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veronica_richExcerpts from a review of "The Harlequin," Laurell K. Hamilton's latest literary train wreck (aka, Anita Blake novel):
Blake herself is a classic Mary Sue. She is beautiful, capable, sexually liberated, progressive and has pretty much all the powers it is possible to have in Hamilton’s world with none of the downsides ... What is also interesting about Blake is that she exists in an entirely masculine world. Aside from a were-tiger, the queen of all vampires and a few minor characters, she exists at the centre of a huge web of masculine attention ... Indeed, the various male characters that make up Blake’s life seem to have no real existence beyond their relationship with Blake. They are like Bishop Berkley’s material objects that pop out of existence the second they are not perceived. This is because the male characters exist solely as embodiments of issues that Blake has to deal with.
I stopped reading after book 11 or 12, once I realized Hamilton had dropped off the edge of the map with book 10 (book 9, "Obsidian Butterfly," is probably her best effort in this series - partly because it contains about the only male she WON'T sidle up to or have sex with, Edward). Her prior novels in this series were entertaining, intriguing, and had a great deal of plot and character development, for the most part. But after OB, they turned into nothing more than Hamilton's technical bedroom diaries - which is a betrayal of the characters, especially Anita, because this is NOT how they started out. What's really sad is that even if you considered the last few books strictly as erotica ... they're not even GOOD pr0n.
Blake herself is a classic Mary Sue. She is beautiful, capable, sexually liberated, progressive and has pretty much all the powers it is possible to have in Hamilton’s world with none of the downsides ... What is also interesting about Blake is that she exists in an entirely masculine world. Aside from a were-tiger, the queen of all vampires and a few minor characters, she exists at the centre of a huge web of masculine attention ... Indeed, the various male characters that make up Blake’s life seem to have no real existence beyond their relationship with Blake. They are like Bishop Berkley’s material objects that pop out of existence the second they are not perceived. This is because the male characters exist solely as embodiments of issues that Blake has to deal with.
I stopped reading after book 11 or 12, once I realized Hamilton had dropped off the edge of the map with book 10 (book 9, "Obsidian Butterfly," is probably her best effort in this series - partly because it contains about the only male she WON'T sidle up to or have sex with, Edward). Her prior novels in this series were entertaining, intriguing, and had a great deal of plot and character development, for the most part. But after OB, they turned into nothing more than Hamilton's technical bedroom diaries - which is a betrayal of the characters, especially Anita, because this is NOT how they started out. What's really sad is that even if you considered the last few books strictly as erotica ... they're not even GOOD pr0n.
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Date: 2007-06-05 03:33 am (UTC)