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Originally Posted by scalem X  Isn't every good novel of a series a stand alone? Maybe someone less lazy could start a thread about it.  |
I've always tried to make every book I've written stand alone, but the closest I think I've ever come to breaking that rule was with Imperial Assassin, which still feels like book 2 part 1 to me ... though even with the cliff hangar ending I feel it's my best work in print.
As to whether it is always a good thing ... no, not necessarily. I wouldn't say that the Belgariad books particularly stand alone, though at the time of my first reading of them (back when they came out in the 1980s) I felt them as a whole to constitute one of the most enjoyable fantasy stories I'd read. My tastes have changed a lot since then, but I suppose LOTR will always be a case in point. The books do not stand alone, but together they are amazing.