[Help] WOT Series, why are there Books 9.5 & 13.5? They don't exist...

[Stefano G.]

Dear Librarians,

I'm pretty confused why there are books 9.5 & 13.5 in the WOT series, I believe they are preludes...

The book: By Grace and Banners Fallen: Prologue to A Memory of Light, should not be marked as the 13.5th book of the Wheel of time, it's just a pre-release of the prologue of the 14th book of WOT, and is also part of the 14th book of the wheel of time A Memory of Light, and therefore a redundant entry.

It is not a short story or something that is a unique piece and therefore chronologically falls between Books 13 & 14, but it is just a part of Book 14, which was released earlier.. So, I fail to see it as Book 13.5...!

I know since it is a published work, it has a place on goodreads, but it should be a very well hidden place separate from the primary works, and by no means attached to the main series.

Actions
1) Remove the label 13.5
2) Remove it from The Wheel of Time Series, this is completely redundant
3) I would apply the same treatment to Book 9.5, which is again a prologue of Book 10, and so it doesn't really make sense to put it as a 9.5... Glimmers: Prologue to Crossroads of Twilight
4) While I'm at it, I'll repeat a point I've tried to pass in the 'GR Feedbacks Group', i personally do not see the point of the following entries in 'The Wheel of Time Series' as they are not really part of the series and are redundancies of the main books, and should be placed somewhere else imo:
a) From the Two Rivers: The Eye of the World, Part 1
b) To the Blight
c) The Great Hunt Volume 1 - Perburuan Sangkakala
d) The Great Hunt Volume 2 - Sang Peniup Sangkakala
e) I would like to also apply this treatment to "collections" but maybe that's too complicated for now.

A big thank you for your help dear Librarians <3

[Krazykiwi]

I'm not removing any books because I'm don't read this series.

However re points 4a-e, GR has it's own longstanding policies, including how to add translations, omnibus and collections to series, and those are all completely valid entries and should not be removed.

GR does not record "Only the complete novels in English as originally published", it records everything that is part of the series, in any language, and independent of how it's split up or combined in omnibus editions. Sometimes books are split when published in other countries (4a and 4b). Sometimes they are split when they are translated (4c and 4e), that doesn't make them any less part of the series. And omnibus entries should always be included in the series they belong to.

If the books currently labelled 9.5 and 13.5 are in fact a samples they still belong there, but should be renumbered (#14 part 1) or otherwise labelled a sample, but given they were published with their own titles, labelling them as part books makes more sense, given GR policies.

tl;dr version: No.

[Stefano G.]

1) Making them #10 part 1 & #14 part 1, is better than the current version, as it is currently they seem intermediate books in the series.

Can only a Librarian that has read WOT change this? They are just the prologues of the books, that at the time were released prior to the actual book to tease the readers, they are simply the prologues of books 10 and 14 respectively...

2) All the other stuff you wrote about "GR Policies", simply confirms that goodreads has become a mainly lucrative website, as it gives visibility to works which don't necessarily need to be shown on the same page as the primary works.

For clarity purposes, their should be subdivisions within series imo. Primary works (incl. short stories), maybe omnibus, and secondary works (incl. part books), other language (not the original) works.

[Krazykiwi]

forza, most librarians simply aren't going to risk their ability to edit the database by breaking the rules because you asked us to without understanding those very rules.

And since we don't make the rules (and THESE rules have been in place for years and years, as far as I can remember, as long as GR has even had series, so GR hasn't "become" anything based on them), yelling at us about them won't make a blind bit of difference.

I'd love subdivision in series. We don't have it. We can't add it. We are volunteers. If GR would add it, fanbloodytastic, but we've been asking them for re-reads (en masse, almost the entire userbase of GR) since the site opened in 2007, and we still don't have that. Until they do, there's nothing to be done but make the best of it.

[Stefano G.]

Krazykiwi, who's shouting at you? If that were the case I think I would bold all the text and add 2 million '!!!!!' or capitalize everything... in no way was my intention to shout at anyone I'm just trying to make a point, no personal offense intended.

I'm glad you also support the idea of subdivisions! I also sadly, assert that it is a common understanding of several users on GR's that requests by users aren't ever implemented... which is sad that in 10 years something, which is pbly not that complicated was never implemented...!

TL:DR Regarding my point 1) to change 9.5 & 13.5 to 10 part 1 & 14 part 1 respectively is it not possible? I really don't think it breaks any GR's policies... but please reply if you see it differently...

Thanks for your answers.

[Krazykiwi]

It makes sense to me too, but I know we have a bunch of librarians here that are very familiar with that series and might have another opinion.

Perhaps edit your header to ask for help with the WOT series, instead of asking for the books to be deleted, might get their attention.

[Stefano G.]

Thank you very much for the tip, I tried changing it! Hopefully it's better?

[Ayshe]

Krazykiwi wrote: "If the books currently labelled 9.5 and 13.5 are in fact a samples they still belong there, but should be renumbered (#14 part 1) or otherwise labelled a sample, but given they were published with their own titles, labelling them as part books makes more sense, given GR policies..."

I haven't read them either, but I looked at the reviews and the Amazon's Look inside (for By Grace and Banners Fallen: Prologue to A Memory of Light, the other one isn't available) and they looked like samples to me. I removed the numbering.

"#14 part 1" doesn't sound quite right to me (it kind of implies that there is part 2), but if someone else feels differently, please go ahead and add/change it.

[Stefano G.]

Ayshe wrote: "Krazykiwi wrote: "If the books currently labelled 9.5 and 13.5 are in fact a samples they still belong there, but should be renumbered (#14 part 1) or otherwise labelled a sample, but given they we..."

@Ayshe thank you for clarifying this, yes they are samples, that's the word that I was looking for :)! I'm not sure how a sample would fit in a series, I think it is not part of the main body of the series, should be an afterthought if one really wants to include it.