Bookses

[endless_run]

So I actually finished two whole books recently (it's been a "down" period for readage lately), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Moon Called. Both left me with mixed feelings~

Comments

[endless_run]

And this isn't once or twice we're talking, this is constantly you've got Mercy being the twee doormat with a pissy remark thrown in to show us all that she's a totally liberated woman OKAY?

It is CONSTANTLY, which, aside from the whole sexist part of it, is annoying storytelling because we constantly have Mercy wanting to do shit, being told not to, being pissy about it, but doing nothing. OVER AND OVER WHILE THE PLOT TAKES PLACE ELSEWHERE. I swear it seems to happen at least once every couple of chapters, and is repetitive as hell >>'

Yeah u.u I mean, GOD FORBID she comes home smelling like another man. The thing is, I really enjoyed that scene, other than the whole Mercy-belly thing. I thought hearing about Sam's life in Texas ended up being really sad, and unexpectedly sincere. But we had to preface this moment of bonding with Mercy crawling for doing absolutely fucking NOTHING. *headdesk*

I don't understand where it all comes from, but it seems like the "OMG WOLVES"-thing is used as excuse to link whatever bullshit the author thinks is excusable with her whole MAGICAL WORLD.

That's the thing though, it makes no kind of sense whatsoever. Even if wolves were EXCLUSIVELY ruled by males, it still wouldn't mean a goddamn thing because they're WOLVES. With a human's brain comes human reasoning, and, y'know, ACTING LIKE A HUMAN BEING. I get that they're supposed to be controlled by the animal or whatever, but come on. If the author wanted a female-friendly werewolf society, she'd make it that way. It's nothing but author kink, as you said.

Yeah, I still want to, since I'm curious about the whole Omega deal. Our library probably has it somewhere. Well clearly. I love how Mercy described female mates as...what was it, lovingly-treated-slaves or something? BUT IF SHE WERE HEAD WOLF THAT WOULD TOTALLY CHANGE.

I read this part today where Honey got a crack in the face for defending Mercy to someone of a higher rank and NOBODY SAID A GODDAMN THING ABOUT IT, not even Mercy. SHe's just like "Oh, look, she's got a black eye. But now it's healed, oh well." It's like, wow, could we condone this any more? Nobody has a problem with this? Really? PROGRESSIVE, GUYS.

[missdeep]

annoying storytelling...

Hearing about Sam's past and the like is y'know, interesting. If Briggs actually gave us more moments like that her books would be far more readable. Instead, as you said, she's constantly got Mercy DOING NOTHING before eventually arriving somewhere and recounting what has apparently happened while she was busy being a doormat elsewhere. I just... the narrative is damaged to such an extent the books feel as though they go in circles sometimes. Something happens, nobody we're left with does anything, we're told about stuff later. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HERO BEING /INVOLVED/ IN THE ACTION? Oh right, Mercy can't do that because she's omg so delicate despite all of her karate training and shit. ARGH BRIGGS YOU FRUSTRATE ME SO MUCH.

With a human's brain comes human reasoning, and, y'know, ACTING LIKE A HUMAN BEING...

This is where urban fantasy authors have a serious case of having it both ways. They go on and on and on about how beautiful and liberating it is to "give over" to "the wolf" (or the leopard or the dragon or whatever-the-fuck) but they taint this apparent liberation with dictated losses of power for the females. You can let the wolf take control for great sex, but just remember that you're worth less than dirt because you have a vagina. It's a confusing and downright stupid thing to put up on a pedestal. "The animal" is supposedly so omg wonderful but at the same time it's an excuse to strip the female characters of all agency. Sadly, this specific kink is in pretty much every werewolf book I've ever picked up. Briggs certainly isn't alone :(

I love how Mercy described female mates as...what was it, lovingly-treated-slaves or something? BUT IF SHE WERE HEAD WOLF THAT WOULD TOTALLY CHANGE.

I grabbed my copy of "On The Prowl" off the shelf. Anna is an "Omega wolf" which in this universe means she "brings peace and calm" to all the other wolves around her (irl an omega wolf is the absolute bottom of the pack - which is what Anna is until Charles *~omg liberates her~*). Briggs has Charles say "You bring peace to all those around you, Anna. A werewolf, especially a dominant wolf, is always on the edge of violence..." so basically all the men in this world are always about to snap. Unless you've got hax Omega powers then you're at their mercy.

Now Anna has been horribly abused over an extended period of time by her pack. Pretty much everyone has raped or beaten her at some point, she's covered in marks from her abuse and she never makes eye contact with people. This is compelling, of course, because as a reader you want to see her liberated from her abuse. Within five minutes of meeting her, Charles refers to Anna as "his Anna". I shit you not. And this is his comment after seeing just how damaged she is (as in "she turns away in fear"):

"He closed his eyes entirely. Another moment and he was going to put all the gentlemanly behaviour his father had taught him aside and take her, willing or not. Oh, that would teach her to be afraid of him, he thought."

... -_-;

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That's why it's so goddamn bizarre that these stories are told from Mercy's POV, when she's so rarely involved in the action. I mean, yeah, we have the opening scene where she gets herself into shit, but then she hands it over to those big strong men, and just sort of waits at home, or gets involved in side quests that don't really have to do with the story. So, WHY IS THIS MERCY'S SERIES? Okay, last skinwalker, blah blah blah, but she still doesn't do that much T_T It's like she thinks that this action at the beginning is enough to see the story through to the end and convince us that, No, REALLY, MERCY WAS INVOLVED I PROMISE.

It's just the new type of corset-ripping. The animal is just a stupid friggin' excuse (and justification) for some hot animalistic pseudo-rape action. I really haven't read that much werewolf fiction (swear to god it feels like more, but I really can't think of one aside from, like, Twilight. Gag.), but stupid is stupid no matter how many people do it. OH WAIT NO I REMEMBER. Sookie books have weres. I don't recall them being-- OH NO WAIT. Yeah, when an Alpha wins his position in the pack, he gets to randomly have sex with whatever woman is closest and willing. Think in the one Sookie witnessed, the girl was a teenager. But it's ok, because he was In the Moment.

On the upside, sookie pretty much cut off her relationship with him right there.

/random off topic

...see next post >.<""""

[missdeep]

That's why it's so goddamn bizarre that these stories...

I think you summed it up perfectly: why is it even Mercy's series if she's so inconsequential to it all? It's as though Briggs writes a completely separate story each time and just adds Mercy's cameos in. It's bizarre and it's not good writing.

But it's ok, because he was In the Moment...

The ladies from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books actually have a good chapter in their "Beyond Heaving Bosoms" book (a book I totally recommend btw) about how paranormal romances are the new bodice rippers. Being "turned against your will" into whatever supernatural creature is described in a manner almost identical to the 'ol rape scenes of the 80's. I've read a couple of academic articles on it too, but most were disgustingly sympathetic towards titles like LKH's series and similar. Just ugh, no.

[endless_run]

It's hard to figure, because you can see in some ways why Mercy would be a good main character, being The Last Skinwalker and not part of the pack and able to go between the human, were, vampire, and fae worlds, AND YET she's severely limited by the confines put on women by the wolves' society and by her own physical limitations. Briggs is screwing herself over in the action department so bad, that it's hard to figure why Mercy (and thus the series) are billed as a badass action chick-type when it couldn't be further from the truth. If you're just going to have Mercy sit around and do nothing but flirt with werewolves and be useless and dominated, why not make it a straight-up romance? It's like she realized she had to make it action-y because that's In now, but didn't really want/plan to. It has that weird totally engineered feeling that really bothers me about a lot of books :/

Or she's just a wishy-washy bad writer. WHO KNOWS?

I might have to check that out. I'm all into this now, lol xD But being turned is even better than rape, because it's so easily justified. You've got this glamorous new life and a love interest all in one fell, not-really-rape-y swoop.

Ugh, LKH. I've read just enough Anita Blake getting pounded because she NEEDS THE PENIS MAGICK to make me dislike that character on principle.

[missdeep]

Yeah, the way Briggs always seems to choose the fail option over the awesome option really confuses me. As you said, Mercy could potentially be an interesting main character but Briggs shafts her at every turn. OH WELL MERCY CAN'T DO THAT BECAUSE SHE IS *~JUST A WOMAN~* is the way Briggs justifies so much narrative fail. It's rather embarrassing, really. She's written her character into a corner so she can't do anything vaguely interesting except maybe get laid. GET OUT, BRIGGS. JUST GET OUT.

Given the way she actually writes action scenes, I'm guessing she avoids them as much as possible because she's crap lol.

Yeah, being turned is rape in every way except y'know, vaginal penetration. This makes the whole thing perfectly acceptable because lord knows a man is only going to ruin your life if he loves you.

LKH defenders piss me off because they're all OMG ANITA NEVER DOING ANYTHING EXCEPT FUCKING IS SOOOOO LIBERATING. Yeah, no.

[endless_run]

It does boggle the mind. You'd think this sort of thing would kinda write itself, and yet. At least she knows her cars. Can't get enough of that mechanic-on-engine action!

Yep. Besides, it's only real love if forces you! IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.

RIGHT? EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT.

[missdeep]

Hahaha man, even the stuff with the cars could be better. At times it feels like she's just getting her info out of a book, even when Mercy is all "hands on" it feels kind of stiff. Then again, I have a lot to do with cars so idk if I'm just being picky.

REAL LOVE MAKES YOU RAPE PEOPLE. IT'S TRUE.

[endless_run]

WHAT THE SHIT IS THAT? OH, I'M SORRY YOU'VE BEEN RAPED AND STUFF THAT'S REALLY SAD, BUT IF YOU DON'T OPEN YOUR LEGS NOW, I'MMA DO IT TOO. AFDLGDS:LJGD: AND HE'S THE HERO? THE FUCK?

And how does that make ANY sense? If she "brings peace and calm" to everyone else, even dominants, WHY DOES SHE KEEP GETTING RAPED AND ABUSED? EVEN BY HER SAVIOR? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE AT ALL?

Those are clearly the WORST POWERS EVER.

And that's just proof right there (as if we need any more) that they're just taking this wolf pack structure thing and doing whatever the hell they feel like. I could understand (though not like, obviously) that she might be abused and raped because she is the Omega, and Omegas just have shit life, but her powers have NOTHING to do with a real Omega wolf's position in the pack. Seriously...WHAT? *headdesk*

Or wait, am I understanding it wrong, and because she brings peace to the wolves, she gets the shit beat out of her? Because that's STILL STUPID.

[missdeep]

Yeah, he's the hero. He wants to rape her lovingly, that's ok - WHY DON'T YOU SEE THAT THAT'S OKAY?! Later on he notes that weres usually travel through various long-term relationships for many years before they settle on a mate. About 40 pages into this story he's telling Anna that they're mates for life and he knew this as soon as they met and omg twu wuv (he instantly wants to jump her bones in their first scene together too). After that scene where he's all IMMA RAPE U he doesn't actually end up raping her, but he does pin her against a wall and terrify the living fuck out of her. She then cries and is so thankful he's there to protect her. WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN.

re: Anna. Um, pretty much she was assaulted and turned into a were against her will to begin with (which is illegal in the Mercy universe, but her pack was up to some shady shit). It was ordained by the alpha in her pack that she was bottom of the rung and should be treated as such, so she was never allowed to make eye contact with others and was perpetually in submissive mode. Charles tells her that the alpha clearly did this because he recognised her powers and was scared of them. Omegas are pretty much werewolf dope: if they're near you, all the bloodlust pretty much disappears and you mellow out. The bad alpha was scared that Anna would be recognised as the valuable asset she was, essentially, so she was beaten and raped and kept as filth so nobody would realise she was special (and thus her powers used to go against his crazy schemes or whatever).

I'm not entirely sure if that makes sense, but that's the story for you lol.

At this point I'm sure Briggs just chose "omega" because omg Greek alphabet! Anna did start out as being the very bottom of a pack, so I guess it's appropriate in that sense but as you mentioned, her powers really have nothing to do with this position so I HAVE NO IDEA WTF.

It's all stupid, basically.

[endless_run]

OH RIGHT, I forgot, it's not rape if he loves you! Jesus, whatever happened to relationship development? I'm sick of this soul mate TRUE LOVE at first sight crap. Lazy! LOL development, why waste time on that when we can just instantly fall in love and get to the fuckin'? No really, he scares her and she's like "omg thank you for saving me?" W-what? Is it like, chivalrous that he didn't just rape her? LOL LOW STANDARDS.

O...kay. So...her powers don't just work like, default, she has to make them somehow? I guess that works...ish... Nope, nevermind, still stupid.

I guess I can buy her being Omega in that pack, but yeah, being called an "omega" because of those powers...

Whatever, fuck it, it sounds cool! Who thinks about this sort of thing anyway? Ahahahaha. Titles don't have to make sense anymore anyway. Clearly.

[missdeep]

Yes, he's a saint because he resisted the urge to fuck her against her will. While I really dislike how women are portrayed in this universe, the way men are portrayed is terribly offensive as well. Briggs buys into the bullshit idea that all men are animals with no self control. Only super-perfect-special-guys are able to swallow hard and not let their cock dictate everything they do. Yeah that's right, all men are incapable of self control unless there's magic involved. UGH, GO FUCK YOURSELF, BRIGGS.

Anna doesn't actually ever do anything consciously with regard to her powers. She doesn't focus and use them, it's just like she has this innate field of calm around her. That's it. I hate to bring Twilight up but it's a lot like Bella's ~protective shield~. It's just this thing she has and... DON'T YOU DARE QUESTION IT!

IDEK ANYMORE ARGH.

[endless_run]

Yeahh, I hear that's how Peter got his Sainthood, too. Yeah :/ The weres are terrible. It says A LOT about her world that only a handful of wolves can be trusted to not rape/abuse an unmated female. Just like real life, right? But you've got like, Zee and Warren and whats-her-cop friend who at least act like normal human beings, where as there are like...no recurring women who do. Well, so far anyway.

Oh. Yeah, makes no sense. *flails*

OH WELL WHO CARES, she's just a woman anyway.

[missdeep]

The ones that don't brutalise females are always cited as the exception to the rule. There's always a reason too, like, they're gay or they're related to someone important and have been schooled in how to act like gentlemen. It's never "oh the rapists are the exception, the rare few that hurt women" it's all "oh the one or two nice or homosexual weres don't hurt women, the rest think of it as sport".

Anna's power annoys me because, like Bella, it's just magically there - there's sacrifice involved in obtaining or keeping it. Anna was brutalised because she was low-ranking, but only the pack Alpha did it because she had magical Omega powers - everyone else just did it for the hell of it (THAT'S WHAT MEN DOOOO). Once Anna is with Charles everything falls into place and people bow before her special powers. Idk, there's a lot more involved when the lead has to learn to deal with special abilities - particularly when they single the character out, harm them or make things difficult for them.

BUT OMG THAT'S TOO MUCH LIKE REAL INTERNAL CONFLICT, CAN'T HAVE ANY OF THAT - IT INVOLVES ACTUALLY BEING ABLE TO WRITE!

[endless_run]

lol true. Seriously though, the end of Blood Bound pretty much says flat-out what kind of world and relationships you're getting here. Mercy and Adam have their talk, and she's all "you're using your powers to manipulate me into submitting" and he's all "You make me lose control it's YOUR FAULT, and you want to anyway right?" and she's like "Yeah" *headdesk* REALLY YOU'RE JUST GONNA SAY IT LIKE THAT? She's strong and independent and smart, but really, she just hadn't found the RIGHT MAN to submit to. And then Adam gets to play the gentleman by offering to NOT MANIPULATE HER. It's like HOW DOES THIS MAKE YOU A NICE GUY? But it does, because he doesn't force her like most of the other jackasses in this world would. BLARGH.

WELL YEAH. That takes too much effort! Easier just to say OH HI GUYS I CAN DO MAGIC, I'M SPECIAL THE END<3

If she had to develop her shit, then there would be less time for getting not-raped~!

[missdeep]

Hahaha yeah you nailed it. "You make me lose control it's YOUR FAULT, and you want to anyway right?" pretty much sums it up. There's so much victim-blaming in these books, like you deserve to be ill-treated simply because you're there and you're female. Plus men, of course, have no self-control unless they're Adam - and even then he's only doing it because he's the exception (not that he really wants to though, he loves manipulating her and she loves it in turn. WHAT A PAIR OF IDIOTS).

That's so true though, I'M SPECIAL forget any actual plotting.

Hahaha not-raped. Goddamn Briggs.