SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

These are three most popular POVs.
Do you have a preference?

First-Person
The story is relayed by a narrator who is also a character within the story, so that the narrator reveals the plot by referring to this viewpoint character as "I" (or, when plural, "we"). First-person narrations may be told like third-person ones, with a person experiencing the story without being aware that they are actually conveying their experiences to an audience; on the other hand, the narrator may be conscious of telling the story to a given audience, perhaps at a given place and time, for a given reason. The first-person narrator also may or may not be the focal character.

Third-Person
Each and every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they", but never as "I" or "we" (first-person), or "you" (second-person). In third-person narrative, it is necessary that the narrator be merely an unspecified entity or uninvolved person that conveys the story, but not a character of any kind within the story being told. Third-person singular (he/she) is overwhelmingly the most common type of third-person narrative.

Alternating View
Many stories, especially in literature, alternate between the first and third person. In this case, an author will move back and forth between a more omniscient third-person narrator to a more personal first-person narrator.

I don't really mind any/all. But, when we get a female's first-person POV throughout a series I enjoy reading the male POV. Example: Jocelyn Drake's Dark Days series has been written only from Mira's POV, but in Pray for Dawn we were treated to Danaus' POV. LOVED it!

I'm also interested in reading the final release of Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer to get Edward's POV, if she ever publishes it.

I'll read any, but I always love a male PoV.

I never seem to notice POV unless it's something unusual, like a blokes POV. That's pretty hawt!

LOL! Yup, can be!

I don't mind any POV, but I agree with you about Midnight Sun. I wasn't really a fan of the Twilight series, even though I read them all, but I really liked the part of Midnight Sun that Meyer released. I would love to get the entire book from Edward's POV.

I think, based on the partial copy I read, I would like Edward's book better, maybe a lot better. Either way, I wish she'd just do it already. LOL!

I think I prefer first person BUT if the book's awesome anyway, I don't really mind which POV it's in. I thought I'd hate not being in first person but when I read Angels' Blood, I loved the alternating third person POV and would definitely read more of it.
Also, I loved Stolen: A letter to my captor which was in second person!

I don't mind any of them. For a while I had issues with the alternating view, but lately I read a few good examples (e.g. Nalini Singh's books) and warmed up to it.

Josie wrote: "Also, I loved Stolen: A letter to my captor which was in second person!"

LOVED this book. I had Stockholm Syndrome reading it. This was one of those books where I felt that just because the protag is a YA, that doesn't necessarily mean it should be targeted to YAs--I figured if it psychologically messed with my mind, it's probably not the best thing for an impressionable teen. :)

I'm not picky when it comes to POV, but I do tend to love 1st person, I think you just get so much more of a character when you get a front row seat inside their head. :)

I always ALWAYS choose first person point of view we I can. Third person is okay. I don't like alternating much.

Laura Lulu wrote:LOVED this book. I had Stockholm Syndrome reading it. This was one of those books where I felt that just beca..."

Completely agree. I read it quite a while ago and I still think about it even now. For anyone who hasn't read it yet, GO AND READ IT NOW!! It is an incredibly intense and honest book and I don't know about anyone else but I had so many emotions throughout and was so confused by the end of it (in a good way) about what I felt. It's one of those books where nothing (or more specifically no one) is strictly black or white/good or evil and was just... whoa, pretty intense.

I totally agree. I was just talking about it the other day to my mom & s-i-l. You hit the nail on the head when you said you were so confused by the end of the book. I need to check out the author's other stuff. Anyone who can make you feel stuff you could have sworn you would never feel is a damn good writer. :)

Lol, after we'd both read it, me and my sister was talking about her other books too! I don't remember there being many though.



These are the only books listed. Anyone read Flyaway?

No, but I've added Stolen to my wishlist. I'll check the library for it.

I enjoy most types of POV but I HATE present tense. It confuses the hell out of me & makes me feel disoriented.

LOL! I was going to add present/past tense(s) to this post too, but decided against it. What a coinkinkydink. :)

Steph wrote: "No, but I've added Stolen to my wishlist. I'll check the library for it."

I hope you enjoy it! At the very least, it's one of those books that "stays with you long after you've turned the last page" lol

LethalLovely~I'll Wrap My Wire Around Your Heart wrote: "I enjoy most types of POV but I HATE present tense. It confuses the hell out of me & makes me feel disoriented."

I feel the same, don't really like present tense. Having said that though, I reckon it again depends on the book, because isn't Hunger Games present tense? And I loved that and didn't even notice the tense :)

I don't mind present tense--I actually don't usually even notice tense. The only time I do is when it's past tense and the character says annoying things like "If I would have known that..." I don't like foreboding hints. :)

If a book is written in present tense, it always throws me off for a bit and takes me a couple of chapters to get used to it. But often the story sucks me in by then and I don't realize the tense any more (The Hunger Games and Grimspace for example).

And I agree Laura Lulu, I hate foreboding hints!

For me POV isn't all that important. 3rd, 1st, alternating... doesn't really matter. What matters more to me is timeline. I'm reading a book right now Veracitywhich bounces all over in the span of a couple of decades. I'm about a third of the way through and I'm having a hard time following it.

Regarding POV though... the drawback that I've seen for 1st person is character development of the lesser characters. It can be tougher to really get to know them.

I agree, Stacy. If you start feeling like you need a map for the Lost-like timeline it gets a bit too much. Hope it all falls into place for ya. :)

Alternating first-person throws me off. Just read Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie and it's first-person but alternates between two characters. Maybe I'm just being lazy but I'm not into having to look up at the corner of each chapter heading to see whose head I'm in. Looking back, I've read other books that do that and I'm not really a fan.

Steph wrote: "I agree, Stacy. If you start feeling like you need a map for the Lost-like timeline it gets a bit too much. Hope it all falls into place for ya. :)"
Well it really didn't. I finished the book. I found myself having to flip back and forth to look at the timeline to see exactly where in time I was reading. It wouldn't be so bad if she just went from 2020 to 2045 but she went from May 2045 to August 2045 and back again. I wouldn't recommend the book. Not sad it's finished.

For me it depends on the author, I have read authors who do some poorly and some good. I generally prefer first person and I really like first person male POV written by men -- for example the Dresden Files by Butcher. I do enjoy first person male written by female authors, but sometimes it is so darned unrealistic that I find it hard to believe. yeah I would love to believe this strong hot guy thinks that way about his woman, but sometimes it is hard to accept. I think Suzanne Brockmann writes first person male POV realy well in her Troubleshooter series (not UF/PNR, but a great romantic suspense series). I do like alternating points of view if the author can carry it off.

I'll read anything but I prefer 3rd person. I like to get other characters points of view. It's one of the downsides of cozies to me in that most are written 1st person. It's common in Urban Fantasy as well. I can tolerate it better in those genres. I don't like romance written 1st person at all. I haven't come across many of those unless they're more chick-lit than romance.

I really like it when the point of view shifts. Like in the Sugar Maple series by Barbara Bretton. It's always in 1st person but she changes whose view you see. Not necessarily every chapter. But a chapter or two will be in Chloe's point of view, then a chapter or two in Luke's etc..,

I really don't care for first person POV. I find I'm not fond of spending an entire book in the head of one person, and I have difficulty getting into the story. I much prefer third person and have been known to put books back on the shelf at the bookstore if they're written in first person. It's one of the reasons I'm not very fond of UF. That being said, I have read a lot of first person POV books trying to "get into it." I have found a few books that I've enjoyed, but not very many. I guess I just prefer third person all around.

The 3 narrating voices are fine for me, I wouldn't stop reading a book just because of that.

In the 3rd person narration you get a sense of the whole thing, so you are so to say, in control of the situation and it is harder to surprise the reader

In a 1st person narration, well, you are living as the main character lives. For me this is more exciting, I like being surprised.

Same here. I love reading the 1st person narrative. I just imagine myself living the books.

For self-reading 3rd person, this is okay for me but I found that I prefer the 1st person to the 3rd. -- I have never listened to the audio books but I'd think it would be weird to listen to someone reading as the 1st person. So I guess, audio books make sense in the 3rd person narrative.

I don’t mind the alternate. As long as, it was only minimal thru out the book.

I'm currently reading Afterlife and the multiple POVs is a bit confusing.

I think personally I enjoy third person POV more for much the same reason as other have listed here. You get a better picture of the 'whole' cast and don't get bogged down in one character. I think that if I was to look at the books that I got 'bored' with, I would find that the first person was the pervalent POV in them all.

Even though, for the most part I don't enjoy first person POV, some of the best written books I have read are written in this style. Kushiel's Dart and the 5 subsequent books of this series are written in first person POV, and they are spectacular. Truly some of the best writing I have yet to encounter. They are labyrinthine reads, but well worth the effort. This only holds for very talented writers though. Diana Gabaldon is another who meets my standards here. Outlander is an exceptionally written and executed sereies. Serious reading again, but worth the time.

Third person POV can hide a multitude of sins so it is no wonder I tend to like it better. I want to love every book I read and whatever helps that along, gets my vote!

Dana wrote: "I think personally I enjoy third person POV more for much the same reason as other have listed here. You get a better picture of the 'whole' cast and don't get bogged down in one character."


I agree. I also think 3rd person POV is particularly useful for UF, given all the world-building that goes on. It always seems easier to slip into a world when it's not being presented by one view of it. And I feel that I, the reader, get to make more independent choices about the characters than if they're being presented by a first person narrator.

Of course there are always exceptions. I recently read Shiver, and I can't remember a better exercise in using first person AND alternating views simultaneously. The story was built so effortlessly through the narrative that I never felt pressured by the narrators. It's a great trick if you can pull it off.