A small circle of close friends

[pbray]

I recently bought the first book in an epic fantasy series by a new author. I'd heard good things about it, and I'm always glad to buy an author's first book.

In the first chapter the reader is introduced to character Alpha. In just a few paragraphs Alpha comes vividly to life, and by the time the chapter ends I can't wait to read more to find out what happens to Alpha next.

Except chapter two starts somewhere else. A different country/city, and I'm now introduced to Beta. Beta also captures my interest, though I'm still wondering how Alpha fits in. But I remember that the backcover copy mentioned three central characters so I'm not distressed. Yet.

Chapter three introduces Gamma. Same thing--new person, different place. Chapter four introduces Delta. At this point I get a sinking feeling in my stomach and flip through the pages. Sure enough, chapter five and six have new viewpoint characters. (I couldn't bear to check chapter seven....)

And guess what? I've stopped caring about any of them. By the time we get back to Alpha's story, or Beta's, etc., I'll no longer remember what they were doing or why I was interested. As a reader I no longer trust the author to deliver what I'm looking for-- at this point the characters become indistinguishable talking heads.

There were signals, of course, that this was going to be one of those fantasy novels, which I had missed or failed to look for. Mentioning three central characters on the backcover is a sign that there are at least three, not at most. And if I'd opened it up to flip through the pages I would have seen the headings at the start of each chapter identifying the viewpoint character.

Sigh. I know there is a market for these fantasies, and that there are legions of passionate fans who enjoy similar series. But I'm not one of them; which, I suspect, is why I can't write such a series. In reading, as in my life, I prefer a small circle of very good friends rather than being surrounded by dozens of acquaintances.

Ah well, lesson learned, and another author put in the column of "Good, but not for me." And I can always pass the book on to someone who does enjoy that kind of series, and hopefully the author will find a new fan.

Comments

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. Two main/major characters should be plenty to show different viewpoints (such as what's happening in another location) three at the most, but not constantly changing from all three, arrrrrrgggg! The problem becomes that you forget what's going on with Character One, because you've become so involved in Character Four, or whatever, and... well... it doesn't always work that way.

I've had the "What with one thing and another, a hundred years passed" problem, too. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. (More often, alas.)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, where by the time I was several books in I only read the parts that featured the characters I cared about, and skipped large chunks of the rest. When I realized that I was skipping more chapters than I was reading, I gave up on the series.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem with WoT, alas. The one where the entire 800 pages was just one character following a group of Bad Guys, but not getting close enough to them to do anything... argh! Though now that he is late, I might go to the library and read the rest. Oddly, I started the series because I'd been given a free sample of the first four chapters and it looked interesting. But I agree. There were characters I liked and characters who were just boring (one of those was the one following the Bad Guys without doing anything for 800 pages...)