TL;DR: some books start with a very long story that is seemingly unrelated to the actual main story. It very much demotivates me to keep on reading. What do you think?

I most cases, I choose to read a book based on the text on the cover. Recently I bought a book with an interesting setup for a story and overall good reviews, so I bought it. However, the first chapter was not at all related to the story described on the cover (or at least it seems like that for now). I had to read 50 pages (more than 10% of the book!) about some random guy traveling around and trying to find a job, while I was looking for that main story about a young girl that was actually on the cover. I am sure that this guy's path will at some point cross the girl's path, but boy is it hard to get through those pages as it was not clear at all how this guy actually relates to the main story. I couldn't really skip the chapter because something relevant can happen at any moment. I read it all and it took me more than two weeks while I usually read 50 pages in at most two days. I was just not motivated to read it. I have now also read some more and the story is definitely more fun now. - And after another 4 chapters the point of the first chapter is still not clear.

Once I read about 10 pages about a character and their adventures, only to find out that they died never to be seen again, and the connection to the main characters was so small that I cannot justify spending 10 pages on that side character.

I have also read books that didn't start with the main plot but in my opinion did it properly by actually making the chapter clearly useful by for example setting the scene of a fantasy world or a magic system. Other books just start with the main plot or one of the main characters right away, which makes me get into the story very easily and usually motivates me to keep on reading.

The reason why I make this post is because the 50-page chapter came from a very renowned writer and the book had really good reviews. So, apparently a lot of people actually like this type of writing. Am I missing something, just impatient, or do you feel the same?

Comments

bhbhbhhh t1_iuk20k6 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:39 PM

I don’t care whether something is connected to the main plot or not. I care whether it’s entertaining or interesting.

elizabeth-cooper t1_iuk94ln wrote on October 31, 2022 at 11:36 PM

What book?

Hellblazer1138 t1_iuk1kb8 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 10:36 PM

The only similar experience I have of this is reading Samuel R. Delany's "Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand" where the prologue is 16% of the book. In audio length it was a little over 2 and a half hours. In any case, that ended up being the best part of the book. The rest was underwhelming.