For most beginning writers-who are writing genre fiction-paperbacks are the testing field. Understandably cheaper to make than hardcover books, paperbacks are the medium used to launch newbie authors. An introduction to a series or author with very little monetary commitment from either the publisher or the consumer.
If the first few books are successful enough, authors and publishers make a bigger commitment to each other and go for hardcover. The number of successful books needed before reaching this stage varies, but it usually happens with the fourth book.
For Kim Harrison, author of the Hollows series, the magic number was five.
She wrote four popular books featuring Rachel Morgan, witch and runner, in an alternate version of Earth. With vampires and pixies the norm and tomatoes banned for killing most humans, Harrison hit the New York Times bestselling list. So she went hardcover with book number five.
In my never-really-as-humble-as-I-say-it-is opinion, it was lame.
When I have to shift from seven dollar paperbacks to twenty-five dollar hardcovers, I get a lot more critical of the books I am reading. So this book was the first time I noticed that each of Harrison’s books have the same two bad guys: a demon and an elf. In each book, Rachel and her adversaries just come to a stale-mate, neither side really wins.
Well then, you may think that these books are more about the characters than the plot. The people, not what the people are doing. Nope. Nada. Nothing doing.
A closer look at the characters show that they don’t make sense. They are developing relationships and having ‘revelations’ but their actions and insight just feel off. There’s no foundation for them to behave the way that they are. I have no idea how to explain this better.
Anyway, it was a seriously disappointing book that made the rest of the series look bad.
The good news is, this is one less series I have to wait for next year.
