Sherrilyn Kenyon
Nov. 30th, 2006 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deannawolOkay, so at this stage we all realise that I have a thing for reading bad fiction, ya know, given my love affair with contemporary fantasy and all the tripe contained within that category as well as the few (and far between) gems that I've found.
One of the main authors I've been reading for the past while is Sherrilyn Kenyon. This is an American author who has far too many things on the go at once. With a total of 43 books to her name (16 alone in the past two years), she's definitely prolific. However, with that many things on the go at once, she doesn't seem to have a chance to really develop a concept.
For example, her Lords of Avalon series has some fantastic ideas. Set six hundred years after Arthur's death, Morgan le Fey has taken over Camelot, leaving the knights of the round table to take up residence with their king in Avalon. Under her control are all the nether creatures from myth and legend - dragons, mandrakes (think were dragons), gargoyles, etc. Excalibur is matched by its opposite number - A dark sword forged by the fey and old gods. Merlin is a title, hereditaryily passed down from father/mother to daughter/son among certain lines of wizard/witch and is led by a Penmerlin - the strongest of the merlins. Magical artifacts were spread around the country to keep them from Morgan's clutches.
She plays with the old Arthurian legends and apart from a couple of mistakes which are fairly minor (well all except one) it's a good story concept. However, that's the crux of the matter. Once she puts the characters in, it becomes the same story as all of her others just in a different environment. Girl meets Guy. Guy is evil. Girl falls for Guy but knows she shouldn't. Guy falls for Girl, thinks lusty thoughts and tells himself that he doesn't deserve her. Girl and Guy get horizontal before being separated by some mystical force. Girl pines and is pregnant. Girl doesn't rest until she finds Guy. Guy shows up and is magically transformed into perfect husband and father. They live happily ever after. The End.
Whether or not this is a product of publishing too many books in one year or just an inherent inability to write, I'm not sure. But I definitely think that she should slow down a bit and develop the story and characters a bit more and take away the stereo-typicalness of her writing and the predictability would be better removed while she's at it.
One of the main authors I've been reading for the past while is Sherrilyn Kenyon. This is an American author who has far too many things on the go at once. With a total of 43 books to her name (16 alone in the past two years), she's definitely prolific. However, with that many things on the go at once, she doesn't seem to have a chance to really develop a concept.
For example, her Lords of Avalon series has some fantastic ideas. Set six hundred years after Arthur's death, Morgan le Fey has taken over Camelot, leaving the knights of the round table to take up residence with their king in Avalon. Under her control are all the nether creatures from myth and legend - dragons, mandrakes (think were dragons), gargoyles, etc. Excalibur is matched by its opposite number - A dark sword forged by the fey and old gods. Merlin is a title, hereditaryily passed down from father/mother to daughter/son among certain lines of wizard/witch and is led by a Penmerlin - the strongest of the merlins. Magical artifacts were spread around the country to keep them from Morgan's clutches.
She plays with the old Arthurian legends and apart from a couple of mistakes which are fairly minor (well all except one) it's a good story concept. However, that's the crux of the matter. Once she puts the characters in, it becomes the same story as all of her others just in a different environment. Girl meets Guy. Guy is evil. Girl falls for Guy but knows she shouldn't. Guy falls for Girl, thinks lusty thoughts and tells himself that he doesn't deserve her. Girl and Guy get horizontal before being separated by some mystical force. Girl pines and is pregnant. Girl doesn't rest until she finds Guy. Guy shows up and is magically transformed into perfect husband and father. They live happily ever after. The End.
Whether or not this is a product of publishing too many books in one year or just an inherent inability to write, I'm not sure. But I definitely think that she should slow down a bit and develop the story and characters a bit more and take away the stereo-typicalness of her writing and the predictability would be better removed while she's at it.
