Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward

[meganbmoore]

So, my feelings about the romance here can be summed up by a few lines from this review(which is a "backstage" discussion between the characters):

Butch: Me, too. This “your angst, my angst” thing is way tiring, you feel me?

Marissa: Frankly, I’m a little tired of feeling you. You’re all up my skirt with lust ahoy and then in the next chapter, if it’s not about some blonde baby powder monster man, you’re freaking out about your own worth or some shit, so you get drunk and you blow me off.

Butch: Hey, that’s how it’s written.

Marissa: I’m just saying, if I were an actual woman, I’d have kicked your ass to the curb by now with this, “I want you so much my balls are on fire but I’m not worthy of you” routine. You go get drunk off your ass and whine for awhile while I consider my perfect yet lonely life? Boring.

Butch: What can I say? I’m a sensitive man beneath a crusty exterior, both of which are intimidated by your beauty and perfection.

Marissa: Perfection? Please! I’ve never had an orgasm and don’t know what my vagina is for. 

Yup, that's basically the best explanation for the romance.

But really, never before have I seen an author so cheerfully, rabidly and shamelessly rip into her genre of choice.  Lately, I have been pondering her writing method.  My current theory is that she turns on Buffy(probably season 6) whips out a couple bad vampire romance novels to read, starts downing vodka, takes note of the worst cheesy cliche things, downs some more vodka, and then goes at it.

As much as she mocks her books(and cheerfully admits the heroines are Mary Sues and that Butch is a Gary Stu--THE ULTIMATE GARY STU!!) and vampire romances in general, I will never in this lifetime be convinced that it's not all deliberate.

Then there's her author's pic in the back.  It scares me.  Ward stares out at me like "llllooooookkkk aaaatttt mmmmmeeeee...I will devour your soul and make you read my books for all eternity."  It explains all the rabid fans who think they're reading high quality vampire romances.  As opposed to deliberately bad ones viciously ripping into everything about the genre.  Which is why the people who I know read them(without understandably fleeing in terror) do read them.  Because if you don't flee in terror THEN THERE IS NO ESCAPE FOR YOU! EVER!  YOU WILL READ AND STARE AT THE BOOKS FOR ALL ETERNITY WONDERING WHAT ON EARTH YOU'RE READING!!!

In all seriousness, though(actually, I was being serious, but that's not the point):

*How many times did she deliberate oppose her own canon here, anyway?  Does everyone now know Rehvenge and The Reverend are the same guy?  Isn't that supposed to be the world's biggest secret?  Did she really have them go "oh, don't worry, Butch, we can make you transition" about 50 pages after saying that couldn't be done.  And yet...still not as massive a breaking of the rules as other "lets be original about our vampires" romances.

*I'm not positive, but I think the ceremony for indoctrinating someone into the Brotherhood is some sort of orgy with the Scribe Virgin looking on and cackling.  No, really.

*And speaking of the Scribe Virgin...why does anyone bother being scared of The Omega?  That woman is about 50000 times scarier than him...it...whatever.

*I also ponder why she doesn't just blink him out of existance.  I think they're siblings.  Or OTP.  Or both.  I'm going with both.  It's ok when you're the equivalent of pagan gods.

*Why did Zsadist get all nicey-nice?

*Also, it seems they give each other the "h" names after the indoctrination orgy.  Butch The Ulrimate Gary Stu is now Dehstroyer The Ultimate Gary Stu.  It is the ultimate badfic deliberately made canon, and I love it.

*I am ever so grateful Phury was essentially absent from this book.  I can only tolerate his whiny emo celibacy when he's doing things like hunting the world for and shooting off his leg to save his brother.

*How the heck is the next book Vishous's, considering how blatantly(and I mean straightup canon, not slashy subtext) he was in love with Butch.  Did Ward finally hit the publisher's panic button?

I'd say I want my soul back, but then I'd miss the sheer, viscious crack.

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

And speaking of the Scribe Virgin...why does anyone bother being scared of The Omega? That woman is about 50000 times scarier than him...it...whatever.

I KNOW. A friend and I were talking about how the Scribe Virgin is like supposed to be the Virgin Mary gone horribly terribly wrong and on some crazy cocktail of crack, LSD & steroids!

I think she and the Omega are OTP who must never ever meet. Either that or they ended badly.

Did Ward finally hit the publisher's panic button?

I've read some comments by her that imply this. And since I occasionally drop by the forums because I like inflicting pain upon myself, there's probably good reason because you would not believe the number of people who freak out about any sign of homoeroticism. Which, uh, I mean, I thought that was there from book 1?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think SV and Omega are Yin/Yang type twins who had an incredibly torrid affair and went Very Very Bad, and now the world is In Danger if they come close to meeting.

The slash subtext was definately there from book one. Actually, it's ALWAYS there in these vampire series, most writers just try to pretend it isn't, instead of have a ball with it. There's no way to avoid it with the subject matter. I have noticed that it gets more amplified per book, though. Then again, most people are very good at "la la la"-ing away any slash(or if they prefer slash, het) subtext they don't want to see. But I guess actually straightup saying it in canon was going too far(though it was obvious Vishous had a thing for Butch in book 2...unreciprocated thing, but whatever)

[hrimcealde.livejournal.com]

well, all I heard from the forums were complaints because she didn't have a sex scene between Butch and V.

and unlike you, i'm not convinced that she's intentionally mocking herself and the genre. I don't get that AT ALL from the interviews and comments she's made. I think that's giving her too much credit. I get the feeling that she genuinely believes that she's created something new and different and unique. She seriously has a jones for these guys--I think Butch and Zsadist are her favorites, she's said.

i still think that she's got good elements here for a good Urban Fantasy, if she'd just take out the cheesy romance.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think it's intentional because there are too many jokes about the standard cliches, especially Mary Sues and Gary Stus, and taking the normally metaphorical aspects of the characters that are popular and making them literal, as well as deliberately breaking the rules of her world within 50 pages of insistently explaining them for it to be otherwise. If it wasn't deliberate, not publisher would ever put them out unless she really did have blackmail material.

I've seen a couple of the interviews, and she seemed to be deliberately saying what people wanted to hear. I get the feeling she has no respect at all for the standard paranormal romance novel fan, but will cheerfully say and do whatever it takes to get more money.