Friday, November 7, 2008

Review of Spellbinder


This book wasn't good. I was going to be more scathing, but at the end of the book there's an author note about how she was struggling with mental illness before writing it, and that she wanted to write something totally new, unrelated to her other series, and in that I guess she succeeded.

I support authors trying new things, getting out of ruts, growing and learning. This book, however, should have been workshopped with her writing group, not published. It was bad. The dialog was bad, the story meandered, the characters were stereotypes, and it read like a bad romance novel. The main character was a writer, and the snippets of her writing were bad. It was just bad, bad, bad.

So, Melanie Rawn, I'm truly very sorry you've been going through a tough time. I hope things get better for you, and I look forward to your return to the Exiles series (still waiting eagerly for Captal's Tower!). I also hope your editor applies a heavier hand to your work. Best wishes!

Needless to say, I don't recommend this one.

1 comment:

Pica Maloria said...

Oh... that's sad. I, too have been awaiting Captal's Tower with bated breath. So sad for her, as well.
Lovely stories.

New series to try - "Poison Study" By Maria V. Snyder. I'm listening to them on CD. They're somewhat predictable Young Adult fantasy - but so much better written than a lot of the crap out there. Book 2 has definate shades of Dragonsinger trilogy by Anne McCafferey and Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey - but still most enjoyable.