♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #409
Do your books have to be read in any particular order?
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To quickly answer about the order of my books, I suppose not. The stories can stand alone. I wrote them to function as whole stories, even the ones that are part of a series. However, there will be a lot left out and thus a lot less understanding and enjoyment of the Trailokya Trilogy if you read them out of sequence. THere is an overarching story between the three books. There is also a serialized portion.
Apparently a lot of people care about this topic to a depth I had not really considered before. Although, I have to say, I did inquire of Neil Gaiman which was best to start with in his oeuvre. Whole sites are dedicated to the order of books. As student of intertext, I can say that this is so satisfying to think about. If you can, imagine all of the intertext that reading in order can unravel!
The order in which I have penned my current published works does not matter. You can read Blue Honor after everything else, or OP-DEC. Or, read them between. You could read those and not the Trilogy because you prefer historical drama and thrillers or war stories more than you prefer dark fantasy and paranormal stories (regardless of their time or presence of war). Vice versa, reading the trilogy and not the other books. On that note, I recommend reading the Trilogy from book one thru book three.
That said, when I release OP-GHO, then you’ll want to meet up with Claire at the outset of her story in OP-DEC. If I ever manage to sit down for a minute and do the research and writing for Blue’s sequel (yes, I have an idea I’ve been mulling about), then you’ll want to start with Emily’s story and then go to the next. However, those are not present and accounted for, so read Blue and OP whichever order you feel.
The Trailokya Trilogy builds information throughout the series. As I stated above, you would be able to get along in the story if you started with Burning Down, but you’d not entirely understand why Holly is having the trouble she is having, and the long standing feud that feeds it. You do get a taste of why she is where she’s at, and why Jet is the way he is. Lucent Continues the story sewing all the pieces up, but leaving a door open for more new adventures.
Click on the links below to see how the other authors in the hop answer this question, and you might find more new books to add to your TBR pile! Don’t forget to subscribe (drop your email in the top right box), so you receive this hop each Friday and don’t have to search for it. We will see you back next time!
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I never knew such sites existed! I had to restrain myself from going down that rabbit hole and exploring more than the front page. 🙂
Each part of my four series can be read as a stand-alone, but you’ll get less confused if you read the earlier ones first. I do put in a bit of backstory in the later ones, enough to help you but not too much so that you won’t want to seek the others out.