perhaps not the thread to ask in, but for someone entirely new to nintendo consoles and zelda games, is there a recommended summary of the series to this point/anything I need to know??
Not really, all games are their own. You can play Zelda game in any order.
The only really basic things in a Zelda game that might be good to know:
Link - the good guy, usually in green clothes, that you will play in each Zelda adventure.
Zelda - the princess, sometimes with magical powers. Usually, she needs to be saved or rescued for some reason.
Ganon - the really evil bad guy, pretty much like Sauron in LotR.
Hyrule - the land where the game takes place.
But if you want to dig deep into the Zelda lore, the book Hyrule Historia gives a very good description of all Zelda games prior to BotW.