Nobody Expects the Inquisition
It must be a theme - somehow or other, every book I've chosen to read for the past 7 books have all contained inquisitors and inquisitions. These are new books, often from new authors, borrowed from the library. And am I ever glad I borrowed them, for I would not buy them. I have no intention of reading their sequels, for all of them are the first in a series.
I am coming to heartily dislike the prop of inquisitors used as plot devices to add stress and angst to a story that would be perfectly fine, filled with tension, challenges, and stresses without an inquisitor adding to it.
In fact, in replaying the stories in my head, removing the inquisitors doesn't alter the storyline at all. Those mean people are there for no particular reason, don't forward the plot any, and don't even really flesh out the world. It's like they exist in some alternate reality from the story and only appear to cause pain that doesn't do anything but hurt. It changes nothing, resolves nothing, doesn't cause the characters to grow in any way, and doesn't contribute to the storyline.
If you must stuff an inquisition into your story, make it count. If I encounter another inquisitor, especially an albino inquisitor or one who has an albino assistant, that's 99 demerits for the story out of 100.
These 7 authors have lost a reader because they added gratuitous meanies to their stories. I am taking a closer look at their imprints and publishers, so I can be wary of future novels containing irrelevent mean people.
I am coming to heartily dislike the prop of inquisitors used as plot devices to add stress and angst to a story that would be perfectly fine, filled with tension, challenges, and stresses without an inquisitor adding to it.
In fact, in replaying the stories in my head, removing the inquisitors doesn't alter the storyline at all. Those mean people are there for no particular reason, don't forward the plot any, and don't even really flesh out the world. It's like they exist in some alternate reality from the story and only appear to cause pain that doesn't do anything but hurt. It changes nothing, resolves nothing, doesn't cause the characters to grow in any way, and doesn't contribute to the storyline.
If you must stuff an inquisition into your story, make it count. If I encounter another inquisitor, especially an albino inquisitor or one who has an albino assistant, that's 99 demerits for the story out of 100.
These 7 authors have lost a reader because they added gratuitous meanies to their stories. I am taking a closer look at their imprints and publishers, so I can be wary of future novels containing irrelevent mean people.