Twisted Kingdom

I am all for diversity in the world, but this is a post about books. Since it all started with a fantasy author, I decided to vent my frustration here instead of on my own blog. I am of the scary notion that books should have the same title regardless of where they are produced. I know, this is something that has been going on for generations, but it's so confusing! People recommend books, but they are not the same titles as you have, so you search looking for the titles in your country. Even for translated books, all good if the content inside is different, but I strongly believe that the books should have the same titles for simplicity sake.

I bring this up because I live in Canada. We do not seem to have our own publishing traits, it is either we get books at the same time they are released in the US or Canada. If you discover the book when it first comes out, differing titles should not confuse you too much. It is when you discover an author later on that the problems start. My problem of the day? Sara Douglass. I know this is not her fault, it's the publishers fault, but I am super annoyed. I tried to read her Troy Game series about a year ago, but I could not get into book one. Instead of giving up on her as an author, though, I decided that I was going to read her other trilogies. In Australia, and thus originally Canada, her first trilogy was referred to as the Axis trilogy. Then, she wrote another trilogy and called it The Wayfarer trilogy. That's fine, but in the US all six books were put together and renamed The Wayfarer series. I have the Axis trilogy, but the other day I went to the store and picked up The Wayfarer trilogy. Tonight, I took all my books and put them together. You know what I have? A MESS!!!

Let me elaborate. I knew the titles I was looking for, but instead I just went by the trilogy name. The three books I bought say book one, two, and three of the Wayfarer Redemption. You know what I have in actuality? The US releases of book two and three of what I know as The Axis trilogy and book one of the Australian version of The Wayfarer trilogy. That means, I have book two and three of The Axis trilogy twice. I should have looked at book titles, but I was concerned with the trilogy, and since I live in Canada, normally it would have been the Australian versions of the books. I think it started out that way, but time went by and now we sell both the Australian versions AND the United States versions. This makes it VERY confusing for new readers of Douglass. You know, just so you know, the back covers say different things, so it does look like different books. I just had not read the other books yet, I like to own all the books before I start.

So, that is my vent: Books should have the same title regardless of the country. It would just make things EASIER! Heaven knows we try and make life easier in every other aspect, why not book titles too!