Alphabet of Thorn -- Multiple Points of View

[[deleted user]]

One of the first things most readers will notice is the shifting perspectives. Did you think McKillip did a good job with the multiple points of view? Do you think the style should ever be used? If you remember A Game of Thrones, how would you compare these chapter changes to those?

[Jon]

I enjoy shifting points of view. So long as I know whose eyes I'm looking through. The more points of view I can compile, the fully my tapestry of the tale.

[Amy]

I think that McKillip did a great job shifting between points of view. I especially liked the different feel of the chapters on Kane and Axis (the 'historical' chapters/the book).
In comparison to A Game of Thrones - I liked the shifts in perspective there as well, but I was more likely to get 'stuck' in a character I didn't like. I remember having to restrain myself from reading ahead to the characters I like.
With Alphabet of Thorns, I did not have this problem. I think it's partly because I had at least some interest in all of the characters, and partly because it's a shorter book (and it ends in one book) so the different perspectives tie together sooner.

[Kathy]

I have not read A Game of Thrones, so I don't have that as a perspective. However, I would have to agree with Jon in that I have to know whose perspective I am reading the book from.

A third person perspective with omniscient insight to the point character is, I think, the easiest way to keep track of the narrator/main character. McKillip does this at times in first person or is a blend between the first and third person, and it gets confusing. All in all, it works in the end.

[Robin]

I really like books that have different chapters or sections in "other people's" heads. The Stand was really good about this. It let's us get a better understanding and emotions and motivations can be explored at a deeper level. My husband's books do this and it is one of the things I enjoy the most. That being said...They have to be broken up by section or chapter as Patricia did. There are some authors that swap POV in mid-stream (Artemis Fowl) and that is very distracting.