BASTARDS!!! Why don't they clearly indicate the book isn't book #1

dgiharris · Jul 26, 2009

So,

I'm in the book store, browsing, and I come across a gem. A book that has won the Hugo award, Lois McMaster Bujold's Paladin of souls.

I read the back cover, flip open the front, and there is absolutely nothing indicating this is part of a series. Just to be on the safe side I open the inside and look for the 'books by Lois Bujold' page.

On the page it lists Paladin of Souls as the Second book. The first book that it lists is The Hallowed Hunt. The order goes:

The Hallowed Hunt
Paladin of Souls
The Curse of Chalion

I grab the book The Hallowed Hunt and open it up and it LIKEWISE lists the books in the following order.

The Hallowed Hunt
Paladin of Souls
The Curse of Chalion

O.k. So i'm feeling pretty good, decide I'll just buy both books to be safe.

Get home, start reading but it doesn't feel right.

I jump online and after some digging turns out The Curse of Chalion is BOOK #1.

WTF.

So then I open Paladin of Souls back up and it displays the book "The Curse of Chalion" in the inside but it is done in such a way that doesn't really say ANYTHING about it being book #1.

So now I'm pissed. I gotta wait till tomorrow to go BACK to the story and get Book #1.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Why do these book bastards do this? I mean, I guess I know the answer, to trick us into buying more books. but isn't this dishonest?

Sure, most books clearly indicate the order but i'm finding that more and more books do not state it clearly.

Or am I just the only sucker in the room

Mel...

Mumut · Jul 26, 2009

That can't be any advantage to the author or publisher. I've got "Sequel to ...." on the front cover of my second book. It's only honest!

trocadero · Jul 26, 2009

I absolutely agree. Why don't they clearly state, "Book 1 in the whatever series"? I don't get it. I would never read a series out of sequence, and I don't understand why they make it so hard to find out if a book is in a series and if so what number. This has happened to me more than once and I just don't get it!

dolores haze · Jul 26, 2009

Aaaaaargh! I hate it when that happens!

caromora · Jul 26, 2009

Well, you don't actually have to read those books in any particular order. They're not really a series; more like stand-alone books set in the same universe. It might be helpful to have read Curse of Chalion before beginning Paladin of Souls, but it's absolutely not necessary. And the Hallowed Hunt is set in the same universe as the other two books but contains none of the characters from them. It's a completely separate novel.

scarletpeaches · Jul 26, 2009

This is one of my biggest book shop gripes.

WHY DO THEY DO IT? WHY???

Kathleen42 · Jul 26, 2009

You're not alone. This happened to me a few months ago. I was very angry.

brokenfingers · Jul 26, 2009

Hahahaha! Yes, I too have fallen for that particular trap.

Bastards.

BigWords · Jul 26, 2009

I've bought dozens of books which are part of a series, and I always shelve them until I get the entire series. Sometimes a particular book in a series goes out of print for whatever reason, and I hate having to wait. Having the entire series before you start reading is really the only way to go.

If people are really annoyed, I suppose a letter to the publishers would be in order. Be polite though.

icerose · Jul 26, 2009

I read a book that seemed to start in the middle of the story but made sense. The only indication that there might be another book was "also the author of X" so after I read it, it turned out that other book happened to be the first book of the series. But they had no where on the cover or in the book that it was an actual continuation. It just seemed more like a book with awesome backstory. That backstory was a whole other book. My sister had given me this book and was shocked there was a previous book, she didn't have any idea either.

It's really annoying.

WriteKnight · Jul 26, 2009

Not familiar with the series - but it's possible they listed in the ORDER OF PUBLICATION? Sometimes an author crafts a story - and people want to know 'how the world started' or 'what's the backstory to the kingdom'? So they craft another 'earlier' tale - that is published at a later date.

I'm a big fan of the SHARPE'S sieries by Bernard Cornwell. As it happens, he has moved forward and backwards 'in time' to flesh out the story of Richard Sharpe. So earlier books are published at a later date than the 'first' half dozen or so. Fortunately they deal with this in a courteous fashion inside the cover - showing the proper 'chronilogical' order as well as the order of publication - thank God.

BigWords · Jul 26, 2009

The Sharpe books can be read in a random order and still make some sense. A lot of continued adventures can be a pain to untangle if you haven't kept up with them from the beginning, and rely heavily on knowledge of information revealed in earlier books.

WriteKnight · Jul 26, 2009

According to Caromora, the books DO stand alone, and simply take place in the same world - which is why I'm wondering if the list in the cover is simply a publication order.

The Sharpes books do stand alone for the most part - each one about a particular battle. But they are linked together as well. It can be disconcerting to pick up a book about "Major Sharpe" and then read one about "Private Sharpe", then jump to "Captain Sharpe". Because the books DO some ammount of 'info dumping' and 'backstory back-sliding' it's possible to read a spoiler in one book, that is a surprise twist in another. THAT'S a problem too.

dgiharris · Jul 26, 2009

I understand that some books jump around or can be stand alones. But even with stand alones there is a prefered order and I would like it if you didn't have to play 'The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew' just to figure out what the 'preferred' order is.

*sigh*

After doing some internet searching it keeps stating that Paladin of Souls is the 'exciting sequel' to Curse of Chalion. *sigh*

No matter, I will get the book today and send some hate mail to the publisher. Politeness be damned. I'm the customer and I'm pissed.

But just to be safe I will use an alias. Don't want to piss off a potential employer

Mumut said:
That can't be any advantage to the author or publisher. I've got "Sequel to ...." on the front cover of my second book. It's only honest!

This has never stopped me from buying a book. I pick up a cool book that I want to buy, then see that it is book #3 in a series. I immediately set that book down and hunt for book #1 and buy book #1 without even really reading the cover. If book #1 is decent, upon going back to the store for Book #2, I'll buy both #2 and #3. I usually buy series books in two book increments until it starts to get watered down ala Terry Goodkind or Piers Anthony.

I notice that series that are bigger than trilogies start to get watered down around book 5.

Mel...
Mel...

WriteKnight · Jul 26, 2009

Oh I completely agree with reading books in 'chronological' order - with the single exception of the Narnia series - which I think are best read in publication order. As I indicated with the Sharpe series - if you read them out of chronological sequence, you can find yourself tripping over things like 'Wait... he was married??? Where's his wife now?" SO yeah... I'm completely with you on at least KNOWING the proper chronological sequence in a story series, regardless of publication dates.

BigWords · Jul 26, 2009

I watched the Sharpe television movies before I started reading the books, so it wasn't so much of a wtf when I came across 'spoilers'.

Fenika · Jul 26, 2009

I've put books back when suspicious of them being part of a greater series and it wasn't fully clear

dgiharris · Jul 26, 2009

Bahamutchild said:
I've put books back when suspicious of them being part of a greater series and it wasn't fully clear

I couldn't resist. The cover was too cool. And then it had a nice big NEBULA AWARD thingy on the cover and my eyes got all glittery and then the back stated that she was a MULTIPLE Nebula and Hugo award winner and that was that. I was sold. Didn't even have to read the blurb.

*sigh*

I'm off now to go buy book #1

Mel...

MattW · Jul 26, 2009

Though they are only tenuously related, I definitely see Paladin of Souls as an extended epilogue to Curse of Chalion. There are many things that are explained in CoC that are only mentioned in PoS, including characters, political alliances, religion, magic, and much more.

I didn't know Hallowed Hunt was another part of the same world. I'll have to check it out.

And yes, I hate reading a series out of order. Though the last time I made that mistake was in the mid 90's. That lesson stuck.

And as for chronology, the Flashman series is published wildly out of order, but there are always mentions of this or that previous event in the proper chronology, as if the fictional author wrote the papers a memoir in the order he preferred.

aimeelaine · Jul 26, 2009

Oh I've had that happen to! It's even worse in YA books ... my son started on book 3 "accidentally" and after a week of confusion over some of the characters, we figured out why! Argh!

BigWords · Jul 26, 2009

As far as the Flashman books are concerned, there are events which are referred to (and are indicated as having been written) that were never actually published. Consider them 'spoilers' for unwritten novels.

I have the awful feeling that they will be picked up by a lesser author and fleshed out...

veinglory · Jul 26, 2009

I can see how it is an advantage to the publisher. You will buy all three books before knowing if you like the series. I assume this is why they do it.

Miguelito · Jul 26, 2009

I went through the exact same thing with Curse of Chalice and the Paladin of Souls. I bought Paladin thinking it was the first and not finding anything in the copy that indicated it wasn't. I read the first few pages and something seemed amiss. Then I did some web surfing and found that it was Curse of Chalion that was the first book, so of course I had to go out and buy it too.

Weird enough, I read the Hallowed Hunt before either of the other two even though it's the third book in the series. It's pretty much standalone, so I didn't miss much.

All three are very enjoyable. I liked Curse of Chalion more than Paladin. My big beef with Paladin was more stylistic than anything else: it took a long time to wrap up after the climax and I just started scanning and skipping pages.

LOG · Jul 27, 2009

If I can't tell which is first, I aint buyin anything :S

JoNightshade · Jul 27, 2009

Curse of Chalion is the first book, both chronologically and by publication. When in doubt, I look at the publication details listed on the page with the publisher's info and card catalogue information or whatever it is. That will always tell you the original publication year.

BASTARDS!!! Why don't they clearly indicate the book isn't book #1

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