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I love reading series. For me, it's all
about the world building. As the books progress it's so easy to put
yourself back there in that world with those people. An excellent
example is Anne
McCaffrey's wonderful Pern series. In our SFR patch I like Linnea
Sinclair's Dock Five books. There's a gritty realism about that
boondocks space station. As you learn more and more about the place
you can imagine it growing from a service dock for space ships, to a
freighter terminal to a way point for travellers to a sleazy
hell-hole offering all the attractions and distractions three
different humanoid alien species could possibly wish for.
When I read the author's descriptions
of Dock Five I always think of Singapore back in the old days when it
was the very epitome of a den of iniquity. Strategically positioned
at the end of the Malayan Peninsula, this island city was a port city
receiving trade from Europe going to China, and vice versa. It
attracted honest traders, not so honest traders, and all the people
offering services to sailors. Food, prostitutes, arms, drugs,
smuggled goods, and maintenance and repair for ships. And it was a
place where people didn't ask too many questions.
Put old Singapore into space and you've
got Dock Five. You've still got the dank alleyways, seeping sewage,
creaking roofs, dark and dangerous bars. Just different, because the
sewage flows through corroded pipes and there are escalators with
treads missing if they work at all. The alleys are metal canyons
between cobbled-together modules. And little dives catering for all
kinds can be found everywhere.
So if anyone ends up at Dock Five, you
know what they're in for.
The space station plays an important
role in all the books. But having once established place, an author
can then start to add characters. The main characters in the first
two Dock Five books (Gabriel's Ghost and Shades of Dark)
were Sullivan and Sass, but they get no more than a mention in the
next two books. The author took a minor character from those two
stories and wrote a whole book about him. Hope's Folly follows
the fortunes of Sass's ex-husband, Admiral Philip Guthrie, who we met
in GG and SoD. And then the next book (Rebels and Lovers)
tells the story of Philip's younger brother, the seriously geeky
Devin Guthrie. While Dock Five is just the starting point for HF,
it's a vital component of RaL, where you hear every creak and rattle
of the antiquated piping, smell the smells, and watch your footing on
the stairs.
I've done a similar thing in my PtorixEmpire series, keeping the setting (a universe where the alien Ptorix
are the main players) and adding characters. Senior Commander Brett
Butcher played a minor role in the first two books, The Iron
Admiral: Conspiracy and The Iron Admiral: Deception. Now
he stars in his very own book, Crisis at Validor, where
readers will get to learn a lot more about the alien Ptorix who play
a major role in all four books.
Do you have a favourite series? Tell us
about it and why it's a favourite.
Sooooo many series!!! I used to 'vet' men to date by discussing the Dune series, and I first began really looking seriously at my future husband when he asked if I had read the latest Vorkosigan book. (It was Barrayar at the time, which shows how long we've been married, tee hee!)
ReplyDeleteLoved at least four of Anne McCaffrey's series -- Dragons of Pern, Crystal Singer, Partnerships, and Sassinak -- and I can't tell you how many times I've bought the entire Mary Stewart Merlin trilogy only to lend them out and never get them back. Four times? Five?
I almost actively avoid books that aren't series. I love getting sucked in, and when I fall in love with a world I want to stay there as long as I possibly can. Which is why I love Dark-Hunter so much. Every book reveals something about the world I didn't know before.
ReplyDeleteI love series so much! While I don't mind an occasional stand alone world, there's something to be said for falling in love with a whole world. I just adore it.
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