Books - Pet Peeve

I have been having a problem. You see, I started this blog with a goal to write once a week on the topics of Movies, Comics, TV, and Books. Well, since I started writing, I haven't finished a single book. I know, I know, that's bad, I am slow. Well, not just that, I also watch a butt-load of TV and movies, and read lots of comics and magazines. I work a full-time (and then some) job and write this blog, so I don't have a lot of free time to read massive amounts.

Alright, time to stop whining, on to my point. The book I am currently reading, Coalescent by Stephen Baxter, is really great. I am enjoying it a lot and I hope to review it next week. Cross your fingers that I will have time to finish it, it might not happen.

Anyway, I have a major pet peeve with this book, and that is the summary on the back. Back when I still needed to find books to read I would read the backs of books to decide if they looked interesting. I don't do this all that much any more as I have too much to read already and any new stuff I get is through recommendations. However, I still like to read the summary on the back of the book when I am choosing what to read out of my entire large bookshelf full of books I need to read.

Okay, so, I read the summary. I won't repeat it here, but basically it mentioned some plot points in the book. The first point mentioned doesn't appear in the book until page 50 and the next one doesn't show up until page 200. The last point brought up hasn't even showed up yet in the book and I am on page 385! This isn't a thousand page book, there are only 527 pages. So, I am almost done with the book and yet I have been waiting for these things to happen the entire time. Yes, these are important plot points, but there is too much, the back of the book could be much simpler and much more intriguing as well. I will give a brief synopsis when I review the book (either next week or the week after), which will hopefully prove my point.

Either way, I understand that this is the first book in a series of four, but it still annoying to read a book and be waiting for plot points to pop up that you already know are going to happen. This doesn't happen very much any more (unless we talk about movie trailers and "next week on..." TV previews, which I avoid like the plague), but it still happens too much. I think the publishers and/or editors really need to avoid this, as it can make the overall reading of the book disappointing.

I will review (and post a link) to this book at a later date.