It's called worldbuilding, not city building

[pbray]

(rant on)
I'm reading THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UNDEAD by Kim Harrison, and for the most part I'm enjoying the book. However, there's a flaw that started out as a minor irritation that is now really annoying me, much like a small bit of gravel in your shoe grows into a major pain.

For those who haven't read the series, it's set in an alternate version of Cincinnati, where humans and magical creatures (vampires, witches, weres, etc.) live in an uneasy coexistence.

A fair chunk of the plot involves a rich and powerful businessman's efforts to hire an expert in ley line magic. Each person he approaches is being systematically killed, and now he's running out of potential candidates. Part of me is enjoying the mystery, but then my brain stalls as I find myself wondering "Why doesn't he pick up the phone and call someone in Chicago, Detroit or Los Angeles?"

The author has done great worldbuilding in creating the magical city of Cincinnati, but that's as far as she goes. The city is treated as if it is a fantasy kingdom, and beyond the borders there is nothing.

I'm hoping that as she keeps writing the series this will change. She's doing so much else right that I'm willing to forgive this flaw for now, but it's going to grow old if it continues through the next book.

Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series had a similar issue with St. Louis, where St. Louis was the center of this world and everything must have happened there first because there was no sense that anyone called their colleagues in Chicago, London, Paris, etc., to find out how they dealt with similar problems. As the series progressed she expanded beyond the confines of St. Louis to open up a richer world, and I think this made the books stronger.
(rant off)

Comments

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Oh. I figured it was because a ley line witch, as opposed to the garden variety witch who doesn't use ley lines, needs to know the geography. The ley lines are given as being different sizes/strengths and of various ease of use. The heroine is apparently able to tap the small line in her backyard with ease, because of familiarity, but others can't reach it.

Since the ley lines cross over into the demonic world, grabbing the wrong one can have deadly ramifications, as it can port you to someplace nasty, with lots of things looking to make you into their lunch. So you'd definitely want to take time to study the area before jumping into using them.

But I think the biggest reason the character wants a local is that this is "his" city. He can control a local in a way that he can't control someone from out of town. And he's totally into control.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

But note that the heroine is obviously familiar with the ley line at the university, since she compares the ley line in her backyard to the one at the university. And she tapped into the ley line at the camp in the country. The author hasn't done anything to convince a reader that local knowledge matters to a ley line user.

As to the second point, I'm not saying that there aren't good reasons why he might want a local. I'm saying that the author needed to show us at least one of these reasons in order for us to accept that the character is behaving in a believable way.