Aaaarugh!!!!!

I'm sorry, what was that? You heard frustrated screaming from this general direction?

I imagine that happened quite often to those who read Kim Harrison's For a Few Demons More. I hate it when people kill off characters I've become attached to.

Still, I can appreciate why she did it. It's a bit like when Chewbacca and Anakin Solo were killed in the New Jedi Order. It's to underscore just what a big bad the Yuuzhan Vong were. Did that help any? Hell no. We were all still pissed as all get out--R.A. Salvatore may be one of the most hated men to ever write Star Wars (though he's running a close race with Troy Denning, and it's not because Denning killed Anakin--it's because Denning's a hack).

I will say this: when it comes to painting characters into a corner, Kim Harrison does it better than anyone, including Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden may get himself in all kinds of trouble, but he can usually get out of it (the end of Changes not withstanding here, as I have no idea how he's going to get himself out of that particular corner without ruining the paint job). But Harry usually gets into trouble and then gets out of it for a little while, enjoying brief periods of peace. There's never quite the sense that Harry is actually responsible for most of his own scrapes--they just kind of happen.

Rachel Morgan, on the other hand, just keeps getting in deeper and deeper and deeper, and demons are far more dangerous than the Sidhe of the Dresden Files. I also finished up The Outlaw Demon Wails this afternoon, and it does present an interesting question about how far one will go to save their own lives--versus how far one will go to save the life of someone they love, as Harry Dresden often does.

Still, parts of it are frustrating. I, like the Snarky Writer who started me on this series, am ready for the whole Rachel/Ivy tension thing to resolve itself. It's no wonder they managed to find each other--despite the whole set up that put them together which I still don't think has been satisfactorily explained yet--because there was never a more screwed up pair of friends. And Rachel's relationships with men? Well, needless to say, Rachel is one of those Type A adrenaline junkies and it shows in literally everything she does.

I have plenty to read for the upcoming week, foremost being the last year's worth of issues from College English (booooring). Thursday is the end of Yeats, which means I can indulge in The Brazen Bride, which is currently sitting here mocking me. I need to be trying to finish Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There for my reading list. SW is bringing me a book by Holly Lisle, and perhaps if I ask nicely, White Witch, Black Curse--I'll be snagging Black Magic Sanction when I return my Yeats books to the library tomorrow morning. If Honest Abe was right when he said that "my best friend is one who will give me a book I have not read," then SW is definitely in the running for the top of that particular list.