Cliff notes for dorks?

December 19, 2012 8:57 PM

Where can I find short plot summaries of books, especially prequels to genre novels?

I hate picking up a book that's, say the third in a trilogy that I read years ago and that expects me to remember who all these people were or what was going on in the earlier books and that make me feel like really, if I want to understand what was going on I'm going to have to reread all those earlier books. I just want a quick high spoiler summary of what the hell happened in those earlier novels, enough to spur my memory or remember why so-and-so is important the whosit, etc.

Wikipedia is occasionally good for this, but far too often there's a plot summary that's fairly spoiler free, telling you the setup, but that's it. I want spoilers. I read the damn thing I just forgot it, but I'm not going to reread all the earlier books just to know what's going on.

Is there a better place than wikipedia for this?

posted by aspo to media & arts (5 answers total)

Goodreads. Just scroll through reviews until you find ones that are blocked for spoilers. There's usually enough to be found to get a general sense of the plot. Also, tvtropes.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:22 PM on December 19, 2012

sparknotes?
and, um, cliffnotes?
(or maybe I don't understand your q).
posted by artdrectr at 10:09 PM on December 19, 2012

I use Fantastic Fiction for this - take for example Michael Connelly, the series are listed together in order, click on each title for a short plot summary. Perfick!
posted by humph at 3:24 AM on December 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't think SparkNotes/CliffsNotes are available for the books the OP is looking at, artdrectr.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:55 AM on December 20, 2012

Wikipedia.
posted by maryrussell at 5:34 PM on December 20, 2012