reading crossovers. Published or fanfiction, it was always cool to read about how two different groups of my favorite characters would meet and what adventures they would have. Would they all get along and become friends? Or will they be enemies? What will they do? How will they meet? I’m still waiting for Sarah Dessen to write a crossover between her books since some of them are obviously set in the same world (cough, Colby, cough).
What do you think?
How do you feel about crossovers?
Do you love them, hate them, or just don’t care?
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