[not really] Heroes [not really] at Risk
Sep. 17th, 2009 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serynI finished Heroes At Risk by Moira J. Moore.
This is the fourth book in the series and the time dilation between them is getting larger but the continuity between the books is becoming more important.
Ms. Moore has a LJ and I left her a comment about the previous book asking why a woman in a new sexual relationship would not have any reaction to seeing another woman die of an unwanted pregnancy. There had been no discussion of contraception but the main character did not become pregnant and did not even consider the possibility. This book had the main character telling us at least four separate times how her Shielding prevented babies. Uh huh. So my memories of the previous book had them doing none of their magicky stuff. And really, if I saw a woman die in childbirth right in front of me, my mental dialogue of things I cannot say out loud would have included, "Thank all the gods ____ works for me." So it seemed like too much, too late. Plus from what was in this book and what I remember of the previous book, they weren't using their magic enough to be safe from unwanted babies.
I have no idea why the book was titled this. They're not particularly heroic, they haven't been particularly heroic in any of the books, but hero keeps being in the titles. Whenever I see the titles I keep thinking of the famous line from The Princess Bride, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
The books themselves are interesting but not very catchy. I like the socially oblivious woman as a character type, but I just don't feel anything for her. She's not sympathetic. The male lead is astonishingly sympathetic but the books are told from the female lead's viewpoint so she comes across as heartless and bitchy and lacking in communication skills. Probably it's the whole "lived in an institution for 17 years" aspect of her social awkwardness, but the reader sees more through the eyes of the oblivious character than the character herself does. That makes her seem vicious.
But mostly these are decent enough books if they came out more often. They're not bad books, but they're not worth the wait. This one ended with a cliffhanger too.
I really think it's mean for an author with a two year gap between books to suddenly drop everything with a cliffhanger when the book is actually shorter than most paperbacks. I should have sent Ms. Moore a ream of paper and an ink cartridge because the book stopped there because of an obvious lack of physical resources. There is no other reason for the book to stop there. It should have stopped a chapter beforehand or it should have continued.
If the next book is out in a reasonable amount of time, I'll probably buy it. But if it's a two year gap, I'm going to let it go.
This is the fourth book in the series and the time dilation between them is getting larger but the continuity between the books is becoming more important.
Ms. Moore has a LJ and I left her a comment about the previous book asking why a woman in a new sexual relationship would not have any reaction to seeing another woman die of an unwanted pregnancy. There had been no discussion of contraception but the main character did not become pregnant and did not even consider the possibility. This book had the main character telling us at least four separate times how her Shielding prevented babies. Uh huh. So my memories of the previous book had them doing none of their magicky stuff. And really, if I saw a woman die in childbirth right in front of me, my mental dialogue of things I cannot say out loud would have included, "Thank all the gods ____ works for me." So it seemed like too much, too late. Plus from what was in this book and what I remember of the previous book, they weren't using their magic enough to be safe from unwanted babies.
I have no idea why the book was titled this. They're not particularly heroic, they haven't been particularly heroic in any of the books, but hero keeps being in the titles. Whenever I see the titles I keep thinking of the famous line from The Princess Bride, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
The books themselves are interesting but not very catchy. I like the socially oblivious woman as a character type, but I just don't feel anything for her. She's not sympathetic. The male lead is astonishingly sympathetic but the books are told from the female lead's viewpoint so she comes across as heartless and bitchy and lacking in communication skills. Probably it's the whole "lived in an institution for 17 years" aspect of her social awkwardness, but the reader sees more through the eyes of the oblivious character than the character herself does. That makes her seem vicious.
But mostly these are decent enough books if they came out more often. They're not bad books, but they're not worth the wait. This one ended with a cliffhanger too.
I really think it's mean for an author with a two year gap between books to suddenly drop everything with a cliffhanger when the book is actually shorter than most paperbacks. I should have sent Ms. Moore a ream of paper and an ink cartridge because the book stopped there because of an obvious lack of physical resources. There is no other reason for the book to stop there. It should have stopped a chapter beforehand or it should have continued.
If the next book is out in a reasonable amount of time, I'll probably buy it. But if it's a two year gap, I'm going to let it go.
