Backlogs are an issue these days. We live busy lives, and often the media we love most falls by the wayside. Your library of ebooks is no different. Tragically, I’ve found in recent months that unfinished books or book series comprise a large fraction of my Kindle ebook library. They’re staring back at me from the metaphorical bookshelf collecting dust. It’s not for a lack of interest, but because of life interruptions that ultimately cause me to lose the plot.

As an avid reader with little time to truly enjoy my hobby, consuming the best reads on the block is a tedious endeavor. I’ll grab 15 to 30 minutes after lunch, maybe an hour or two in the evenings before bed, and any slice of time I can grab while on the go. But it’s often not enough, and if you’re easily distracted like I am, starting new books with unfinished reads still in play can sometimes be self-sabotage, making the problem worse than it needs to be.

Since a Dungeon Crawler Carl TV series was announced, I have often thought about picking the books up again. With eight installments in the series to date, I’ve fallen behind. Long gaps between reads make us feel compelled to either abandon our last checkpoint and re-read everything or jump back in cold, potentially feeling lost.

Storage

16GB

Screen Size

6-inch E Ink (300ppi)

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Recaps and the Story So Far features can salvage your incomplete library

These are new tools for readers that will get them back up to speed

Technology and the emergence of AI are ultimately meant to make our lives easier. At least, that’s the idea. Recaps and Story So Far are new AI features being rolled out by Amazon to help readers with the challenge of life interrupting great reads. Recaps have been available on Kindle devices and the Kindle iOS app since last year. It enables readers to quickly catch up on the major plot elements of previous books in a series.

Whether you took a long break from a series and wish to return, or you’ve simply been waiting a long time for the newest release in a series and wish to recap, this feature will save you the effort of retreading previous novels in their entirety.

The latest addition, Story So Far, is a feature that acts as an extension of Recaps and works on the singular book level. It is a tool for readers who have slid their figurative bookmark into place and never returned to the action, at least in the near term. This AI feature will tailor a “catch-up” summary for you based on the point at which you left off in the story. Keep in mind that both features offer spoiler-free content. So, there should never be any worry that these options will disrupt your enjoyment of the book.

Can you use Story So Far right now?

You must consider the current requirements for use

With any great new feature, it’s important to manage expectations. To use Story So Far, you must reside in the US (at least for now). Your Kindle device must be capable of updating the firmware to version 5.19.5, which contains the new Story So Far update. If you are using the Kindle app, this feature is currently only available on the iOS version. The Android version will receive this update later this year, according to Amazon.

The other caveat is that the Story So Far tool is only available on select English-language books at this point in time. So, don’t be too surprised if you run to your library and see that you have books that can’t use the feature just yet. However, if Story So Far is available for a selected book, you should be able to access it whether the book was purchased or borrowed.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this feature

It’s worth trying if you currently have an unfinished book in your library

I’m genuinely excited by the prospect of finishing a few books that I’ve long abandoned unceremoniously. However, this feature is still very new, and the quality of the Story So Far AI tool is unproven and could vary depending on the genre. As we’ve all learned, AI isn’t a perfect tool and is still prone to errors, inaccuracies, or general low-quality efforts in many cases. While this expansion of Recaps has me ready to return to my backlog library, I’m doing so with a bit of cautious optimism.

Of course, this is just the beginning for Story So Far, and there is no doubt that competitors in this space will eventually latch onto AI technology (if they haven’t already) in order to bring readers back to their libraries. Just remember, it won’t salvage a book or book series that you didn’t love. But it’s absolutely worth trying the tool on the novels you long to finish.