Have y ever felt like you and your favorite author don’t match anymore? I’ve been a big fan of Cassandra Clare, author of the Shadowhunter chronicles since 2013, her books were really important to me during my teenage years; but now I’m reading Sword Catcher, her “adult fantasy” debut and also her first individual book published outside the Shadowhunter world, and I’m just not feeling it.
Despite being marketed as adult, Sword Catcher doesn’t feel more mature than her previous books, aside from some occasional sexual comments. I’ve been noticing some things that bother me about her writing that just got more pronounced with this book, or maybe I’m just not interested enough in the story to just give them a pass. Also (and this is just a pet peeve of mine) it feels kinda weird that the main female character is a “petite green eyed redhead” that’s the exact description of arguably her most famous female mc!
I don’t know, it’s just kinda sad that your go to author is not delivering as they used to. I read “Chain of thorns” also by her earlier this year and despite its flaws I just kept trying to convince myself that it was okay, but I can’t seem to connect with Sword Catcher which was one of my most anticipated reads this years.
As a side note, I’m only halfway through the book, so there’s still hope for it to turn around, but this is my impression as of now. Now tell me, has this ever happened to you?
Some authors can’t sustain their momentum. Others may speak more to certain phases of life. It’s a little poignant when you notice it happening to you, but it doesn’t mean the books were bad or you were wrong to like them. It’s also possible that you’ll come back to them one day and enjoy them again, but differently.
Some authors only have one good book in them to give.
I read a book, call it X, that I really liked by a female science fiction author, back when I was reading them all, and thought the world of it. Then tried some others from her and meh. Then read an interview where the author mentioned that book X was the only book she wrote where the book wrote itself. And I thought, the other books came to be… how? I guess put on the page kicking and screaming, it would seem.