Monday, March 24, 2014

Kimberly wants to know: "Novellas. Good? Bad? Something in between?"

So let's talk about novellas. Some people hate them, some love them.

Personally, I'm a bit mixed.

First, I don't like the extra money. They're usually only ebooks so I can't even add them to a physical collection.

However...

I LOVE the extra information we get. The Throne of Glass novellas for example, those are awesome! Love them. They tell us a story that isn't exactly necessary to the series, but add so much more to the characters.

I just finished the Daughter of Smoke and Bone novella, "Night of Puppets and Cake". It was a perfectly hilarious and adorable read. Not necessary to the overall story, but a bit more background to a couple of the characters.

Some novellas change how you feel about characters completely. (Shatter Me, for example.) I don't care for those as much. If you wanted me to hate/like the character to begin with, that should probably be in the main book.

So... What about you? What is your opinion of novellas? Hate? Love? What are your favorites? Let me know in the comments!

~Kimberly

12 comments:

  1. The $$ is one thing for me with novellas but the biggest thing is when the novellas add more to the characters that really enhance or change how people see a character because I agree..it really needs to be in there. I love novellas in theory when you are eagerly waiting for a series but these days it just seems to be a marketing/extra money making thing and sometimes I find them to be not so great/worth my time to read. Either that or I feel like my whole entire view changed. I DO like when they put the novellas into a book though!

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  2. Same about the price of the novellas. It doesn't feel worth it for me to pay money for only 70 or so pages which often doesn't even relate to the novel itself. My opinion is that if it is essential to the series and the books, it should therefore be in the series itself, not in some side novella. The only ones that I have read are the Divergent ones about Four's life and "In Time" from the Darkest Minds. In both case, it was because they were highly recommended for the writing, so I gave them a shot.

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  3. Oddly enough despite really loving some series, I cannot muster up any interest in novellas. For me personally, they are just a waste of money for something I am only marginally interested in. I know it's not possible to put all the things in the books, especially if they have no bearing on the plot of the primary works, but it just feels like a money machine for publishers (unless they are free, but that is very rare). If you want it out there, put it in the damn book, I say. It also makes me somewhat suspicious of the author and the effort they put in the primary works, considering that clearly they have time to write all these novellas, but I've been waiting for the next sequel for what feels like a decade. Not saying that that's the case, but it just feels that way for me personally. My co-blogger on the other hand LOVES novellas, so we even each other out. ;)

    (I think this indifference-bordering-on-aversion stems from JKR backtracking or randomly adding info in interviews. Now I love me all the HP info that we get, but you know... I'd rather she'd've put it in the books and I feel the same way about novellas in general.)

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  4. I think it depends on the series or the author. I love novellas by Erin Bowman and Ann Aguirre but the Bane Chronicles were a major waste of money.

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  5. Pretty much the only thing I like about novellas is the ability to tell people "this entire subplot should be a novella" because it's easier to get them to follow that advice over "this entire subplot should be cut because it's just a huge mess of padding and distraction."

    Turns out people don't' like to hear that. Who knew?

    I do like novellas when they're good. There's a lot of potential for them, so when used properly, they can be tremendous. But mostly I'm just happy that writers have them as an outlet for all the stuff that would crowd an actual novel, and then I can ignore it if I want.

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  6. I'm generally not a fan. They're a bit of an annoyance for someone who mostly reads physical books. I get annoyed when they add a lot to the series because if you don't have access then it's not really fair. But there are a few I do like.
    I'm currently reading the Throne of Glass novellas and they're great. A great insight into the characters but if you haven't read them - you haven't really missed out.

    There are times when novellas just don't cut it for me because they're too short! Just getting into things and bam. It's over!

    Kate @ Fictional Thoughts

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  7. I love novellas best when they're free. I just read the prequel of Cinder by Marissa Meyer's from The Fierce Reads Anthology, which is currently free for Kindle. I also like them when they show up as a surprise at the end of a print book.

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  8. I'm not someone who reads novellas that much but they're pretty good when I need something light and short to read in between two full length books. I mostly keep them until I miss reading something from the 'world' but the next book isn't out yet. :)

    Tirta @ I Prefer Reading

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  9. I like novella's for the extra information, learning a bit more about a character or scenes that don't fit into the main books. On the other hand I do think that without reading the novella's a series still should be readable without you missing something. So when a novella changes your whole opinion of a character I agree with you that should've been in the main books.

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  10. It depends. I agree, sometimes they are great for extra information in a series. And sometimes they are nice for just a quick read of a cute story. But a lot of times, I feel like I wasted my money, even if it was only 99c, because the story is over before I even get into it.

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  11. I'm really not a fan because I really think the extra cost is ridiculous. I bought my first one recently, Howling for You a novella to the Chicagoland Vampires series and I did enjoy it. I liked getting a story solely about side characters. If its going to add to the MCs of your series than make it free!

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  12. I actually don't really BUY too many. I love the novellas that you can read for free on Tor.com that supplement (mostly) Macmillan books. Sometimes I'll pay money for a novella or two if it's a series I really love. Sometimes I'm able to borrow them from my library's ebook collection!
    One thing I DON'T like is when novellas contain vital information to a story line or spend time doing important character development outside of the series (apparently one of the Shatter Me novellas did, I heard...?)
    I LOVED Night of Cake and Puppets!!! It was so adorable and hands down my favorite novella.
    I think they're a lot of fun and I like reading them as "extras" but don't think they should be required to read a whole series!

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