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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Villano" data-source="post: 1699879" data-attributes="member: 505">How can a writer break his "contract" with the reader?  Spend the entire book setting up a conflict and then have it be solved by someone other than the hero.  I won a lot of all 6 of the Red Sonja book series on eBay.  I've read the first two and both do that.  I'll eventually try to read the others, but, man, the author really betrayed my trust.  In the first book, an ancient wizard is looking for a magic ring.  He curses an underling, "Duke Peledies" I believe his name was, with a deformity for failing him.  The ring is also being sought by clerics of an evil god.  Naturally, Sonja finds the ring.  Now, Sonja spends the entire book protecting the ring from the clerics, the wizard's monsters, and the Duke, whom she doesn't trust.  Also, Sonja discovers that the ring protects her from the wizard's magic.  The climax seems obvious, doesn't it?  Sonja will use the ring to stop the wizard, right?  Wrong!  Amazingly enough, the author chooses instead to [SPOILER]have Sonja's followers give up on her and tell her to just give the ring to the Duke.  He disappears and, shortly therafter, Sonja ends up fighting the clerics.  In the middle of the battle, they announce that they sense that the wizard is dead.  That's right, a supporting character kills the villain..."offscreen" no less!   But wait, it gets worse!  She forms a truce with the clerics and they go to the wizard's castle.  They find the wizard and the Duke dead.  They killed each other.  Suddenly, the Duke's body rises up and tries to kill them!  Oh no, he's possessed by the wizard!  At this point, you'd expect Sonja to stop the zombie.  Nope.  The whining girlfriend of a supporting character stabs him in the back, killing him forever.Finally, the clerics seal up the wizard's spirit and Sonja gives them the ring and they leave.So, let's review.  She doesn't kill the wizard (in fact, we never even see his death), and she gives the ring to 2 of the 3 parties she's supposed to keep it away from.  And let's not forget that the clerics are evil!Plus, the zombie Duke is killed not just by a supporting character, but a supporting character's girlfriend!  How much worse can you get?The best way to sum up this story is to ask you to imagine playing D&D.  After spending all your time fighting the minions and gathering clues, you make it to the wizard's castle...only to discover another party of adventurers there.  They killed the wizard already and took his treasure.  The end.You would never speak to your DM again.[/SPOILER]  :\ Even if you skipped the above spoilers, don't read the book.  Trust me.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> In the second one, Sonja is framed for a murder and takes shelter in a city which is conducting human sacrifices to some sort of alien spirits (it's kind of Lovecraftian).  She ends up being pursued there by the real killer and his army.However, halfway through the book, Sonja [SPOILER]has to hide from her enemies in a wizard's cave, where she stays for the remainder of the story.  The wizard (with no help from Sonja) drives back the army when it attacks the cave, the spirits destroy the city, and the spirits are driven back by a temple virgin who has some sort of magical power.So, about halfway through the book, Sonja does nothing but hide in a cave.On top of that, neither the wizard or girl are that good of people.  The wizard wants the spirits to destroy the city, and the girl uses them to do just that.Sonja doesn't clear her name or protect the city or drive off the spirits.  What kind of hero is she supposed to be?  As you can see, Sonja is nowhere near the locations of the climaxes in either story.[/SPOILER]And that's how you betray your contract with your readers.No wonder there were only six books.  Who the hell wants to read a series about a heroine who doesn't matter?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f621.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":mad:" title="Mad    :mad:"  data-smilie="4"data-shortname=":mad:" /></blockquote>

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