The wildly successful (and wildly divisive) Fifty Shades juggernaut shows no sign of stopping anytime soon, now that there’s the announcement of a fifth book in the “erotic romance” series, out on November 28. Darker: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian, as the title makes abundantly clear, will retell the second book of the original trilogy from the point of view of its male lead, Christian Grey.
The book follows in the trail of Grey: Fifty Shades Grey as Told by Christian, published in 2015, which kicked off author EL James’s retelling of the first three books from the perspective of the controversial sadomasochistic millionaire. “The inside of Christian’s head is a pretty daunting place to be,” said James. “Writing Darker offered me new insights into his character and motivations, and I hope readers find those insights as compelling as I did.”
Starting off as fan fiction based on the Twilight series of books, the Fifty Shades phenomenon has received its fair share of lashings from critics for an inaccurate depiction of BDSM and for passing off an abusive relationship between the wide-eyed Anastasia Steele and the dark Christian Grey as a romantic one. Not that fans care. The first three books have gone on to sell over 150 million copies in 52 languages worldwide and the film adaptations of the first two books have grossed nearly $1 billion.
Apart from the film adaptation of the third book, due for release in February 2018, extrapolation and (financial) reason indicate that a sixth book (titled, one can safely guess, Freed: Fifty Shades Freed as Told by Christian) will probably be out in the next couple of years.
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