Okay so I just found out a series I absolutely love has a 4th and 5th book out.
The problem? I read book 3 like four years ago. I have no idea what happened. And honestly, I don't have time to re-read 3 books just to get to the new stuff.
Books need a "The story so far" section. Writers, publishers, learn from Netflix.
by dilqncho
7 Comments
I just jump in and assume getting back into the series will jog my memory. Or sometimes you can find people on YouTube who do a recap before new releases.
In a pre-Internet age, I would have agreed with you.
Wikipedia typically has summaries.
Not saying this wouldn’t be nice, but… unless the series is *super* obscure, there’s usually a more or less sufficient summary available online, just a quick Google search away. Or do you genuinely run into this often enough that it becomes an issue?
I’m actually the opposite – I hate having to reread what’s happened in the last book or repetitive explanations about the story as a whole. I usually skip this part because I find it an annoying waste of time.
You remember nothing so just read them again. Sounds like you just don’t want to put in the effort to read.
I’m guessing a thorough recap would take up too many pages. And authors probably don’t like putting the raw plot outline so clearly on the page for readers to see. It might expose too much about certain plotlines, misdirects, or characters you wouldn’t expect to be relevant later.
I’d enjoy the recap too, but I’m just spitballing as to why we don’t see it more.