Quote:
Originally Posted by GlennD
It IS the same book, split in half. They split it because the added material was enough to make it too large for a single book. If you're buying it today, you're better off getting the author's preferred editions.
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I remember reading those, even split in half they weren't remotely as thick as most of Peter F. Hamilton's books. Just look at the UK paperbacks of his Night's Dawn trilogy, below. Paperbacks can be a lot thicker than people realize, and we've all seen really thick hardbacks.
Your link makes it clear that the initial hardback release for the first book was limited (4,500 across three print runs). Because of that fans were unable to get a hardback edition, but the publisher wouldn't do a reissue unless there was new material. Feist added back in cut material, was able to turn some generic references into specific ones (such as character names not decided on until later), and tweaked some things that got missed in editing before.
With that information I suspect the real reasons were that 1. The publisher was a bit leery of taking a large chance on a new author, and 2. They saw a chance to potentially get more money by splitting one book into two. If it was successful, fans would buy both books.