Nitchslap'd

An open letter to Laurell K. Hamilton as a reminder to my future self (warning: this is very long)

7:34 pm 15 June 2014

After reading the latest offering you have a given us, I think it's time for me to say

I've stuck with you through all of Anita's garbage. I stayed with you while Anita battled the Mother of all Darkness ( a title that implies this is the final boss, no bad guys badder than this) and yet the story continued for 2 more novels afterward with plans for more. I was drawn deeper in when I discovered the Merry Gentry series and found characters that I loved even more than the ones in Anita's world. I wait 5 years from Divine Misdemeanors to get this new novel continuing Meredith's story. Having reread and reread both series in anticipation of new material, I couldn't wait to get my copy of A Shiver of Light. I was so excited that I was scared to even read it right away. I made myself calm down and waited about a week so that I could savor the story.

I finished the story last night and there are no words that can fully express my anger and utter disappointment. I think it’s time to face the facts. With deep sadness I say since you have chosen to give up in your writing, I am choosing to give up supporting it. I will no longer follow your updates on new material. I will no longer purchase any new material. If I happen to read something new, it will be because it was on the shelf in the public library and there was nothing else to read. My time is precious to me and I will no longer waste it on your paltry offerings.

Why we will no longer read LKH:

Her portrayal of pregnancy, delivery, and recovery felt somewhat mocking/condescending. Maybe it is because I recently had a child (though I wouldn’t say 2 years is that recent) that I’m a little sensitive to these topics. But I felt that the delivery of the triplets was ridiculous. At the end of chapter 2 we are told that she would have to have a C-section because there was a third baby and that there was the possibility of trying to deliver her children on different days because of underdevelopment. The last line of chapter 2 her water breaks. Beginning of chapter 3, she is holding one of her babies.

“All the exhaustion, all the pain, the panic of finding that Gwenwyfar was too far into the birth canal for a c-section, and her brother, Alastair, came so close behind her there was no time,” that’s all we get of her birthing experience.

The whole scene is contrived and a bad case of telling not showing. I feel that you cannot wrap up what it means and how it feels to give birth in one sentence. It feels like a slap in the face to all of the women who have been through it and all the women who will go through someday. Additionally, Meredith’s postpartum period covers the rest of the book in which she cries all the freaking time. When did this strong character become this emotional basket case? Yes there are hormones at work but in my opinion they were an excuse to make up for poor writing and lack of character development. I am fully aware that every woman has a different experience. I felt that this was a mockery. Every chapter had a crying scene in it. Some had more than one.

The anticlimactic ending. In all honesty this whole book reads like a really long epilogue. A drug induced dream is the battlefield for our heroine. At least in the last showdown she killed her enemy but here she just wounds him in a dream. Lame.

Now for a brief rant...

Why does Meredith say the same things Anita says with the same attitude? And are there no other colors in the world than Royal Blue, Purple, Green? Why can’t Meredith buy lipstick that doesn't transfer it’s not that expensive and has been around for several years? Same for Anita btw. Are we just copy and pasting our sexual encounters because they all read the same in all the books?

What was good:

Andais. You made her find the shiver of light (see what I did there ^^) that is her inner goodness and we thank you for that. She seems more whole as a character able to experience all emotions.