X-Ray is your Kindle’s best-kept secret

As soon as a bookworm, all the time a bookworm. For those who’re the identical, then you already know the ache of selecting between rereading an previous favourite novel, beginning a brand new sequence, or going to the bookstore to stack one other title atop the TBR pile. At one level or one other, you have absolutely picked up multiple story at a time and tried to do a tandem read, which will get complicated quick in the event you’re mixing up one fantasy world with one other. Iron would possibly kill fairies in Terrasen, but it surely does not do squat in Prythian.

Typically, you go weeks (or months… and even years) with out ending a guide, and if you lastly choose it again up, you are utterly misplaced. You flip open to a chapter full of characters you barely bear in mind. Are they brothers, or simply finest buddies? Who’s that aspect character, and the place did she come from?

Or possibly you are totally immersed within the sequence, however there are simply so many characters that retaining monitor feels unimaginable. Sticky notes between pages may also help, however in the event you’re studying on a Kindle or different e-reader, you’ll be able to’t precisely wedge Submit-its between digital pages. Happily, there is a sensible characteristic that handles all of that for you — retaining characters organized and simple to reference: X-Ray.

What’s X-Ray on Kindle e-readers?

Seeing between the strains

X-Ray is a reference software constructed proper into your Kindle. It allows you to faucet on the identify of a personality or place and immediately get contextual info on them. It even works with obscurer phrases particular to that guide.

Typically, relying on the guide, there’ll even be hyperlinks to Goodreads, Wikipedia, or one other exterior supply that may present extra of an index on whichever time period you select. Nevertheless, some customers point out that some books’ X-Ray characteristic have subsequent to no info whereas others function a whole index in and of itself.

As for the non-hyperlinked sources, you’ll be able to even entry them with out an web connection, resembling on airplane mode or out and about with out Wi-Fi. The data is saved throughout the e-book itself, and authors may even go in and add, edit, or just allow X-Ray entries for his or her Kindle e-books by Amazon Direct Publishing.

Among the issues a guide’s X-Ray will present embody:

• Biographies
• Associated passages
• Additional context
• Notes that the creator added themselves

Find out how to entry an e-book’s X-Ray

It is somewhat hidden

Similar to most of Kindle’s settings and options, X-Ray is straightforward to make use of and comparatively intuitive to search out. Nevertheless, not like altering the font measurement and margin sizes, X-Ray is in a unique menu. Here is discover it:

1. Begin throughout the guide you are at present studying. Faucet the prime of the web page to drag up the highest menu.
2. Faucet the stop-light menu within the higher right-hand nook.
3. Faucet X-Ray.

Relying in your guide, sure tabs will seem on the prime. For instance: Notable clips, Individuals, Phrases, and Photos populated for the prequel to Throne of Glass, known as Murderer’s Blade, by Sarah J Maas. This explicit guide is mainly a group of tales in varied locations, so it seems like there are dozens of characters to maintain monitor of always, so I believed it good to make use of it to showcase the X-Ray characteristic.

The Notable clips part contains precisely that — X-Ray pulls varied sentences and paragraphs from throughout the guide which can be vital to the story or most important characters themselves. You need to use the tiny arrows on the left and proper sides of the display screen to toggle by them, and above the quote itself, there’s a progress bar that tells you the placement of every of the quotes, in addition to the chapter or part identify.

Underneath Individuals, you may first see the point out of characters in your present web page. Then, you’ll be able to scroll right down to see different characters within the guide, in addition to every of their mentions. The primary character of Murderer’s Blade, Celaena Sardothien, was talked about 1,081 occasions. Once I clicked her identify, I obtained entry to tabs that confirmed me her particular person notable clips, in addition to all mentions of her identify usually. For a most important character, this is probably not as useful. Nevertheless, for a personality talked about solely a couple of times at first who makes a shock look on the finish, this characteristic is extremely helpful.

Phrases is extra hit-or-miss, however for sequence that characteristic completely different varieties of individuals and/or magic techniques, just like the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo, it is additional useful. Lastly, Photos is one other part that can both be useful or not — some books solely have a picture for the quilt of the guide itself. Nevertheless, in case your guide includes a map at first or finish, X-Ray is an effective way to rapidly reference it in the event you’re attempting to get a lay of the land — it positively helped me after I tried to know the logistics of Sam and Frodo’s journey to Mordor.