Sunday, August 15, 2021

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Rating: WARTY!

Magic rises? Really? That's your title? This is supposedly "A #1 New York Times bestseller with nearly 30,000 five-star Goodreads ratings!" So why in fuck are you reduced to selling at a discount in a book flyer? Is 30,000 sales not enough? That probably means you had at least another fifteen thousand sales for people who liked it less. $2.00 a pop for the ebook means what, 40 - 70 cents a copy for the author? Let's call it 50 cents multiplied by 45,000 units, means you made well over $20,000 for this effort. How much more do you want people to give you for volume 6 of a series where you're essentially telling the same story over and over again, which is what a series is? On it goes: "In Atlanta, mercenary Kate Daniels" Wait: you didn't call her Kat? Damn! You're going to get drummed out of the urban fantasy writers club for that! And no, you don't get kudos for not using 'Kat' because you used Kate which is pretty much the same damned thing. "...strikes a deal to save a pack of shapeshifters from a deadly ailment." Why? They're shapeshifters! They're boring, overblown, substandard, YA material. Let 'em rot! "But the gambit puts her own life at risk." I see what they did there! They put 'gambit' in the description so people will think it's about chess. Nice try. Judged by the cover though, where this chick basically fights in a leather tank top,'game butt' might play better to your reader base....Barf.