Ramblings of a Crowe

Mistral's Kiss by Laurell K Hamilton

My first impression of this newest installment of the Meredith Gentry series: short.

Only a mere 200 and some pages. The first six chapters were nothing but tedious and boring sex. That added up to about 72 pages, if I recall correctly. Where exactly is this story going?

Where was all the fun magical discovery? The witty characters? The wickedness and backstabbing? Most of the popular characters were hardly present in this book. And where was the plot? I don't think there was one, just a bunch of people running around screwing and cutting each other up. WTF is that?

Needless to say, I was left confused and disappointed. I kick myself for being surprised, considering Ms. Hamilton's work as of late has been less than stellar. I'm not sure if she needs to fire her editor or just take a long vacation.

I will say that the scenes with Sholto were interesting. I was glad for him and it tied up a few loose ends rather well. The ending was decent too, but most of the book lagged and bordered on boring. I was left feeling like I'd been robbed of a story that could've been so much more.

I keep reading Ms. Hamilton's books, hoping that they will return to their former format and style: interesting, well thought out, and fun to read. Each time I'm let down, and each time I have to ask myself why I waste money on these new books.

Please, Ms. Hamilton, I know from one of your several public meltdowns that you know your fans are unhappy with the turn your writing has taken. Would it hurt so bad to step back and listen? Without your readers, your stories are nothing. Or perhaps this isn't about telling a good story anymore, maybe it's just about pumping out as many crappy books as you possibly can to make some cash. If that's so, shame on you.

EDIT:

Seems I'm not the only one complaining. Here's an excuse, because I'll be damned to call it a reason, from the admin over at LKH's Forum.

Partially it was the deadline. Partially it was the next bit would have made that book 3-4 times as long. Laurell would rather not leave it with a cliff hanger if possible or something half done.

Also, if books exceed a certain size, it requires special binding. No one wants to go to that expense.

The entire post is laughable. LKH's writing for the last two plus years has gone down the crapper. All authors have deadlines and I can count quite a few who turn out amazing books. Some of them even while working on another project.

But it's the special binding explanation that really gets me. 212 pages is half a novel. Last year, Danse Macrabe was over 400 pages. Before that, most of the other books have pushed the 400 mark or more. So this was just a load of bull.

LKH is cashing in, plain and simple. Her fans have stated again and again they'd wait a few more months for a meatier, well written story. I suppose it's time to cut my losses and not "go through the expense" of buying anymore of her books.

Posted by Zoso at December 15, 2006 11:27 AM