Once upon a time, Richelle Mead was my favorite author. That was back in the glory days when the Georgina Kincaid series was going strong, she was writing Vampire Academy, and the fourth book of Dark Swan hadn't come out yet. Once upon a time, I spent almost 2 hours chasing her through the UCLA campus for an autograph during the Festival of the Books, and despite seeing her more than a few times, STILL never got my book signed. 
 When I look back, I honestly think the fourth book of the Dark Swan series might have been the turning point in which I lost faith in my favorite author and never quite regained it. But well, I still stuck with her through Gameboard of the Gods (which I actually loved, even if her marketing team seemed to drop the ball on that series) and picked up every one of her books within days of their release. Eventually days turned into weeks turned into months turned into... 
 I did not finish this book. 
 Yes, seriously. I didn't really like The Glittering Court in the first place and after 200 something pages of a REHASH of essentially the same story (dresses, etiquette training, etc.) with some honestly ridiculous spy material thrown in, I just couldn't bring myself to read any more. 
 How is it possible that I went from obsessive Richelle Mead fan to DNFing one of her books? Well, I'm finally over my denial phase and into acceptance, I guess - her recent books just haven't been as good as her old writing. Even as her marketing polish seems to get ever more hype, even while her books are released with the most gorgeous covers, the writing itself has dipped in quality. A lot. There has only been one book of hers that I haven't even touched yet and that's Soundless, because I've seen the reviews and I don't think I'll be able to contain myself if, as someone who grew up on Chinese Jin Yong dramas and still obsess over xianxia, I read something set in ancient/mythological China from Richelle Mead and it turns out to be one huge disappointment as the reviews say. 
 I mean, I'm still going to follow every Richelle Mead release just because it's Richelle Mead and part of me is hoping that she'll return to the writing that I loved. But the unimaginable has already happened. Maybe she'll take a break from YA and return to Age of X? Maybe her next series (thank god the Glittering Court trilogy is almost over) will be better? I can only hope.