Stories are the type of thing that gets people to ponder about things. They will start from the start, and see how it goes. Now what about reading from the middle of a series? What could be so interesting about skipping a few books, when I can just start? Here’s some things to consider:
Ease of excitement.
I will admit: picking up a book that you like the aesthetic of based on cover and blurb alone is easy. In some cases, if you get it from the library, it is a cheap way to read the book you want while also keeping you accountable to read it.
What keeps it exciting? If the writer writes the story right and to what you like, it is deemed easy for you to read. It gives you an incentive to read it within the appropriate time frame. It also curbs your curiosity quicker to see if it’s a story that you’d want to continue reading. By reading the story, whether from the start, middle or end, here’s what you’ll get:
- The writer’s voice and style of writing.
- Genre
- Theme
- Plot and subplot
- Character’s relationships between each other.
These can give an indicator on whether you want to continue reading or not. And most of all, sometimes, you just want to read that book because the cover looks so nice and you really just want to see what that story is about, even if you don’t read it all the way to the end.
Progression of characters.
Gives you a wider and often different point of view to tell you how the characters in your story has changed.
I find while I was reading Belladonna after reading Wisteria throughout the same series, what caught my attention was Blythe.
In Wisteria, you had Blythe who was enraged to be in a relationship with Aris, but had to do it. Her father Elijah questions Blythe’s choices and did not want to be in a forced marriage. And over that time, she finds herself coming to terms that they were falling deeper for each other for the truths they discover and how they would have to prove her dad when he wanted to visit her that Aris and Blythe are happy for each other.
Meanwhile in Belladonna? Blythe was sick, grumpy and bed ridden. She still loves and is cared by her father. But she was more on edge than in future stories.
If you read from Foxglove, the second book? Blythe seemed more happier and has the need to explore the things she has missed out while she was bed ridden, but after when her father was accused for a wrong doing, she investigates around and seemed rather on edge and wanting to prove the father’s innocence. You could see the dynamics between Blythe and Aris. There are a few angles to look at it through. Despite:
- and despite Aris’ fixation towards Signa,
- Blythe’s disdain towards how Aris was part of her father’s accusation (AND rescue)
- he seemed more suited towards Blythe, and you’d at least imagine that something would happen between them.
There were scenes where Blythe and Aris seems to have some form of respect of each other. I will admit, reading Foxglove as the last book did make Wisteria clearer than when I read it alone. And to see the hints of Aris and Blythe getting all cordial despite their earlier disputes.
Confusion of story
As fun as hopping into the middle of a story is, it can be a confusing experience. Being jumped into forced marriages with Wisteria is a bit of handling and can leave you confused for pages as you try to figure it out. There could be an upside as to try to figure out what is happening as well, but I do find it more to be a consequence. This can also be even deeper when you consider a story that has plenty of books within a series.
Consider the Wheel of Time series for instance, a series with plenty of chapters to go through, a while heap of world building and considering the thoughts of imagine if you go from where you read the pages when Nynaeve became Aei Sedai to when she was at the beginning.
It does remind me that I have to reread this book. But for a book as big as Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, it can get confusing fast if you were going to come in with the White Tower rules than if you were to go from right the beginning.
Loss of relatability
It makes it harder to relate to the characters this way. If you don’t know the world building and you were to come into this blind, you would be scratching your head as to where in the story you would be, what each term in. If the story has an index like the Wheel of Time has, you’d be scrawling at the back of the page, wanting to understand what each term is!
It makes confusing and frustrating! You may also try to get the character’s relationships, and how they relate to each other, and if they like each other or not. Sometimes, if you were togo from the middle, back to the start, you may think ‘Oh, Rand, Mat and Perrin were in the same town once.’ But by the later books, you might not see them next to each other as often as they were in the beginning.
Is the middle the way to go?
I will be honest, reading from a different book can be a fun yet a somewhat confusing experience.
It does make me think that maybe now I will flip to the later chapters of the Wheel of Time and get myself into the rabbit hole of the notoriously long books that they have. Or I might head right back to the start just to relive it.
I would not recommend doing the Wheel of time as a first book to check, unless you are really into the long fantasy worlds, go right ahead. But how you do it, is up to you. Sometimes, you may not be able to control those urges to pick up the book. But if the current book that you have picked up gets too dense, You can read, get a general idea on whether you’ll like it or not, then start in the beginning and find out the different perspectives it takes to read these sorts of books.
If you’ve had an experience reading in the middle of a book, please feel free to let me know, and happy writing!