The Cassandra Clare dilemma

I'm supposed to review Cassandra Clare's latest release, "Clockwork Angel", and to bone up on the mythology I spent the past two weeks reading her series, "The Mortal Instruments".

Overall, the novels are entertaining enough, if a little predictable at certain parts. Besides, the predictability is offset a little bit by the possibility of an incestuous relationship between its two main protagonists. If I didn't know more about Clare, I would have had no trouble recommending her novels to YA-reading friends.

But the problem is that I know all about Clare's tumultuous past. And by "tumultuous past", I mean she is an "alleged" plagiarist. Do click on the link if you want to know more. It's a great read in and of itself.

This is where my problem lies. Even if I do find good stuff in Clare's work, there is always a nagging voice at the back of my head asking "But are these her actual words? Or did she just copy them?" It doesn't help that Clare's background in Harry Potter fanfiction makes the derivative elements of her work become even more prominent.

Would it be fair to bring this up in my review? Or would that be too unfair? I've always been told to separate the author from the book, but what if what the author has done something as serious as plagiarism?

* * * * *

Growing up, the big author rivalry was between Christopher Pike and R. L. Stine. I always favored R. L. Stine, although for the life of me I can no longer remember why.

ANYWAYS. It turns out that my preference for Stine was well-placed, as Christopher Pike has turned out to be a major douchebag.

The high points:

1.) Christopher Pike's editor telling a Turkish woman that he, an American man, knows more about Turkish culture than she does.
2.) That "editor" turning out to be Christopher Pike himself.
3.) And Christopher Pike, through this "editor", has been leaving orgasmic reviews of his own books on Amazon.

There is so much more wank than I've outline here. And the best part is that Amazon still hasn't deleted most of the comments coming from the "editor".