Prequel and Book One from two different character perspectives

So I'm starting on the prequel to my first book now, and have come to a bit of a conundrum. My first book is from the perspective of the heroine and protagonist of the series. I am now thinking of making the prequel from the perspective of the antagonist/villain. But I'm worried it may trip up readers. The thing is, the prequel is mostly about how and why the villain became who he is, and why he attacked the kingdom of the heroine in the first place. So would this difference in the two books, really be that big of a deal?

 

Many series of books take this route. I don't think this is something that will trip up the reader at all.

 

Anne Rice did this successfully.

 

It works very well, especially if you discard the notion of a villain. Every story has two sides (at least). Each character has his or her own motivations, and the judgement as to which one is in the wrong is often a matter of perspective.

 

I didn't even think of that, but you are right. There are two sides to every story. So perhaps this isn't such a bad ideal after all.

 

You're thinking in terms of the plot. The reader doesn't care. They want to be entertained, not study history. The antagonist exists at the time the story begins, as does the protagonist. The protagonist doesn't have to know the history of the antagonist in order to live their day-to-day life. They solve their problems as they come. And if they need background information they dig it up. That matters because if we're to have the protagonist as our avatar, and share their life in real-time, we have no need to know anything more than that character does in the moment they call now. And if some piece of data in the protagonist's memory is necessary to the protagonist in that moment, it will be part of what the protagonist takes into account in making that decision. And because we're standing in their shoes and using their perceptions and memories, we will know what the protagonist knows, as they know it.

How to present that seamlessly is part of the craft of writing fiction for the printed word. And since you're writing fiction, hopefully well enough to please readers used to professional writing, you have dug into the compositional techniques of writing fiction, right?