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

[missdeep]

I haven't read the Percy Jackson books, so I'm afraid I can't offer a comment on them but omfg do want to talk about Mercy Thompson

[endless_run]

Yeah, I mean, you've got this girl who is supposedly a karate-trained fighter, not to mention knows how to handle a gun and can transform into a coyote, and yet she's ends up being useless because werewolves and vampires are supposedly SO MUCH STRONGER. So what exactly is the point of her being good with guns and karate if she decides not to do anything with those skills because she'll get pounded? It ends up being a token toss-in so she isn't pegged as a damsel heroine, even though, y'know, for this world, she kind of is. At least, so far.

Also female werewolves can't breed unless they're speshul snowflakes. MOST OF THEM NEVER GET OVER THE FACT THEY CAN'T HAVE CHILDREN, BECAUSE THIS IS ALL THAT MATTERS TO WOMEN BLAH DE BLAH BLAH. UGH UGH UGH. See, this is not only offensive, it makes all the other werewolf bitches in the story totally unlikable. They hate Mercy because she can have BABIES OMG, without any regard for anything else about her, so you end up with bitch women. But I suppose this eliminates the possibility of Mercy having

[missdeep]

Yeah, I mean, you've got this girl who is supposedly a karate-trained fighter...

Mercy does get to be a little more involved in things as the series progresses, but the whole OMG THEY'RE SOOOOO MUCH STRONGER thing surfaces time and time again. As you said, it's fairly token to note that SHE'S NOT A DAMSEL while absolutely everyone has to protect her "for her own good" because she's actually useless compared to everyone else around her.

See, this is not only offensive, it makes all the other werewolf bitches in the story totally unlikable.This is SUCH a common trope in werewolf stories though. The bitches can't breed OMG EVER unless they're SUPER SPECIAL (I can't remember where it's mentioned in the Mercy books but in the Alpha & Omega spin-off, the hero's mother gave birth to him as a werewolf but OMG IT KILLED HER so he's SUPER SPESHUL). In this particular series all it does is serve to alienate Mercy further - she's on the outer of their society anyway, with this it at least means she'll never have female friends to deal with,

[endless_run]

I don't know if I'm just noticing it more or what, but I'm like...five chapters into Blood Bound, and she's already been sidelined like twice because "Oh, you can't deal with demon-possessed vampires LOL". And she's just like "Oh, okay." I MEAN REALLY? She's not even putting up a fight anymore. *headdesk*

Is it? I haven't read many werewolf books, but it's just beautiful that it puts emphasis on how women just turn BITCH CRAZY when they can't make the babies. I KNOW I WOULD.

I was thinking about trying Alpha and Omega for the werewolf culture, but if it's this frustrating with Mercy, who isn't even a goddamn werewolf, I dunno if I could do a werewolf slave-woman.