That was a dumb idea

I just finished a book that was a complete waste of time and energy, and I don’t have a lot of either. Then why did I read it, you ask? I wanted to finish a book - not a good reason, but one reason. Also, I was intrigued by the premise that seemed to disappear in the first chapter or so but I wanted to see if it was played out later in the book. It wasn't.

I don't think I've ever read a collaboration between an old, established author and a new writer before. I’m not sure I will again. If the author whose work this is derivative of had any involvement beyond his name on the cover I would be surprised. This was fan-fiction that was well written at the sentence level but otherwise it was total crap.

If it were not familiar characters in a familiar setting no one would want to read it. The concept is not developed, the plot is not developed, the characters are not who or what they are claimed to be. Take out the names remembered from stories read forty years ago and there is nothing left of interest.

I finished it because I wanted to see how it played out. It sucked.

The plot is inconsistent and haphazard. Characters are thrown in just to attract the reader’s attention. The whole thing is like a sitcom best-of episode composed of flashbacks to previous episodes.

There are sections that are nothing more than a nearly word for word rehashing of stories from the 1970s and they do nothing to move the narrative – they are page filler.

I think I also kept hoping that it would get better – I got strung along just as I was supposed to. Nostalgia can be a powerful motivation, but I should have known better. When you go back and fill in the back story of course you make up some history that was not in the previous stories. This book changes the previous stories. Characters do not act like who they are, and the changes are massive enough to make them completely different characters. Let’s say it’s like taking Scarlett O’Hara and making her Florence Nightingale – or maybe turning Dorothy Gale into, oh, I don’t know, Ghengis Khan. Really, the reworking of the characters is absurd. Nothing in the older stories works if this is the back story. None of it is even possible.

If I weren’t so intent on reading something this month (2/11) I never would have finished this book. It really sucked.

I won’t say who it was by, just that it was science fiction. I suppose it could be seen as a lesson in how not to construct a novel.

I need to stop ranting and go read something good now.