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davidgoldfarbI recently read Orson Scott Card's new novel in his "Alvin Maker" series,_The Crystal City_. The beginning felt odd to me, clumsy. The story began much more _in medias res_ than is usual; characters new to the series appeared in the first chapter without anything like the usual sort of introduction that new characters ordinarily get; reference was made to events immediately prior to the book's opening that felt more like reminders to the reader of what they've just read than reference to what's happened offstage between books. (There were also events referenced that *did* happen offstage between books, making the contrast clear.)
After I finished the book, I found out what had happened.
Most of you reading this will know Robert Silverberg's anthologies _Legends_ and _Legends 2_, which collect new novellas by famous authors in the worlds of their popular series. Both volumes have "Alvin Maker" stories. The first one was just what such a book should contain: a story related to the series but not required. A nice addition, but one that readers of the main series only could miss without losing anything really important.
It seems, however, that when Silverberg asked Card to do another, Card simply chopped out the first three chapters of his current novel, added a sentence's worth of ending, and submitted that.
Card may have thought that those chapters represented enough of a self-contained episode to be publishable separately. I even agree with him. But if he also thought that the lack of the first three chapters would not damage the rest of the novel, I strongly disagree.
So here is my warning to anyone out there who is planning to read _The Crystal City_: before you do, obtain a copy of _Legends 2_ and read "The Yazoo Queen", or, like me, be sorry that you hadn't. (To be sure, in my case it would have been easier to do this if I'd
*known* that I needed to. Hence this post.)
When someone buys a book, normally they hope and trust that they're getting a complete story. SF and fantasy readers have become used to books that breach this trust by not having an ending, turning out unexpectedly to be part of a series. (The Alvin Maker series to date has not done this. Given the rate at which the books have been written, Card's fans should be glad that he hasn't gone in for cliffhangers.) This is the first case I know of in which a book breaches trust by not having its beginning.
After I finished the book, I found out what had happened.
Most of you reading this will know Robert Silverberg's anthologies _Legends_ and _Legends 2_, which collect new novellas by famous authors in the worlds of their popular series. Both volumes have "Alvin Maker" stories. The first one was just what such a book should contain: a story related to the series but not required. A nice addition, but one that readers of the main series only could miss without losing anything really important.
It seems, however, that when Silverberg asked Card to do another, Card simply chopped out the first three chapters of his current novel, added a sentence's worth of ending, and submitted that.
Card may have thought that those chapters represented enough of a self-contained episode to be publishable separately. I even agree with him. But if he also thought that the lack of the first three chapters would not damage the rest of the novel, I strongly disagree.
So here is my warning to anyone out there who is planning to read _The Crystal City_: before you do, obtain a copy of _Legends 2_ and read "The Yazoo Queen", or, like me, be sorry that you hadn't. (To be sure, in my case it would have been easier to do this if I'd
*known* that I needed to. Hence this post.)
When someone buys a book, normally they hope and trust that they're getting a complete story. SF and fantasy readers have become used to books that breach this trust by not having an ending, turning out unexpectedly to be part of a series. (The Alvin Maker series to date has not done this. Given the rate at which the books have been written, Card's fans should be glad that he hasn't gone in for cliffhangers.) This is the first case I know of in which a book breaches trust by not having its beginning.
