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I have suddenly started voraciously reading again, after a long spell of not being able to pick up a book to read, aside from one short-story anthology. Not sure why, but I like it.
I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the books I read are worse than what I would expect from fanfiction. Vonda N. McIntyre, who I love, is basically guilty of writing Mary Sue fanfiction. Constant repetition of elements, mostly centering on sex and sexuality. (I have a sneaking suspicion that Dame Vonda is poly, or at least has poly friends.) And yet, I still read her books. There's an element of mental self-flagellation involved in reading her books...but there are still good points. That's the devil of it. The stupid bitch ain't so stupid...what's good in Dreamsnake and the Starfarers quartet is really good. The woman as an author drives me absolutely batty as an editor.
And then there's Christine Feehan. Hey! Pipe down over there, I can hear you laughing at me! The Mistress of Paranormal Romance...as a back-cover blurb would have you believe. It is so not my fault this time. (Well, it wasn't considering Vonda either, that I blame on my high school librarian for recommending her.) I have the weirdest propensity toward picking up novels that are part of a series, whether it be one that begins in, or one that's smack-dab in the middle.
I blame it all on Shadow Game. I thought for sure it was science fiction--it was sitting on the New Releases shelf at Waldenbooks, and the cover looked very alluring...a range of yellows on which was superimposed the ghostly image of a woman's uptilted face. That's how she got me, you guys...pretty girl and a back-cover blurb that made it sound like sci-fi. By the time I realized that she was mixing genres, I was having too much fun reading the sex scenes to care! She calls this set of books "The GhostWalker Series", but honestly...I refer to them as the "Game" Books. Just because, in a way, they are just a game to me. Something fun and sexy and action-packed and a little silly. (The titles are : Shadow Game, Mind Game, Night Game, Conspiracy Game, and the latest, Deadly Game)
Mind Game wasn't so bad, either. But I'd figured out the formula pretty quickly...the amoral, slightly mad scientist man who adopted a bunch of Third World orphans (all female) with psychic powers, has done similar experiments on special ops and black ops soldiers. Convient, romantic pairing off can ensue.
( I've got more to say, but there are spoilers under the cut. )
I'm not touching any of Feehan's other books. I swear it. I think the others might have vampires and werewolves...and to me, the only redeeming quality of the Game books is the sci-fi edge. It's an odd mishmash even then, with bits of romance, science, and Tom-Clancy-esque espionage things happening. I seriously want an update on the characters of "Mind Game", dammit! And one that actually counts for Lily and her man (not just "oh, you're like my sister, newest female character of the line-up! I promise we'll find the rest of our sisters together!") They were hot. These others are not, not as much.
These books are like brain candy. Sometimes I laugh out loud at the silliness. (And other times, I laugh out loud at the brilliant banter and dialogue...she's got a real talent for dialogue.) But I'll stop reading when she stops writing. In it for the long haul, yo.
::sigh::
I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the books I read are worse than what I would expect from fanfiction. Vonda N. McIntyre, who I love, is basically guilty of writing Mary Sue fanfiction. Constant repetition of elements, mostly centering on sex and sexuality. (I have a sneaking suspicion that Dame Vonda is poly, or at least has poly friends.) And yet, I still read her books. There's an element of mental self-flagellation involved in reading her books...but there are still good points. That's the devil of it. The stupid bitch ain't so stupid...what's good in Dreamsnake and the Starfarers quartet is really good. The woman as an author drives me absolutely batty as an editor.
And then there's Christine Feehan. Hey! Pipe down over there, I can hear you laughing at me! The Mistress of Paranormal Romance...as a back-cover blurb would have you believe. It is so not my fault this time. (Well, it wasn't considering Vonda either, that I blame on my high school librarian for recommending her.) I have the weirdest propensity toward picking up novels that are part of a series, whether it be one that begins in, or one that's smack-dab in the middle.
I blame it all on Shadow Game. I thought for sure it was science fiction--it was sitting on the New Releases shelf at Waldenbooks, and the cover looked very alluring...a range of yellows on which was superimposed the ghostly image of a woman's uptilted face. That's how she got me, you guys...pretty girl and a back-cover blurb that made it sound like sci-fi. By the time I realized that she was mixing genres, I was having too much fun reading the sex scenes to care! She calls this set of books "The GhostWalker Series", but honestly...I refer to them as the "Game" Books. Just because, in a way, they are just a game to me. Something fun and sexy and action-packed and a little silly. (The titles are : Shadow Game, Mind Game, Night Game, Conspiracy Game, and the latest, Deadly Game)
Mind Game wasn't so bad, either. But I'd figured out the formula pretty quickly...the amoral, slightly mad scientist man who adopted a bunch of Third World orphans (all female) with psychic powers, has done similar experiments on special ops and black ops soldiers. Convient, romantic pairing off can ensue.
( I've got more to say, but there are spoilers under the cut. )
I'm not touching any of Feehan's other books. I swear it. I think the others might have vampires and werewolves...and to me, the only redeeming quality of the Game books is the sci-fi edge. It's an odd mishmash even then, with bits of romance, science, and Tom-Clancy-esque espionage things happening. I seriously want an update on the characters of "Mind Game", dammit! And one that actually counts for Lily and her man (not just "oh, you're like my sister, newest female character of the line-up! I promise we'll find the rest of our sisters together!") They were hot. These others are not, not as much.
These books are like brain candy. Sometimes I laugh out loud at the silliness. (And other times, I laugh out loud at the brilliant banter and dialogue...she's got a real talent for dialogue.) But I'll stop reading when she stops writing. In it for the long haul, yo.
::sigh::