With regard to Hoffman, I did not like Fall of Light very much. I out and out hated Catalyst and strongly recommend against it. I really like The Thread that Binds the Bones and The Silent Strength of Stones.
As I recall of the Joan Aiken series, most of the characters from Wolves don't appear in later books. Simon does, but I'm not sure any of the others do. Dido Twite, who is introduced in Black Hearts in Battersea, shows up in a lot of books, though. The series eventually lost me. I'm not sure if it got darker or if I was just noticing more. Probably the latter actually.
I still enjoy Mercedes Lackey's books, but I go into them assuming that I won't find a lot of depth. She has a tendency to write books that go along as almost a slice of life and then suddenly detour into last minute plot, as if she suddenly realized that something needed to happen.
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As I recall of the Joan Aiken series, most of the characters from Wolves don't appear in later books. Simon does, but I'm not sure any of the others do. Dido Twite, who is introduced in Black Hearts in Battersea, shows up in a lot of books, though. The series eventually lost me. I'm not sure if it got darker or if I was just noticing more. Probably the latter actually.
I still enjoy Mercedes Lackey's books, but I go into them assuming that I won't find a lot of depth. She has a tendency to write books that go along as almost a slice of life and then suddenly detour into last minute plot, as if she suddenly realized that something needed to happen.