Book Review

I love books, but my style of choosing reading material leaves a lot to be desired. Usually, I'll find an author I like (based on referrals or something I see/read somewhere else), then read everything I can by this author. Sometimes, even if I don't like the first work I sample, I'll still read a 2nd or even a 3rd book just to make sure. That's not true, I'll read that 2nd-3rd book because I don't know how to pick something better to read.

Lately, I've been getting some real crap from the library. First, it was this John Connolly stuff. He's not bad, just not good. He tries to write the traditional murder mystery/intrigue stuff, then he starts throwing in ghosts, precognitive dreams, and other things along those lines. I wouldn't be too put off, but it's not well done.

Then, I read The Devil Knows You're Dead, by someone who's name I can't remember right at the moment. It was another murder mystery, written from the perspective of a private investigator. No supernatural stuffs, this one just sucked. Bad writing.

Finally, just today I finished The Inheritor by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I knew what I was getting into with this one, but it still wasn't good. MZB wrote The Mists of Avalon, which was made into a TV movie with Anjelica Houston and was critically acclaimed. I haven't watched/read that one, but it's supposedly very good. MoA is the story of King Arthur's tales, told from the perspective of the women in the story (I think). I did read Kassandra by MZB, about Cassandra, the prophetess of Troy. It's told from Cassandra's perspective and is excellent.

But on to The Inheritor. I read the book jacket, so I have no one to blame but myself. I really don't mind fantasy literature so long as it's not chalk-full of wizards and elves and sorcery. The Inheritor, on the other hand, is set in modern times and the protagonist is a woman who tries to deal with fantastical elements that are intruding onto her daily life. Right up my alley, in a way.

This story is set in 1983 (and was written in that year) and centers around a therapist who has "psychic flashes." She's reluctantly helped the police find missing persons in the past, but mostly she just wants to live her life. Then she moves into a haunted house and all this insane paranormal stuff starts happening. She also falls in love with a new man, and it turns out he's way into black magic.

After that little description, do I still need to discuss why it sucked? *sigh* ok. First, the writing that I came to love in Kassandra was NOT there. Kassandra's plot was easy to follow (even though a little long-winded at times). I cared about Kassandra, pitied her and got angry for her when people didn't believe her premonitions. As I read The Inheritor, it was difficult sometimes to even tell if I was reading about events as they happened, or if a character was remembering something from his/her past. The characters seemed to make ridiculous choices sometimes, so either they were unrealistically written, or MZB just failed to provide the insight into the characters' personalities and motivations for making the decision. For example, the main character learns that her dark wizard boyfriend once made a human sacrifice. She is immediately appalled, but comes to terms with it in about 10 seconds flat and responds with, "I don't care what you have done. I love you, I love you, I love you."

With 38 pages left in the book, I almost put it down. The line was: "Only later, when the hand of tragedy had fallen, did she realize why Simon had been begging her to take him away." At this point in the book, it was just way too dramatic and cheesy. And I guess I cared so little about what happened to anyone that this last attempt to push me to the edge of my seat just made me gag.

Luckily, I expected not to like the book that much, so I read it first out of the two I grabbed at the library. I've got James Rollins' Map of Bones still waiting for me. James Rollins is an author who is consistently good. He also writes modern novels with a touch of the fantastic (and some fairly heavy sci-fi elements), but he actually does them well. I highly recommend The Black Order, and only a little less-highly recommend The Judas Strain. He also wrote the novelization of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but that was after the movie was made. You can't hold him responsible for that travesty.

"Hated it"