Surely lead males need to be at least vaguely attractive to the reader
So, I spent most of the weekend reading because writing or watching DVDs suddenly seemed very unappealing (don't ask me why, I haven't a clue)
Out of the five that I read, I have problems with three of them, and it's not because I didn't enjoy the story. I did (at least in two cases, anyway - there really wasn't much story in the third).
The three in question are:-
Swimming with the Fishes
Moon Called
Succubus Blues
And my problem is to do with the lead males in the books.
In every urban fantasy (or, even, most books now) it seems to be the norm for the female lead to have at least two men fighting for her attention (unless you're Anita Blake, but let's not go there). I have no real problem with this, but surely I should be able to see the attraction of both men?
For a successful example of how this should be done, see Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. I, peronally, go for Morelli every single damn time, but I do see the attraction of Ranger and I like him.
But with these books, I had issues.
With Swimming with the Fishes I didn't like either of the men - or, to be more precise, I was given no reason to like the men. They weren't well developed characters. I felt nothing for them and didn't care one way or the other if either of them got together with Fred.
It was almost as if the author had decided that because they were her leading men, she didn't have to work at making them, you know, interesting, but that that would happen just because they were her leading men.
It was bizzare though, because every other character in that book - male or female - was relatively well drawn *shrug*
It's Sam. I just see no redeeming or attractive qualities about him. At all. Apart from being in love with him when she was 16 I just can't see why Mercy likes Sam. It baffles me. I'm hoping I get a better understanding in Bloody Bound (Although I think I won't because I disliked Sam when I read the opening chapter of Iron Kissed)
Adam I totally get.
Seth is lovely. Seth is adorable.
Roman was a twat from the beginning he set foot on the page. I think he's uttered maybe three sentences before I pronounced him problematic. By page 174 I knew he was the bad guy. For the rest of the book (at least another 200 pages or more), every time some one was wondering who the murderer was, I kept yelling (seriously, I was yelling. I would have felt sorry for my neightbours if I'd had the time) 'it's Roman, you dummies.' I'd already worked out how and the why of it within the next 75-100 pages. Was it supposed to be that easy?
They're immortal. Have they no time to see films, read books etc? It was so obviously obvious it was Roman.
Nine times out of ten this, here, is the rule: If you have a character hanging around the main character a lot, but not overwhelmingly too much, and they don't really seem to have much of a purpose..?
That's your bad guy.
Then there was the fact that he creeped me out and I didn't find him at all attractive.
Which makes it very hard for me to excuse Georgie shagging the guy after she's work this all out. Even the fact that she's a succubus doesn't really excuse it to me.
On the plus side, her friends are brilliant and Carter and Jerome totally brightened my day. They definitely made the whole book worthwhile *g*
Right, I think I've done bitching and moaning.
I'm now going to go back to hitting my head against a wall
Out of the five that I read, I have problems with three of them, and it's not because I didn't enjoy the story. I did (at least in two cases, anyway - there really wasn't much story in the third).
The three in question are:-
Swimming with the Fishes
Moon Called
Succubus Blues
And my problem is to do with the lead males in the books.
In every urban fantasy (or, even, most books now) it seems to be the norm for the female lead to have at least two men fighting for her attention (unless you're Anita Blake, but let's not go there). I have no real problem with this, but surely I should be able to see the attraction of both men?
For a successful example of how this should be done, see Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. I, peronally, go for Morelli every single damn time, but I do see the attraction of Ranger and I like him.
But with these books, I had issues.
With Swimming with the Fishes I didn't like either of the men - or, to be more precise, I was given no reason to like the men. They weren't well developed characters. I felt nothing for them and didn't care one way or the other if either of them got together with Fred.
It was almost as if the author had decided that because they were her leading men, she didn't have to work at making them, you know, interesting, but that that would happen just because they were her leading men.
It was bizzare though, because every other character in that book - male or female - was relatively well drawn *shrug*
It's Sam. I just see no redeeming or attractive qualities about him. At all. Apart from being in love with him when she was 16 I just can't see why Mercy likes Sam. It baffles me. I'm hoping I get a better understanding in Bloody Bound (Although I think I won't because I disliked Sam when I read the opening chapter of Iron Kissed)
Adam I totally get.
Seth is lovely. Seth is adorable.
Roman was a twat from the beginning he set foot on the page. I think he's uttered maybe three sentences before I pronounced him problematic. By page 174 I knew he was the bad guy. For the rest of the book (at least another 200 pages or more), every time some one was wondering who the murderer was, I kept yelling (seriously, I was yelling. I would have felt sorry for my neightbours if I'd had the time) 'it's Roman, you dummies.' I'd already worked out how and the why of it within the next 75-100 pages. Was it supposed to be that easy?
They're immortal. Have they no time to see films, read books etc? It was so obviously obvious it was Roman.
Nine times out of ten this, here, is the rule: If you have a character hanging around the main character a lot, but not overwhelmingly too much, and they don't really seem to have much of a purpose..?
That's your bad guy.
Then there was the fact that he creeped me out and I didn't find him at all attractive.
Which makes it very hard for me to excuse Georgie shagging the guy after she's work this all out. Even the fact that she's a succubus doesn't really excuse it to me.
On the plus side, her friends are brilliant and Carter and Jerome totally brightened my day. They definitely made the whole book worthwhile *g*
Right, I think I've done bitching and moaning.
I'm now going to go back to hitting my head against a wall