Is reading in shared universes worth it?

[Katsunami]

I've just checked in calibre.

Forgotten Realms: complete (except for the one due in August 2014, obviously), and the ones that are not officially in e-book form yet I have in paper.
Eberron: e-books complete, but I have none of the paper books. (There are 11, as far as I can determine.) I will need to get those to complete the series. Eberron seems to be at a standstill, seeing only two standalone novels published after 2010, both tie-ins to the Forgotten Realms in some way.
Pathfinder: Complete, except for the last book.

[ficbot]

I reached that point with the Star Trek books, and cut myself off, ebook-wise, with the novelization of the last TNG movie. I ignore anything which comes after it. The ones with the TNG cast are nostalgia books for me because I read most of them in paper as a kid. I can't keep up with all the new trilogies, and I despised the reboot movie. So, the end of TNG seems to be a good place to cut it off.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I reached that point with the Star Trek books, and cut myself off, ebook-wise, with the novelization of the last TNG movie. I ignore anything which comes after it. The ones with the TNG cast are nostalgia books for me because I read most of them in paper as a kid. I can't keep up with all the new trilogies, and I despised the reboot movie. So, the end of TNG seems to be a good place to cut it off.

Agreed. I'm an enormous TNG fan, but I have already decided that I'm not going to get into the Star Trek novels, ever.

I also don't like the reboot movie; to be honest, Star Trek is 'done' for me. It ended after the last not-so-good TNG movie, and Enterprise, which did develop into a good series in the end, IMHO. They did end it in a lame-@$$ way though.

[Freeshadow]

The whole point of RPG is (for me) that the GM and the players create their own alternative universe throughout their campaigning.
From this POV reading somebody else's idea how things happened would be spooning their puke.
The only canon in an RPG are the rule-books.
What happens, happens when it's played, or it is not an RPG anymore.
If it isn't an RPG then it's only some generic-verse, filled by generic stories. To boring to be read.

[RHWright]

Shared universe can be real fun---as already noted, Wild Cards, Thieves' World. Also have a couple volumes of the Liavek series. Need to find a few of the volumes, just haven't bothered to check online. Getting them with just a few clicks seem anticlimactic compared to hunting them down myself in a used bookstore.

As to licensed properties---like FR---I was never much into any of the TSR-related stuff. Star Trek, it depended on the author. Haven't picked up any in years. Star Wars usually disappointed. Making my way through the Virgin Doctor Who, which are a mixed bag, but I'm a big DW fan, so... Babylon 5 had a few good ones, but mostly pretty lame. Best tie-in still has to be Steven Brust's Firefly novel, My Own Kind of Freedom. Technically, it's "fan fiction," but from a professional and talented fan.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm not a fan of series books. I much prefer standalone novels. I don't mind trilogies, provided they stop after three books. That said, Dune is one of my all-time favorite books and I've made a onetime only exception for this series. I will complete it. I've been collecting the audiobooks for three years now and currently have 13 (soon to be 16) of the 18 in the series.

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Also, there is no Highlander 2, no Star Wars prequel trilogy, and only one Dune novel.

I think you're both wrong about Dune. I say read up to God Emperor, which along with Messiah stand right up to and possibly surpass the original. Heretics and Chapterhouse are forgettable, and all of the posthumous dross looks execrable, though I haven't read it. Sadly, the poor reputation of the son's Dunesploitation work seems to have overshadowed the father's quite good, almost essential sequels. I would almost say you haven't read Dune if you haven't at least read Messiah. The whole original trilogy (let's just call Children of Dune connective tissue) through God Emperor was an epic mythic tale the likes of which we don't often see.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I think you're both wrong about Dune. I say read up to God Emperor, which along with Messiah stand right up to and possibly surpass the original. Heretics and Chapterhouse are forgettable, and all of the posthumous dross looks execrable, though I haven't read it. Sadly, the poor reputation of the son's Dunesploitation work seems to have overshadowed the father's quite good, almost essential sequels. I would almost say you haven't read Dune if you haven't at least read Messiah. The whole original trilogy (let's just call Children of Dune connective tissue) through God Emperor was an epic mythic tale the likes of which we don't often see.

I had to put Chapterhouse down, it was just a snooze fest.

I actually do like the continuations of the series. If something like Star Wars can have expanded lore, then something like Dune certainly deserves it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I think you're both wrong about Dune. I say read up to God Emperor, which along with Messiah stand right up to and possibly surpass the original. Heretics and Chapterhouse are forgettable, and all of the posthumous dross looks execrable, though I haven't read it. Sadly, the poor reputation of the son's Dunesploitation work seems to have overshadowed the father's quite good, almost essential sequels. I would almost say you haven't read Dune if you haven't at least read Messiah. The whole original trilogy (let's just call Children of Dune connective tissue) through God Emperor was an epic mythic tale the likes of which we don't often see.

I still like them. I'm not too picky about a series I like.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Agreed. I'm an enormous TNG fan, but I have already decided that I'm not going to get into the Star Trek novels, ever.

I also don't like the reboot movie; to be honest, Star Trek is 'done' for me. It ended after the last not-so-good TNG movie, and Enterprise, which did develop into a good series in the end, IMHO. They did end it in a lame-@$$ way though.

Overall I enjoyed the reboot movie, but I agree about being disappointed with the last Trek Trek movie (Star Trek Into The Darkness). Likewise, I enjoyed Enterprise but it had the same problem I've had with other prequel series: No matter what happens in the series we know that certain events have to happen or cannot happen no matter what, and some events will be forced in to explain something in the earlier series (as an example, human-looking Klingons).

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by RHWright

Shared universe can be real fun---as already noted, Wild Cards, Thieves' World. Also have a couple volumes of the Liavek series. Need to find a few of the volumes, just haven't bothered to check online. Getting them with just a few clicks seem anticlimactic compared to hunting them down myself in a used bookstore.

As to licensed properties---like FR---I was never much into any of the TSR-related stuff. Star Trek, it depended on the author. Haven't picked up any in years. Star Wars usually disappointed. Making my way through the Virgin Doctor Who, which are a mixed bag, but I'm a big DW fan, so... Babylon 5 had a few good ones, but mostly pretty lame. Best tie-in still has to be Steven Brust's Firefly novel, My Own Kind of Freedom. Technically, it's "fan fiction," but from a professional and talented fan.

When it comes to "Babylon 5" (B5) one nice thing they established is that anything with the official B5 logo is officially in canon regardless of the form. As an example, the story of how Sinclair and Garibaldi first met is in one of the issues of the official B5 comic book published by DC Comics.

I'm a comic book reader (mostly DC Comics), so shared universes is a normal part of reading for me since few series (if any) are actually stand alone. However, I don't read all of the issues a company releases. Instead, I just choose the series that interest me.

Unfortunately, what has caused me to lose some interest is the continuing series of continuity changes that keep occurring that make it difficult to follow any series. DC Comics has had the following events that caused widespread alternations of their continuity: Crisis On Infinite Earths, Zero Hour - Crisis In Time, Infinite Crisis, 52, Final Crisis, and Flashpoint (which led to the current "New 52" which is a soft reboot of the entire DC Universe).

Returning to the question of shared universe, I think that they are worth reading because it allows stories to develop that would be unlikely to happen if it is just one series or only involved one creative team. An example of this is the "The Blackest Night" event in DC Comics.

In the story, beginning in the "Green Lantern" titles, an army of Black Lanterns has arisen (essentially zombies animated by black power rings) that are seeking out emotions to charge their rings. Originally, it was going to be contained only within the Green Lantern titles, but other creative teams got involved and it ended up with the entire DC Universe being involved due to the heroes and villains being targeted by Black Lanterns of their friends and family. It led to some very emotional stories for many of the heroes and some surprising revelations (such as Aquaman's wife, Mera, originally being an assassin sent to kill him but she fell in love with him instead).

[Waylander]

I read a lot of the Black Library output. Some of it is rather cliched and not worth bothering with, but their epic Horus Heresy series is mainly of a very high standard, and Dan Abnett and Aaron Dembski-Bowden are AWESOME!

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

I had to put Chapterhouse down, it was just a snooze fest.

I actually do like the continuations of the series. If something like Star Wars can have expanded lore, then something like Dune certainly deserves it.

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I still like them. I'm not too picky about a series I like.

I guess I mostly don't get that bug to return to a "universe" for its own sake. I'll read expanded lore, but only when the author or story has been recommended or otherwise caught my interest on individual merit. Expanding upon the history of a familiar world can be satisfying, but for me it loses appeal if the ideas are shallow and the writing clumsy.