Want examples of really long single-POV (third person) stories

[HareBrain]

I'm trying to get examples of long stories -- either very long standalones, or preferably series -- in third person, where there is only one POV character. I'm not sure I've got any. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant comes close, but Hile Troy is a POV in book 2. I'm pretty sure both Linden Avery and Covenant himself are POVs in the Second Chronicles. Possibly The Talisman (King/Straub) but I'm not sure about that as it's so long since I've read it. Any other ideas?

 

[Swank]

Player of Games is close. There are asides where the POV character is shown to not observe 'the man behind the curtain', but otherwise it sticks to the MC. Banks' Canal Dreams is 288 pages and is all close 3rd on the MC.

How is Poirot written?

 

[therapist]

I believe the Harry Potter series is all third person from harry's PoV

 

[HareBrain]

How is Poirot written?

Not sure, but I should clarify I meant "series" as in a single story. Individual Poirots would be too short.

 

[HareBrain]

I believe the Harry Potter series is all third person from harry's PoV

No, there are scenes between the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister, etc. Can't be sure if there are also ones from Hermione's or Ron's, but I seem to remember there are.

 

[therapist]

No, there are scenes between the Minister of Magic and the Prime Minister, etc.

My mistake. Memories of those books are very hazy.

 

[tachyon]

I believe "The Goblin Emperor" is third-person single-POV, but it's a stand-alone. (Well it was a stand alone for a good long while, and the sequels are different POV.)

 

[Swank]

I guess this begs the question: Why would an author tie their hands this way?

 

[Ursa major]

How is Poirot written?

There is, famously, one Poirot novel where a character specific to that one book is the PoV character, but I won't say which one or why it is famous.

 

[HareBrain]

I guess this begs the question: Why would an author tie their hands this way?

There might be plot reasons, such as to keep something a mystery. In Stephen Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, the main character is convinced that the world he ends up in is a dream. The existence of any other POVs would disprove that, rather than keeping us guessing.

I also think it's possible that immersion in a single viewpoint character gives a different feel to a story than switching. In a multi-POV story, you're more aware of the author pulling strings behind the curtain, choosing what to show you when. A lot is gained with multi-POV, but I think something might be foregone too -- but it's hard to know, because there aren't many examples. (I'm not counting first person because that gives it a different feel again.)

I've thought of another, though it's not massively long (but feels longer than it is): but The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick. Like Lord Foul's Bane, that raises questions about the reality of the world the MC is in.

 

[Montero]

The Hands of the Emperor and At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard

 

[Swank]

0+

I also think it's possible that immersion in a single viewpoint character gives a different feel to a story than switching. In a multi-POV story, you're more aware of the author pulling strings behind the curtain, choosing what to show you when. A lot is gained with multi-POV, but I think something might be foregone too -- but it's hard to know, because there aren't many examples. (I'm not counting first person because that gives it a different feel again.)

Possibly, but an omniscient narrator doesn't need to take on a new proxy character POV just to impart some information that the MC is not privy to. Without another character's POV, the mood isn't necessarily broken.


You can also have a false single POV, where a single character seems to be represented, but it is actually 2 or more. Something you can't do in 1st (without angering the reader).