It's not you, it's me
Jun. 29th, 2008 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesBreak from A Exam studying -- have a book series review!
Has anyone ever had the experience where they didn't enjoy a book (or enjoyed it less than they might have) because it was about something they didn't think it was about?
I read Lilith Saintcrow's Dante Valentine series, about a Necromance(r)* bounty hunter. The first book involves her getting hired by Lucifer (yes, that Lucifer, even if most Judeo-Christian theology Does Not Apply) to chase down a renegade demon who was also a serial killer who killed Dante's lover, Doreen. And...
* Not in the sense of 'zombie army' but in the sense of 'drags souls out of Death to get them to settle wills and solve murders'.
Long story short, she falls for the demon Lucifer assigns to help her, the demon (Japhrimel, or Japh) rebels, and is apparently killed. Lucifer revels he was just using Dante to get at what her target had created -- an Androgyne, the only kind of demons that can reproduce. Lucifer is one, and he wanted to keep any others under control, so any rebellion of demons can't last beyond the death of its founders. Turns out the created Andrgyne, Eve, was made from Doreen's DNA, so Dante vows to get her back from Lucifer. Japh is resurrected at the end of book 2, and he sprints Dante off to help her heal from her crazy case load. Unfortunately, Eve decides she is going to rebel against Lucifer and this puts Japh and Dante in the middle of a war for control of Hell.
And, here's where I lost it. I was enjoying the casefiles of the first two books, and was less captivated by the machinations of demons and Dante's attempts to stay in control in a world where suddenly she is far more squishy than most. Don't get me wrong -- the world was neat, I liked Dante, and I also liked the fact that Dante and Japh's relationship was problematic because -- hello, renegade demon doesn't know shit about human women. (That and when Japh's protective streak goes into controlling/abusiveness, Dante calls him out on it, and I generally get the sense that the problem is not that Dante doesn't know how to deal with Japh's lurve (gag me with a spoon, BTW), but that Japh has no basis for healthy, equal relationships (given that Hell is eat-or-be-eaten), and Dante is both stubborn and very squishable compared to a demon, and that he needs to figure this out in order to make the relationship work, besides 'I love her, she loves me'.) I say this because it is in marked contrast to some other supernatural romances, where Boyfriend's Inhuman Possessiveness is seen as a good thing**. I liked that Dante threw a fit when people didn't tell her what was going on, rather than just following her Boyfriend blindly, and she tried to swing things her way even with her limited information.
** I won't name names. You all can do it for me. ^_^
I guess my problem was that I liked Dante, but I would have liked to meet her before she met Japh -- or at least had a few good books of her solving casework, instead of just the two-ish I got. Or maybe instead of Dante, gotten Gabe and Eddie (Dante's friend Gabe, who is both one of the few other Necromances Dante likes and a cop, and her husband, who is a Skinlin (plant psionics who are known to go into berserker rages when angered)).
So, Lilith Saintcrow and Dante Valentine -- it was a good set of books, but it's not you; it's me. Also, I just bought the first Jill Kismet book and I just hope that Jill remains distinct in my mind from Dante. I mean, I like sarcastic, strong women with interesting abilities and angsty pasts as much as the next person, but I like them to be different.
Has anyone ever had the experience where they didn't enjoy a book (or enjoyed it less than they might have) because it was about something they didn't think it was about?
I read Lilith Saintcrow's Dante Valentine series, about a Necromance(r)* bounty hunter. The first book involves her getting hired by Lucifer (yes, that Lucifer, even if most Judeo-Christian theology Does Not Apply) to chase down a renegade demon who was also a serial killer who killed Dante's lover, Doreen. And...
* Not in the sense of 'zombie army' but in the sense of 'drags souls out of Death to get them to settle wills and solve murders'.
Long story short, she falls for the demon Lucifer assigns to help her, the demon (Japhrimel, or Japh) rebels, and is apparently killed. Lucifer revels he was just using Dante to get at what her target had created -- an Androgyne, the only kind of demons that can reproduce. Lucifer is one, and he wanted to keep any others under control, so any rebellion of demons can't last beyond the death of its founders. Turns out the created Andrgyne, Eve, was made from Doreen's DNA, so Dante vows to get her back from Lucifer. Japh is resurrected at the end of book 2, and he sprints Dante off to help her heal from her crazy case load. Unfortunately, Eve decides she is going to rebel against Lucifer and this puts Japh and Dante in the middle of a war for control of Hell.
And, here's where I lost it. I was enjoying the casefiles of the first two books, and was less captivated by the machinations of demons and Dante's attempts to stay in control in a world where suddenly she is far more squishy than most. Don't get me wrong -- the world was neat, I liked Dante, and I also liked the fact that Dante and Japh's relationship was problematic because -- hello, renegade demon doesn't know shit about human women. (That and when Japh's protective streak goes into controlling/abusiveness, Dante calls him out on it, and I generally get the sense that the problem is not that Dante doesn't know how to deal with Japh's lurve (gag me with a spoon, BTW), but that Japh has no basis for healthy, equal relationships (given that Hell is eat-or-be-eaten), and Dante is both stubborn and very squishable compared to a demon, and that he needs to figure this out in order to make the relationship work, besides 'I love her, she loves me'.) I say this because it is in marked contrast to some other supernatural romances, where Boyfriend's Inhuman Possessiveness is seen as a good thing**. I liked that Dante threw a fit when people didn't tell her what was going on, rather than just following her Boyfriend blindly, and she tried to swing things her way even with her limited information.
** I won't name names. You all can do it for me. ^_^
I guess my problem was that I liked Dante, but I would have liked to meet her before she met Japh -- or at least had a few good books of her solving casework, instead of just the two-ish I got. Or maybe instead of Dante, gotten Gabe and Eddie (Dante's friend Gabe, who is both one of the few other Necromances Dante likes and a cop, and her husband, who is a Skinlin (plant psionics who are known to go into berserker rages when angered)).
So, Lilith Saintcrow and Dante Valentine -- it was a good set of books, but it's not you; it's me. Also, I just bought the first Jill Kismet book and I just hope that Jill remains distinct in my mind from Dante. I mean, I like sarcastic, strong women with interesting abilities and angsty pasts as much as the next person, but I like them to be different.
