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Originally Posted by DiapDealer
I think there's a difference, too. But unfortunately, one reader's "winking reference" might often be another's "requirement." The problem lies in the fact that people use their own sense of "you don't really need to read X before Y" when conversing with others. It's understandable to do so, but ultimately not all that helpful (or transferable) to another reader. A more helpful statement would be something like, "I read Y without reading X. And while I didn't feel I was missing out on anything relevant by doing so, both books are part of a shared universe, so your mileage may vary."
I absolutely love Easter Eggs, inside jokes, winking references, and all the subtle things that can occur with even the most tenuous of connections between an author's various books (when read in such an order that those things reveal themselves in a chronologically "correct" manner). I would be saddened to find out that I missed out on any of those things by not knowing that the books were loosely connected (or part of a shared universe) in the first place, and starting with the wrong (wrong for me) book.
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While the Easter egg s, etc. are interesting, I wouldn't feel compelled to start with the earliest possible book just for those. As long as I avoid spoilers for major events I am ok. I do hate when book synopses lead with those.
I have had a few spoilers while scrolling through books on a store or library trying to find the next book in a series. Things like "now married and expecting a child, Character X has started a new job working for _____. I wish they would have a "sort in series order" option. Sort by release date on Overdrive doesn't always work - I guess they go by release date of the ebook edition, which is not always in series order, especially for series that started long before ebooks became common.