Monday, November 30, 2009
Timeline
Dark Stranger does not follow the linear order of the Primes universe and the story of Doc and Zoe takes place in the future. To make this work for readers Susan Sizemore created The Vampire Book Club, a group of women discussing fictional stories from their own culture and history. As a fan of the Primes I had no trouble at all jumping ahead in the time line and did not feel that it disrupted the universe in any way. How important is the time line when reading a series? Do you prefer orderly events that come one after another? Or do you like the change of pace, with some books taking place in the past or future?
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6 comments:
If the book is well written -- and Dark Stranger definitely is that! -- I'll accept anything. I let the story take me along and let the rest of the universe disappear. I enjoy series that skip around. In fact, I've even been known to read a series out of order -- horrors!
For me a timeline is only important if the Author says to read the books in order, like Marilyn I like to skip around, look for the a change of pace.
My thoughts exactly! Great minds right? One of the reasons I liked this book so much was because it was so different from the others in the series. The changes in setting and timeline really drew me in and like Marilyn said, if the book is well written I can accept anything.
I sometimes read a series out of order, but only if I have read it before. I have my favorites and I can read them over and over. Could I read a new book out of order? Not sure. I've only ever done that by accident and quickly went and got the others so I could read in order. Okay, so if I'm not a cynic then I am neurotic:)
I felt the need to switch it up, experiment with the Primes. I plan to keep on experimenting, while also writing stories in the linear Primes timeline. I want to write more with Doc and Zoe, maybe explain the founding of the Byzant Empire. I have a ghost hunter story I want to get to, something with a manga/anime feel to it that crosses into the Primes universe. Got all sorts of things I want to play with.
A ghost hunter story? Way cool. I look forward to reading more about the Primes, both in the traditional linear timeline and in the future setting. I'd love more Doc and Zoe! As far as I'm concerned you can't write them fast enough:)
If I'm lucky enough to start a series with book 1, I'll try to read them in order. But if the first book is not # 1, I'm likely to jump around and take what I can get...
If the book is well-written, it should stand on its own anyway. And this one sure is.
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