Minor issue with Farseer Trilogy
ConversesFolio Society Devotees
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1Soup811
I'm not a huge collector, but I do own about 15 folio society books and I do have a slight issue with the Farseer Trilogy publication.
That is the sparse illustrations. I think it's the only Folio book I own where I think more illustrations were needed. 5 is okay for Assassin's Apprentice, but when you get into Royal Assassin, and absolutely at Assassin's quest, I think the huge gaps between them are very noticeable. Maybe they should have split publication or raised price to include a few more?
Also I'll say that this is a first for Folio for me but not in general, as the Malazan series by Subterranean Press also are HUGE books with few (3-4) illustrations. What do you guys think? I think 1 per 100 pages would be a sweet spot for the larger books.
That is the sparse illustrations. I think it's the only Folio book I own where I think more illustrations were needed. 5 is okay for Assassin's Apprentice, but when you get into Royal Assassin, and absolutely at Assassin's quest, I think the huge gaps between them are very noticeable. Maybe they should have split publication or raised price to include a few more?
Also I'll say that this is a first for Folio for me but not in general, as the Malazan series by Subterranean Press also are HUGE books with few (3-4) illustrations. What do you guys think? I think 1 per 100 pages would be a sweet spot for the larger books.
2Mr.Fox
I agree that five illustrations in an 800 page book is a bit on the skimpy side.
East of Eden is 650 pages and has ten illustrations. American Gods is 550 and has eleven. Kavalier and Clay is just over 600 pages and has nine. Dune is just under 600 and has eleven. Those are just examples from other relatively lengthy Folio editions that I’ve read this year.
I think that a minimum of one illustration per hundred pages is a reasonable expectation.
East of Eden is 650 pages and has ten illustrations. American Gods is 550 and has eleven. Kavalier and Clay is just over 600 pages and has nine. Dune is just under 600 and has eleven. Those are just examples from other relatively lengthy Folio editions that I’ve read this year.
I think that a minimum of one illustration per hundred pages is a reasonable expectation.
3Soup811
>2 Mr.Fox: I mean they probably did it so the trilogy didn't cost 600 but then I'd have rather they publish each book individually over a year or two so they have appropriate amount of images.
4bacchus.
It's cheap and sad considering FS spiked their prices by ~20% during the last 3 years.
>3 Soup811: After what they did with Sharpe's Tiger I have little trust on Folio's price setting techniques. It's like the top gilded edge on Gargantua & Pantagruel. They could do it in Montaigne's essays which a quarter of the price - but someone thought it was a good idea to skim a 600EUR LE. Or the misleading "quarter leather" which nowadays means 1/20th. The list goes on lately. I still like FS and I'm sure the majority of people who work there are incredibly skilled. On the other hand I can imagine their Finance department is comprised of number-crunching minions with no passion for books. I hope it's not their downfall, but if the minions keep running the show and charging me more for less means they get no sympathy from me.
>3 Soup811: After what they did with Sharpe's Tiger I have little trust on Folio's price setting techniques. It's like the top gilded edge on Gargantua & Pantagruel. They could do it in Montaigne's essays which a quarter of the price - but someone thought it was a good idea to skim a 600EUR LE. Or the misleading "quarter leather" which nowadays means 1/20th. The list goes on lately. I still like FS and I'm sure the majority of people who work there are incredibly skilled. On the other hand I can imagine their Finance department is comprised of number-crunching minions with no passion for books. I hope it's not their downfall, but if the minions keep running the show and charging me more for less means they get no sympathy from me.
5Waystation
>3 Soup811: I'd much rather a multi-volume set was published individually over time as, for example, the Hitchhiker's Guide series. Simply because squeezing all the volumes - especially where individual volumes stretch to 800 pages, as in Farseer - into one slip case makes for an overly bulky, difficult to handle set. Two volumes in one slip case can work well (e.g. Dr Zhivago, Italian Folk Tales) but more than that seems like it's mostly motivated by cost-cutting, rather than aesthetics or ease of handling.
As you say, it would also allow the individual volumes to get more attention, albeit likely at a higher overall cost, though the impact of that would be mitigated by spacing out the publication. My only caveat to that is that, with a staggered publication schedule, there is always the potential for subsequent volumes to fall off the radar, as the rest of the Dune series seems to have done.
As you say, it would also allow the individual volumes to get more attention, albeit likely at a higher overall cost, though the impact of that would be mitigated by spacing out the publication. My only caveat to that is that, with a staggered publication schedule, there is always the potential for subsequent volumes to fall off the radar, as the rest of the Dune series seems to have done.
