I had a fascinating exchange this week on Facebook with a new reader who read Beneath a Silent Moon and now is reading Secrets of a Lady. I’m always intrigued by hearing from readers who read the books in the order in which they’re set chronologically rather than the order in which they were written. I’m often asked which order to read the books in, and I answer that I deliberately wrote them so they could be read in either order, but I think there are differences in how the story unfolds depending on the order in which one reads them.
I’ve always written connected books, and I’ve always tended to move back and forth chronologically, in the Anthea Malcolm books I wrote with my mom, in my historical romances, and in the Charles & Mélanie books. Now with Vienna Waltz I’ve gone back still further in Charles and Mel’s history. Answering reader questions about Secrets and Beneath this weekend, I realized that I’ve also tended to read series out of order. My first Dorothy Sayers book was Have His Carcase, well into the series and the second of the Peter & Harriet books. I then read Busman’s Honeymoon (the fourth Peter & Harriet book, because it was the next I could find, my wonderful father drove me to a bookstore on Sunday, and it was the only one they had), then Strong Poison (the first Peter & Harriet book), and finally Gaudy Night (the third book). I didn’t mind reading the series out of order. In fact, I rather enjoyed getting to know Peter and Harriet, seeing them married, going back in time to when they met, then reading the book where they get engaged. I found Lauren Willig’s series with The Deception of the Emerald Ring, Deanna Raybourn’s with Silent on the Moor, Laurie King’s Mary Russell books with The Moor. I think I actually enjoy starting a series at a point where the characters and their relationships have progressed and then going back to see how it all started.
My friend Penny Williamson started Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles with The Ringed Castle, the fifth book in the series. She says she was very confused but also fascinated. She went on to read the other four books that had been published at that point completely out of order, before reading Checkmate, the final book in the series, when it was published.
How do you feel about the order in which you read a series? Do you tend to start with the first book or in the middle? Do you think you view the story and characters differently depending on the order in which you read the books? Writers, do you like moving back and forth in time or do you prefer to write in chronological order?
Speaking of chronological order, this week’s Fraser Correspondence addition continues in the build up to Waterloo with a letter from Isobel to Mélanie.
Tracy Grant - Novelist 
October 11, 2010 at 6:20 pm
I usually try to read series in order, if I can. But of course, it’s not always possible, and if each book concentrates on a different couple, it doesn’t matter as much.
Then of course, there is the frustration of finding a good series and having to WAIT for the next book!
October 11, 2010 at 7:33 pm
I agree with JMM. If it’s a romance series, it can generally be picked up anywhere since the story will focus on a particular couple.
But I much prefer to read any series in order. There can be little things that happen that are easier to follow if you’ve read them in order. And I like to see the progression of relationships and stories.
I read Beneath a Silent Moon before Secrets of a Lady, and I’m so glad I did.
October 11, 2010 at 9:42 pm
JMM, I so agree about the frustration of waiting for the next book in a series. I discovered the Lymond Chronicles when they were already all written. I devoured the books the summer between high school and college, thinking “it would have been really frustrating to read these books as they were written and have to wait a year and a half or so for the next installment.” Then Dunnett started the House of Nicolò series, and I had to do just that. Very difficult–though it makes for some great speculative discussions with other readers, on and off line.
October 11, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Susan, I love getting the thoughts of readers who read Beneath first. Were you surprised by the revelations about Mélanie in Secrets? Did you think from Beneath that she had secrets?
I think I’m sort of an odd reader, because I actually enjoy learning bits and pieces about characters out of sequence. I don’t deliberately read series out of order, but I enjoy reading them that way when I fall into it, and unless I read them as they’re written, once I start a series I don’t worry about reading in order to catch up.
October 11, 2010 at 10:59 pm
I remember finding Kate Ross; I was shocked to read of her death. I loved her books and was sorry there would be no more.
October 11, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Kate Ross’s death was so tragic. She was so young and such a wonderful writer. And there were so many things set up in her series that I wanted to see develop.
October 11, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Tracy,
I could tell from Beneath that Melanie had a few secrets. There were subtle references here & there. It’s been a while since I read them, so I don’t remember the specifics. But I thought it was apparent that they had an unusual relationship. And then when I read Secrets it was like taking a journey with them, both into the past and towards the future, as they had to figure out where to go with their life together. It was beautifully done.
I hope Mask of Night is published soon too. I want to see what happens next.
October 11, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Thanks so much, Susan, for your insights and nice words! I hope Mask of Night is published soon too! Meanwhile, I hope you won’t mind go back in time with Charles & Mel in Vienna Waltz. I think it offers some new insights into them (I learned some things about them myself :-)). And then the Waterloo book I’m writing now moves forward from there.
October 12, 2010 at 4:33 am
I usually try to read series in order at least the first time through. Then I may go back and reread them out of order or even just one or two books out of the series that are favorites. I did read yours in order of publication. I could certainly see how reading them in reverse order would change how you saw characters. Have you ever chugged along in a series and sort of sighed when you realized everything was not going to be resolved? Afraid I got to that point with a couple of science fiction/fantasy series. The character lists got so long and time stretched out between books so it was hard to remember the plot.
October 12, 2010 at 7:10 am
I think I often do the opposite, Donna–read a series out of order the first time, then go back and read it in order. Though I definitely also reread individual books that are favorites without rereading the whole series. Can’t think of any series I’ve given up on because things didn’t seem to get resolved–though I have dipped back into earlier books to catch up on plot points when a new book is published.
October 12, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Donna, I’m curious about which sci-fi series you are referring to.
October 12, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I remember now; I read Rightfully His before Shadows of the Heart (I’m pretty sure those are the connected books) simply because I received RH before SOTH. So I knew who the villain was in Shadows before I read it. It didn’t change my enjoyment of Shadows any.
But if the books are straight mysteries I usually try to read in order.
October 13, 2010 at 6:16 am
Yes, Rightfully His follows Shadows of the Heart, JMM. Shores of Desire takes place before Shadows, but was published after (and Dark Angel proceeds the other three books). Rightfully His is a fairly direct follow up to Shadows and does spoil the Shadows villain (since he’s also the villain in RH). Usually I try not to give away the end of a mystery in another book in the series, but since I wanted to carry forward the villain’s story arc, in that case it was unavoidable.
October 13, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Yikes. Tracy, I thought I had all your earlier works already. I don’t know how I missed those. I’ve added them to my Wish List (along with the Dorothy Sayers that I recently heard good reviews on.)
And for the record, I’ll be reading them in order.
October 13, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Those are my historical romances, Susan (though they all have suspense plots). My mom and I wrote Dark Angel together as Anna Grant and then I wrote Shores of Desire, Shadows of the Heart, and Rightfully His. Let me know what you think when you read them!
October 18, 2010 at 1:16 am
I think I prefer reading in chronological order when it’s a continuing series, regardless of genre. I know I got more out of The Lymond Chronicles when I started at The Game of Kings and proceeded all the way through Checkmate. The unfolding of plot and character was breathtaking over the course of six books.
On the other hand, sometimes reading chronologically becomes an impossibility, especially when it’s a living author who unexpectedly decides to double back in the time stream and write a prequel or a “missing years” book. Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga, for example, hopscotches all over the chronology, as far as publishing order goes. She’ll write several books in which her series hero is in his mid-to-late 20s, then she’ll cast back and write another book that takes places when he was in his teens. And then she’ll resume the previous timeline in her next Vorkosigan book. (Of course, she’s good enough at her job that you avidly read out of sequence, even while you’re gnashing your teeth.) Diana Wynne Jones wrote Charmed Life long before she wrote its prequel, The Lives of Christopher Chant. C. S. Forester wrote Horatio Hornblower as a middle-aged post-captain before depicting him as a midshipman and lieutenant. Elizabeth Peters finished her Amelia Peabody series with Tomb of the Golden Bird–the way she hinted that she would–and now she’s written at least two “missing years” volumes. (Some readers grumble about these not being as strong as the rest; that might well be, but I’m choosing to regard anything extra Peters gives us in that series as a gift.)
I think writers face a unique challenge when they write backwards. How to make prior events exciting and urgent when you–and your readers–already know the hero has survived them because he’s alive later down the road. And how to reconcile characters’ pasts with their presents. And how to convince readers that this foray into the characters’ past was truly necessary and not something that could have been handled in a flashback in a book that’s set later. Perhaps you dealt with issues like these when you wrote the first two Charles/Melanie books?
It’s probably easier when you’re not writing a direct sequel or prequel. Right now, my first novel is seeking a home. I would dearly love to write a sequel and even have one plotted out, but I don’t dare start it until I know the first book will see the light of day. So I’ve taken a step backwards and to the side, to write a story set a year earlier, in the same universe about characters who were at best peripheral to the cast of the first book. It’s a challenge in its own right, but at least I don’t have to worry about plot spoilers!
October 18, 2010 at 7:38 am
Thanks for the thoughtful comments, Stephanie! It is a challenge writing a book that’s set earlier in a series, but it’s a challenge that I enjoy as a writer. I try to make sure each book reveals new information, both factual details about the characters and new sides of their personalities (I try to do that with books that move forward chronologically too, but I worry about it even more with prequels). I also try to introduce information that will be important carrying the story forward. For instance, Beneath a Silent Moon sets up the Elsinore League, who are important for The Mask of Night and subsequent books I have planned. Beneath also let me explore Charles’s relationship with his father, Kenneth Fraser. I realized later that I also wanted to introduce Charles’s family through Mel’s eyes, so I needed to go back in time to when she met them.
Vienna Waltz deals more with Charles’s mother, Elizabeth Fraser. In working out the plot details, I realized why Elizabeth married Kenneth Fraser. It had always bothered me a bit that Lady Elizabeth married a man she didn’t love, as a young woman, before cynicism set in. Suddenly as I was plotting Vienna Waltz, the details of Elizabeth Fraser’s past fell into place in my head. I also added an extra layer to the back story behind Charles and Mel’s meeting (something that Cate said topped the Secrets of a Lady revelations, which pleased me no end :-)).
I also make sure there are new characters in each book (whether it goes back or forward in time) whose fates won’t be known to the reader in the case of a prequel.
I always find it a challenge to go back in time and figure out who the characters were at that point in their lives and what their relationships were. But it’s a challenge that’s invigorating. I think it helps keep the story and characters fresh.
October 20, 2010 at 1:53 am
Funny you mention the Dorothy Sayers mysteries–just today I started reading one of her books for the very first time, and I could tell I’m totally out of order (Busman’s Honeymoon) but I’m not letting that hold me back. I can already tell I will want to track down the other books and read them (in any order!).
I read the Melanie/Charles books “out of order” too, but it didn’t matter. I could tell from the very first page of Beneath a Silent Moon I was going to like it–intriguing characters with lots of backstory always sucks me in–just from the dialogue alone.
Really, the only type of books where I insist on reading them in order are those which are plot driven, such as the Hunger Games trilogy.
October 20, 2010 at 2:36 am
Eeps, sorry, Susan, live came along and I didn’t get back to the discussion. The science fiction series was The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I guess I just got overwhelmed by it.
On the other hand, I have adored the Vorkosigan series and did read that one out of sequence. Then I went back and put it together in sequence. Enjoyed both ways. Donna
October 20, 2010 at 3:34 am
You bring up a really good point, Julie! I think there’s a difference between connected series where there are ongoing plot arcs, but the story of each book is more or less resolved (which is what I would consider my boos and the Dorothy Sayers books and books by writers like Laurie King and Elizabeth George, who have also written prequels) and a series where the the major plot arc continues through the series, which I think is true of the Hunger Games trilogy and is true of the Lymond Chronicles from the third book on. That said, my friend Penny read the Lymond Chronicles out of order and enjoyed them, and I can imagine doing the same. As I said, I rather like meeting characters in the middle of their adventures and then going back to see how the story started.
It sounds like you read Beneath first and then Secrets? Did the revelations in Secrets surprise you?
October 20, 2010 at 3:35 am
I think it’s fun to read a series out of order and then go back and read it in order, Donna. That’s what I did with the Sayers Peter and Harriet books, and it’s also fun to reread the Laurie King books with O, Jerusalem in chronological order (which means reading it in the midst of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.
October 21, 2010 at 12:48 am
Yes, I first read Beneath a Silent Moon, then Secrets of a Lady (though it was titled Daughter of the Game then!). Yeah, I definitely was surprised but it just made me become really involved with the characters and I had to go back and reread Beneath immediately afterwards to kind of gauge the characters’ relationships now that I knew so much about them.
October 21, 2010 at 5:37 am
Thanks for the explanation, Julie! It’s cool that Secrets/Daughter got you to go back and reread Beneath. I think (I hope!) each book works on its own, but I think each reads slightly differently if you’ve read the other.