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 magicnoirejust summed up, in a comment about the review one of the biggest problems with the treatment of female characters in fantasy.

It's either they have to get raped to become interested in fighting crime or they get raped while fighting crime because they're women and it's dangerous and when a woman is in danger, she gets raped!

I just...I don't think I can read the book now.

Which is bad, because for "kickass female oriented urban fantasy" I'm now left with...Vicki Petterson...and only the comic geek in me gets me past a lot of the problems there(like the fact that I fear the heroine is going to spend several more volumes ignoring the righ guy, while pining for someone who is, not only dull, but blatantly wrong for her...but that's another rant about females in fantasy fiction.)

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

I have...the 3 I listed.

*sigh*

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

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

About?

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Another glaring problem with the genre...I can walk out of the bookstore with SDK or Wallflower, no problem. But those covers?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

This is why I haven't purchased any of them. I hate those covers.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, as of now, every one of them I've followed has let me down on interior content at some point.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

And you know what I really hate? So many of them cut the head off the woman. She's reduced to her torso or butt, as if that's what matters. I don't know if that's a choice that's meant to make it easier for a female reader to place herself in the position of the main character by not giving her specific looks on the cover, or if it's meant to be as misogynistic as it looks. Hrm.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes. I've always had that problem too. I think it's supposed to convey hotness or something...it usually conveys "skank."

I think it' meant to be as misogynistic as it looks.

BTW, how's the headache today?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Finally gone, yay. I'm a bit groggy due to having slept for 6 hours due to the anti-nausea med, but at least I've got the weekend to fix my sleep schedule. XD

[laura-holt-pi.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

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.livejournal.com]

*Spoilerific*

With the backstory in the first two books and considering that these books are supposed to be additional takes on "strong female with more than one alpha love interest" (which subject you have to like in the first place to like them) I was able to get over that part of it (probably because the obedience magic spell that made the rape possible had already made another male character kill himself, so it was equal opportunity nasty).

If the fact that the protagonist was saved by one of the alpha males had made her decide to be with him then, it might have been an instant dealbreaker, but she had realised/decided before this turn of events that she wanted him, so (within the whole wolf/coyote pack idea) it made sense to me that she would be in shock and ashamed first and then overcome it (I did think that went rather fast, but I believe in her as a strong person so maybe she can handle it faster?).

I thought her favourite alpha was rather thick when he thought she was afraid of him (her provoking him across all three books), but when one of his male pack pointed out the symptoms, obliquely admitting to having been a victim of rape as a child himself, it again made me consider this an adversity NOT aimed at only females.

To sum up, I'll continue to follow the series until a deal-breaker comes along or it finishes, whatever comes first.

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

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

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."

Everything I've rad about this book, good and bad, makes me think that the rape of one character fits intothe former, and the other into the latter.

There's is also the equally unpleasant factor of the fact that Adam TOLD her not to go. This adds the element of "paying the price for not obeying your man." Had she "obeyed" she would not have been raped, therefore, it was "wrong" of her to make her own decision to do what she wanted with her own life. This is a theme I have even less of a tolerance for than the rape shorthand.

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

[estara.livejournal.com]

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.