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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34857
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34857
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I wouldn't say that the premise that you shouldn't switch protagonists between novels is an absolute truth in the first place.

What's so frustrating about reading about new characters? Doesn't one do that every time one picks a new book? Isn't that what one picks a new book for? So two books happen to be in the same setting. Why should they necessarily also follow the same characters?

Terry Pratchett, in his _Discworld_ series, switches protagonists between books a lot. Sometimes the old protagonists later have another book all their own, sometimes they appear in the background, sometimes they walk out of the story entirely. I wouldn't want to read 40 books all about the same protagonist - that would be extremely tiresome. But I greatly enjoyed reading 40 books set in the same world, following different characters in different situations.

Ged is not the protagonist of all _Earthsea_ books. Cat is not the protagonist of all _Chrestomancy_ books. _Old Man's War_ switches protagonists between books. _Foundation_ gives you a new protagonist for every period - more than once in the same book. Different protagonists allow for different stories to be told, different POVs, different understandings.

So it seems to me that if your overarching story demands a switch of protagonist, then it would be served best by a switch of protagonist.

Original score: 7