Eddis, Attolia, Sounis

It never occurred to me someone would WANT to have read KoA first, or any of the books out of order. Interesting perspective, Rosie.

Does the Horn Book imply someone would not want to continue with the other books, or simply that they do not work if read out of order? If the 2nd, there have certainly been many comments to the contrary in Sounis!

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No, no, it doesn't imply anything of the kind. It's just posing an interesting question about series books and whether they work as stand-alones. That was just me, taking the "stand alone" idea to an unthinkable conclusion!

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aged-crone.livejournal.com

I read KoA first because it was one of the new books that I get first dibs on because, hey, I'm the librarian and that's one of the perks of my job. I don't know why I had never read The Thief, which I had ordered some years before, except maybe that the paperback (rebound) cover didn't strike my fancy.

I'm with Philia. The book stands alone; but I honestly don't see how the kind of person who would enjoy it could possibly also be the kind of person who would say, "I liked that, but I don't really need to read the others."

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Hey, you can read the article for yourselves here--

http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2007/nov07_hunt.asp

And then here--

http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2007/nov07_huntsidebars.asp

Jonathan

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estarria.livejournal.com

Thanks! I was just wishing that I could see the article myself. :)

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Thank you!

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Interesting article. What struck me was the bit about being taken seriously, to be treated as a person even if I was still a child.

Possibly the biggest compliment I have ever been paid was when my friend James (aged 21) told me recently how much he appreciated being treated as an equal by me when he was seven and I was teaching him in Sunday School.

I think actually that the very best YA fiction - perhaps the very best fiction full stop? - is that which takes the reader seriously. MWT excels at that; and it's a (small) gripe I have with the Narnia books: CSL talks down to his readers.

Ending rant now before I start nattering on! And on...

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Nattering is good. I remember when I was about eleven it dawned on me that the difference between stuff written for children and stuff written for adults was that in adult movies the child characters were never anything but boring burdens for the adults to protect or rescue, or just drag along. In books and movies for children it was the children who made the decisions, caught the bad guy, saved the world. I realized simultaenously that the adult movies were more realistic and that I didn't care. To hell with realism, I wanted Will Stanton.

I imagine most eleven year olds feel as if they could run the world if they ever got the chance.

mwt

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Yes!

You know the new movie that's supposed to be based on the Susan Cooper books? It seems an utter betrayal.

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Oh, and have you read any Sherwood Smith?

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Ooh there are a lot of Sherwood Smith fans here, myself included. *looks around for Willow*

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emerald-happy.livejournal.com

*finds ~~inkpots~~ candlestick*

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What a wonderful article! Among other things, I thought it gave an interesting perspective on the task the people on award committees have committed themselves to, which I had not previously considered.

I've been quite disenchanted with the books given top honors over the past few years. I really like the statement When popular opinion goes on to validate critical acclaim, it is the mark of an enduring book.

Thank you, Jonathan, for the link.

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jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com

Well, I read QoA without having read TT, so I'd say that one stands alone. The only slightly confusing prequel stuff in that one was the one-page mention of Hamiathes's Gift, and as at the time I was reading it I didn't even know TT existed, I just kinda went with the given information and kept reading. (Also, I read TT wondering if maybe Gen had amnesia. And then he didn't, which disappointed me. That's what I get for reading them backwards. XD)

And I'd say QoA stands alone more than KoA--but I think the main prequel-related question in KoA is that of the relationship between Gen and Attolia, and as the writer of the article points out, that's just one of the many ambiguities in the book that's eventually resolved, and so you don't really have to have read QoA to have your questions answered.

So yes, I would say KoA does a good job of standing on its own--it gives you all the necessary information, and the world is mostly self-contained except for the Eddis bits, and the mention of Sophos. XD

From: (Anonymous)

But what if it didn't stand alone? I'm on the fence because I prefer books with their own beginning, middle and end. I have stopped reading authors entirely when they leave me too often with cliff hanger endings. (Don't even get me started about people who take SIX YEARS to produce sequels. I mean really, where's the sense of professionalism?)

On the other hand, I believe that the best reason to have awards--like the Newbery, Printz, BBYA, YALSA lists of all kinds, is to get the best possible reading experience to readers. They are supposed to encourage the publishers to publish, and to highlight the best of what's available to browsers. How can they do that if they can't recommend the last Bartimeaus book because, oops, it doesn't stand alone? Or the Philip Reeve book? (Although I am going on reputation here because I haven't had a chance to read it yet.)

Books with sequels are a valuable tool in creating readers. They are important. Really important. They can be just as compelling as a stand-alone, just as fascinating, informative, challenging. When they are all of these things, then people will go read the rest of the series to fill in the gaps in their understanding, so I don't see how those gaps, in themselves, can be cause to deny a book, even if it doesn't stand alone, the recognition of a major award. What it comes down to is this: imagine a series with a great book in it, that's out of print now, and unknown to the world, because it wasn't anybody's list because it wasn't eligible. Bad. Very bad. mwt

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It seems to me that all of this is changing now. I usually prefer books that stand alone, but they are becoming an endangered species. As more and more books ARE series books, I think awards committees will have no choice but to take them seriously.

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I love long, epic, stories, and if I can get later stories set in the same world which mention the characters and let me know how they're doing, well, that's even better.

But I've been burned by books introduced as "first in a trilogy" or whatever, and I don't like getting #1 of 3 and having to wait several years for #s 2 and 3, so now I don't start to read them until after all have been released. If the story looks to be at all marginal I won't buy any until all have been released.

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Thanks for posting this, philia. Fabulous article.

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More interesting thoughts on the article; with several mentions of KoA.

http://medinger.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/thoughts-on-newbery-what-about-sequels/

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From the post:

"Coming from the perspective of one whose nine years in education have been entirely in the digital age, I think that the criteria will eventually evolve to incorporate changing notions of the canon. For instance, arguably, the keys to understanding the trajectory of the Harry Potter trajectory is found not only in the text of the seven books (some of which, I’d argue, are standalone, and some of which are not), but also in the author’s close interaction with her fans. Otherwise, in my humble opinion, the development arc of characters like Sirius Black doesn’t make much sense."

Wow. Now there is a perspective I hadn't considered before!

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"The interesting thing about King of Attolia is that those who had read the earlier titles were well aware of her use of the unreliable narrator"

Now, is that a very nice way to speak of Gen and Costis? As unreliable narrators?

LOL

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More on this topic is over at Educating Alice, if anyone wants to look.

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filkferengi

Is anybody keeping a list of all these fascinating mwt references & mentions?

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Well, Checkers does a fabulous job adding tags to all the entries. She's pretty much a genius.

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filkferengi

Very true.

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Aw, shucks. *blushes*

Tags really aren't enough and we didn't start using them for awhile. I wish there was a way to search the archives. I may post to Sounis soon asking for suggestions about ways to archive things.

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filkferengi

That's why librarians rule the world: they know where to find the information & how to get it [we haff vays uff making you think creatively]. :)

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Preaching to the choir, filkferengi, preaching to the choir.

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filkferengi

When only the best kind of audience will do. That's why mwt writes for us.
;)

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I thought Hebe was working on something like this.

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