series quality decreasing?

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I think besides series or stand-alone we need a 3rd term to describe the type of book that makes sense on its own, but has connections to or could spoil other books if you read it first.

I would tweak that definition to say that if it has connections to previous books, they don't matter if they don't spoil them.

But I do always try to read books in order; the character development and back story is missing otherwise. But typically it's never stuff that matters to the current book's plot.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I think besides series or stand-alone we need a 3rd term to describe the type of book that makes sense on its own, but has connections to or could spoil other books if you read it first.

I agree.
That's part of a story verse that has developing characters and a timeline but can be read first or out of order. Perhaps only mild spoilers.

Wheel of Time comes to mind as something that is really just one long book, hardly even a series. The fact it might have been better as 4 to 6 books and the author died before finishing it are separate issues.

With POD paper and also eBooks it's irresponsible now for a publisher to have parts of a series unavailable. Though obviously more complicated if the publisher has changed.

[GlennD]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Do you have to watch all nine Star Wars 'main' movies to watch The Mandalorian or Rogue One?

well....no.

Will you have a richer experience having watched the main movies before watching the Mandalorian or Rogue One? Absolutely.

Without that, Baby Yoda is just "Baby Alien" or "the child". And Rogue One is a better experience knowing what the Death Star is in the first place. Vader's appearance at the end would be just another bad guy with a laser sword without the context of the other movies.

[Quoth]

Certainly no need to watch the Phantom Menace Hasbro Toys provided $100M

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Certainly no need to watch the Phantom Menace Hasbro Toys provided $100M

I get what you're saying. Honestly, I don't care for Star Wars regardless. But I don't think your second sentence alone would justify your first sentence. Of course Hasbro would be heavily invested in new Star Wars. Their large investment into the movie wouldn't be enough to justify it as a bad movie. Though in this case, yeah, it is a bad movie, the badness is squarely on the writing rather than due to Hasbro's investment in it.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I've not read Discworld, just not interested.

Care to tell us how you wouldn't try Discworld? Because that stance is an anomaly here and mostly everywhere else.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by GlennD

well....no.

Will you have a richer experience having watched the main movies before watching the Mandalorian or Rogue One? Absolutely.

Without that, Baby Yoda is just "Baby Alien" or "the child". And Rogue One is a better experience knowing what the Death Star is in the first place. Vader's appearance at the end would be just another bad guy with a laser sword without the context of the other movies.

I agree. I've seen the movies, but haven't watched the animated series (The Clone Wars). My understanding is that there were certain references to events in the animated series in the Mandalorian. Can't say that it ruined my experience to find out there were things that I "missed". So really it's a case of it depends.

Sometimes foreknowledge can change an experience, sometimes it's just more of an Easter egg, i.e. a character mentioned in passing. Jack Benny's To Be or not To Be (1942) was a funny movie. Mel Brooks remake (1983) was much more poignant movie. It's actually one of my favorite Mel Brooks movies even though it wasn't a big hit in the theater, in part because it wasn't what people expected from Mel Brooks.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Care to tell us how you wouldn't try Discworld? Because that stance is an anomaly here and mostly everywhere else.

I haven't tried Discworld for the same reason I haven't tried the Xanth books. I'm not especially interested in fantasy novels and I am not at all interested in humorous fantasy novels. Just not my bag.

Perhaps I'm missing out on books I would enjoy. But my TBR list says that I have more than enough on my plate anyway.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by GlennD

Will you have a richer experience having watched the main movies before watching the Mandalorian or Rogue One? Absolutely.

Without that, Baby Yoda is just "Baby Alien" or "the child". And Rogue One is a better experience knowing what the Death Star is in the first place. Vader's appearance at the end would be just another bad guy with a laser sword without the context of the other movies.

I can't argue that. But I'd bet familiarity with baby alien or bad guy with laser sword is not required to enjoy the Mandalorean or Rogue One. If a viewers enjoyment of these 'Star Wars stories' rests on familiarity with the shared Star Wars universe, they are failures, in my eyes.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly shows how Clint Eastwood picked up his pancho, that was worn in the two earlier films. Neat as trivia, but I doubt anyone would say you are making a mistake in watching that, if you haven't already watched Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I haven't tried Discworld for the same reason I haven't tried the Xanth books. I'm not especially interested in fantasy novels and I am not at all interested in humorous fantasy novels. Just not my bag.

Perhaps I'm missing out on books I would enjoy. But my TBR list says that I have more than enough on my plate anyway.

Thank you for replying.I too almost never buy new books these days, because of my ample tbr pile. Next time I will spring for a book will be when Peace Talks is released.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I haven't tried Discworld for the same reason I haven't tried the Xanth books. I'm not especially interested in fantasy novels and I am not at all interested in humorous fantasy novels. Just not my bag.

Perhaps I'm missing out on books I would enjoy. But my TBR list says that I have more than enough on my plate anyway.

It's not that much of an anomaly. I haven't tried Diskworld either, though I did read the first few Xanth books. Just never felt the urge to read the series.

[maddz]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It's not that much of an anomaly. I haven't tried Diskworld either, though I did read the first few Xanth books. Just never felt the urge to read the series.

I firmly dropped Xanth once it started getting into somewhat objectionable titles ('The Color of Her Panties' - yeah, right - I am so not interested). The puns started getting tortured too - it was OK for the first few books, then the quality started dropping.

Discworld I found more interesting in the long haul - I thought the quality (although still uneven) tended to get better over time.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by maddz

I firmly dropped Xanth once it started getting into somewhat objectionable titles ('The Color of Her Panties' - yeah, right - I am so not interested). The puns started getting tortured too - it was OK for the first few books, then the quality started dropping.

Would you say it was a case of series quality decreasing? Someone should start a thread on that!

Discworld I found more interesting in the long haul - I thought the quality (although still uneven) tended to get better over time.

To be clear, as an outsider who doesn't have a strong interest in either series, I do believe Discworld to be of higher quality overall than the Xanth series. I see Discworld as being the fantasy version of the Hitchhiker's Guide books. A humorous series that is well respected and clearly written by a very smart guy, but still, something I'm not interested in.

I did read Good Omens, by Gaiman and Pratchett. I thought it was creative, but again, I wasn't bowled over by it, the way so many have been (the TV series was enjoyable enough, but the better half definitely enjoyed it more than I did).

I love Stephen Baxter and have been curious about his Long Earth books, but haven't picked them up yet, because in part I think '... the Discworld guy?'

Oh! I did read a humorous fantasy book: Another Fine Myth. I liked the book, but not enough to read the sequels.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

[...] I love Stephen Baxter and have been curious about his Long Earth books, but haven't picked them up yet, because in part I think '... the Discworld guy?' [...]

Then you should probably try the Long Earth books because I had trouble detecting Pratchett's voice in there. I'm not much of a Baxter fan: some of his shorts are good, but most novels I tried bored me. And guess what? The few Long Earth novels I tried bored me, so perhaps that means they're Baxter enough to suit you? (Seriously, I'm not having a dig, but sometimes such negative recommendations work. .)

[nimbus.se]

To me, this is a thing that makes me uncertain about starting a new series.
Starting a new series only to find out that its quality will have dimished after reading the last one is a "fear" of mine.