Mumbling Mondays - Where To Start In A Series

Mumbling Mondays - Where To Start In A Series

So starting a book series can be like deciding which came first the chicken or the egg.  Especially if you are choosing to read the Xanth series by Piers Anthony or the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.  Both are series that have over 20 books and do not have to be read in order. The Discworld and Xanth series have so many characters and span over so many years it like starting a new book not in a series.   There are some hints here and there that connect each book to its series but most of the books are just as good stand alone.

There are other series that it depends on the readers choice. For example I think of an author whose books I use to devour.  That author was V.C. Andrews.  For a long while V.C. Andrews books had a format of 5 books to a series.  The 1st book released would be about a young girl who would go through ups and downs throughout her life and get told through the first 4 books.   Then the 5th book would be a prequel to the 1st book about the young girl’s mother.  I read the books as they were published and I can not imagine having read them any differently because so much would be revealed in that last book.

Then there are books that reading out of order would just make the stories confusing,  I find this happens with really rich fantasy series.  There are books I have started and did not realize the book was part of a series until halfway through.  Once I realized it so many things made sense as to why I did not understand references that I had not known because I read out of order.

For the most part maybe because of my OCD or whatever I try to read in order of the way the books were published.

What book series are you reading?  Do you read them in order of published or random order?

Next Time : Ebook versus Real book