I know, right? The trouble is that it's simply by genre--I just cruise the sci-fi and fantasy sections, and pick up books that look interesting. It's just that a disproportionate amount of them seem to feel that this is the best way to start a character arc.

Like I said, this one's actually pretty good (as versus the last book that had this happen), so I don't automatically brand FAIL onto books like this. But yeah, maybe the NEXT book will start off those arcs with a trip to the grocery store, or launching into space, or, you know, ANY OTHER SCENARIO.