I believe I'm done here. I'm obviously not going to change
your mind (and maybe nobody else's, either), but if this discussion makes even just
one other person think twice before they answer another readers question of, "do I need to read author X's books in any particular order?", then my goal has been accomplished.
For the record, if I've read the books and I'm aware of any connections between them whatsoever, my initial answer to that question is going to be, "I don't know. What sort of things are important to you when you read?"
