Random

| | | | | | |

What is the Heroine’s Journey? (part III)

Posted on

I will make one personal caveat before I start: despite much screeching and near-hysterical insistence that “man” automatically equates to (or conflates with) “human,” the delightfully fascinating Language Log and Grammarphobia have conclusively proven (through both common sense and examination of historical literary precedence) this is not actually the case. That being so, it amuses…

| | | | | | |

What is the Heroine’s Journey? (part II)

Posted on

In the end, however, I found myself as turned off by Murdock’s supposed “heroine’s journey” as I was by Campbell’s vision of women. This is due to the shock of my biggest disappointment with the book, and the reason I cannot recommend it: the author’s explication of the “breakthrough” moment where the heroine realizes the…

| | | | | | |

What is the Heroine’s Journey? (part I)

Posted on

When I was a child we spent several years in Spain. I remember being stuck one summer in an old country house with family and friends, and at one point finding the small library of children’s books. There were a few in English, which I suppose were imported from England so the former children of…

| | | |

The “Magic” series (V of V)

Posted on

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) As far as background characters, Crest is a good example of this issue: in the first book he’s a polite, apparently well meaning, pleasant seeming man who is romantically interested in the protagonist. He goes out of…

| | | |

The “Magic” series (IV of V)

Posted on

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) Speaking of literary heroines in general within this genre, and Andrews’ (so-called) heroine in particular, I’d like to add two corollaries to my commandment against Stupidly Wrong Gender Tropes, which I’d like both the authors and their…

| | | |

The “Magic” series (III of V)

Posted on

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) This leads neatly into my next personal commandment for urban fantasy: Enough already with the perverse, nonsensical gender-based tropes! I know this isn’t unique to this genre, but come on now — can we please finally get…

| | | |

The “Magic” series (II of V)

Posted on

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) First and foremost, the number one commandment for a good urban fantasy (or, I suppose, whatever writing you wish to do) is: Thou shalt… Do. The. Research! This extends to the character as well as the author….

| | | | | |

The “Magic” series (I of V)

Posted on

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) I’ve always had a fondness, even well before it was popular, for the genre of urban fantasy. I adored the The Chronicles of Narnia stories as a child, but I still daydreamed with excited bemusement of what…

| | |

Bitten (IV of IV)

Posted on

Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) Tails up This is the author’s first novel, and as such it’s technically well done. The paragraphs and concepts are well composed and laid out, and the story moves along at a good pace. Ideas are clearly communicated and not repetitive. The author has a nice grasp of…

| | |

Bitten (III of IV)

Posted on

Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) A human’s-eye view In essence, this book is yet another romance novel. It is also therefore a good example of one of the current themes running through modern romantic literature: in order for there to be politically correct sexual tension in stories such as this, the heroine must…