Well. I know this opinion is unpopular, but I believe there is no such thing as a good or interesting supernatural love story. At least not these days. But, then, I'm not a big fan of romance being more than say 30% of any given story.
I've had no less than five friends recommend this series to me. Now I have a reason to say no beyond just lack of interest.
Speaking as someone who proofreads for fun and is easily jolted out of a story by even small errors, I don't think I'd have been able to even finish the first.
I read the first two when I was thirteen. Even then, I thought it was one hot mess.
The editing? Oy. They made so many stupid ones, like stating one character was dark haired multiple times and then in one paragraph they described her as a redhead. You know a book is bad when the continuity errors happen from the FIRST book.
Gah. It's like they didn't even care. If you look the authors up, they both have multiple awards for writing. Maybe not anything major, but they're still awards. HOW?
And I'm still in awe that the editor has a job. That book must have been completely overtaken by errors if they did anything to it and finally called this good enough to be published. You can only read something so many times before someone's hair changing from silver to red becomes normal.
I agree with you. The authors seem to have ODed on 'Charmed' and a lot of dodgy books on Wicca/magic. I've only read the first two though have borrowed the second set from the library.
Did you catch the bad math in terms of dates? It may have been the authors but should have been caught by an editor
They kept referring to the 600th anniversary of Castle Devereux being attacked and then have sections titled: France 13th Century. Of course that would make it in the 1200s and 1200s+600=the 1800s. Mmmmm.
They really should have ditched the whole French aspect as it was about as historical as a camp Hammer Horror movie but with zero sense of humour.
Haha, I kept thinking Charmed the entire time I was reading, too. Not even just because of the Power of Three bit. A lot of the twists and turns ended up being something I could have gotten from a bad episode of Charmed (which I watched religiously for years, when I was younger). I kind of kept waiting for one of them to die, only to discover that there was another Lady of the Lily to replace her or something.
Actually, I recognized that something was amiss with the dates, but I could not bring myself to figure it out. I just didn't have it in me to try to work out what was wrong with something that I felt was already so very, very wrong.
I think they just wanted to add the French in to make the story more romantic and so they could look smart with entire paragraphs of French sprinkled over top of everything. It just annoyed me more than anything else.
I guess because I studied history that the dates bugged me. I find that I can be quite irritated when history isn't tackled right. I don't mind if an author writes an end bit saying that yes they took various artistic licenses but you get a sense they at least tried.
I said to my son when describing the books that they made 'Charmed' took tame. It made him smile as we often comment on how out there the series became especially in later seasons.
Romantic and also to emphasize how old the two families were and how their conflict did things like start the Great Fire of London. Of yes, I just recalled the other historical corker that got to me.
Flashback to King James I and the storm that assailed his vessel in 1589, which he came to believe had been caused by witchcraft. All well and good except James was then James VI of Scotland and didn't become James I of England until 1603!
They are silly books though sometimes a silly book is good for a rant. :)
Oh, THIS series. My aunt got them for me a few years ago and I only started reading them one day because I was home sick for a week. I read through the first book pretty fast (having nothing else to read), but I couldn't finish the second book. I tired a few times, but I just couldn't.
All of the plots being told at the same time made things confusing enough that I had to go back and try to figure out what was happening all the time, which just made the story drag out so much. Eventually, I had enough and just quit reading.
I wondered how the hell this was my cousin's "favourite series".
Yeah, I read through them both in four days, and it only took that long because I only read at night, right before bedtime. They're easy to read... if you can keep up with where everyone is and what they're doing. I kind of just stopped trying and just plowed through to the end.
I'm actually surprised I remembered as many details as I did because of that. I hate reading books that way.
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Oh, well, I see downthread that you have one. XD
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Speaking as someone who proofreads for fun and is easily jolted out of a story by even small errors, I don't think I'd have been able to even finish the first.
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Haha, I knew someone out there would think this series was amazing though. Just wish I knew how. :/
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The editing? Oy. They made so many stupid ones, like stating one character was dark haired multiple times and then in one paragraph they described her as a redhead. You know a book is bad when the continuity errors happen from the FIRST book.
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And I'm still in awe that the editor has a job. That book must have been completely overtaken by errors if they did anything to it and finally called this good enough to be published. You can only read something so many times before someone's hair changing from silver to red becomes normal.
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Did you catch the bad math in terms of dates? It may have been the authors but should have been caught by an editor
They kept referring to the 600th anniversary of Castle Devereux being attacked and then have sections titled: France 13th Century. Of course that would make it in the 1200s and 1200s+600=the 1800s. Mmmmm.
They really should have ditched the whole French aspect as it was about as historical as a camp Hammer Horror movie but with zero sense of humour.
Reply
Actually, I recognized that something was amiss with the dates, but I could not bring myself to figure it out. I just didn't have it in me to try to work out what was wrong with something that I felt was already so very, very wrong.
I think they just wanted to add the French in to make the story more romantic and so they could look smart with entire paragraphs of French sprinkled over top of everything. It just annoyed me more than anything else.
Reply
I said to my son when describing the books that they made 'Charmed' took tame. It made him smile as we often comment on how out there the series became especially in later seasons.
Romantic and also to emphasize how old the two families were and how their conflict did things like start the Great Fire of London. Of yes, I just recalled the other historical corker that got to me.
Flashback to King James I and the storm that assailed his vessel in 1589, which he came to believe had been caused by witchcraft. All well and good except James was then James VI of Scotland and didn't become James I of England until 1603!
They are silly books though sometimes a silly book is good for a rant. :)
Reply
All of the plots being told at the same time made things confusing enough that I had to go back and try to figure out what was happening all the time, which just made the story drag out so much. Eventually, I had enough and just quit reading.
I wondered how the hell this was my cousin's "favourite series".
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I'm actually surprised I remembered as many details as I did because of that. I hate reading books that way.
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