by Corrina Lawson
I love to read series.
But I’m weird about it.
I’m one of those readers who will read a series out of order. I know, I hear some of you out there wince at the idea.
But I’m talking about series that are connected stories, rather than a series that’s basically one long story.
For example, I’d never read George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) out of order because he’s writing one continuous story.
But I would read J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts’ In Death series out of order. Each book has a specific beginning, middle, and end. The crime is solved and order is restored.
Then there are the romance series that feature the same setting but swap characters from book to book. I’m sure many readers have enjoyed those out of order.
My Phoenix Institute series is somewhere between a classic romance series, where the main characters change from book to book, and the In Death series, where the main characters remain but others around them sometimes take center stage. You don’t have to read the others in the series to read any particular book but if you’re curious about the cast of characters, you can read the rest of the books to find out their stories.
That’s because I wanted readers who are weird like me to be able to pick up any book in the series and enjoy it as its own story.
I also varied the type of story a little bit.
Rise of the Firestarter is my optimistic superhero origin story. Dark Inferno is more of a dark paranormal, with a driven hero who’s damaged emotionally. And, the Immortal’s Ghost is my Indiana Jones romps across Europe beating up bad guys story.
My writing style remains the same (can’t change that even I wanted) and the core theme of loners finding families also remains the same. But I reasoned that readers don’t like reading the exact same story over and over, any more than I wanted to write the exact tale over and over. (Yes, I’ve stopped reading authors who characters are the same each book, though with different names, and with similar plots from book to book.)
So, feel free to read my Phoenix Institute series out of order, depending on your preference for a particular type of story. But, of course, in each one, love is found, bad guys are defeated, and happiness rules.
Rise of the Firestarter
Dark Inferno
The Immortal’s Ghost