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Moon Called, Blood Bound, and Iron Kissed [no spoilers]
I just started Iron Kissed the third book in Patricia Brigg's werewolf/vampire/fairyfolk series. I like this series quite a bit; the action is fast and intense, the mysery is always complicated, and the heroine is both clever and strong, but never in a way that feels unbelievable. She's a small fish in the supernatural world, but she uses her talents to their fullest and always seems to accomplish more than you'd expect. Bigger fish are afraid of her, if only because of the fact that while she doesn't do much, what she does do she is VERY good at, and always adapts well to changing situations.
The cliche conflict of a woman being attractive to supernaturally powerful and dominant males (werewolves, vampires, etc) is not only evident in this book series, it is something the heroine obsesses over. The author takes an interesting approach to that story: instead of being a thematic thing, the dominance issues of relationships between people and particularly between lovers, partners, or family members has a physical and literal reality in Mercedes's world. It's part of the magic of werewolves and vampires. It's wound up in predatorial nature, and Mercy stands as part of that culture (she was raised by werewolves) and outside of it (she herself is more of a shapeshifter, not a werewolf). All the major male characters she has romantic potential with will seek to dominate her, and she still can't reconcile the power games with the feelings of her heart. She loves the werewolf culture too much to reject it completely, but she also loves her independence too much to let a man be the dominating force in any of her relationships. Reading about the politics of domination/submission in the supernatural beings she interacts with is one of the highlights of the books for me. I feel like the author has tried to subvert cliche by facing it head on: though the attempt isn't always successful or criticism-free, I applaud Patricia Briggs for the attempt.
Now if someone could just fire her cover artist for his blatant and unnecessary fanservice. I checked the inside page, definitely a male artist. Mercy's character doesn't flaunt her black-bra boobs or her ass, so why do the covers make those the most dominant visual feature? Especially given that the books are written for a female audience.
I just started Iron Kissed the third book in Patricia Brigg's werewolf/vampire/fairyfolk series. I like this series quite a bit; the action is fast and intense, the mysery is always complicated, and the heroine is both clever and strong, but never in a way that feels unbelievable. She's a small fish in the supernatural world, but she uses her talents to their fullest and always seems to accomplish more than you'd expect. Bigger fish are afraid of her, if only because of the fact that while she doesn't do much, what she does do she is VERY good at, and always adapts well to changing situations.
The cliche conflict of a woman being attractive to supernaturally powerful and dominant males (werewolves, vampires, etc) is not only evident in this book series, it is something the heroine obsesses over. The author takes an interesting approach to that story: instead of being a thematic thing, the dominance issues of relationships between people and particularly between lovers, partners, or family members has a physical and literal reality in Mercedes's world. It's part of the magic of werewolves and vampires. It's wound up in predatorial nature, and Mercy stands as part of that culture (she was raised by werewolves) and outside of it (she herself is more of a shapeshifter, not a werewolf). All the major male characters she has romantic potential with will seek to dominate her, and she still can't reconcile the power games with the feelings of her heart. She loves the werewolf culture too much to reject it completely, but she also loves her independence too much to let a man be the dominating force in any of her relationships. Reading about the politics of domination/submission in the supernatural beings she interacts with is one of the highlights of the books for me. I feel like the author has tried to subvert cliche by facing it head on: though the attempt isn't always successful or criticism-free, I applaud Patricia Briggs for the attempt.
Now if someone could just fire her cover artist for his blatant and unnecessary fanservice. I checked the inside page, definitely a male artist. Mercy's character doesn't flaunt her black-bra boobs or her ass, so why do the covers make those the most dominant visual feature? Especially given that the books are written for a female audience.
