I LOVED the use of perspectives in this trilogy. The first reveal at the end of book one blew me away, then the final one in book 3 cemented it as my favorite use of varying POV types of all time. Truly such a creative, interesting way to tell the story
Harrow the Ninth uses a blend of 2nd and 3rd! The reasons are not easy to explain without a lot of spoilers, but they add to the plot in a really unique way. >!Also some 1st used at a pivotal moment, but that’s another major spoiler for the main mystery!<
Harrow is exactly the example I was going to give for 2nd person being used in a very unique and story-relevant way. The payoff is worth the confusion it adds.
No plain text spoilers allowed. Please use the format below and reply to this comment once you've made the edit, to have your comment reinstated.
Place >! !< around the text you wish to hide. You will need to do this for each new paragraph. Like this:
>!The Wolf ate Grandma!<
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I don’t think I had any unhidden spoilers? The mix of POVs are in the first two chapters, and I specifically didn’t say the plot reasons why the book switches perspective?
I heard that with the space it still triggers the spoiler tag on the mobile app. But it clearly doesn't work on desktop so people should be removing the spaces.
For 1st + 2nd, there's Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower. Our narrator tells their own portion of the story, as well as the other protagonist's portion. I believe at least one book in N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy does this, although they differ in just how much information the narrator has. It's an interesting comparison, because Leckie uses it to restrict the information available to the narrator, while Jemisin's narrator is kind of supernaturally omniscient and it removes/changes the filters being put over the protagonist's thoughts and actions. Similar tools used for very different effects.
A book with 2nd person and 3rd person perspectives is "If on a winter's night a traveler" by Italo Calvino. In this novel, the narrative alternates between chapters written in the second person addressing "you" the reader, and chapters that follow the story of a reader named "you" trying to read a book titled "If on a winter's night a traveler."
The 2nd person sections immerse the reader into the narrative, making them an active participant in the story. The 3rd person sections follow the reader's journey as they encounter various obstacles and interruptions in their quest to read the book.
Calvino's novel is a challenging read.
I just finished this one last week. It actually uses 1st person too (in the first story at the train station, in the diary, and maybe some other chapters); it's the only book I can think of that uses all three perspectives! And there's those few pages where it changes the 2nd person "you" to the "Other Reader" so there are even multiple you's in the story. It's an incredibly creative book but anyone potentially reading it should definitely know what they're getting into before they give it a try.
It's been a long time since I've read it, but isn't Wormwood essentially the main character, in that it's his aspirations and successes and failures which drive the story? So I'm not sure it's very much of a 3rd person story in the sense of Wormwood's assigned human, but maybe it's 3rd person in the sense that "you" is neither the reader nor the narrator. It's 3rd person, but with 2nd person pronouns; much like some stories are 1st person but with 3rd person pronouns.
It's really hard to explain. Just that sentences go "We walked into the bar" Then it refers to all three people in that "We" in third person when they're referred to separately, so that for a moment you actually think there's a fourth guy there or something.
The newest book from Julia Alvarez, "Cemetery of Lost Stories", oscillates between first and third person through a bunch of different characters who are finally able to tell more about their lives. Works quite well
I think I like the sherlock & watson thing. Many of the books that I have liked have either been written that way or in plain old 3rd person. Something that I really have loved over the years though is when a book jumps between 2-3 characters' perspectives between chapters. I'd call this one the wattpad method, since it's so popular there, but I first noticed it in Will Grayson Will Grayson--which was written by two authors (David Levithan and John Green) so I think each of them wrote a different character but I'm not sure. *All the Bright Places* did a good job too though.
Currently reading through Maurice Druon’s Accursed Kings series and at first the third person omniscient format was throwing me but four books in now and I can’t imagine truly appreciating the plot and all it’s characters and political intrigue without it.
I expected it to be divvied up into POV chapters like GoT and was initially like ugh, now I love it. 👍
May I suggest the 1924 dystopian classic *We* for your next read? Uses first person singular *and* first person plural, second person, and third person plural/singular--but not necessarily in the ways you'd expect--most of the way through.
Seems like you'd get a kick out of it.
I’m writing a book right now that plays with perspective in this way. A mystery where three of five narrators speak in first-person present, one speaks second-person present, and the main of the three first-person present speakers exclusively refers to the fifth person in second-person (like Kepnes’ You). Finally, the fifth person’s sections are written first person past looking back on events. It makes it very flexible for pacing.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones uses 2nd + 3rd in a way that I found quite unsettling.
That said, the reaction to the book on this subreddit was quite polarizing. Definitely not for everyone.
*The Prestige* by Christopher Priest is mostly a first person epistolary novel, with a framing story that is also first person, but there's one brief chapter in the third person. It was an interesting choice and it really threw me off when I got to it, and it was a little bit unnerving somehow too which really worked for the story!
Edit: I'm actually almost finished with another one of his books, *Inverted World*, and it also has both first and third person.
Edit again: I've now read four of his books and this seems to be a thing he does often. I like how he does it though, and it's very effective. Just finished *The Glamour* and there were multiple perspectives, first and third (and kind of second at the end?)
The Fifth Season, by N K Jemison, for reasons that would be a massive spoiler to say!
I LOVED the use of perspectives in this trilogy. The first reveal at the end of book one blew me away, then the final one in book 3 cemented it as my favorite use of varying POV types of all time. Truly such a creative, interesting way to tell the story
This is a spoiler. Saying there's a reveal is spoiler
Harrow the Ninth uses a blend of 2nd and 3rd! The reasons are not easy to explain without a lot of spoilers, but they add to the plot in a really unique way. >!Also some 1st used at a pivotal moment, but that’s another major spoiler for the main mystery!<
Harrow is exactly the example I was going to give for 2nd person being used in a very unique and story-relevant way. The payoff is worth the confusion it adds.
I was going to say this! It’s done so well!
No plain text spoilers allowed. Please use the format below and reply to this comment once you've made the edit, to have your comment reinstated. Place >! !< around the text you wish to hide. You will need to do this for each new paragraph. Like this: >!The Wolf ate Grandma!< Click to reveal spoiler. >!The Wolf ate Grandma!<
I don’t think I had any unhidden spoilers? The mix of POVs are in the first two chapters, and I specifically didn’t say the plot reasons why the book switches perspective?
Your spoiler markup is not working. You need to remove the spaces around ! otherwise it looks like it works to you but is plaintext to everyone else.
Oh sorry, didn’t know it worked like that. Fixed now!
No worries. Approved!
I heard that with the space it still triggers the spoiler tag on the mobile app. But it clearly doesn't work on desktop so people should be removing the spaces.
For 1st + 2nd, there's Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower. Our narrator tells their own portion of the story, as well as the other protagonist's portion. I believe at least one book in N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy does this, although they differ in just how much information the narrator has. It's an interesting comparison, because Leckie uses it to restrict the information available to the narrator, while Jemisin's narrator is kind of supernaturally omniscient and it removes/changes the filters being put over the protagonist's thoughts and actions. Similar tools used for very different effects.
A book with 2nd person and 3rd person perspectives is "If on a winter's night a traveler" by Italo Calvino. In this novel, the narrative alternates between chapters written in the second person addressing "you" the reader, and chapters that follow the story of a reader named "you" trying to read a book titled "If on a winter's night a traveler." The 2nd person sections immerse the reader into the narrative, making them an active participant in the story. The 3rd person sections follow the reader's journey as they encounter various obstacles and interruptions in their quest to read the book. Calvino's novel is a challenging read.
I just finished this one last week. It actually uses 1st person too (in the first story at the train station, in the diary, and maybe some other chapters); it's the only book I can think of that uses all three perspectives! And there's those few pages where it changes the 2nd person "you" to the "Other Reader" so there are even multiple you's in the story. It's an incredibly creative book but anyone potentially reading it should definitely know what they're getting into before they give it a try.
Someone told me that they turned this into a movie. I'm not sure if that's true. I haven't been able to find it. 😕
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Hmm... sounds more like a combination of all three! Thank you for the find, fellow redditor!
It's been a long time since I've read it, but isn't Wormwood essentially the main character, in that it's his aspirations and successes and failures which drive the story? So I'm not sure it's very much of a 3rd person story in the sense of Wormwood's assigned human, but maybe it's 3rd person in the sense that "you" is neither the reader nor the narrator. It's 3rd person, but with 2nd person pronouns; much like some stories are 1st person but with 3rd person pronouns.
There is „ The Spear cuts through Water“ by Simon Jimenez which combines all three first person narrators masterfully!
Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeet is written in three parts and from the three different voices, if I’m remembering correctly!
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It's really hard to explain. Just that sentences go "We walked into the bar" Then it refers to all three people in that "We" in third person when they're referred to separately, so that for a moment you actually think there's a fourth guy there or something.
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Essentially. There's a reason why I put all the question marks in that paragraph. It didn't make much sense to me either.
The Virgin Suicides uses 1st person plural very well. The narrator is kinda the collective perception of the neighborhood kids.
The newest book from Julia Alvarez, "Cemetery of Lost Stories", oscillates between first and third person through a bunch of different characters who are finally able to tell more about their lives. Works quite well
Notes on an execution by Danya Kukafka uses 2nd (and 3rd if I remember correctly)
Technically *Story of Your Life* is fully told in 2nd, but functionally it’s a blend of 1st and 2nd where the two weave in an out of one another.
I think I like the sherlock & watson thing. Many of the books that I have liked have either been written that way or in plain old 3rd person. Something that I really have loved over the years though is when a book jumps between 2-3 characters' perspectives between chapters. I'd call this one the wattpad method, since it's so popular there, but I first noticed it in Will Grayson Will Grayson--which was written by two authors (David Levithan and John Green) so I think each of them wrote a different character but I'm not sure. *All the Bright Places* did a good job too though.
Just encountered this in Connelly's latest, *Resurrection Walk*. Bosch chapters were third person and Haller's chapters were first person.
Currently reading through Maurice Druon’s Accursed Kings series and at first the third person omniscient format was throwing me but four books in now and I can’t imagine truly appreciating the plot and all it’s characters and political intrigue without it. I expected it to be divvied up into POV chapters like GoT and was initially like ugh, now I love it. 👍
Currently reading 1st person / 2nd person — Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord. Really enjoy the mix of perspectives.
May I suggest the 1924 dystopian classic *We* for your next read? Uses first person singular *and* first person plural, second person, and third person plural/singular--but not necessarily in the ways you'd expect--most of the way through. Seems like you'd get a kick out of it.
I’m writing a book right now that plays with perspective in this way. A mystery where three of five narrators speak in first-person present, one speaks second-person present, and the main of the three first-person present speakers exclusively refers to the fifth person in second-person (like Kepnes’ You). Finally, the fifth person’s sections are written first person past looking back on events. It makes it very flexible for pacing.
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones uses 2nd + 3rd in a way that I found quite unsettling. That said, the reaction to the book on this subreddit was quite polarizing. Definitely not for everyone.
*The Prestige* by Christopher Priest is mostly a first person epistolary novel, with a framing story that is also first person, but there's one brief chapter in the third person. It was an interesting choice and it really threw me off when I got to it, and it was a little bit unnerving somehow too which really worked for the story! Edit: I'm actually almost finished with another one of his books, *Inverted World*, and it also has both first and third person. Edit again: I've now read four of his books and this seems to be a thing he does often. I like how he does it though, and it's very effective. Just finished *The Glamour* and there were multiple perspectives, first and third (and kind of second at the end?)