I just want to point out here that this was not a decision that Isobelle wanted to make. She wants to release this book. But it was necessary that she work on the next Kingdom of the Lost book due to the current state of publishing and thus the state of funding.
I wish I could be more specific but it is a sensitive topic that I'm not sure I should be the one to talk about tbh. I just wanted to give a heads up that you're not the only one who was upset about this, but there was really no other choice.
Apart from the abovementioned, pushing it to 2013 means that Isobelle can be here for the launch party, which is a plus :)
Min
My impression is exactly the same as yours, Min. From what I understand, Isobelle is ready and eager to publish, but she has to work with her publishers and allow for scheduling and marketing concerns. From what I understand, this decision was made to allow for all of the many concerns publishers and authors must juggle in the book selling world today. I just attended a publishing panel yesterday where part of what was discussed was an author's responsibility to their publishers- contracts are usually involved and that means serious legal rights and responsibilities. It's difficult but we need to try and understand that it not just about what we want, or even about what Isobelle wants, it's all about responsibilities and obligations between different parties in the book industry and we just don't know the particulars about that :) I am not being denigrating of the OP. I understand why you are annoyed and I agree that there has been some weird editing decisions in the series of late, but this is something to do with the nature of publishing atm overall- not just the Ober Chrons. I hope I am making sense here :P
As for the push back in date and my own personal feelings... some day many years back, when I was waiting between TKP and TSK, I stopped worrying about the Ober Chrons release date quite so much. I went and read new authors and just came back to Ober Chrons occassionally. It didn't mean I loved them any less, it just meant I stopped obsessing over a release date. It's a happy place to be. I'm not feeling the irritation with this push back as I have so much else to read and such a busy life atm, that the time will pass by in a flash.
The only concern I have about the push back is actually the book launch. I will be in full time work next year, so I will need alot of notice about the launch to be able to attend, and this will be made much easier if the date is on a weekend. I am sure Isobelle will understand this though, as I am sure I can't be the only person in this situation :P