Input! We need input!

[rolanni]

[Poll #1158218]

Key:
AoC -- Agent of Change
CoH -- Conflict of Honors
CD -- Carpe Diem
PB -- Plan B
LC -- Local Custom
SP -- Scout's Progress
ID -- I Dare
BoT -- Balance of Trade
CS -- Crystal Soldier
CD -- Crystal Dragon


Please put explanations, observations and elaborations in Comments.

Have at it!

Edited to add: Please pretend that CD is the last entry on the sixth line down.

Comments

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

Dang it now I need to go back and reread CoH and AoC to see which one I think really should go first!

Order out of chaos...

[cschanck.livejournal.com]

1. CoH: Has to be first, simplest entry into the verse

2-3. LC, SP: I know they are "side books" but they have to come before Daav's return. Plus, SP is my hands down favorite.

4-7. AoC, CD, PB, ID: Self explanatory.

8. BoT: Another beloved non-arc book. I am still holding out for a sequel, years later, when Jethri gets his amethyst. ;-)

9-10. CS, CD: These were very meh for me. World spanning, universe shaking stories always feel lazy to me, where something like BoT is much more intimate.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

What a choice! I actually prefer reading them in the order "LC, SP, AoC, CoH, CD, PB, ID, BoT, CS, CD", but I selected #2 (putting ID before LC and SP) because I think that gives a better 'run' for new readers.

Although the ones I really want in mass market are BoT, CS and CD, that format fits a lot better into my luggage when I'm away from home.

Note: I will happily buy a 'spare' copy of the whole set...

[drumiller.livejournal.com]

Oh Dang, dyslexic hell (reasons I can't sort in the first place)

Number 2 above but with CoH, AoC transfixed.

Changed my answer

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

I switched from the version that had CS, CD first because I thought about it. I don't know how many mass market copies of CS & CD are currently out there but I know a friend of mine bought them at Borders within the last 3 months. But I can't remember ever seeing copies of LC & SP in the stores. So if you go by what might be in demand now I'd put CS & CD at the end of the print run so that you aren't competiting with old MM books that are still on the shelves.

[scaleslea.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that BoT occurred before AoC. I know it isn't directly connected with the other books (yet), but it seems that putting it on the end in option 7 breaks the whole Chronological order thing you've got going.

Doc

[shana.livejournal.com]

I voted for 2 but I meant #3. Oops.

I don't think Local Custom should be the intro to the series, because unless you know something about the Liaden culture, Er Thom's actions are bewildering.

And CoH is one of my favorites. I _like_ merchant ships.

[sbmoof.livejournal.com]

Actually, LC and SP were my intro to the series, and they worked just fine for me. The only real difficulty is that when you get to the main arc, all these characters you've grown quite fond of are either dead or MIA. That was traumatic.

[readinggeek451]

I started with Local Custom because I knew it was chronologically first, and it was fine.

If you're starting with the main sequence, I'd start with CoH because it stands alone so well, and it's so wonderful.

[gryphonlsb.livejournal.com]

I agree with the fact that Liaden actions are bewildering. For some reason I just accepted these things without worrying over them too much. A friend of mine was very bogged down at first by all the modes of greeting.

I think some people will just get swamped by the Liadens way of doing things

;)

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Local Custom and Scout's Progress are both excellent standalone introductions to Liad. I would suggest interleaving them with the main series just because they're good teasers that don't require the buyer to commit to reading a lengthy series.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

All at once! A Liaden deluge!

For a second I wondered why on earth we'd put Crystal Dragon in the middle of the original trilogy, and then sanity asserted itself.

I prefer having CoH before AoC, and am ambivalent about where to place LC and SP. I agree with Jonquil that those two are good, low-investment introductions, so I think the earlier, the better. However, there is the trauma factor for those who continue with the series.

Mmm. Jethri. Might have to settle in for a reread.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

My order is similar to one of the poll options; the only difference was to put Balance of Trade after the Crystals. I think that the introduction of Uncle and old tech in the Crystal books should come before rediscovering them in Balance of Trade.

Close to where you are

[(Anonymous)]

I'd really like BoT at the end, simply because it makes knowing Uncle that much more shivery.

I very much agree with those who think that CoH is a good introduction, and I prefer it to AoC as an intro.

Given that, I think CoH, AoC, CD, PB, LC, SP, ID, CS, CD, BoT would work best. At least, that's the order I gave it to a friend in.

Our Eldest got it in strict chronological order. CS, CD, BoT, LC, SP, CoH, AoC, CD, PB, ID.

Both want more, and have pestered me for my companions.

Laura

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

I agree - Jethri should come after the Crystal books.

B. O'Brien

[lferion]

I *shelve* them CS,CD,BoT,LC,SP,AoC,CoH,CD,PB,ID.

My entry into the series was Scout's Progress, and I think SP, LC, AoC and CoH all make good entries into the main plotline.

[kerianth.livejournal.com]

Purely being selfish - Local Custom and Scout's Progress are the two I don't have in dead tree, so I'd like them re-released first!

Prequels after...but they have to be.

[jjmcgaffey.livejournal.com]

I chose the fourth - CoH is a very good entry, and the fact that it's actually (in-universe) before AoC makes it a much better start. I Dare is better - more interesting - if you know more about Daav (and for that you need to know more about Er Thom) but the fact that it moves so smoothly from Plan B to I Dare makes it impossible (for me) to insert them there. When I reread I read them first - but especially LC would drive me mad as a first book. So read the AoC sequence, then find out about the previous generation, then wander off to previous ages...Fledgling and Saltation would fit nicely after SP, though!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

I think perhaps the entire Agent of Change arc at the same time. LC/SP together. BoT any time, really. CS/CD . . . after the Agent set, as something for those who want to fill in the gaps?

Have they thought about those wonderful boxed sets?

Orginal Published Order

[(Anonymous)]

aka: AoC, CoH, CD, PB, LC, SP, ID, BoT, CS, CD

Chris H

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

How do you vote? I couldn't find anything clickable. Anyway, I needed None of the Above because I vote for:

AoC, CoH, CD, CS, SP, PB, ID, CD, CS, BoT

Abigail

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

Oh, OK. I couldn't vote 'cause I wasn't logged in. Duh.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm a believer in reading books in the original published order because it's a better reveal i.e. you, the author, are expanding and developing your universe with each book and we, the audience, make the trip with you.

Having said that, I bought 5/6 books in one go (with Ace covers - very pretty) and couldn't figure out the order to read them in (no numbers) so resorted to the copyright dates in the front cover.

Tricia

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, forgot to add, the book where Daav turns up alive again (I Dare / Plan B?) is best placed after Local Custom and Scout's Progress. It will have a bigger impact if the new readers know who he is before he turns up again.

[psw456.livejournal.com]

I started with Partners of Necessity - so I read CoH,AoC,CD in that order followed by PB and ID. That works very well IMO - LC and SP next, I think I enjoyed them more by knowing a lot about the culture first. I like the idea of CD CS before BoT.
ID is the hardest to find available at a reasonable price these days.

My Order

[dhw.livejournal.com]

CoH: The first book I found, and I think the most accessible of the books that can be read as a stand-alone.

LC, SP: These two work nicely after CoH, and fit in well before we get to the main sequence

AoC, CD, PB, ID: The main story arc, and one that I would have a new reader read sequentially.

[Note: Fledgling and Saltation would go here]

CS,CD: I would say that these are the most daunting of the books, and I think they work best right after the main sequence.

BoT: This book could be moved around in sequence, I left it here partly because it plays nicely after CD, and partly because I hope it gets a sequel, and this has room off the end.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

I voted LC, SP, CoH, AoC, CD, PB, ID, CS, CD, BoT because of Uncle and old tech. Rather than do time-line order I think this makes the most sense to someone just coming to the books.

[deor.livejournal.com]

Internal chronological order is easiest for a newcomer to follow. And that's what a new release is aimed at, after all; those of us 'old fans' already having our precious trade paperbacks or hardcovers. While LC makes Er Thom look like an ass - how stupid of local custom can he be, while being a Master Trader! - it's still a good place to start and the child-Shan is totally winsome.

(The two CS/CD books are a separate continuity, so don't really matter.)

Mostly internal timeline

[marniferous.livejournal.com]

I find LC and SP just essential to really understanding so much of the nuance and complexity of the AoC sequence. I like to start there, and to start newbies off there as well when i'm pushi- i mean, loaning to friends.

Then CoH, and then once you start AoC, it's a roller coaster of plot that does not want interruption. And one that's so much richer with LC and SP already in awareness.

There's so much context - not just the couple and family relationships and personalities of the elder generation, but Liaden culture, clan history and administration... Daav and Er Thom's generation was the transition out of an era of...absorption...in Liaden society.

We see Nova ('She who remembers', and i just got the connection there) being the only one with any hint of her grandmother Petrella's concern for 'proper' contract marriages and the alliances thereof, etc., which seems to have been the previous norm. Our current heroes are all children of lifematings, a vastly different experience from their parents'.

And of course, as others have said already, knowing Daav and Aelliana's story before PB/ID makes their return so much more satisfying; just as knowing Er Thom and Anne's story (and young Shan's as well) adds so many layers to adult Shan and his sibs from CoH on.
Even the little bit we see of young Pat Rin in LC lays a base for the adult of PB/ID.

Then BoT, and the Cantra/Jela sequence. For some reason, that being _so_ far in the past, the 'legendary' ancestors and pre-history, it works for me as after-the-fact discovery. Whereas LC/SP, in my mind, really starts the whole 'present day' sequence.

[abwarwick.livejournal.com]

oops. forgot to 'tick' the box for different order

CoH, AoC, CD, PB, ID, LC, SP, CS, CD, BoT....

[pgranzeau.livejournal.com]

Since these are all re-issues: I think the two Crystal Xxx novels belong first (in proper order), then Balance of Trade, followed by Local Custom and Scout's Progress (I forget which order--Daav and Aelliana second), then Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, and Carpe Diem, and then wound up with Plan B and I Dare.

chronological

[jbrecka.livejournal.com]

I just finished re-reading the entire set of books in chronological order. They were just as wonderful as they were the first time I read them. Chronological order makes the most sense. I was disappointed when I got to the end of I Dare that there wasn't another book, because it ended so abruptly. I'm dying to know what happened to all the characters afterward.

[dorfird.livejournal.com]

I think BoT, CS, and CD should come late in the series as they reveal things that are not clearly known to characters in the main Korval sequence. Reading them first, I surmise, would be a bit of a spoiler.

[gryphonlsb.livejournal.com]

Perfect timing, I just finished the main arc and started rereading Crystal Dragon

Im happy to hear thet are coming out again due to the fact that I take over the used bookstore Im buying tomorrow morning

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

the fact that I take over the used bookstore Im buying tomorrow morning

That's exciting! I really owning and operating a bookstore. There were challenges, but the joy of hooking someone up with the Perfect Book was such a rush.

Good luck!

[scaleslea.livejournal.com]

I really owning and operating a bookstore.

Love? Enjoy? Dread? Miss? Hate? Regret? All of the Above?

Maybe this is why you can't put polls in comments...

Doc

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No, no. This is why I shouldn't try to write sentences before I've had at least one cup of coffee.

oops voted for #3 should've been #4

[rasmusb.livejournal.com]

Ack -- I didn't notice that I Dare wasn't right after Plan B.

I went with this as CoH AoC CD PB -- were my intro and I'm now obsessed so it seems like an effective plan. :D (Then again I started with Webscriptions so ...)

I had initially though chronological -- but you appreciate the detail of the 'prequel' books when you have the info from CoH first.

Confused from Amersham

[phil-boswell.livejournal.com]

Was I the only one to be confused by two "CD" entries?