I always forget what happens in a series!

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

A Song of Ice and Fire is in a special class: extremely complex and diverse story lines with a wealth of characters; together with years between books. Makes for an almost insurmountable series to maintain interest in........................ Isaac Asimov had to reread his own books before he could continue with the next one!

Dare I say it, "some" other authors might profitably follow his example ?


[Actually, "Foundation" was my introduction to SF, when but a callow yoof.]

[odiakkoh]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Keeps you from reading some series, as they never end.

I dont mind reading stand alone books that have the same characters in them like patterson's alex cross books. But as for books that do depend on each other i havent come across any series that made me go darn, too bad its not finished. Most of them arent my genre.

[Pomtroll]

I read so many books it is not always easy to remember the first book in a series. But generally if the author does a slight recap in the first couple of chapters I do end up remembering enough to read on.

One thing though, if there are a lot of books in a series, sometimes I do like to go back & read the first couple. It is kind of nice remembering what the character was like at first & to see how far they have come.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by RDaneel54

Isaac Asimov had to reread his own books before he could continue with the next one!

And obviously some authors do NOT do so, and it shows if you read the books back to back.

[owly]

For me is rereading two - three of the previous books in a series is part of the fun

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by owly

For me is rereading two - three of the previous books in a series is part of the fun

It certainly can be. This is how I read Harry Potter.

[Phogg]

Every time I look at this thread I have this urge to say:

Impedance is minimum at the resonant frequency for an LC tank circuit in a series.

Am I really so alone?

[allinhi/]

Not 100 percent but I usually remember most of previous books. On stand alone books I have bought books reissued with a new title and cover and realized within a page that I have read them before. I have a terrible memory for oral information, guess it evens out.

[MeiLin]

I have always admired the way Patrick O'Brian always gave a wrap-up of sorts at the beginning of his Aubrey/Maturin books. Very skillfully done.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

I don't even bother to read reviews or look up what-is-this-story-about synopses for certain types of books any more.

I hate spoilers... If I do look at reviews (rare, if I know the author) I only read the first paragraph... if they start to give ANY detail at all, I quit reading. I've found that long reviews almost always give way too many details, written more like a school book report. :-)

[TFeldt]

Originally Posted by twowheels

I hate spoilers... If I do look at reviews (rare, if I know the author) I only read the first paragraph... if they start to give ANY detail at all, I quit reading. I've found that long reviews almost always give way too many details, written more like a school book report. :-)

I always read the reviews. But then I forget what the reviews were about when I get to the first book.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by twowheels

I hate spoilers... If I do look at reviews (rare, if I know the author) I only read the first paragraph... if they start to give ANY detail at all, I quit reading.

It's not just reviews that are a problem, but these days the basic back-cover description tends to get all spoilery, especially for mystery books, which I think they're trying to market like thrillers where they show off the not-to-be-missed highlights with a little tour guide of the important points.

If it's a series I'm already following, I just go straight to the first page and start reading after a quick peek to maybe check the location/major plot point (I've already read that one where they go to Italy/find the corpse in a Dumpster, right?).

I don't want to know in advance that X gets mysteriously offed and that Y is the prime suspect because of the shocking family secret which I'll never guess and there's a kidnapping and a car chase, and will the killer be caught in time?!?! The entire point of mystery is that I find that out gradually as it unfolds, darn it!

[Pinecone]

With being able to have the entire series in my hand, I just re-read the series. I read very fast, and pick up things I did not remember.

And it makes the whole story line come alive again.

[Keryl Raist]

I'd say for any author writing a series the step before the final edit should be re-reading the book(s) that came before. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows desperately needed this step. So has many lesser known novels.

I'm sure with the pressure to produce books quickly, it's hard to add that extra time in, but still... You'll write a better novel, the tone of the books will be more uniform, and you'll do a better job of getting the little details right. That means happier fans. Happier fans mean more books sold. Taking an extra two weeks should be worth that.

[TFeldt]

Originally Posted by Keryl Raist

I'd say for any author writing a series the step before the final edit should be re-reading the book(s) that came before. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows desperately needed this step. So has many lesser known novels.

That has to be the single most enlightened and helpful statement I've read in quite a while. It's obviously not restricted to authors but anyone in the content creation industry, and not just fiction.

The reason why your post stood out to me wasn't just that it's true but since authors many times write summaries (although I have my doubts if it's actually the authors or someone else writing them in many cases) it can come as a shock when the very first chapter clashes with previously established events.

Overlapping events, incorrect references, outright omissions of what we were previously told was important. I realize that it certainly isn't intentional and much of it must be cause by the rewrite hell phase, but I just can't accept it. Maybe I'm overly critical simply because I've opted to only read fully finished series, thus I always read books back to back and, unfortunately, have an easier time to spot problems of this nature because of it. If a year or two had passed between books then I might not have noticed them.