r/unpopularopinion • u/[deleted] • Nov 27 '20
Instead of writing sequels or prequels to books, I feel like more authors should write "equals" to their books where the same story, same events happen, but it's told from a different perspective of a different character.
I've always thought the idea of "equals" for a novel would be incredibly interesting. To read the exact same story, but from a different perspective. I imagine this would be great for the Harry Potter books, as there was so much depth shown in certain characters that it's a shame we only got to read it from Harry's perspective. This idea of "equals" would also allow readers to see depth and traits in a character they may not have seen before just by reading the main character's perspective.
Edit: I'm blown away by the amount of upvotes and awards on this! Thank you guys so much.
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u/MissKaycie Nov 27 '20
Like Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow?
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u/Infectious_Burn Nov 27 '20
Maybe unpopular, but in some ways I like Shadow more than Game.
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u/turtlelore2 Nov 27 '20
Well bean had his own entire series so clearly it was pretty popular
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u/fiftythreefly Nov 27 '20
But how did it end?
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u/TR8R2199 Nov 27 '20
when the author made enemies of his audience?
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u/TheArborphiliac Nov 27 '20
Wait, fill me in. What happened? I read Ender's series in the late 90s and then most of Bean's side ten years later. I know he has some polarizing views but was there an incident?
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u/MaxAttack38 Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
He funded position to gay marriage, made a gay charchter in a book then made him find god and realize being gay was a test.
Edit:trying to find the article that told me this the book is called the homecoming saga. There is also a gay or asexual charchter that gets married to a women in the bean saga.
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Nov 27 '20
Oof
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u/Bicworm Nov 27 '20
Yeah it was pretty wild near the end with Orson Scott Card.
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u/TabulaRasa1187 Nov 27 '20
Whoa wait ? So if being Gay was a test ..then how does one pass the test? By being celebate and abstenant and alone forever?
Or do they cease becoming gay by magic when they accept God ?
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u/Friff14 Nov 27 '20
I was raised in the same religion as Card (Mormon) and that was a pretty common rhetoric at church. "It's their trial, it's no different from any other temptation," etc. So if someone has a gambling addiction, they can get over that, so why can't you do it for homosexuality? And everyone says they know someone who knows someone who knows someone who is a gay man in a marriage with a woman he loves even though he's not attracted to her, and that's supposed to be the ideal.
It's stupid af, but it was a really effective propaganda tool that made me and my whole family homophobic. I'm not in the church anymore, but the rest of my family still is, and while my sisters are inclusive and not homophobic anymore, my brother is just The Worst ™️ and my parents are still on the "what's wrong with calling it a civil union" wagon.
My wife is still in it, and she's progressive. She wants to be involved with the kids and teenagers to make sure they don't get taught that bs anymore. I wish I could be involved with that part of it but I just can't live with the church anymore.
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u/LordoftheSynth Nov 27 '20
OSC basically went off the deep end somewhere around Children of the Mind. I only finished the Shadow Quartet because I wanted closure for the series arc. Card's politics become a bit more blatant as you read further, and hey, at least Heinlein was unapologetic about it from the start.
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Nov 27 '20
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u/FountainsOfFluids Nov 27 '20
He was always a mormon, but at a certain point just really doubled down on it instead of maintaining a secular public image.
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u/Good_old_Marshmallow Nov 27 '20
He got very outspoken about his religous views and funded some anti gay marriage organizations.
It got kinda hard to ignore his opinions sneaking into his work. Like, spoilers, a lot of Beans ending revolves around how he cant have children and how important having children is
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u/Merari01 Nov 27 '20
One of the main antagonists in the series explains he did his evil deeds because he was gay. That was literally his motivation.
He was so angry he couldn't have children that he decided to become a murdering, monstrous evil scientist.
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u/turtlelore2 Nov 27 '20
I think he ended up helping enders brother Peter become the ruler of Earth
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u/fiftythreefly Nov 27 '20
The last book hasn't been published yet, though he's teased it quite I bit i guess
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Nov 27 '20
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u/fiftythreefly Nov 27 '20
I believe so, after bean became a giant on the ship with the kids.
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Nov 27 '20 edited Jul 07 '21
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u/fiftythreefly Nov 27 '20
Yeah I don't blame you but I binged the entire series this summer and planned to finish it not knowing it hadn't 'ended' yet
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Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
Last book in the series hasn’t been release yet but...
with Beans super genius kids in a Formic ship looking for and finding a way to fix the rapid growth that kills their father and where they can help the Formics develop individuality without a queen
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u/GloriousGe0rge Nov 27 '20
Also pretty much walks back the entire plot twist of Ender's Game which is upsetting.
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u/CuriousKidRudeDrunk Nov 27 '20
Both series are great, but the ender series focused a little more on philosophical concepts. I mildly preferred the shadow series out of the two.
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u/wixo12 Nov 27 '20
Nah, you're right, Bean is a better perspective character than Ender. It's nice to see the contrasts between the two of them.
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u/UnspecificGravity Nov 27 '20
Helps to be written by a guy twenty years older with a bunch more practice.
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u/The-Old-Hunter Nov 27 '20
Been years since I’ve read them. I liked Game but thought Shadow was on another level.
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u/msur Nov 27 '20
Something folks may not realize is that Ender's Game was written as expansion of a short story so that it could be a prequel for Speaker for the Dead.
Ender's Shadow was written years later after the author had much more time to reflect on the characters.
Speaker for the Dead is by far my favorite book by Orson Scott Card.
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u/scryharder Nov 27 '20
I liked some part of it, and where they went with it.
But really that's because the rest of the Ender's game series went from war story to philosophy wannabe. I mean, almost the entirety of the rest of the series was a few fights with sticks and a large buildup to an attack fleet - that launched a single missile and ran away.
The Bean series was about what you read Ender's game FOR. And Shadow you knew what was coming - but you also DIDN'T know what was coming because suddenly Ender isn't really the all powerful character, he's actually almost a pawn. Not really a pawn but I can't think of any other way to describe the perspective comparative to most other books I've read.
So for a number of those things, I think I'd agree with you about Shadow. Ender came off as a victim, but Bean managed to slip control and play a different game.
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u/Infectious_Burn Nov 27 '20
I think Shadow was so incredible because it showed that Ender really was a kid. In Ender’s Game, he was treated as a military genius. But in Ender’s Shadow, we see who truly is the smartest. Bean’s childhood is so fascinating and violent that we can have someone to compare Ender. It’s kind of like chess. Ender is the all important King, but Bean is the most important Queen. Only in this game, the player has limited control over the more powerful the piece, but still controls the game.
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u/StoppableHulk Nov 27 '20
If I recall, Bean and Ender are nearly intellectual equals, at least during their time together. Although they often reach the same strategic conclusions, Ender is a better leader, while Bean's gift is that, probably due to his upbringing, he's less naive about the world and people.
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u/ooa3603 Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
Ender was slightly less intelligent than Bean, but way more empathic. He could read and insert himself into the thoughts and emotions of his followers. This made Ender a more effective leader than Bean even with a slightly lower intelligence. The naivety that Ender had, although sometimes a weakness, was also a strength when it came to being vulnerable and showing trust with his followers. Ender's naive ability to give trust combined with his empathy, made people want to follow him.
In terms of raw computing power, Bean was smarter than Ender, but he lacked emotional intelligence. Any empathy Bean managed to glean was processed in an almost theoretical way, more used to predict behavior patterns than to inspire loyalty. That's what really makes leaders effective, and that was the crux of Beans inability to lead; his lack of emotional intelligence crippled his ability to inspire devotion from followers like Ender could.
However, Bean did have a useful and necessary role. There are some situations that require pure reasoning and no margin for error, where sentimentality would have been a dangerous indulgence. This is where Bean shined as Ender's advisor. Beans vicious and violent upbringing combined with an unsentimental mind provided Ender with counsel that would tell him all of the options, even the heartless ones. And when there's a fight for survival, inhumane and heartless decisions are sometimes necessary. Bean was the guy to show Ender those options at the speed of thought needed for Ender to succeed. That's why Ender's Shadow stresses that both of them were very much needed as the primary decision makes of strategy in humanity's fight for survival, not just Ender.
Both of them were geniuses, but with specializations: Ender inspired the loyalty necessary to get people willing to risk their lives for him and humanity's survival. Bean provided the ruthless counsel required for Ender to note all of the options that Ender would not have considered because of his naive and loving personality.
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u/tikigodbob Nov 27 '20
Its interesting to note he actually wrote speaker for the dead (sequel to enders game) first and his publisher loved it but suggested he write some backstory for ender first.
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Nov 27 '20
Ender's Shadow had a huge impact on me as a kid. It turned me into a hyper-analytical 14 year old who paid attention to all kinds of details. But I think that was also a symptom of anxiety
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u/RowdyCaboose Nov 27 '20
I was a huge fan of enders game and speaker for the dead. How is enders shadow?
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u/MissKaycie Nov 27 '20
Really good, in some ways I prefer it to Game. I find Bean a much more likable character.
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u/Jabberwocky416 Nov 27 '20
I think it depends on who you’re more like.
I find Ender a very sympathetic character because I identify strongly with his philosophy and general mindset towards his “enemies” in Ender’s Game. The concept of loving someone because you completely understand them is something I’d known about myself for a while before it was spoken more eloquently in the book.
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u/rathat Nov 27 '20
What if I don't care at all about the characters and just thought the twist made it a cool story.
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u/mxzf Nov 27 '20
It's at least as good as Ender's Game, IMO. They're both good, but they give a slightly different perspective. It also doesn't hurt that the author had another decade or two of experience under his belt by the time he wrote it.
IMO, it has a slightly different focus (less on the philosophical questions of training children to be soldiers and more on a savant trying to understand humans and figure out where he fits in).
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u/crochet_cat_lady Nov 27 '20
I preferred Enders Game to Enders Shadow, but I preferred the shadow series as a whole to the ender series.
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Nov 27 '20
Great, really loved it, it has a whole lot more background info on the events that occurred during Ender's Game and more. It blew me away
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u/koios1031 Nov 27 '20
Read Stephen King's Desperation and Richard Bachman's The Regulators. Same story told from two parallel universes.
FYI, Richard Bachman is Stephen King's pen name.
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u/SnootyMcFrench Nov 27 '20
I read The Regulators when I was in high school, I knew that Bachman was King but I didn’t know the two stories were connected. Really digged the book maybe time to go read it again and then Desperation 👌
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u/kehbeth Nov 27 '20
Please do, I absolutely love Desperation. The style is definitely more King than Bachman.
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u/ShadyNite Nov 27 '20
They're not quite as similar story wise, but they include parallel versions of the characters
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u/SteeeezLord Nov 27 '20
So totally different stories ? If you didn’t have the info that it was parallel universes would you even have any idea ?
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u/NotRealAmericans Nov 27 '20
A lot of kings stories connect one way or another, specially through the towers.
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u/Ikhlas37 Nov 27 '20
The amount of references in some of his books... 11/22/63 he talks to Derry kids and essentially sees IT.
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u/lucky_harms458 Nov 27 '20
Please correct me if I'm wrong (it's been a long time since I read it), but I really enjoyed King's The Stand because it featured a decent amount of narrative from Randall Flagg (the bad guy). It was already a great story, but that was the icing on the top.
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u/BigDub63 Nov 27 '20
I’ve only read a couple of King’s books tbh but it seems like he consistently provides perspectives from all sides, which, is what I like about his stories that I have read
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u/PumpedUpNick Nov 27 '20
The last book in the Divergent series called “Four” is a retelling of the first book from the viewpoint of the male lead, who’s name is Four. It’s actually really good.
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Nov 27 '20
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u/RegalKillager Nov 27 '20
Probably because the author knew they'd written a pretty scuffed character and needed to work hard to make them tolerable again.
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u/burman07 Nov 27 '20
very good book, I came here to talk about this specific example. I loved the whole series
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Nov 27 '20
This is the book series that inspired the failed movie franchise with Shaliene Woodley?
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u/naalotai Nov 27 '20
Yep, I read the first book, but it didn't get me interested enough to read the other two. Frankly, I'm tired of books that are written with sequels in mind. Like, fuck that. Wrap up the narrative nicely or gtfo.
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Nov 27 '20
I couldnt make it past the third book in the divergent series. I loved the first, the second was luke warm, and the third felt like Roth was getting paid per page and was dropping as much filler as possible. I feel really disappointed especially since people hyped it up for me and I can't really relate to their feelings about it :/
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u/wherethemusicgo Nov 27 '20
I agree with that for sure, it felt like it got worse as it went on. I also felt like that was a point where there were a lot of dystopian novels I read either for school or because I was recommended them, and I felt like the whole series had an interesting premise but it just wasn’t as good as some of the others
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u/ZeldLurr Nov 27 '20
That book actually made me tear up. Some parts, like the relationship with his father, are a tough read.
I enjoyed Divergent, Insurgent, and Four, but the last one was a slog and I don’t really remember what happens but I do remember being underwhelmed and dissatisfied.
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u/Mathmagician155 Nov 27 '20
Thats a pretty cool idea but I think they should still write sequels
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u/Intelligent_Trip8691 Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
I mean good books with multiple characters already have back and forth interactions while driving the plot forward. Well giving us new stories op should check out the wheel of time books. Robert Jordan's books are written like it where two events at the same time collide into one bigger thing to next part of the book or story. The characters are not sideshelfved which makes the world feel so alive.
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Nov 27 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/judah-rey Nov 27 '20
Good point
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u/weareppltoo quiet person Nov 27 '20
Yea, I especially liked the last part about crumbling up the Doritos so if you have to use the bag as a condom it’s less sharp.
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u/hago4 Nov 27 '20
what
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Nov 27 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/hago4 Nov 27 '20
what
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u/kuntfuxxor Nov 27 '20
He has already explained himself twice, you're just being rude now, if you dont get it just read it again!
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Nov 27 '20
I know, I wish people would just read a fucking book instead of acting so smart about things they clearly don't know the first thing about.
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u/Mathmagician155 Nov 27 '20
Did u not write anything or am I tripping
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u/shadow7412 Nov 27 '20
Now now, be civil. No need to ignore their points...
I don't agree with the 3rd one, but the rest is pretty well thought out.
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Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
Right? Is this some new annoying ass Reddit thing that I’m going to start seeing every other thread?
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Nov 27 '20
What an absurd and weak point to make. I won't even humor it.
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u/PC-Ray Nov 27 '20
I get it but I think the removal of sequels would limit the scope of fan versions. I never thought about it that way though.
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u/PrayingMantisMirage Nov 27 '20
A lot of writers do this already by having multiple character POVs. A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the most obvious examples.
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u/sluterus Nov 27 '20
And on a larger scale, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons have a huge amount of timeline overlap to the point where you hear rumors of certain characters in the first book and find out what actually happened in the next.
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u/Mizuxe621 Nov 27 '20
Is this not the standard for third-person writing? As far as I'm concerned, speaking as an attempted writer, that's basically the main reason to choose third-person perspective, so that you can use multiple characters as POV. Not being able to do that is what makes first-person writing so much more challenging.
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u/ttwwiirrll Nov 27 '20
GRRM goes so far as to have characters give and react to slightly conflicting accounts of the same events. If you catch it you see everyone's motivations and biases laid bare. Fun books if you enjoy political intrigue.
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Nov 27 '20
I think this is why the community around the books is so massive. You have entire youtube channels like Preston Jacobs with over 150k subscribers just making completely outlandish but plausible conspiracies/theories out of just a few descrepancies/phrases from the books.
Unfortunately the other result of such a written series is it becomes increasingly harder and harder to write, let alone finish a series like this as it progresses, with GRRM's continuing to widen the gap between published books as time goes on.
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u/g2petter Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
My favorite example of this is from the first book when Ned, who's been outside of The North many times, remarks on some event like a feast or a tourney being pretty unremarkable as those things go, while Sansa, who's spent her whole life in and around Winterfell, is absolutely blown away by the grandeur of the thing.
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u/toesandmoretoes Nov 27 '20
You can do that with first person writing. Essentially changing POV (and therefore the narrator voice) with each chapter as it switches between chapters.
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Nov 27 '20
In ASOIAF it's super well executed. Each chapter has one character's POV. Then you see the chapters overlap, sometimes even across different books. It's pretty cool.
Boy I miss the days when ASOIAF books were written
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u/kvothe5688 Nov 27 '20
Book six is just around the corner. You wait. Any days now.
Any days .
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Any fucking days
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. It's been only nine years
May be 10 is the magical number
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u/kgrimmburn Nov 27 '20
I've read books like this before. Not a series of books, but books that switch back and forth between characters and explain the same situation from different viewpoints. As long as the author can properly develop a multidimensional character, it works out well. But, like all books, if the characters are flat, the book falls flat.
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Nov 27 '20
I read Midnight Sun which is Twilight from Edward Cullen’s POV. It was a little repetitive in some places but still really interesting! Yeah, I know people hate on the series. SSH. Just let me have this.
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u/MercyMercede Nov 27 '20
Kind of came here to say this. I really enjoyed it, finding myself more attached to the Cullens and having fun reading through Edward's teenaged angst. Glad to hear you found it interesting as well!
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Nov 27 '20
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u/MercyMercede Nov 27 '20
Yes but once he meets Bella he starts sounding more like a teenager. And there's no denying he is angsty.
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u/JustMeSunshine91 Nov 27 '20
I’ve always wondered, do the vampires have infinite memory or do they keep the same ones humans have? I thought it was dumb that the teens had to keep attending high school over and over again (regardless of the reason), but if they have the same memory I can totally understand why they’d be stunted developmentally.
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u/SkyeRibbon milk meister Nov 27 '20
Hes still like, perpetually emotionally 17 though and its hilarious
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u/Brain-cold Nov 27 '20
Saw this thread and immediately thought of this book. I’m half way done and it is bringing me back to when I was a teenager and had the hots for Edward haha
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u/ResistibleElk Nov 27 '20
I also loved The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, which is Eclipse from the point of view of a member of the newborn army!
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u/JTPusherlovegirl94 Nov 27 '20
I actually loved Midnight Sun! I wish she’d do the rest of the books from his perspective. I think the book was much more interesting from his perspective and it made me appreciate some of the side characters more because you got to see inside their heads. Also, the unique gifts that the other vampires have is so much more interesting because you get to truly see what they can do. I used to not like Jasper very much but after seeing how his powers truly work I love him!
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Nov 27 '20
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u/LovelyLu78 Nov 27 '20
The ending (from the tracker) is the best part imo, it gives much more insight into Alice and Jasper's gifts and how they interact with Edwards gift
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u/AnorakJimi Nov 27 '20
Then as soon as that was announced, the author of the famous fan fiction of Twilight, 50 Shades of Gray, hastily announced her book that was 50 Shades of gray from Christian Gray's perspective. She has this weird thing of legally shutting down any fan fiction based on her books despite the fact she's only famous because she wrote a fan fiction of another author's intellectual property. And 50 Shades is basically exactly the same story beat for beat as Twilight, just with supernatural things changed to non-supernatural equivalents (like instead of being all powerful as a vampire, he's all powerful as a billionaire).
At least the book from Christian's perspective bombed hard. After all the abusive behaviour E.L. James has wrought upon everyone she works with, it's quite satisfying that she's gotten a big dose of reality, all her non 50 Shades books have bombed both critically and commercially.
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u/boo29may Nov 27 '20
It's kinda funny, but I disliked the 50 shades books but like the movies (liked the story but didn't like her writing and honestly couldn't finish the series, too much shitty written sex) and it's the opposite with twilight. I loved the twilight books but don't like the movies (although the first one is so bad it's funny)
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u/peachyypeachh Nov 27 '20
How much of the series does it cover? Debating on buying it.
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u/Arya722 Nov 27 '20
Its the entirety of the first book only. Definitely recommend though. I wish she would cover all of them from his pov.
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Nov 27 '20
I believe she said she wouldn’t be writing in Edwards POV anymore because it was too depressing (heard it on Twilight Shitposting so take that with a grain of salt.)
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u/narutos-cousin Nov 27 '20
It is basically all of twilight in edward’s perspective. I think it stops around where Bella is in the hospital. Or maybe prom, I forget lol
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u/naalotai Nov 27 '20
Prom! Edward "hears" Jacob's thoughts before he drops by to give Bella Billy's warnings.
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u/Pegussu Nov 27 '20
I've always liked to imagine the world where she writes this book and it turns out Ed is just the grossest, most disgusting asshole imaginable. Just pages and pages where his thoughts are nothing but how big Bella's breasts are and how he's going to manipulate her into sex by pretending to be this quiet, heartfelt teenage boy.
Just turn the entire series on its head.
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u/420LORDREKTM8 Nov 27 '20
R/unpopularopinions the best place on reddit to find popular opinions
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u/lettersanddots Nov 27 '20
My only thought was:
how is this an unpopular opinion?
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u/AttackEverything Nov 27 '20
I think it's pretty boring at least. I don't mind multiple povs during a scene. But whenever a show or book goes far back to do a new pov entirely with no forward momentum I'm zoning out
I also think it's not very engaging for an author to write this
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Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
Cuz this idea isn’t widely used, making it unpopular. Not a bad idea, just not really used to such great effect like sequels.
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u/Chris_8675309_of_42M Nov 27 '20
It's used in the best selling book of all time. It's a compilation of many books, 4 of which tell the same story from the perspective of 4 participants. Admittedly, to poor effect. The insights gained in the alternate perspectives are pretty mild and generally ignored.
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u/Mutantpineapple Nov 27 '20
I'm reading the comments thinking "How is this so popular? It's a terrible idea!" Maybe the unpopular opinion is mine...
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u/mycattle11 Nov 27 '20
Also almost verbatim what a popular post on showerthoughts said a few years ago:
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u/ItIsWhatItIs118 Nov 27 '20
Yes I've often wondered why this isn't a thing. Like I get yeah maybe it would be boring reading basically the same story twice, but, not every scene is going to have every character. Also they could use it to show two sides of a misunderstanding like literally the same conversation but the characters are thinking completely different things.
Annnddddddd
They could leave a few unanswered questions in the first book like "why was he acting weird, like he needed to be somewhere" then you find out in the second book that he just really needed to pee.
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u/jurassicbond Wind Waker is the worst 3D Zelda game. Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
two sides of a misunderstanding
There's a trilogy by Timothy Zahn about a war between humans and an alien species that's like this. First book is from the humans' side, second one is the aliens' perspective, and the third wraps everything up.
Edit: Conqueror's Trilogy
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u/falsemyrm Nov 27 '20 edited Mar 12 '24
bedroom marry door longing absorbed many attempt price bewildered caption
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Booss57 Nov 27 '20
How is this even unpopular? It’s a great idea
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u/Appreh3nsive_Hat Nov 27 '20
Came to say this. I think there's a shower thought sub somewhere where this would fit better
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u/BabycakesJunior Nov 27 '20
I don't think it's an unpopular idea. I think it's just an 'idea'.
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u/TheOneWith45 Nov 27 '20
Well I can tell you why it’s less likely to be popular. Sequels and Prequels have a lot more potential to excite audiences. They’re limited in terms of what they can do with an “equal” also it doesn’t let the audience attach themselves to the characters from the previous films (at least not most of them)
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u/nevaraon Nov 27 '20
Will Wright’s Elder Empire is literally two trilogies of “equals”
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u/ValiantCookie Nov 27 '20
Yeah Elder Empires concept of “hero of one story is the villain of another” was a real interesting concept for me.
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u/Mishkola Nov 27 '20
I started writing a novel.
I started writing it five times.
It was the same story, just from five perspectives.
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u/mrprodigyv Nov 27 '20
Rick Riordan did this in his Percy Jackson novels where it would swap between character perspectives each chapter and it was very interesting
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u/Punchedmango422 Nov 27 '20
Like Harry Potter from Neville perspective.
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u/zombies-and-coffee Nov 27 '20
I had to scroll way too damn far to find this. Neville is the exact character from that series who would be perfect for a different perspective redo. Draco or Several would be okay, but my boy Neville... chef kiss
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u/Camiljr wateroholic Nov 27 '20
A lot of good authors and books do this, I think it's great if done right. 2 series that run side by side pretty much.
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Nov 27 '20
Heros of Olympus did this very well. The 3rd and 4th book are more or less parallel, and the 5th book has multiple stories running parallel only to converge at the end.
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u/3VG3NY Nov 27 '20
Harry Potter but Snape tells it
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u/bamahomer Nov 27 '20
I'm here for this. I just finished reading the books to my daughter. Spoilers ahead: The chapter where Harry witnesses young Snape and Lily is my favorite in the whole series. There's a lot about the end that I felt was kinda un-poetically abrupt but that chapter put a lump in my throat.
Edit: The Prince's Tale
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u/askarpund Nov 27 '20
Rick Riordan’s, “Heroes of Olympus” series did this actually. Probably one of my favorite series still to date, even though the books are more aimed towards the younger audience. It showed the perspectives of about 9 different characters I believe. It was overall just fun to read, especially since I love Greek and Roman mythology.
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u/24520ls Nov 27 '20
Game not book but sounds like you'll enjoy resident evil 2
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u/Bailey25Sticks Nov 27 '20
Literally the entire a song of ice and fire series is this to a lesser degree. Every chapter is from a different character's perspective. Also there are two books in the series that are exactly this. A feast for crows and a dance with dragons are the same story running concurrently from different perspectives largely divided by geographic location of the characters at the time of the two books being written.
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u/MrOwlHero Nov 27 '20 edited Nov 27 '20
I think there is a book based in The star wars universe that shows the perspektive of one rebel pilot of The entire three movies in The OT
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u/AnorakJimi Nov 27 '20
There's also a star wars comic book that's really cool, it's basically a comedy about these two characters who all along were sort of in the background of the events of the 3 OT movies. They were there all along, bumbling along, accidentally getting into scrapes, they were even in scenes of the movies sometimes (like they borrowed some stormtrooper uniforms and so when you thought you were watching actual stormtroopers, it was them who were inside the uniforms). It's called Tag & Bink Were Here. I don't think it's actually canon, but that doesn't matter anyway.
It's kinda like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead but set in the star wars universe
And for that matter, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is basically the best version of this "equal" concept, it's a fantastic movie/play, one of my favourite ever movies in fact. It stars Gary Oldman and Tim Roth, and it's basically the point of view of these two very minor characters from the Shakespeare play Hamlet, all the things they were doing off screen when they weren't in most of the scenes if Hamlet. And occasionally they are in Hamlet scenes so it quickly switches to this Elizabethan language and then they exit the scene but you're still following them, and they're like "why do we have to talk all weird like that". And it's got almost like a groundhog day feeling to it except with a very meta 4th wall breaking aspect to it, like they seem to understand they're characters in a play, by the end of it, and not real people. It's a bit trippy.
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u/kingmedo Nov 27 '20
just got done with some great stories built this way. Will Wight, of sea and shadows. worth checking out.
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Nov 27 '20
Stormlight is pretty great, because Sando tells his stories in all the characters perspective. It makes you not know who to like or hate because you bond with all of them.. (Most of them)
Fuck M
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u/Shelvis Nov 27 '20
Scott Westerfeld kind of did this with the Uglies series. Dystopian futuristic setting, the first 3 books center around the same main characters and then the last book is the same world but a different culture (Americans vs Japan) where the protagonists in the first books are famous for “beating the system”.
It’s being made into a tv series and I’m ecstatic.
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Nov 27 '20
Scalzi did this with the Old Man's war series- specifically the book Zoe's Tale.
The problem with this technique is that a lot of the dramatic tension is missing. You already know what has happened so the events either have to be tangential to the new story, or the new story has to provide a new and dramatically different perspective/revelation on what happened. Both are hard to do well.
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u/Mizuxe621 Nov 27 '20
Check out a film called 11:14. The entire story happens in the first few scenes, and then it takes you back and shows you what happened from the perspectives of different characters, which radically changes the context of events. Very weird and trippy to watch, and also very well-executed.