1st or 3rd person?

My first book, “An Illusion of Peace“, was written in the first person, following the events of a small team fighting aliens, told through the eyes of their leader. As such it was all first person. I turned out quite well, if I say so myself (which I just did).

The second book in the series has a wider range of characters and two distinct story arcs. Much of it had already been written before I had even started on the first book, for various reasons that may, or may not, become apparent at some point in the future. Thus far the draft is in the third person, probably the more usual format for a novel of this genre and structure. But I very much enjoy writing in the first person and have been debating with myself whether I can apply it to the new book.

Would readers cope with a novel written from the point of view of 3 or 4 characters, across two story arcs? I am thinking that each chapter would have the name of the point of view character at the top. It might be difficult to do effectively. It would certainly be fun to try. It could either end up a mess or an interesting way of describing the events of the book, to be called “Surfacing event”.

I guess I will attempt a re-write on the draft and see how far down the rabbit hole it goes. Wish me luck!

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