The In Death series is my absolute favorite. In fact, this is the first time I've ever liked every single book in a series by any author, but I *hate* these anthologies. Typical publisher gimmick (I used to work in publishing, so I know this is from the bag of tricks that every publisher has), and they *can* have value when, say, an unknown author's work is paired in an anthology with a better known author. I'm all for author exposure, but given that In Death-only novellas/anthologies themselves are usually published at some point, it bugs me when a publisher tries to get me to pay twice. Bad enough that the In Death books now come out first in hardbound (and again, I understand why from the publisher's point of view) and, before the Kindle, I'd have to wait 6 months for the paperback (I do not want a mix of soft- and hardbound copies of the In Death books, and as they used to be published in softbound, I want to keep my collection that way), but to fork over more money, in this economy, for stories I'm not interested in just to get the one that I AM interested in, as a consumer, it bothers me. I think it would be great if the publisher published 4-5 In Death novellas/anthologies every 6 months or so, or on some sort of schedule (as Roberts writes them), and we "completists" could then have JUST the In Death books all together on our bookshelves. As it stands now, for any In Death novella that come published with other authors' works, I scour yard sales and if I find any and the price is less than $2.00, then I'll scoop it up. Otherwise, I wait and hope it will eventually be published in an In Death-series-only bundle.
And BTW, what IS it with the hike in Kindle book prices? Again, having worked in the industry for 20 years before retiring, I know what the unit cost is, what it actually costs the publisher to make these e-versions, what a publisher can sell an e-version for and still turn a nice profit. And given that most publishers outsource most of the copyediting, proofreading to full-service vendors--usually offshore--there's even LESS reason for the high price for the e-versions (because the vendors in turn hire someone, for FAR less than what the going rates used to be, to do the copyediting and proofreading, and that is assuming proofreading is even done anymore. Many books now get an 'editorial proofread' instead.).
Hopefully this In Death novella will show up in an In Death-only anthology at some point (maybe it already has? haven't had time to check).
And my apologies to anyone reading this. I just realized this review turned out to be anything BUT a review and more truly belongs in the Discussions section. BUT I also, for anyone who is interested/does read this, wanted to give my opinion that when it comes to JD Robb's In Death series, you generally can't go wrong. Nora Roberts has created a wonderful futuristic (but not Jetsons-style or Star Wars-like futuristic) world filled with fully developed, interesting characters, and one of the best female protagonists I've come across in years. I don't buy the argument (as many do) that characters in fictional works should be role models (as seems to be an argument regarding the Twilight books' Belle character), but if I did, I would absolutely consider Eve Dallas a role model for the modern woman. She's amazing. And who wouldn't want to be married to Roarke? LOL. If only he were real and could be cloned, and a 'copy' given to every one of Roberts' readers! Of course husbands across the land might have something to say about that!
Anyway, the anthology argument notwithstanding, when it comes to JD Robb's In Death series, I don't think you can go wrong. My only criticism of the series is because of my own greed: I wish a new In Death book came out every 3 months. The wait between books is sometimes just torturous :)
