The Others - Sie Sind Unter Uns (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
A scenario and question, to start this review off right: I am picturing myself as a college professor with two students in my creative writing class. Kim Harrison and Jess Haines. In this imaginative scenario I asked the two of them to write a novel for a class final. Both submit their assignments and I go home to read through them. Upon reading both I find so many glaring similarities that I begin to find it impossible that one could not have known - if not outright copied - from the other. Unfortunately for one of these students, however, the plagiarism is so blatant mostly because it lacks the full breadth of talent that only the original world builder could possess. I return to my two pupils determined to not unfairly fail both of them. Who do I pick? This review of "Hunted By The Others" will attempt to contain, at most, only mild spoilers. First of all, allow me to give credit where credit is due. Jessica Haines is actually a good writer. Her first person narrative is well-paced and manages to convey the personality of its narrator quite well. It is an admirable balance of casual writing and quality vocabulary that manages to sound like an internal monologue as well as a book. It's for this reason that I decided to start reading. I enjoy well written urban fantasy and it's not the easiest thing in the world to find. Furthermore, her attempt to create a character who is confused and scared by the world she lives in, one in which less than 10 years prior had supernaturals come out of the magical closet, is admirable. Realistically if you were an every day human and suddenly had man-wolf creatures transform in your living room or predatory vampires giving you date-rapey eyes, you'd probably be more than a little terrified. This is where my credit's due come to an end. Shiarra and her partner Sara are two women living in NYC who became friends in college and much to the disdain of their shockingly old-school minded parents became P.Is. About 10 years ago in this universe, in the wake of 9/11, vampires, werewolves, elves, and magi (witches if you will), announced their presence to help rebuild the world. They had existed since the dawn of mother-loving time but oh boy, because reasons, one terrorist attack in one country over the course of humanity's horribly bloody history was enough to make all of these races come out of the wood work to save the day, and more importantly save America. This incredible act of Patriotism was enough for all us Americans to just go bananas and become shockingly tolerant of species that can kill us in a heartbeat. Just a mere 10 years later, Weres and Vampires and Magi have equal rights. There are even legal contracts made up that people have to sign waiving all rights to their personal well being if they engage in any relationships with a Were or a Vampire in the case love bites and chin scratching get so out of hand they find themselves ripped to shreds and/or drained of internal fluids. I had no idea that sue-happy NYC would ever stream line a contract giving free reign over murder, but maybe I'm just close minded. Now, Shiarra is a P.I who went to law school. Despite going to law school presumably when these supernaturals, referred to as The Others, had already come out of the closet, you would think they'd get a crash course in how these species work. Perhaps a "Others Tolerance Class" if you will. Her partner, Sara, seems to have exceedingly thorough knowledge of above mentioned contracts from her time in college so I doubt they'd have skipped over "How To Live With An Other." Be that as it may, the heroine is terrified of The Others, and despite trying to convince us, the readers, that she's not a racist makes a steady stream of racist and intolerant commentary about the various species that bring you to the very edge (and for many tipped them over) into "shut up already, you're intolerable." She also knows next to nothing about the way these species function and it gives you the sense Shiarra must have been living under a rock for the past 10 years instead of understanding the world around you. Pretty critical skill, I'd imagine, for a P.I. Also to that same point, she has a shockingly lacking set of skills. If she works out, it's never mentioned. She is an admitted terrible shot and hasn't used a gun since she was a teenager with her dad at a shooting range. (What?) She also has a ridiculously small amount of clout with law enforcement. She gets terrified at the drop of the hat - including at one point of roaches and a mouse - and gets every last ounce of power and support from other people. Never herself. Lastly, the author made the horrible mistake of giving our heroine magical abilities through a device that gives her knowledge, athletic ability, and more with zero explanation. Upon putting on a belt containing the spirit of a fallen vampire hunter from a very distant past, she suddenly can understand copious amounts of information about her surroundings. More confusingly, for someone so terrified of anything "Others" she gets used to a telepathically communicative weapon within a 24 hour time frame. All that was missing was for her to stare at a wall and lethargically say "I know Kung Fu." (I'm not even going to address how ridiculous it was when she picked out guns for herself and immediately knew how to draw them out of CROSS BODY HOLSTERS before she got ANY magical assistance at all. She goes in one paragraph from not handling guns since being a teen to knowing how to whip two hand guns out like Kate Beckinsale in Underworld. Clearly this author has never gone shooting a day in her life. As someone who has, I can tell you, it takes a LOT of practice to dual wield and, depending on the gun, it's sometimes impossible.) Now, regarding the Harrison plagiarism I mentioned at the start, at first I thought that the similarities I was picking out were simply tributes to the immensely popular Rachel Morgan (a.k.a. The Hollows) series. It's been around since 2004 and "Hunted By The Others" was published in 2010. It's very likely an urban fantasy writer would have read Harrison's works and thought "these are awesome" like the rest of us. There is a difference, however, between an homage and outright plagiarism. Between tropes and lifting of author specific lore. I compiled a list as I was reading of the glaring examples of this, and I will share it with you: - Shiarra (our heroine) has red curly hair. Not immediately telling since everyone and their grandmother in this genre these days apparently has red hair, however she goes out of her way to emphasize its unruly curliness. Anyone who knows Rachel Morgan knows she takes great pains trying to keep her curly red mop under control. - Shiarra's P.I. partner Sara has very wealthy parents and a lot of money to her name. Sara became a detective despite attending business and law school mostly to piss off her parents. (This is a direct resemblance to how the very wealthy Ivy Tamwood went to law school but became a detective and wears a cross and lives in a church to "mostly piss off her mother.") - Sara also has a whiny younger sister (just like Ivy has a younger sister Erica who is always causing drama for Ivy) - The cab driver is a Were. This almost made my head pop off because that is a detail lifted straight out of Harrison's world building. (I could be wrong since I'm not omniscient, but I really don't think that was a thing before she made it up as a side-staple of life in The Hollows) - Shiarra has to recover the focus which - wait for it - is capable of forcibly turning new Weres and controlling existing packs to form really BIG packs. (This was the ENTIRE STORY LINE of Harrison's "Fist Full Of Charms" and is an important factor thereafter. The object is ALSO called "The Focus" and it does the exact same thing. Possession of it is to control species and become a dominant member among supernaturals. Harrison's book was published in 2006 vs. this book's 2010 publishing date.) - Shiarra takes a job she really doesn't want because she's strapped for cash and tired of Sara paying for all their bills and keeping a roof over their head. (This is the main point of tension between Rachel & Ivy in the beginning of the series, and also why Rachel lands up in many jobs she doesn't want)This inevitably leads to...- THE UNTOUCHABLE SUAVE AND SUPER SEXY CEO WITH UNMISTAKABLE SEXUAL TENSION. All the Harrison fans out there will immediately know I'm talking about Trent Kalamack. Well in this book his name is Alec Royce and he's a vampire, not an elf. Same exact dynamic, however. Ultra wealthy CEO tells poor strapped for cash heroine to do a job she doesn't want and seeks to control her straight out. Heroine decides to fight back. CEO decides this is admirable and comes to apologize half-assedly at end. Weird sexual tension is realized with obvious implications that this will be a love interest later on for better or worse. - Haine's plot device to introduce wizards, vampires, werewolves, and elves into the scenario is that they came forward after 9/11 after an entire existence of living in the shadows to restore America's economy and support rebuilding and/or rescue efforts. Sort of like (but nowhere near as well as) how Harrison has all the supernaturals come out in the face of a virus causing near extinction in humanity to save the world, rebuild economies, reconstruction efforts, and take the political reigns while countries scrambled for control.- CEO vampire has an annoying assistant in one scene that decides to threaten Shiarra. This character serves no other purpose in the story whatsoever aside from that scene, but the author goes out of her way to name him John. John as in what Rachel Morgan calls Trent's horrible assistant who is her temporary nemesis in book one. He prefers Jonathan and she always calls him John to annoy him for the rest of the series.- Shiarra spends the entire book trying to escape an assassination attempt (and contract) put on her head, the exact same way Rachel Morgan spends the entirety of HER first book trying to escape an assassination contract. I'm giving this book 2 stars ONLY because like I said, Haines actually has good narrative. I'll start her second book to see where she takes this, but if I continue to see Harrison rip off (all the structure but none of the substance at that), I'm not going to be able to hold out much longer.If you've never read Harrison's books, skip these and just read those. Then come back to "Hunted By The Others" and use it to play the same Harrison trivia game of "spot the plagiarism" that I did. Shiarra Waynest's detective agency is just scraping by, mainly because her nore affluent business partner Sara, keeps them afloat. Shiarra is unwilling to take on the more lucrative cases as they usually involve the Others. (Meaning werevolves, vampires, elves, mages, sorcerers, elves or even demons.) But ailing finances have forced her to accept a lucrative case that could save her firm, if she can survive the Others who are gunning at her... Her assignment is to recover an ancient artifact known as the Focus, which is supposedly owned by one of New York's most powerful vampires.As soon as Shiarra meets sexy, mesmerizing vamp Alec Royce, she knows her assignment is even more complicated than she thought. With a clandestine anti-Other group known as the Asshats - I mean White Hats - trying to recruit her, and magi being eliminated, Shiarra needs back-up. Luckily she's got a new friend in the nerdy, but surprisingly talented spark (mage) and the sentient vampire hunting belt (I know, right!?) he gifts her. Even her ex-boyfriend; a werewolf she initially gave the boot when she realized he was a were, refuses to sit idly by whilst she plunges headfirst into one dangerous situation after the other. But will that be enough in a city where the undead roam, magic rules, and even the Others aren't always what they seem...I probably enjoyed this story more than I should have, given that I at one point thought this book read suspiciously like A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrisson. And it's not just a coincidence either, Jess Haines lists Kim Harrisson as one of her inspirations.Furthermore: Other readers have pointed out that certain threats are never followed up, and that her legal fraud in regards to certain contractual agreements, would land her sorry ass in jail. But you know what; since I was able to ignore (suppress or whatever) all of these thoughts while I read the book, I'm going to give it 5 stars regardless. But that's just me... I couldn't help it, I gobbled down this paranormal treat in one eager sitting, and have already started book #2.
What do You think about The Others - Sie Sind Unter Uns (2011)?
Sweet mother Shia got on my last nerve...
—Jasmoth
The whole book was boring until the end.
—dndimock
