Laurell K. Hamilton

[pyrephox]

Okay. I bought 'A Stroke of Midnight'. It was forty percent off, and I like the Merry Gentry books. I know that I'm not going to get much plot, but there will be pretty pretty men, intriguing setting, and of course, sex. They are soft fantasy porn. Yay for that.

However! The fact that they are softporn means that you don't have to use flowery euphemisms for all the good bits. Also, using the word 'bring' for climax got very silly, very fast, especially in dialogue. Our protagonist, Merry, points out over and over and over that the fey do not have the same sexual taboos as we do. They don't see anything wrong with sex, in a variety of interesting fashions. Unfortunately, this is contradicted both in the overly prudish way her fey characters /talk/ about sex (and there's almost more talking about sex or the aftermath of sex than there are good, solid, sexual scenes), and in the fact that the author spends a lot of time on what the fey /won't/ do. Which, it seems, covers quite a bit.

Essentially, the free love kinky elves are limited to just a little bondage, a little pain, and a few relatively tame group sex scenes. It's even considered remarkable (in a rather contrived way) that the main character enjoys giving oral sex, and her male sidhe lovers (who have mostly been celebate for centuries before she came along) frequently deny her that. Even homosexual encounters seem mostly off of the sexual radars of Merry's kin...of the three propositions she gets from women, one is desperate to do ANYTHING to get away from the influence of her lord, one is in True Love with one of her guard and thus willing to sleep with Merry if it will let her stay with him, and one is motivated entirely by the possibility of regaining power. There's no indication that any of the women find her attractive, or that any of the male guard find each other particularly attractive. It's a peculiarly heterosexual world for a species that is supposed to be broadly sexual and openly physical.

I'm really getting to the point where I want to say, "I can do better." And considering my complete lack of experience in that area? That's not good.

Comments

[usekh.livejournal.com]

You know that was my first reaction when reading a lot of her work. I could write better than this.

Although weirdly I have developed more of a taste for it, but I just get a lingering feeling I am paying her to read her sex fantasies :P

[amethystjade.livejournal.com]

I just get a lingering feeling I am paying her to read her sex fantasies

Y'know, that's an interesting way to look at it. And probably accurate.

[usekh.livejournal.com]

Especialy the Mary Gentle ones. She is a tough talking PI(Like Anita) but secretly a fairly princess. Who is compelled to have sex with many strange and exotic men...

But as you said in your other comment they are curiously compelling. I guess I am a sucker for mysteries. Also I am a sucker for tough smartarse women too :P

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

I have a Tough Girl fascination, too, despite the Sueness of it all. :D

[amethystjade.livejournal.com]

She's a little too good, is the problem. I hate when main character's only flaws are the pretty kind, like vanity and pride. Also, she's not as cool as she thinks she is, which bugs the tar out of me.

But she is compelling. Like I said to pyrephox's comment, this is the sort of story where I think, "These are interesting people with interesting lives. I wish someone different was writing about them."

[archangelbeth]

...I should probably stop sharing my free smut and sucker someone into paying me to read various fantasies that I make up...

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'd buy it. :D

[amethystjade.livejournal.com]

And we could build up a cult of people who think you're a god on earth because you write passable smut, like the Anita Blake or Sleeping Beauty fangirls.

(I am not impugning your smut, having never read it. I'm impugning Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton.)

[amethystjade.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those books suck in a strangely compelling way. Bet you could do better. I could probably do better, and I can't write porn.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

Hamilton has a couple of very strong points:

1. Setting. She makes interesting worlds, that I want to know more about. Both the Gentry and Blake worlds have a lot of very cool aspects to them, and some great visual scenes. The scene in the Gentry book that had the rose vines wrapping themselves around her, drinking of her blood, and then blooming? Absolutely great. Beautiful, haunting image.

2. Characters. When she's not trying to use characters to preach, her characterization is solid and interesting. Richard, when first introduced? Was cool. The Queen of Air and Darkness? /Is/ cool. Even her minor characters can be very engaging and complex...until she decides that the main character has to be proved right, and thus makes them into an asshole for no good reason.

[amethystjade.livejournal.com]

I hate how she develops characters, seemingly priming them for further development, and then we NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN. Like that guy with the tentacles. She makes it out like he's going to be an important ally later, and then you never hear about him again. Why did we just spend five pages on this guy?

Also, the extremely kinky elves can't handle a few tentacles? Whiny sumbitches.

[amethystjade.livejournal.com]

Further (I should really think these comments out before I send them), I agree about the setting. The Meredith Gentry books feel similar to the Bedlam's Bard books by Mercedes Lackey. I love this world. These people are interesting. I want a different author telling their stories.