More Books, yay
Wow. I just noticed that I didn't use my reading icon for the last book post I did. WHAT THE HELL, SELF, WHY MAKE IT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO USE IT? /random
Anyway, I finally finished the three Mercy Thompson books I got from the library thanks to a read-a-thon after work last night. Yeah...it didn't end on a high note.
You know, out of the three - Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed, I think I probably liked Blood Bound best, although that isn't really saying much, since the series as a whole left a bad taste in my mouth. But Blood Bound benefits from Mercy actually doing something in the end, and, dare I say, brushing close to some form of competent bad-assed-ness? Of course, this is all blown to shit when, immediately following this frightening and previously unheard of example of main character involvement in the action, she has to be saved from her own sloppiness by A Man Who Loves Her, and as a result, gets two of the people she was trying to save killed.
You know, I'm starting to think that Briggs is some tyrannical god who feels the need to punish Mercy when she does shit. Like "HOLY SHIT DID YOU JUST LEAVE YOUR KITCHEN? BAD MERCY. *lightning bolt* *rape*"
Anyway, actual-ending aside, the book is also hampered by, again, the main character spending the first two-thirds of the book not doing ANYTHING. She's sidelined multiple times, so much that it becomes sort of a given that every time something new develops, you're going to have a scene like so:
Mercy: THIS IS MY FIGHT, I WANNA HELP.
Adam/Sam/Stefan/Warren/Zee/A Strange Man on the Street: NO, YOU'RE TOO WEAK, STAY HERE.
Mercy: Okay.
It's important that Mercy stay out of the action, of course, because that gives her time to have STEAMY SCENES with Sam and Adam. Most of which involve her being submissive in some way BUT NOT REALLY LOL she's just faking. Except with Adam. Because he's the only real man in the cast who can make her want to submit.
On the plus(ish?) side, this book doesn't suffer from *as much* of the contrivance and jerky storytelling that Moon Called did, but I suspect that is because in Moon Called, Mercy was actually on the sidelines of all the action, where as in Blood Bound, she just stays out of it all together.
Other shit happened, too, but fuck, that was a whole book ago, how can I be expected to remember? I just know the last action scene with the demon-ridden sorcerer and Mercy's fight with Andre was shitty and anti-climactic as Hell. And that of Mercy's three suitors, I ended up liking Stefan the best.
TBH, I found the most interesting development of the book was with Ben's character, who, over the course of BB and IK, has become oddly charming. Or at least, you know, something of a complex character. Weird how of all the characters in this series, Ben has probably had the most development over the last three books.
I've also become rather fond of Honey.
And then there's Iron Kissed. Offensive from the get-go.
No seriously, not even out of chapter one, and Warren starts lecturing Mercy about how she has to choose Adam or Sam or they will lose control of their wolf selves and fight and it will be ALL MERCY'S FAULT. HOW DARE YOU NOT HAVE A MATE YET, MERCY! What are you, some kind of lesbian?
Not only that, but we're told that Mercy's not having accepted or outright rejected her place as Adam's mate is causing actual discord in the pack, because it makes Adam vulnerable. LOL WHAT? Okay, not that I think it's exactly admirable to jerk two guys around because you can't make up your mind, but this guilt-trip shit has to stop, like now. I mean, God Mercy, your selfish woman-ness and desire to not be tied to a man is fucking up EVERYONE'S LIVES, HOW DARE YOU.
This would be more offensive and rage-inducing if Mercy really didn't want to be tied to a man, but of course, she does. It's difficult to get mad on her behalf when it's not that she doesn't want a man, it's that she doesn't know which one she wants. Until, of course, she does. And then she arbitrarily knocks Sam out of the running because he wouldn't let her be independent or would take care of her or something IDK, and decides on Adam, who would treat her basically THE SAME WAY, but with Adam it's ok because she wants to submit to him. *headdesk*
Adam's temper, btw, is scary and made a more unlikable aspect of him in this book. His reaction to Jesse's attack, which is directed not at the perpetrators, but at Jesse, her boyfriend (and savior), his pack, and Mercy herself is uncomfortably reminisent of that of an abusive man's. I didn't like him much before that, and at this point I downright hate him. Way to be a dick to your traumatized daughter, asshole.
On the plot side, Mercy is probably more involved in this book than any of the previous ones, getting called in at the beginning to help and remaining active throughout the whole of the book because it involves clearing the name of her friend, Zee, and therefore is her business. Of course they try multiple times to sideline her but to her credit she actually doesn't listen this time. Of course, she gets her comeuppance for that, by god.
Here's the thing about the Big Rape Scene: why? I mean, I can see from a character POV how this guy might do something like this, but taking a step back and looking at the whole book...why?
It's just...for me, as a whole, it feels like this: Mercy spends the whole book doing her own thing, doing her own investigation, which leads her to this guy and this last confrontation with this guy, which gets her raped. Message: this is what happens when you don't step back and let the guys handle the situation. You get yourself made defenseless and you get raped. It's tyrannical God Briggs again, punishing Mercy for having the audacity to do something herself.
Which isn't to say that actions shouldn't have consequences, but...in retrospect, when the guys are involved, most problems get tied up with relatively little damage to themselves or anyone else. For example, after Mercy is raped, Adam comes in and TEARS THE BODY TO SHREDS (thank you, Adam, that was totally necessary and heroic of you) on CAMERA, even, and even though the tape leaks out and is made public, once it gets out that the guy was a rapist, apparently it's ALL OK<3
I mean, there are so many other ways it could have gone down without the rape that its inclusion just confuses me.
So yeah, bad taste.
Anyway, I finally finished the three Mercy Thompson books I got from the library thanks to a read-a-thon after work last night. Yeah...it didn't end on a high note.
You know, out of the three - Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed, I think I probably liked Blood Bound best, although that isn't really saying much, since the series as a whole left a bad taste in my mouth. But Blood Bound benefits from Mercy actually doing something in the end, and, dare I say, brushing close to some form of competent bad-assed-ness? Of course, this is all blown to shit when, immediately following this frightening and previously unheard of example of main character involvement in the action, she has to be saved from her own sloppiness by A Man Who Loves Her, and as a result, gets two of the people she was trying to save killed.
You know, I'm starting to think that Briggs is some tyrannical god who feels the need to punish Mercy when she does shit. Like "HOLY SHIT DID YOU JUST LEAVE YOUR KITCHEN? BAD MERCY. *lightning bolt* *rape*"
Anyway, actual-ending aside, the book is also hampered by, again, the main character spending the first two-thirds of the book not doing ANYTHING. She's sidelined multiple times, so much that it becomes sort of a given that every time something new develops, you're going to have a scene like so:
Mercy: THIS IS MY FIGHT, I WANNA HELP.
Adam/Sam/Stefan/Warren/Zee/A Strange Man on the Street: NO, YOU'RE TOO WEAK, STAY HERE.
Mercy: Okay.
It's important that Mercy stay out of the action, of course, because that gives her time to have STEAMY SCENES with Sam and Adam. Most of which involve her being submissive in some way BUT NOT REALLY LOL she's just faking. Except with Adam. Because he's the only real man in the cast who can make her want to submit.
On the plus(ish?) side, this book doesn't suffer from *as much* of the contrivance and jerky storytelling that Moon Called did, but I suspect that is because in Moon Called, Mercy was actually on the sidelines of all the action, where as in Blood Bound, she just stays out of it all together.
Other shit happened, too, but fuck, that was a whole book ago, how can I be expected to remember? I just know the last action scene with the demon-ridden sorcerer and Mercy's fight with Andre was shitty and anti-climactic as Hell. And that of Mercy's three suitors, I ended up liking Stefan the best.
TBH, I found the most interesting development of the book was with Ben's character, who, over the course of BB and IK, has become oddly charming. Or at least, you know, something of a complex character. Weird how of all the characters in this series, Ben has probably had the most development over the last three books.
I've also become rather fond of Honey.
And then there's Iron Kissed. Offensive from the get-go.
No seriously, not even out of chapter one, and Warren starts lecturing Mercy about how she has to choose Adam or Sam or they will lose control of their wolf selves and fight and it will be ALL MERCY'S FAULT. HOW DARE YOU NOT HAVE A MATE YET, MERCY! What are you, some kind of lesbian?
Not only that, but we're told that Mercy's not having accepted or outright rejected her place as Adam's mate is causing actual discord in the pack, because it makes Adam vulnerable. LOL WHAT? Okay, not that I think it's exactly admirable to jerk two guys around because you can't make up your mind, but this guilt-trip shit has to stop, like now. I mean, God Mercy, your selfish woman-ness and desire to not be tied to a man is fucking up EVERYONE'S LIVES, HOW DARE YOU.
This would be more offensive and rage-inducing if Mercy really didn't want to be tied to a man, but of course, she does. It's difficult to get mad on her behalf when it's not that she doesn't want a man, it's that she doesn't know which one she wants. Until, of course, she does. And then she arbitrarily knocks Sam out of the running because he wouldn't let her be independent or would take care of her or something IDK, and decides on Adam, who would treat her basically THE SAME WAY, but with Adam it's ok because she wants to submit to him. *headdesk*
Adam's temper, btw, is scary and made a more unlikable aspect of him in this book. His reaction to Jesse's attack, which is directed not at the perpetrators, but at Jesse, her boyfriend (and savior), his pack, and Mercy herself is uncomfortably reminisent of that of an abusive man's. I didn't like him much before that, and at this point I downright hate him. Way to be a dick to your traumatized daughter, asshole.
On the plot side, Mercy is probably more involved in this book than any of the previous ones, getting called in at the beginning to help and remaining active throughout the whole of the book because it involves clearing the name of her friend, Zee, and therefore is her business. Of course they try multiple times to sideline her but to her credit she actually doesn't listen this time. Of course, she gets her comeuppance for that, by god.
Here's the thing about the Big Rape Scene: why? I mean, I can see from a character POV how this guy might do something like this, but taking a step back and looking at the whole book...why?
It's just...for me, as a whole, it feels like this: Mercy spends the whole book doing her own thing, doing her own investigation, which leads her to this guy and this last confrontation with this guy, which gets her raped. Message: this is what happens when you don't step back and let the guys handle the situation. You get yourself made defenseless and you get raped. It's tyrannical God Briggs again, punishing Mercy for having the audacity to do something herself.
Which isn't to say that actions shouldn't have consequences, but...in retrospect, when the guys are involved, most problems get tied up with relatively little damage to themselves or anyone else. For example, after Mercy is raped, Adam comes in and TEARS THE BODY TO SHREDS (thank you, Adam, that was totally necessary and heroic of you) on CAMERA, even, and even though the tape leaks out and is made public, once it gets out that the guy was a rapist, apparently it's ALL OK<3
I mean, there are so many other ways it could have gone down without the rape that its inclusion just confuses me.
So yeah, bad taste.