Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
I mean I just didn't care about Hornblower when I read about his beginning. He didn't seem a particularly attractive or interesting character. OTOH, if I had read about his youth when I already knew and appreciated him, I would possibly have felt differently.
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Maybe, just maybe, that book wasn't all that good then if it depends on other books in the series to be enjoyable. IMHO, each and every book in a series should meet minimum requirements including being so enjoyable and grabbing as to want to continue on.
Two series, in particular, spring to mind that I started out of order. Anne Rice's
The Vampire Chronicles I started with the second book not knowing at the time that it was part of a series, let alone not the start. Later I started at the beginning and reading with interest to continue on. Up until losing interest somewhere in
New Vampire Chronicles when more and more religion creeped in, ruining the charm of the beginning (to me).
Harry Potter was introduced to me by a gift of the forth book. I only managed to read a few chapters until realizing that reading out of order wasn't going to work well for me, but liking enough of it to go and order the first three.
The difference being that the former series appears to be only lightly connected, while the latter is more of a continuous big story that was thought out and planned ahead of time.