Growing the Beard/Literature: Difference between revisions

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* The early ''[[Discworld]]'' books (at the latest, up to ''Small Gods'') felt far different than their latter counterparts. Particularly glaring within the separate section of the Disc mythos: compare and contrast the Granny Weatherwax from ''Equal Rites'' to the one in ''Carpe Jugulum''. Or the Lord Vetinari in ''The Colour of Magic'' ([[Word of God]] had to step in and confirm that it was the same Patrician, and not one of his thoroughly insane predecessors) to the [[Magnificent Bastard]] of the Moist Von Lipwig books.

* ''The Dragonbone Chair'', the first book in [[Tad Williams]]' [[Doorstopper]] fantasy series, ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]'', tends to drag on and doesn't introduce the main antagonist until several hundred pages in. Once the series gets going, it's very good, but you still have to get through much of the first book to get to the good stuff.

** This seems to be the case with most of [[Tad Williams]]' [[Doorstopper|doorstoppers]]. The protagonists only know that their lives are going to hell; they don't know why, there are webs within webs, etc. Awesome characters, storytelling, worldbuilding, and prose keep this from becoming the problem it would be in the hands of a less capable author. But it's a given that you will have no idea what's actually going on until the last five hundred pages or so.

* David Brin's novel ''Sundiver'', the first set in his ''[[Uplift]] Saga'' universe, is poor, and it is usually recommended that readers skip to the second, ''Startide Rising'', instead. This is made easier by the second book being set 300 years after the first, featuring a totally different cast and having minimal references to the first book.

* The ''[[Aubrey-Maturin]]'' series picks up considerably with 3rd and 4th books ''HMS Surprise'' and ''The Mauritius Command'', after being given command of the titular [[Cool Ship]] and heavily reducing the land-based romantic storylines of the 2nd book ''Post Captain''.

** [[Word of God]] stated the first book was written to intentionally resemble then-contemporary fantasy fare, which the series would then take into a new direction. The second direction is clearly better, even though [[Long Runners|the series has been running so long]] this [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|no longer seems unique either.]]

** The series may have the unusual distinction of growing the beard twice. After [[Author Existence Failure|Jordan's death]] in 2007, young author Brandon Sanderson took up the reins using Jordan's notes, and his ''The Gathering Storm'' has another slightly different direction and is awesome in a refreshing new way.

* A surprising leap in style occurred between books six and seven of ''[[Ranger's Apprentice]]'', with more originality, humour, and maturity in the following stories.

* Ian Rankin, acclaimed Scottish author of the ''[[Inspector Rebus]]'' novels, started out the series with quite straight forward serial killer and murderer hunts. The fourth novel, ''Strip Jack'', had a change in tone in dealing instead with the sordid life of a (fictional) British politician. Afterwards, the series began to focus more on the morally gray world of big business and British politics, and the relationships between the two. The series was much better for it.

* ''Lord Foul's Bane'', the first book in Stephen R. Donaldson's ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'' series, isn't very good. The series improves dramatically in the second book, titled ''The Illearth War'', and stays that way.

* The first couple of ''[[Dresden Files]]'' books are pretty good, but not amazing; it's only really during the third that it picks up, beginning the tradition of [[World of Badass|totally over the top]] [[Crazy Awesome|levels of]] [[The Dresden Files/Awesome|awesomeness]] that would later become one of the series' hallmarks and starting Harry down the road to [[Woobie|woobiefication]] and [[Character Development]] with {{spoiler|Susan's [[Vampire Refugee|being half-turned by the Red Court]]}}. It improves even further around ''Dead Beat'', with the introductions of Cowl and Lash, {{spoiler|Harry joining the Wardens}}, and the reveal of a traitor on the White Council.

* The ''[[Uncle John's Bathroom Reader]]'' trivia book series, beginning with volume 8 (''Uncle John's Ultimate Bathroom Reader''). This volume was was bigger than the last two volumes combined, and it started the gradual shift towards a more in-depth writing style. The evolution has continued in subsequent volumes, which now feature multi-part stories and an "extended sitting" section with even longer material. While the first few books had about 200 pages, the last few volumes have pushed 600.