My Fantasy Series POV

Question

I am a young author writing a fantasy series. In my series I have six main characters. If you have read my most previous question, I explained that I have six main characters and want each book to put a different character’s loyalty/strength/will/courage/skills to the test.

I finished the first book, and now I’m working on the second. The problem I have is if each book is about a different character, I would like to write the book in the POV of the character it’s about.

Why’s that a problem? Because I’m planning on publishing my work. I know that most people hate it when you switch the character POV in a series, but the original character who narrated the first book doesn’t do anything in the second book.

Should I alternate POV chapters? Should I write the same story twice in both their POV?

The character my second book is about is Jason. This question explains his role in the second book.

I would like to write the book in his POV, since it’s about him, but everyone hates it when POV changes. Should I just keep the POV the way it is?

Answer 1

I can see why this would be annoying to some readers, but as with all writing its fine if you do it right. In the prologue/recap of last book, put something along the lines of

[quick recap of last book], [something about how they now have to do this other thing that is probably related in some way], [first MC's name here] set off with his friend, Jason. This is his story.

I should be maybe 2-3 paragraphs long, and it makes it clear that it's from Jason's POV. If you really need to make it clear it's Jason, in the beginning of the first chapter add;

Hi, I'm Jason. [short introduction by the character]. [Continue story]

Now there's pretty much no way the reader can mistake Jason's POV for other MC's POV.

Answer 2

Switching POV in a series is fine as long as you do it well. For example, in Charles Stross's Laundry Files series (which placed second in the voting for the 2019 Best Series Hugo award, so is clearly well received), the first 5 novels are all written from the POV of a single protoganist, Bob Howard, but after those we get a variety of POV characters, each of which has previously been a supporting character in earlier novels. It works well, and I don't see anyone complaining about it...