AARRRGGGGHHH!!!!

[meganbmoore]

I just read a review of Patricia Briggs's latest Mercy Thompson book, by someone whose comments on the first two book line up with my opinions on them .  Not only does it include my absolute least favorite theme in fantasy fiction, but apparently, authors are contractually obligated to include my least favorite part of urban fantasy.

I think 

Comments

[magicnoire]

I'm not sure it's all UF authors or just Briggs. The Mercy Thompson books came out in the early-middle wave so maybe they were trying to follow the formula or whatever. *heavy sigh*

But after reading that review, I feel infinitely better about The Spymaster's Lady. My quibbles just don't seem so major at all anymore!

[meganbmoore]

Well...as it's in EVERY SINGLE ONE that's about a girl, Itend to think it's all of them...or at least, strongly "encouraged"

If I drop this, ALL MY URBAN FANTASY SERIES WILL BE ABOUT GUYS(Dresden Files, Nightside, the Rob Thurman books) except the Zodiac books...

[magicnoire]

I know. After Hannah's review, I sat and thought about the UF books I'm still loyal to and all I could think of was Rob Thurman's Holy Trinity of Hotness.

m(_____)m <-- my head is really not that big but it's been flattened from all the headdesking today

[meganbmoore]

I have...the 3 I listed.

*sigh*

It is a rather headdesky day, isn't it?

[crumpeteer]

I hate that element to fantasy. It happens far more than is normal. I don't see why they can't give female characters motivation without the whole "see, the female is VULNERABLE, look how at the mercy of men she is, see how she's always in peril" thing. Granted, manga uses it a lot too, but there are also plenty of manga heroines who will rip your face off for no particular reason.

[meganbmoore]

Oh yes. It's one of the things almost always guaranteed to drop a series. And the "you were wrong not to obey the male" thing. Which this has too.

[maxineofarc]

Have you tried Emma Bull? Her "War for the Oaks" is some AWESOME UF with a believable heroine who makes mistakes and still kicks ass, and some of her stuff with Will Shetterly probably would fit the bill too.

[meganbmoore]

About?

[maxineofarc]

A rock singer in Minneapolis who gets dragged into the battle between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. While she's trying to put together a new band.

[magicnoire]

War for the Oaks is one of the seminal works of the urban fantasy subgenre. Like, the real subgenre of urban fantasy, not this marketing category of spunky heroines who flash their breasts/midriffs/butts on book covers.

[laura_holt_pi]

I hate that more than I can ever express. I used to watch a police series called The Bill. For a couple of years it was great, with strong female characters. Then, they either changed writers or direction, because suddenly, any female character above the rank of constable was getting raped. It felt like they suddenly wanted to say, "Look what happens if you try to do a man's job."

In British police series over the last ten years, it seems to be becoming standard that a woman who achieves any rank has to be raped and/or get into a relationship with a criminal.

It especially offends me when written by a woman. I don't read urban fantasy at all now.

[meganbmoore]

I have realized today...after this...I read 2 urban fantasy series written by men about men, and one written by a woman, under a male pseudonym(though you can tell she's female) about men. And this series. The others I've dropped.

fair enough, but by the third book in this series I can overlook it

[estara]

*Spoilerific

Re: fair enough, but by the third book in this series I can overlook it

[meganbmoore]

The thing is that rape is no longer used as a legitimate trauma, but as a shorthand. It's brought out when one of two things is needed: 1) To give a character, male or female, an excuse to be hard, angry, angsty, or some combination 2) to show the "dangers" in the world by having the character "pay" for their lifestyle. Rape itself is a legitimate, scarring trauma and the reason I have minimal tolerance for it in fiction is because it is cheapened by simply being used as an excuse to have characters act in a stereotyped way, or as a shorthand for "dangerous life

Re: fair enough, but by the third book in this series I can overlook it

[estara]

You have a point, just as in your post. Still I think Briggs may redeem her cheap shot. She didn't use the cheap way out before. If she should go the way of Laurell K. Hamilton I'll reconsider, or if more rape = dangerous life show up.