More Books, yay

[endless_run]

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.

Comments

[missdeep]

Mercy's rape, to me, seemed like a form of punishment for the character. You get out there and be useful? You wear the consequences - which just so happen to include brutal rape. As you noted above, EVERYTHING IS MERCY'S FAULT. Men can't keep control of themselves (because y'know, men are just ANIMALS)? WELL MERCY, THAT'S YOUR FAULT. You stop being an inactive protagonist? WELL ENJOY YOUR WELL-EARNED RAPE.

I hate that Adam being a brutal prick is totally acceptable too because *~HE'S ADAM~*. Ripping a rapist to pieces is completely fine ya know. I get that he'd be mad that his slave wench Mercy was hurt, but his *~losing control~* just solidified for me how Briggs feels about men: they're animals. Women on the other hand, earn even less respect from their creator - they're subservient and useless. If it looks like they're being less than useless, well, a good rape should sort them out!

If Briggs wasn't such a shitful writer this concept could have been awesome. Instead, it's just a mess. The plots are convoluted and the characters are generally inactive and painful. Idk the whole thing makes me rage because people FREAKIN' LOVE THIS SERIES and yet all I can see is YET ANOTHER URBAN FANTASY SERIES WHERE THE HEROINE IS USELESS AND NOTHING BUT A VICTIM IN NEED OF SAVING BY HER VARIOUS SUITORS. I fail to see how this series is "better" than any other trashy urban fantasy. Clearly I'm insane or something. The sad thing is, if you so much as mention the power imbalances or inactive female roles, you get dogpiled by fans. OMG MERCY IS SO COOL AND HEROIC AND OMG OMG OMG. They remind me of people who defend the Anita Blake series since SHE'S SO EMPOWERED BY FUCKING EVERYONE ALL THE TIME AND NEVER DOING ANYTHING USEFUL OMG. I just... argh.

tl;dr DAMN THIS SERIES.

[endless_run]

Yeah, it just...I mean, I wonder if this is what Briggs seriously thinks will happen to women if they dare try and take someone on by themselves. I mean, I'm trying to remember, but has Mercy ever taken on anyone besides this guy wholly by herself? I can't think of an occasion (she usually has werewolf/vampire backup), and yeah, comes out a bit battered, but for the most part intact. Yet this time, not so much. It's frustrating and just...kinda icky all together.

Yeah, no, I'm just done with Adam. I mean, yes, he loses control, people he loves were hurt, blah blah blah, but that shit with Jesse's attack in the middle was just bullshit. I mean, Briggs made it sound like he was about to beat the shit out of Jesse or Gabriel or Mercy until they told him who attacked her. How is anyone supposed to be okay with that? How are you supposed to like this guy when he treats his daughter like that after she's been beat up? It's a step away from "OH, HE HITS ME BECAUSE HE LOVES ME."

But of course, that was ALL MERCY'S FAULT TOO, so Adam can't be held responsible for being a dick!

Yeah, I mean, I can see how someone (raises hand) would read the premise to this and think that it might be better than some of the shit that's out there, because on paper (er...not literally) it sounds good, but you read one of these books and you can't hold the argument that Mercy isn't just a damsel in heroine's clothing.

Cool and heroic my ass. GODDAMN FANGIRLS!

I AGREE. Time to move on to something less annoying!

[missdeep]

It's been a while since I've read the books, but that confrontation is the only one I can recall where Mercy goes out completely on her own. AND RIGHTFULLY GETS HER ASS PUNISHED, OF COURSE. As you mentioned, she usually has some kind of back up. The more I think about Briggs's work the more I feel she believes this is all sexy and exciting and TOTALLY OKAY. Which it isn't.

Adam loses control with disturbing regularity. I mean, he doesn't utterly flip his shit (like he did with Jesse's attack) all that often, but he's portrayed as being *~on the edge~* pretty much all the time. I hate that the men in this series are all apparently wired to be douchebags. It's like Briggs is saying MEN ARE JUST BEASTS. SURE, THEY'RE HOT AND GOOD AT SCREWING IF YOU SUBMIT TO THEIR WILL, BUT THEY'RE TOTALLY JUST ANIMALS DEEP DOWN OMG. That's not deep, that's just offensive and weird. You're right, Adam is an inch away from HE HITS ME BECAUSE HE LOVES ME.

Mercy is responsible for everything that goes wrong. If she'd stop faking free will then maybe Adam wouldn't have to be such a dick, duh!

Well I was suckered into this series too. The covers are gorgeous, Mercy seemed like a strong and not entirely conventional heroine. I was like "WOW, MAYBE THIS WILL BE THE URBAN FANTASY SERIES I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR". Yeah, no. Mercy is everything I can't stand in a heroine - this is made even worse by the fact that she had such potential to be otherwise. She is smart and clearly capable, but she perpetually submits and embraces her role as a powerless slave with an open heart. I just... no! BAD BRIGGS, NO BISCUIT!

The thing that gets me about these series (the type where fangirls go nuts) is that they're meant to be OMG SO HOT AND SEXY AND OMG OMG OMG OMG. I don't find them sexy at all? I mean, when there's such an inherent power imbalance how can I find that desirable? So many of these books embrace the idea that being fucked -literally and metaphorically- equates to ECSTASY. Maybe I'm just insane but written sex tends to be more sensual when you've got two (or more? LOL EROTICA) characters pleasing and taking pleasure in one another. Not when you've got some chick being spanked and ridden from behind because her shapeshifting love cowboy JUST CANNOT CONTROL HIMSELF. I'm all for hot and steamy but not when the relationship in question screams abuse. To me, there's nothing hot about a character being rendered powerless against their will - it's just creepy. Briggs on the other hand, clearly finds it delicious. GODDAMMIT IT ALL.

I'm reading Gail Carriger's Changeless at the moment (sequel to Soulless). Even though it's set in Victorian England and the female characters are limited in what they can do on the outer, the heroine still wields considerable power in her own right (and certainly has control of her love interest). I wouldn't say the books are perfect, but they're certainly a step up from almost everything else I've read in the subgenre lately.

[endless_run]

It says a lot about what she believes about women, too. I mean, obviously no matter how independent we pretend to be, deep down we're just bitchy wives and mothers waiting to find the right guy who can bend us to his will, but aside from that - I mean, I realize that women are at a physical disadvantage when it comes to confronting men. We're (usually) smaller and physically weaker, but it really seems like Briggs believes that without a male chaperon of some sort, we'll just go out and get abused and raped if we dare try to live in the world on our own (and by God we'll deserve it, right?). Probably because ALL MEN ARE ANIMALS. I think Briggs mighta been happier living about a hundred years ago, since that seems to be where she's stuck in terms of male-female relations -_-;

It's not deep and it's not true, goddammit. It also makes for BORING GODDAMN CHARACTERS when all your men (or, love interests, at least) are essentially the same ANIMAL wearing different faces, with different degrees of ability to fake non-douchiness. Creepy sexist beliefs aside, it's bad writing. And yeah, Adam has Spouse Abuser written all over him, I can't believe anyone would find him a likable character.

The covers are gorgeous T_T although the ever-increasing tattoos make me lol. xDD I think at this point, Briggs can buy her own biscuits though. Sigh.

-_-; some people just have that hang up. Like you mentioned before, these are the bodice-ripper type books where being ravished against your will (BUT NOT REALLY CAUSE YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT YOU HO) is SEXY BY GOD. I can see where being OMG WANTED SO BAD would be appealing, but when the guy doesn't even bother asking for permission (or downright insisting on it, but it's NOT RAPE OK), it definitely loses appeal. Like you said, wanting to please and being pleased are more appealing than Not-Rape. (btw, I love how this series' first instance of actual sex for the heroine is being raped. WAY TO POP THAT PARTICULAR CHERRY, BRIGGS. That's totally what we came here for.)

I'll have to see if our library has those. I actually enjoy Victorian settings as long as the women aren't doormats. Lucky for me, though, I'm obligated to tackle the first three Blue Blood novels, since my cousin and I are book-swapping. I'm told the nifty world is ruined by the main character being a manipulative bitch, so I'm looking forward to it x3

[missdeep]

Well, we all need a man to be completed, right? WE'RE NOT FULLY HUMAN WITHOUT ONE! More than just suggesting that "the world is dangerous" and that women need to have their wits about them, Briggs (particularly with her shitty rape plot) basically says "women who don't do as advised and stay in the damn kitchen deserve to be brutalised". Part of staying in one piece is knowing your place, just as all men need to know that they are predators with no over-riding common sense of their own. Briggs's view of humanity is disturbing to stay the least, particularly where women are concerned. Like you said, her mindset belongs in the 1800's.

I seriously don't get how these rape-tastic males are supposed to be interesting. Like you mentioned, they're all the same and as such, as boring as fuck. When a character has no personality to speak of beyond "RARR, DO AS I SAY I HAVE GREAT ABS" I mean... how are we meant to care about them? Briggs gives us nothing to work with, seriously.

MORE TATTOOS = MORE LIBERATED AND BADASS 4 SRS. I love the covers, it's just a shame the inner content doesn't deliver lol.

We all want to be wanted but I fail to appreciate how having absolutely nothing but your id switched on = omg hawt. Maybe I'm just nuts, but a guy and girl being down with what each other wants = a thousand times more interesting and sexy than I'M GONNA TAKE WHAT I WANT. I'm in the minority though, given the content of most "romantic" books. Ugh, and like you said - WAY TO HAVE THE FIRST INSTANCE OF SEX BE SEX AS A WEAPON. The more we talk about this the more rabid and insane Briggs seems, srsly.

I'd recommend the series, it's nice to read over some tea. I mean, at the beginning of Changeless a werewolf starts getting a bit too fresh with the (taken) heroine. She knows it's completely uncouth but she smacks his ass around with her parasol anyway because she enjoys challenging preconceived ideas about her status. She never gets in entirely over her head either, so she doesn't come across as one of those silly think-last heroines who needs to be rescued from herself. Idk, it's a relief to find a book that is witty and exciting without having said book also tell me that women suck. So when you're done with being destroyed by Blue Blood lol, totally look it up!

[endless_run]

Yeah. I mean, it's one thing to think that way, fine, whatever, that's her business, but THANKS FOR WRITING A BOOK ABOUT IT. Which I suppose is her business, too, but DAMMIT TO HELL IT'S IRRITATING. And yeah, offensive.

XDDD But those GREAT ABS are what you're supposed to care about. Differentiating personalities are for jerks! LOL no but seriously if you stopped referring to them by the superficial characteristics that make up their characters, nobody would be able to tell Sam and Adam apart. Way to make a triangle involving the SAME GUY Briggs.

They are painfully misleading T_T

Apparently so. People buy and like this crap, not just Briggs but the whole goddamn TAKE ME genre. It's depressing. I read somewhere that supposedly the reason the bodice-ripper types sell so well is because of the progression of women's rights, like, we've come so far as to be nearly equal with men but really we just want to go back to the good old days when we were property with no rights or control over our lives. SO TRUE, RIGHT? Briggs is all over that.

:D I read the synopsis on Amazon, it seems fun. I'll put it on the list x3