I saw the answer on series comparable to Animorphs. So in the spirit of that question, from one Eleutherophobia fan to another, is there a series comparable to Eleutherophobia that you could recommend?
I have an entire Goodreads shelf called "After the Adventure" for books set after the end of a different story! Here are some of them:
Die by Keiron Gillen. One of my all-time favorite series, which is why it gets top billing despite being a comic not a novel. The 42-year-old survivors of a fantasy adventure that stole their adolescence (and one character's arm, and one character's life, and the protagonist's gender) realize they left a friend behind when they escaped last time, and now they need to go back in.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. The world's greatest band of monster-killers has been retired for decades, but their former leader's daughter got her army in over their heads. So now the 60-something curmudgeons will just have to dust off their armor, ignore their aching knees, and go try to rescue her.
We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory. Tells the story of a support group for sole survivors of adventures that no one else believes, because they all feature magic or monstrousness. One of the few high-quality depictions of therapy I've ever seen in a horror novel.
Mister Magic by Kiersten White. A group of former Mouseketeers child stars come to realize the show they were on was less Mickey Mouse Club, more Candle Cove, and now they're being forced onto a reunion tour that's even more sinister than it seems.
Wendy, Darling by A.C. Wise. Picks up at the end of Peter Pan, when an adult Wendy sees her daughter leave with Peter — and decides to hunt Peter down and steal her kid back, because her perspective on Neverland has shifted a lot in the last 30 years.
The Secret Country by Pamela Dean. Five cousins co-wrote an adventure story by playing pretend in their backyard — and then they switch universes with their fictional protagonist selves, and find themselves in their imagined country. Now they have to decide whether this is a game they want to play out, or an all-too-real political intrigue they need to escape before it turns deadly.
Fuck Fairyland by Skottie Young. When she was six, Gert fell into a magical world of candy and rainbows and talking animals. That was forty years ago. Now a bitter middle-aged alcoholic still trapped in her six-year-old body, Gert is determined to escape Fairyland no matter who she has to dismember to do it.
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. The most famous after-the-adventure novel ever written, featuring a boarding school for the survivors of portal fantasies. That said, McGuire is not my jam — I've tried several of her books and this is the only one I've ever finished. IMHO it's both cozy to the point of cloying and half-heartedly shocking. Plus, when I hold it up against We Are All Completely Fine, its casual "therapy sucks, amirite?" attitude is super annoying, especially in combination with the protagonists' therapy-speak.
