Ancestral Night 3: First-person narration

RichardAbbott

Another stumbling block for some readers is the use of first person narration - we only ever get Haimey's view of events (and it's quite a long time into the book before we even learn her name). Did you like this? Indifferent? Didn't notice?

NeilNjae

It was fine! It made the book personal and immediate. IIRC, Karen Memory (by the same author) was also first-person. I think the first-person narration helped when it came to Haimey uncovering her past. When we had those revelations I, as a reader, didn't feel like I'd been fooled by the author, as it was all being revealed to the narrator at the same time as us.

RichardAbbott

I must read Karen Memory! I listened to her Dust after finishing Ancestral Night, and that had some of the same features such as lots of complexity, lots of withholding of key information until substantially later on in the book - but was 3rd person rather than 1st, so you got views from multiple parts of the environment and followed multiple individuals. (And it was a totally different setting)

Apocryphal

I'll put this one in the 'didn't notice' category. Really, this was a complaint? I feel like a quarter of all novels are first person - you'd think readers might have adapted by now!

BarnerCobblewood

Thought the work was too long for the form. I put it down to The Martian making this commercially attractive.

clash_bowley

I write most of my songs in the first person, so it was fine. Liked it!

RichardAbbott

An interesting point - I have never really given much thought to whether songs are written first or third person, but it's a perfectly valid comparison.

clash_bowley

@RichardAbbott said:
An interesting point - I have never really given much thought to whether songs are written first or third person, but it's a perfectly valid comparison.

An interesting point - most hymns are written in the first person. They tend to give a certain experiential feel to the song. which is great until people start confusing what you write with what you are... People who write first person stories don't have that last problem! Thank you, Taylor Swift!