A guilty pleasure veering towards a self-torturing pleasure or just masochism. Molly in her training-bra, with Harry giving full vent to violent sexuaA guilty pleasure veering towards a self-torturing pleasure or just masochism. Molly in her training-bra, with Harry giving full vent to violent sexual thoughts (don't care if they are 'magically induced' that is a plot manipulation to allow characters to go nasty places). The whole swampy morass of fucked up male sexuality. It's a train wreck that is hard to look away from. Butcher is good at his plotting as usual. Lots of action. Not enough fun, sort of heading towards end of Buffy self-seriousness and buzz kill. I wrote a whole ranting review but deleted it. These books mess with my head but I keep coming back for more. A 'special hell' Butcher, a special hell....more
Starts and ends with a boner. I feel guilty for liking this series. Oh, and the foul pun. Still, I do love listening. The entire series is like potatoStarts and ends with a boner. I feel guilty for liking this series. Oh, and the foul pun. Still, I do love listening. The entire series is like potato chips....more
**spoiler alert** Hearne joins Jim Butcher as one of those authors I grudgingly respect, if only for their complete readability. Their books are junky**spoiler alert** Hearne joins Jim Butcher as one of those authors I grudgingly respect, if only for their complete readability. Their books are junky, but entertainingly so. The books are something light and fun and pass the time when I am not up for much more. I can (and do) heap plenty of scorn for his Gary Stu character Atticus, but I still reading these ridiculous books.
Atticus is not as much a Gary Stu in this book, a perfect wishfufillment character who is never never in danger. He is getting more up to the level of Jim Butchers' Harry Dresden, though it has been accomplished by taking him away from the real world to a less engaging mythical play ground. I've enjoyed the mythical butting heads with the modern day in the other books, but this book just goes off and plays in god land. I can see why the trip is necessary, Hearne made Atticus so powerful he has to take on whole pantheons of gods to give a bit of risk to the stories.
Granuaile seems boring to me, too much like Atticus, talking like him and too agreeable for sexy time as soon as she graduates from apprentice to full Druid. I'd expect in a regular story that there will be some impediment coming up with this unconvincing love story - either she's die and he'll want to avenge her or she'll get transformed. But with Hearne everything might just go too perfectly with his hero. Hopefully he will get involved with that Polish witch for an opposites attract plot. Nothing original but that isn't really the case with these books.
See? I enjoy the books, but then roll my eyes and bitch. Oh well, this is how I deal with my guilty pleasures. And onto the next book when I need it. Thanks Mr. Hearne, and sorry about the snarky review.
*Oh, and that mourning dwarf was pretty tedious.*...more
Wow, number eleven in the series and Butcher just keeps chugging along. He really is a master of yarn-spinning - I can even forgive him the groaninglyWow, number eleven in the series and Butcher just keeps chugging along. He really is a master of yarn-spinning - I can even forgive him the groaningly obvious secret baddie of this book, a person that I INSTANTLY spotted as the the villian in disguise. But there was plenty of erotic vampires and a certain warden having a sponge bath what-the-fuckery to remind me of the goofy guilty pleasures of the series. I love watching Harry get treated like a wizard pinata! ...more
My love hate relationship with Jim Butcher and Harry Dresden continues.
Constant female ogling is the norm. Young Molly, now his apprentice, has a magiMy love hate relationship with Jim Butcher and Harry Dresden continues.
Constant female ogling is the norm. Young Molly, now his apprentice, has a magically induced orgasm in front of the hero magician and Butters (a welcome nerdy character that I really like) and the main concern from Butter is "is she legal"? Yes she is, but that's still a pretty gross pattern in the Dresden universe. I'm starting to go numb each time he mentions he hates to see women get hurt, while at the same time the whole point of many of these books is women getting hurt. That and not caring if people think he is a chauvinist pig, yadda yadda...
This is a magical hard-boiled detective novel mixed with action and adventure so I'm not exactly expecting a feminist track, but Dresden undresses all the women in the novel with his eyes. Who knows? Maybe it is cause I'm such a perv that this seems so blatant to me. Really, I mean, who am I fooling, not myself. I am not pure, this stuff taps into some dark passions that a lot of us carry around in this culture. I enjoy it and also feel hypocritical that Butcher is dressing it up as a hero just doing what he has to do - for my entertainment.
As usual Butcher seems to pull off compulsive readability and a plot that ticks along. By book nine I'm not really expecting any conclusion to the over-arching Wizard-Vamp war, but he follows his formula, there is always a big bad that gets taken out by the end of the book. Sometime I do long for leanly plotted books like the original pulp detective novels (probably early Elmore Leonard), but to be realistic (in a commercial sense) Butcher manages to fill his bulky books with lots of cool action. Harry is less of a Mary Sue or wonderful guy in this book - I found it grating after a while about just how damn heroic he was supposed to be in other books. Though I did find this finale a little less exciting that others in the series.
Dammit, I do enjoy reading these books. Hooray for the patriarchy!
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At the end of this review let me append a note about an article that was mentioned on the Outer Alliance Podcast #24, where Jim Hines mentions an article called "How to be a fan of problematic things" by Rachael on the Social Justice League website. (Note I did not try to put links in my review, that would be futile.)
Rachael talks about being a fan of various problematic works that seem to her to show clear instances of sexist, racism, homophobia, and so on.
She writes:
"Liking problematic things doesn’t make you an asshole. In fact, you can like really problematic things and still be not only a good person, but a good social justice activist (TM)! After all, most texts have some problematic elements in them, because they’re produced by humans, who are well-known to be imperfect. But it can be surprisingly difficult to own up to the problematic things in the media you like, particularly when you feel strongly about it, as many fans do. We need to find a way to enjoy the media we like without hurting other people and marginalised groups."
And then she goes on to make several suggestions as to how one might achieve that:
1. Acknowledge that the work in question is problematic and don't try to excuse it.
2. Don't gloss over the issue or try to derail it.
3. Acknowledge less favourable interpretations of media you like/love. People are entitled to their own readings of stuff you love.
The article makes a ton of other really interesting points and I encourage anyone who has ever had even the slightest squicky moment in an otherwise enjoyable book to have a read of the post.
(Google "How to be a fan of problematic things" and look for the Social Justice League.)
It's definitely a more focused look at problematic works than my struggles with Harry Dresden.
In fact, I look at my above review and wonder if I'm not guilty of some of the things Rachael thinks you should avoid as a fan of such media. Saying that the book is in the 'hard boiled' genre, thus of course portrayals of women will be sexualized, may be me falling into the trap of trying to excuse the book for its problems....more
**spoiler alert** An okay Dresden book, if a little slack at times, and without a memorable central baddie. I was happy there was a little variation i**spoiler alert** An okay Dresden book, if a little slack at times, and without a memorable central baddie. I was happy there was a little variation in the whole 'I'm a chivalrous sexist so I hate to see women get hurt' thing. Harry's male gaze got used against him this time. I have to cop to thinking that the new female character was going to turn out to be someone else (a necromancer), and I actually didn't cotton on to why Harry's friends were thinking he was going all Sixth Sense on them. Yes, my level of enjoyment did go up over the combination of sexy librarian (well bookstore girl, but the same thing), polka-will-never-die, and a zombie T-Rex - that's why these books are guilty-pleasures!
I will probably wait a while between this and the next book. The Dresden Files are fun, but complete formula and are best served when I'm in the right mood......more
I'm kinda guilty that I enjoyed this book enough to give it three stars, but that's okay, it features a hero who is pretty guilty himself and continuaI'm kinda guilty that I enjoyed this book enough to give it three stars, but that's okay, it features a hero who is pretty guilty himself and continually does dumb things (but it is only cause he is so darn heroic that he repeatedly does stupid stuff.) I wish that Harry would be more of a coward and play it smart more often, just to make his heroic stupidity actually mean something.
Wow, I hear guys dissing paranormal romance or urban fantasy written by women, but this is totally guy fantasy romance noir. Harry Dresden is a traditional guy, a self-described chauvanist, who is always protecting the women in his life, sheilding them from the powers of darkness - this is really tough because his main love interest is a tough-as-nails female cop who is always getting angry at him for lying to her and infantilizing her - unreasonable huh? I suspect she might even be described as a feminist by some if she wasn't in a Jim Butcher novel. I mean, sure there is plenty of hedging - Dresden LETS her appear to be the hero by the end of the book, but that is only cause he is so darn modest.
The real low point in female characterization has to be a woman FBI agent (named Ben) who is a combination 'drug addict'/psycho/nymphomaniac - that big dollop of uncontrolled sex fiend really rings the alarm bells that someone might not be altogether comfortable with females in positions of authority - she felt like a big dirty sterotype as she rampaged around topless. How she is dealt with is extremely ugly. Butcher positions Dresden as the weakest, most beatup, lowest man on the totem pole - all a part of the noir tradition - but to put it in S&M terms Harry is topping from the bottom.
Yet despite all this, I have to say I've enjoyed listening to James Marsters sensuous reading of Butcher's second Dresden novel. I do giggle when Harry gets his wand tip all white hot, but the mix of supernatural and noir make for a diverting psycho-sexual/gender-politics stew. I don't think it is admirable, but it is entertaining. On to book three......more
Mmmm a knuckle dragger noir story with dramatic high-contrast art that I really enjoyed. I read the following books that circle around the same night.Mmmm a knuckle dragger noir story with dramatic high-contrast art that I really enjoyed. I read the following books that circle around the same night. All seemed to have some damaged babe at the center of them. Unfortunately the repetition just highlights how limited Miller's characters are. I started having trouble keeping tough guys and hot chicks straight because he writes them all the same....more
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