I paid for ‘Kings Rising’ because the prose is of high enough quality that I wanted to read it properly formatted. Pacat’s writing is not overly flowery but is instead very precise. The understated dialogue is a key part of this, and thus a bad PDF with poor formatting could really mess this up. For example, missing a paragraph break or a line of dialogue could confuse the reader at a key emotional moment in the story. The official digital edition has been set up to preserve all of this, so when you buy ‘Kings Rising’ digitally you’re not just buying a story, you’re buying a work of art that has been presented carefully. For a story that is all about tension and careful power shifts, the presentation is part of the art. A poor digital edition would be a poor substitute to this work, and I suspect that most people would be willing to pay a fair amount of money to read it properly rather than settle for some subpar PDF of someone’s badly-scanned copy. It’s the difference between seeing the masterpiece in the museum and looking at a poor photo of it online.
Searching for older dark fantasy novels as PDFs is exciting but mostly ends in disappointment. Unfortunately The Crimson King is one of these novels that – to the best of my knowledge – has not yet been officially made available as an ebook. While I can only suggest checking out ebook stores and asking specialty book groups, in the past I had no luck with that either. Interlibrary loan services might be an option for legal reading, though.
I wish there was a way to digitally scan old, wonderful novels that for whatever reason have not been put into print. Maybe we could start a petition for under-appreciated novels to get the respect of a proper scan.
I'd love to discuss the cover art for this title. So many different versions of the cover for this title. Sadly the PDF versions do not include the cover.
If a novel such as Crown Me Yours exists as a free audiobook on Spotify (we would have to search for it), listening to it while at work would be an ideal way to read the novel as we have a Premium account which includes tons of free serialized audiobooks. There also exist YouTube channels that offer ‘podcast-style’ recordings of novels. Each chapter is read by a voice and there are even full productions that include many voice actors.
Keep in mind that YouTube videos (in the form of playlisted audio podcasts) can get removed quickly when a channel receives a copyright strike. That is why it is good to download the whole YouTube podcast or save it offline as fast as you can. These amateur reads can actually bring lots of charm to the story and can make for a very nice alternative way to experience a story, turning your search from ‘where to read’ to ‘where to listen’.