Cassandra was an ordinary woman dealing with some sadly
ordinary problems – having trouble in college and relationships
And then she starts having images of the past, running
into ghosts and shapeshifters – and sprouting magical chains.
Using a novella to introduce a series can work… It can.
In some ways it’s preferable – it allows you to focus on the world and the
characters without having to be concerned with a long running storyline to
introduce, develop and then finish properly. That can be a big ask. Usually the
world building is lost as we’re dropped heavily into a big plot line that tries
to take over the book without having the proper foundation
It’s hard to introduce a character when she’s neck deep
in world saving. And if you’re then going to try and introduce metaplot as
well? It’s a lot
So a novella without the need to introduce more than a
minor plot line? That works. That lets us see the world without having to do
anything too epic – which
is what I mentioned favourably recently.
And I hate to play one book against the other but if that is how you use a novella to introduce a series, then this is the very opposite.
Quite literally – we had the world setting take a hefty
back seat, character development given an attempt with very little development
to make her appealing and topped off with what I guess was supposed to be an
epic storyline but was so rushed, undeveloped and confused that it was almost
jarring. We were setting up a big dark menace, one apparently as old as witch
burning that is fixated on the main character and I thought we were going to
see the beginning of several books of conflict instead of it just… ending. Why
set up such a vague epic threat and deal with it so casually?
The story itself feel like a stream of consciousness exercise.
The protagionist neither drives anything nor explores anything. She wanders
around, has a weird experience in a club, wanders some more, randomly decides
to go running because woo-woo then we have info-dumpy ghosts (ghosts? In another
realm? Yes? No? Maybe? Relevance? Because she could have found a book, a
recording, a passing Cheshire Cat – all would have made exactly the same impact
on the book). She runs around with a werefox who, again, could be any
supernatural creature who is fairly hot. I would say he’s a generic guide but
that would require him to actually guide her instead of just wandering around
with her following. The go to a spooky shop. It’s spooky. The shop keeper gives
her grief about being all sexual so she can flare up but she doesn’t actually
buy anything so… why is she here? Why is this scene here?
