Succubus On Top by Richelle Mead
Hello. Long time lurker, first time poster. So, with that said, onto my review.
Starting out, I had liked Richelle Mead's "Succubus Blues," the first book in her "Georgina Kincaid" series. It was a fun read. It didn't exactly change my life, but it had promise. So, because of that, I had checked out "Succubus On Top." The promise she had before was gone. Mead had taken it and threw it out the window, onto a highway, where it was smashed repeatedly by Semis and SUVs.
The basic plot of the book was simple: reluctant succubus, Georgina Kincaid divides her time at the Seattle bookstore she works at, with her author boyfriend, Seth, and helping out an incubus friend by the name of Bastien corrupt a conservative radio host that is a lot like Dr. Laura. As well as dealing with this, she also had to deal with a demi-god that has gotten involved with a co-worker at the bookstore. Sounds good, right? Well, if there had been more focus on the plot, then maybe it would have been a better book. Here, the plot is exchanged for fluffy time between the main character and her boyfriend. Instead of any of the aforementioned, the biggest concern that Georgina has on her mind is how can she have sex with Seth, her boyfriend.
Honestly, dealing with all that and all you can worry about is sexing up your boyfriend? Really? I hated that that was the entire focus of this book. Even the showdowns with the demi-god and the conservative radio host were anti-climatical, all in the name of just this one little thing. I hated that the demi-god was quickly taken care of and was killed off right. In. The. Middle. Of. The. Book. In "Succubus Blues," the big villain of the book was dealt with well and died at the end of the book. Here, it was killed and not even given much thought to it. Then, with the conservative radio host conclusion, it was given a lazy, cliched and tacky ending. It turns out that the host was a closeted lesbian and to expose her, Georgina makes a sex tape with her and releases it. I was banging my head against the table reading this. Of course, the host just happened to be a lesbian, because all the bigoted conservatives are just closeted gay folk filled with self-hatred. It would have been more fascinating if maybe she had just been a person with those beliefs. There are people out there with those kinds of beliefs, so it would have been maybe a little more realistic. But Mead seems to go for the cliched, so that's wishful thinking. And a sex tape? That was tacky and cheap. It seems to me someone follows TMZ too much.
Another thing that makes this a bookfail, are the main characters. Mead tries to make them likable, but it's quite the opposite.
For one, there's Georgina herself. She's one of the most hypocritical characters I have ever seen. Georgina hates what she is. Of course she does, because there has to be some unwritten law that in order to sympathize or like a supernatural character, they have to be reluctant or hate what they are. I would love to see more fiction where a supernatural character is fine with what he or she is and deals with it, or, heavens forbid, actually LIKES what they are and is unapologetic about it. But no, Georgina doesn't like what she is, but does nothing at all to show it. Which, that gets annoying fast. All Georgina does is whine about what she is (even though it's her own fault), but chooses to dress like a ho, crying about not being able to sleep with Seth and getting excited about a trip to Victoria's Secret. She quickly got under my skin for all of this. Be one thing or the other. I just find it hypocritical.
Not to mention, Georgina is one huge Mary-Sue. I don't like using the term "Mary-Sue" very often, because I feel like it's a cop-out when it comes to describing a female character you don't like. But I have to say it here. Georgina never screws up. Georgina is liked by everyone she meets. She can solve any problem. Even her demonic boss, who gets irritated with her, has this begrudging respect and fatherly attitude towards her. It makes me cringe. Then, the author goes on these long descriptive paragraphs making sure we constantly know what Georgina's wearing and how incredibly "hot" she is. Really, Georgina is the type of demon I would love to see get exorcised back to Hell, permanently.
Then with Seth, he's supposed to be this dream hunk that an ages-old succubus would get with? I know this story has a romance angle and normally when writers take this angle, they try to make the male object of desire irresistible. Not this tool. That's the only word I can use to describe him: tool. He isn't really worth the screen-time he's given and he is just so self-centered. Everything is centered around him and his writing. Instead of even going to his (I think) brother's wedding, he worked on his novels. Not to mention, he was so incredibly boring. There was absolutely nothing fascinating about him. I think it was supposed to be that way, but even so, there have been various nerds, geeks, tools and losers portrayed with more flair and quirks to them than Seth. The only thing interesting about Seth was his stories, but, even that is questionable.
With the Georgina and Seth relationship, it was honestly one of the most boring aspects of the book. If you're trying to make a couple to squeal about and root for, then this isn't the way to do it. For one, Georgina had more chemistry with everyone but Seth. There was no chemistry between the two of them and whenever they had scenes together, I skimmed. Then, Georgina was in love with him for all the wrong reasons. She was in love with his books, not him. What a shitty reason to be in love with someone. Also, the sexual things were something I wish had been missing from this book. Granted, this book was about a succubus, and sex is a part of that, but I really wish it had spared the gory details. It was just really, well, tawdry and cheap. The closing scene of the book was Georgina and Seth giving each other mutual hand jobs in the bathroom. Reading that was the equivalent to watching and hearing my cat hock up a hairball. It was just gross, not sensual or erotic, but gross. Thinking about it, maybe Georgina and Seth do deserve each other.
Missing from this book had been the supporting characters that had made the first book fun. I had missed Cody, Peter, Hugh, Carter and Jerome (which Carter and Jerome, I swear, were Crowley and Aziraphale repackaged, an angel and demon being drinking buddies and good friends sounds like we've been there before), but we got Bastien instead. Bastien was a grating character. I had been curious as to what Mead would have done with an incubus. But, instead of getting a seductive charmer, we get a male cast member of Jersey Shore. Really, how did this guy get any women into bed? He was arrogant, pushy and just everything I could possibly find unsexy about a person. Then, he too had a sob story, which I couldn't even be bothered to feel bad about. Really, I wish the other supporting characters had been a bigger part of this.
One last thing about this novel that had bothered me, was that there was a distinct lack of atmosphere. When I read fantasy or horror, I want a certain kind of atmosphere, where anything is possible and you're touching something maybe forbidden. Here, this felt like instead of reading about incubi/succubi, demons, angels and vampires, I was reading a story about everyday people doing everyday things. I never got any kind of atmosphere, and it's kind of sad that even something like "Twilight" could produce a more otherworldly feeling than this.
This is just another one of those books that's a reminder of how ninety percent of modern fantasy literature is just bad and overdone.
Starting out, I had liked Richelle Mead's "Succubus Blues," the first book in her "Georgina Kincaid" series. It was a fun read. It didn't exactly change my life, but it had promise. So, because of that, I had checked out "Succubus On Top." The promise she had before was gone. Mead had taken it and threw it out the window, onto a highway, where it was smashed repeatedly by Semis and SUVs.
The basic plot of the book was simple: reluctant succubus, Georgina Kincaid divides her time at the Seattle bookstore she works at, with her author boyfriend, Seth, and helping out an incubus friend by the name of Bastien corrupt a conservative radio host that is a lot like Dr. Laura. As well as dealing with this, she also had to deal with a demi-god that has gotten involved with a co-worker at the bookstore. Sounds good, right? Well, if there had been more focus on the plot, then maybe it would have been a better book. Here, the plot is exchanged for fluffy time between the main character and her boyfriend. Instead of any of the aforementioned, the biggest concern that Georgina has on her mind is how can she have sex with Seth, her boyfriend.
Honestly, dealing with all that and all you can worry about is sexing up your boyfriend? Really? I hated that that was the entire focus of this book. Even the showdowns with the demi-god and the conservative radio host were anti-climatical, all in the name of just this one little thing. I hated that the demi-god was quickly taken care of and was killed off right. In. The. Middle. Of. The. Book. In "Succubus Blues," the big villain of the book was dealt with well and died at the end of the book. Here, it was killed and not even given much thought to it. Then, with the conservative radio host conclusion, it was given a lazy, cliched and tacky ending. It turns out that the host was a closeted lesbian and to expose her, Georgina makes a sex tape with her and releases it. I was banging my head against the table reading this. Of course, the host just happened to be a lesbian, because all the bigoted conservatives are just closeted gay folk filled with self-hatred. It would have been more fascinating if maybe she had just been a person with those beliefs. There are people out there with those kinds of beliefs, so it would have been maybe a little more realistic. But Mead seems to go for the cliched, so that's wishful thinking. And a sex tape? That was tacky and cheap. It seems to me someone follows TMZ too much.
Another thing that makes this a bookfail, are the main characters. Mead tries to make them likable, but it's quite the opposite.
For one, there's Georgina herself. She's one of the most hypocritical characters I have ever seen. Georgina hates what she is. Of course she does, because there has to be some unwritten law that in order to sympathize or like a supernatural character, they have to be reluctant or hate what they are. I would love to see more fiction where a supernatural character is fine with what he or she is and deals with it, or, heavens forbid, actually LIKES what they are and is unapologetic about it. But no, Georgina doesn't like what she is, but does nothing at all to show it. Which, that gets annoying fast. All Georgina does is whine about what she is (even though it's her own fault), but chooses to dress like a ho, crying about not being able to sleep with Seth and getting excited about a trip to Victoria's Secret. She quickly got under my skin for all of this. Be one thing or the other. I just find it hypocritical.
Not to mention, Georgina is one huge Mary-Sue. I don't like using the term "Mary-Sue" very often, because I feel like it's a cop-out when it comes to describing a female character you don't like. But I have to say it here. Georgina never screws up. Georgina is liked by everyone she meets. She can solve any problem. Even her demonic boss, who gets irritated with her, has this begrudging respect and fatherly attitude towards her. It makes me cringe. Then, the author goes on these long descriptive paragraphs making sure we constantly know what Georgina's wearing and how incredibly "hot" she is. Really, Georgina is the type of demon I would love to see get exorcised back to Hell, permanently.
Then with Seth, he's supposed to be this dream hunk that an ages-old succubus would get with? I know this story has a romance angle and normally when writers take this angle, they try to make the male object of desire irresistible. Not this tool. That's the only word I can use to describe him: tool. He isn't really worth the screen-time he's given and he is just so self-centered. Everything is centered around him and his writing. Instead of even going to his (I think) brother's wedding, he worked on his novels. Not to mention, he was so incredibly boring. There was absolutely nothing fascinating about him. I think it was supposed to be that way, but even so, there have been various nerds, geeks, tools and losers portrayed with more flair and quirks to them than Seth. The only thing interesting about Seth was his stories, but, even that is questionable.
With the Georgina and Seth relationship, it was honestly one of the most boring aspects of the book. If you're trying to make a couple to squeal about and root for, then this isn't the way to do it. For one, Georgina had more chemistry with everyone but Seth. There was no chemistry between the two of them and whenever they had scenes together, I skimmed. Then, Georgina was in love with him for all the wrong reasons. She was in love with his books, not him. What a shitty reason to be in love with someone. Also, the sexual things were something I wish had been missing from this book. Granted, this book was about a succubus, and sex is a part of that, but I really wish it had spared the gory details. It was just really, well, tawdry and cheap. The closing scene of the book was Georgina and Seth giving each other mutual hand jobs in the bathroom. Reading that was the equivalent to watching and hearing my cat hock up a hairball. It was just gross, not sensual or erotic, but gross. Thinking about it, maybe Georgina and Seth do deserve each other.
Missing from this book had been the supporting characters that had made the first book fun. I had missed Cody, Peter, Hugh, Carter and Jerome (which Carter and Jerome, I swear, were Crowley and Aziraphale repackaged, an angel and demon being drinking buddies and good friends sounds like we've been there before), but we got Bastien instead. Bastien was a grating character. I had been curious as to what Mead would have done with an incubus. But, instead of getting a seductive charmer, we get a male cast member of Jersey Shore. Really, how did this guy get any women into bed? He was arrogant, pushy and just everything I could possibly find unsexy about a person. Then, he too had a sob story, which I couldn't even be bothered to feel bad about. Really, I wish the other supporting characters had been a bigger part of this.
One last thing about this novel that had bothered me, was that there was a distinct lack of atmosphere. When I read fantasy or horror, I want a certain kind of atmosphere, where anything is possible and you're touching something maybe forbidden. Here, this felt like instead of reading about incubi/succubi, demons, angels and vampires, I was reading a story about everyday people doing everyday things. I never got any kind of atmosphere, and it's kind of sad that even something like "Twilight" could produce a more otherworldly feeling than this.
This is just another one of those books that's a reminder of how ninety percent of modern fantasy literature is just bad and overdone.