Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Harriet's Old Tricks. Still Not Impressive.

I just read/reviewed a fantasy novel called SHADOWED BY WINGS. Dark and violent, yes. But Harriet calls this book, in the title of her 'review' no less, a "violent XXX fantasy saga." If I were the author, I would be seriously offended by that, because it implies that everyone is running around having graphic sex, participating in horrific violence, or possibly, both at the same time. Her title completely dismisses (or at least marginalizes) a very good novel. Yes, it's dragons and fantasy. And it also has some interesting things to say, if you draw the fairly clear parallels, about various parts of the world, still extant today.

Yes, I posted my comments. Please also read the Publisher's Weekly blurb on the book's main page, then read Harriet's bs re-write of the SAME blurb, using the SAME words in many cases. Her "review" is liberally sprinkled with very bad guesswork as to what goes on in the book. If you assume that the entire "review" is incorrect and misleading, you won't be far wrong.

Why does this still manage to surprise and anger me? I have no idea. But it does. It really, really does.

Shadowed By Wings on Amazon

3 comments:

Malleus said...

Oh, so HK hasn't read this book and most likely hasn't even written this review... what else is new. :-)

Deborah Hern said...

Yeah, I know. It's SOP for Harriet. And yet, it still has the ability to really annoy me.

Malleus said...

Annoys me too; I don't see it as abnormal. A presence of implicit trust offers distinct survival advantages to a society -- and vice versa -- so our reaction is normal.