(no subject)
Dear Mercedes Lackey,
First of all, let me say thank you for writing The Last Herald Mage trilogy. Yes, it is full of wangst, and Vanyel is a total stu. But you wrote a mainstream fantasy book that featured a gay protagonist, and at the time, those were few and far between. Well, they still kind of are, but things are getting better. But, just because I love it despite its faults, doesn't mean...I'm blind to its faults. Awkward sentence there. Ahem.
To start with, what the hell is up with Vanyel in Magic's Pawn? One minute he's angsting over realizing he's gay and being afraid to trust people because he's been hurt in the past. Then he suddenly hops in bed with Tylendel and everything is okay now because he's in love. Um, nope, sorry, doesn't work that way. I should know. Self acceptance doesn't magically happen when you meet that special someone, or even when you have sex with that special someone. And most certainly not when you're still just sixteen years old. I just can't bring myself to believe that, from the way Vanyel's character is written, that in one moment of vulnerability he'd confess all his true feelings and sleep with the guy he was crushing on. Maybe Vanyel would start being less of an asshole, or at least less of an asshole to Tylendel, but asking me to believe they had sex just because Tylendel woke him up from a bad dream is just not happening. Or if they did, that there wasn't a full-on freakout the next morning. I just don't buy Vanyel's complete chracter shift at all.
I did like Magic's Promise and Magic's Price better, except for the very, very end, when Stefen and Vanyel are reunited in death. I like cheese, but come on. That's just too much. And why did you have to kill Vanyel off so early? I knew from the beginning of the book that he was going to die because you wrote that he'd died young in Arrows of the Queen, but you could have given him and Stef at least a little more time together, couldn't you? There is so little actual Van/Stef interaction once they finally get together.
And as far as the passages that sound like they were copy/pasted from a lgbt youth suicide prevention website...I understand that you had a Message to get across, but you got a little heavy handed with the soapboxing, there.
For all that, though, I have to admit that it's an okay book, stylistic quibbles aside (why do you use italics so much? And was your copy editor asleep/on drugs? So many comma splices! And the continuity issues--in Pawn, Vanyel has the Bardic Gift but not Healing, but in Promise and Price, he has Healing but not Bardic). For a lot of kids, it was the book that turned them into slash fangirls that opened their minds and hearts to acceptance of their lgbt family members and friends, and for some of us, it helped us accept ourselves. Just...be nicer to your characters, please?
First of all, let me say thank you for writing The Last Herald Mage trilogy. Yes, it is full of wangst, and Vanyel is a total stu. But you wrote a mainstream fantasy book that featured a gay protagonist, and at the time, those were few and far between. Well, they still kind of are, but things are getting better. But, just because I love it despite its faults, doesn't mean...I'm blind to its faults. Awkward sentence there. Ahem.
To start with, what the hell is up with Vanyel in Magic's Pawn? One minute he's angsting over realizing he's gay and being afraid to trust people because he's been hurt in the past. Then he suddenly hops in bed with Tylendel and everything is okay now because he's in love. Um, nope, sorry, doesn't work that way. I should know. Self acceptance doesn't magically happen when you meet that special someone, or even when you have sex with that special someone. And most certainly not when you're still just sixteen years old. I just can't bring myself to believe that, from the way Vanyel's character is written, that in one moment of vulnerability he'd confess all his true feelings and sleep with the guy he was crushing on. Maybe Vanyel would start being less of an asshole, or at least less of an asshole to Tylendel, but asking me to believe they had sex just because Tylendel woke him up from a bad dream is just not happening. Or if they did, that there wasn't a full-on freakout the next morning. I just don't buy Vanyel's complete chracter shift at all.
I did like Magic's Promise and Magic's Price better, except for the very, very end, when Stefen and Vanyel are reunited in death. I like cheese, but come on. That's just too much. And why did you have to kill Vanyel off so early? I knew from the beginning of the book that he was going to die because you wrote that he'd died young in Arrows of the Queen, but you could have given him and Stef at least a little more time together, couldn't you? There is so little actual Van/Stef interaction once they finally get together.
And as far as the passages that sound like they were copy/pasted from a lgbt youth suicide prevention website...I understand that you had a Message to get across, but you got a little heavy handed with the soapboxing, there.
For all that, though, I have to admit that it's an okay book, stylistic quibbles aside (why do you use italics so much? And was your copy editor asleep/on drugs? So many comma splices! And the continuity issues--in Pawn, Vanyel has the Bardic Gift but not Healing, but in Promise and Price, he has Healing but not Bardic). For a lot of kids, it was the book that turned them into slash fangirls that opened their minds and hearts to acceptance of their lgbt family members and friends, and for some of us, it helped us accept ourselves. Just...be nicer to your characters, please?