book post
Ninja post before I go to bed.
Sebastian by Anne Bishop (Ephemera #1)
Being a fan of her Black Jewels series, I'm very confused by this novel. The world-building, the romance, the women... all the things I liked about the Black Jewels series are entirely absent. The leading heroine is entirely two-dimensional, and the opening is formatted very strangely for a book that is marketed as a romance. I didn't finish it; it was one of those books where I skipped all the POVs that didn't interest me and I lost interest once the main couple had sex.
Kiss the Dead by Laurel K. Hamilton (Anita Blake #21)
I never know when I open an Anita Blake book whether I'm going to get plot or sex. Kiss the Dead is a pretty interesting addition to the Anita Blake series because I've been trying to figure out for quite a few books now where Hamilton is trying to take the series. It started out very plot/mystery/murder centered; pretty much a precursor to the current trend in urban fantasy. And then it took a turn for the porn. And then it took a weird turn into Quest Plots. And now it's doing...
Well, what at least this book does do right is the interpersonal relationships I think. Vampire novels often meditate on how an equitable system of exchange might occur between vampire and blood donor, but rarely do we ever see how that might work between incu/succubus and lover (a topic that came to mind as I was reading Sebastian). I think this book begins to explore that. (tl;dr I think Hamilton's finally trying to rein in the beast she's created, and I actually want to see her do it if she's decided to actually handle all the interpersonal relationships she's set up across all these books.)
Kiss the Dead turns what has been one of the series' long standing issues and turns it into an advantage. Readers (including myself) have long bemoaned the endless list of lovers Anita continues to add to her harem. This book actually deals with this and addresses this. What does it mean for Anita to be polyamorous? When viewed in this way, a lot of the series' issues are perhaps more forgivable, like Anita's (prior) inability to share lovers.
In the list of acknowledgements, Hamilton mentions that she has a continuity editor now. It really shows. To the book's advantage. For once there's actually a sense of how much time has elapsed in the series. Around 8 or so (which is incidentally the same amount of time I've been reading the series). (Anita's also only 30; I've been thinking she's in her mid to late 30s for awhile now...) With that sense of time, I was able to look back on the series and see how much Anita has grown over the course of the series, especially in terms of her morals and her ability to love. The one issue that remains unresolved, and perhaps getting tediously repetitive, is how much of a monster is Anita herself? Perhaps in conjunction to this feel of time, is that Anita herself is getting older and it shows. Maybe this is a lead-in to winding down the series? The job is beginning to take its toll on her, and it seems quite likely she'll want to retire/find a way to leave a bit more peacefully with the men she loves. If Hamilton does do that, for once I am going to heartily advocate for more books in this universe.
Another "con" of the series is its lack of women/how much Anita doesn't get them. I'm not saying Anita should be forgived for her generalization of women, but I think we as readers shy away from it because it makes explicit things we are uncomfortable with. That is, the way Anita views women is actually way more common than we think, and we don't like to be reminded of it. Similarly, the lack of human lovers in her life (and as a result, lack of humans in the core cast) redefines what readers deem normal. The "monsters," become the normal of the series and it is the humans who are rendered alien. More an observation than anything there though.
One of the more interesting parts of the story was the whole gay/coming out thing. Thought that was rather interesting. As well as this idea of polyamory as sexual orientation v. life decision. Although, I honestly can't remember who Jade was so Anita's attraction to her was a bit new to me. Similarly, I didn't remember Anita/Micah/Nathaniel being the main trio. Like, when did the three of them enter domestic bliss? (Although that is part of what I liked about this, the addition of domesticity which has been utterly absent from the rest of the series)
As for the cover art. I maintain this new cover art trend sucks. This is not a thriller, quit making it look like one. IDGAF that you're trying to make it look less "erotic" and thereby look more acceptable. Make the book look like what it is. Additionally I don't like the way these sort of book covers objectifies/kills women on their covers. Seriously the ~mysterious man in shadow~? WHO CARES. At least the covers they used for Skin Trade and such were indicative of the horror aspect of the series. I maintain the slick covers of the Cerulean Sins era was the best visual representation of the series. (Also, epigraph. Wtf. I honestly can't remember there being an epigraph before)
Originally posted on DW with
comments.
Sebastian by Anne Bishop (Ephemera #1)
Being a fan of her Black Jewels series, I'm very confused by this novel. The world-building, the romance, the women... all the things I liked about the Black Jewels series are entirely absent. The leading heroine is entirely two-dimensional, and the opening is formatted very strangely for a book that is marketed as a romance. I didn't finish it; it was one of those books where I skipped all the POVs that didn't interest me and I lost interest once the main couple had sex.
Kiss the Dead by Laurel K. Hamilton (Anita Blake #21)
I never know when I open an Anita Blake book whether I'm going to get plot or sex. Kiss the Dead is a pretty interesting addition to the Anita Blake series because I've been trying to figure out for quite a few books now where Hamilton is trying to take the series. It started out very plot/mystery/murder centered; pretty much a precursor to the current trend in urban fantasy. And then it took a turn for the porn. And then it took a weird turn into Quest Plots. And now it's doing...
Well, what at least this book does do right is the interpersonal relationships I think. Vampire novels often meditate on how an equitable system of exchange might occur between vampire and blood donor, but rarely do we ever see how that might work between incu/succubus and lover (a topic that came to mind as I was reading Sebastian). I think this book begins to explore that. (tl;dr I think Hamilton's finally trying to rein in the beast she's created, and I actually want to see her do it if she's decided to actually handle all the interpersonal relationships she's set up across all these books.)
Kiss the Dead turns what has been one of the series' long standing issues and turns it into an advantage. Readers (including myself) have long bemoaned the endless list of lovers Anita continues to add to her harem. This book actually deals with this and addresses this. What does it mean for Anita to be polyamorous? When viewed in this way, a lot of the series' issues are perhaps more forgivable, like Anita's (prior) inability to share lovers.
In the list of acknowledgements, Hamilton mentions that she has a continuity editor now. It really shows. To the book's advantage. For once there's actually a sense of how much time has elapsed in the series. Around 8 or so (which is incidentally the same amount of time I've been reading the series). (Anita's also only 30; I've been thinking she's in her mid to late 30s for awhile now...) With that sense of time, I was able to look back on the series and see how much Anita has grown over the course of the series, especially in terms of her morals and her ability to love. The one issue that remains unresolved, and perhaps getting tediously repetitive, is how much of a monster is Anita herself? Perhaps in conjunction to this feel of time, is that Anita herself is getting older and it shows. Maybe this is a lead-in to winding down the series? The job is beginning to take its toll on her, and it seems quite likely she'll want to retire/find a way to leave a bit more peacefully with the men she loves. If Hamilton does do that, for once I am going to heartily advocate for more books in this universe.
Another "con" of the series is its lack of women/how much Anita doesn't get them. I'm not saying Anita should be forgived for her generalization of women, but I think we as readers shy away from it because it makes explicit things we are uncomfortable with. That is, the way Anita views women is actually way more common than we think, and we don't like to be reminded of it. Similarly, the lack of human lovers in her life (and as a result, lack of humans in the core cast) redefines what readers deem normal. The "monsters," become the normal of the series and it is the humans who are rendered alien. More an observation than anything there though.
One of the more interesting parts of the story was the whole gay/coming out thing. Thought that was rather interesting. As well as this idea of polyamory as sexual orientation v. life decision. Although, I honestly can't remember who Jade was so Anita's attraction to her was a bit new to me. Similarly, I didn't remember Anita/Micah/Nathaniel being the main trio. Like, when did the three of them enter domestic bliss? (Although that is part of what I liked about this, the addition of domesticity which has been utterly absent from the rest of the series)
As for the cover art. I maintain this new cover art trend sucks. This is not a thriller, quit making it look like one. IDGAF that you're trying to make it look less "erotic" and thereby look more acceptable. Make the book look like what it is. Additionally I don't like the way these sort of book covers objectifies/kills women on their covers. Seriously the ~mysterious man in shadow~? WHO CARES. At least the covers they used for Skin Trade and such were indicative of the horror aspect of the series. I maintain the slick covers of the Cerulean Sins era was the best visual representation of the series. (Also, epigraph. Wtf. I honestly can't remember there being an epigraph before)
Originally posted on DW with
comments.