Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
Maybe it's the POV character that should be the most important factor in distinguishing whether a book is a stand-alone or part of some form of series. So the Miss Marple books are a series, even though they're self-contained and need not be read in order. But Linwood Barclay's non-trilogy books are stand-alones despite the fact that they inhabit the same fictional world.
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I'm not sure if this would work. The Thrush Green series by 'Miss Read' as a whole are not written with a single point of view character but there is a strong sense of time and change throughout the series with plenty of references to previous events. Any one who cared about spoilers or catching references would want to read the books in the proper order.
Personally, I consider it a good idea to note if a book is part of a common universe/setting, a series, multi-book epic and otherwise it's reasonable to assume none of the above.
The common universe/setting includes things like Star Trek, follow-on Sherlock Holmes books, Nancy Drew or any other group of books sharing a setting and/or characters without necessarily influencing each other (I do realize that there are series within a larger common setting - I'd expect both to be noted). A series will have references to events in other books although the degree to which past events influences the characters or setting will vary (past events have only a minimal effect in many detective series). A multi-book epic is when the main plot covers the entire series such that the series can be described as as complete or incomplete.