Lisa Shearin

[NightIntent]

I just discovered this author randomly, but I really liked her first book, Magic Lost, Trouble Found. It's got its flaws, sure, but it's overall a good book. The sequel is scheduled to come out sometime next year. Either March or May, I don't remember which.

Anyone else read this book? If not, I think it's worth the time to read. It's a good light read, if you've got the time to spare for it. It's not too long, either, which is a plus.  

[NightIntent]

So, I'm in the middle of reading the sequel to Magic Lost, Trouble Found. It's so funny. All the references to Raine's bodyguards sitting on her. And Raine in general is sarcastic and funny. Some of the things she comes up with are hilarious.  

[Wissakins]

I think I saw an ad for those books on Amazon when I was looking something else up. Are they worth buying outright? Trying to be frugal with my book buying. lol  

[NightIntent]

I definitely think they are. They're pretty hilarious, and I'm definitely going to read them again. The only problem I had with the second book was that I couldn't remember much of what happened in the first book without a lot of prompting. I really need to find that book, but my room has turned into a selective black hole--only sucking up the books that I want to read right now.

Her website has some fun things if you want to check it out, including excerpts, answers from the characters, and interviews with her.

http://www.lisashearin.com/  

[NightIntent]

All right so. I bought the most recent book of this series months ago... and it's been sitting on my shelf collecting dust. The series is just so repetitive by now. I stopped liking most of the characters. I tried to read the book--really, I did. I sat down, cracked it open, read a few pages... then got back up and stuck it back on the shelf and haven't touched it since.

I'm getting far too tired of too many books lately, but I just feel like some authors are getting complacent with their books and just writing badly after a while. It's disappointing and I have better things to do with my time.  

[Maze353]

I thought the books had potential and were enjoyable so I read all the way up to The Trouble with Demons. After that I stopped.

What turned me off them most was that Shearin made such a big deal about how weak Raine was, it got annoying. But then she kept going on about what a bad-a** Raine was and how dangerous and ruthless she could be. But Raine never did anything to back that description up. In fact, the only thing dangerous about Raine was who she kept company with. All her friends were powerhouses. Which combined with the constant reminders of how weak Raine was made her seem pathetic.  

[NightIntent]

Here we are.

Okay so. I just finished the last book in the series. At least, I think it's the last book. It should be, if it's not...

I can't even remember why I liked this series in the first place, and this one was not remotely good, in my opinion. All the characters sound like they're the same person. They basically have the same mannerisms and ways of speaking, even if they're from entirely different backgrounds and/or cultures and it drives me crazy. And the plot in general was not that great, either. And there were stupid plot devices, like a mage farting in order to break other mages' concentration so they'd drop a ward. Just ugh. Not worth it. Which, I suppose, is why it took me forever to read it... Like a year and a half or something. rofl I regret everything about this series, to be honest.

It's funny how my opinion of these books changed so much. rofl I wonder how I would feel about the first two if I re-read them, knowing what I know now........  

[Maze353]

Isn't it odd how that happens? I've got a whole shelf of books I loved at one point but now I can barely slog through a few chapters.

How did it end?  

[NightIntent]

Well, they were stuck in a 13th-level ward (which is supposed to be impossible, by the way), so the old mage farts to break the others' concentration, they get out, manage to get this magic dagger back because this other character pickpocketed it, Raine manages to almost get killed again because the knife accidentally gets thrown juuuuuuust out of her reach and one of the bad guys is just not-distracted enough to notice her. Then Michael--sorry, Mychael saves her and he wants to kill the Saghred with the dagger, but noooooooo, Raine must do it because what if it kills her in the process? She lives (duh) and Mychael proposes and offers to make her the first female Guardian in history.

Yay. The end. Quite unbelievable and quite dumb. I don't even really see how Raine and Mychael ever fell in love... They went from "I HATE YOU" to kissy-kissy and they've only known each other for a couple months or something and that's not even believable. Ugh. So glad it's over. I don't even know why I bought that book...  

[Maze353]

Because the first book had potential and promise... that fizzled and died a lingering, horrible death.

Series like that make me wish I could time travel. Then I could go back to when I first saw the book and thought "Ooh this looks interesting..." and pop in, *poof* and tell myself "No, just put it back, it's not worth it, trust me. Oh, and the winning lottery numbers are...." xd  

[NightIntent]

Me, too. Such a lingering death for this series...