The opposite of up

[mhalachai]

Allow me to clarify my rabidness about the Anita Blake books:

They're books. I tend to focus on the positive and the things I like in them, as I dislike to the extreme the crap that comes off a lot of the AB forums on the Internet, but that doesn't mean I'm blind to the books faults. These days, all that I read goes through the "Anita Blake fanfic" filter, so it's likely I'm looking at the books in a different way than you lot.

So here it is: As opposed to the normal sunshine and cheer that goes around here, take the opportunity to nitpick, to say what you don't like about the Anita Blake books/characters/cover art etc. Thing is, if you say you don't like something, you need to say why.

Also, feel free to comment anonymously.

ETA PS: There are now spoilers for Micah and the Danse Macabre teaser in this thread. FYI KTHNX.

Comments

Seconded

[hartswood47.livejournal.com]

The sex is lovely and all, but it's gotten to the point that in "Micah" I felt like the whole story was her relationship with Micah and that sex scene and very little solving of mysteries. All the answers to our questions were sort of dumped on us at the end after she woke up in the hospital. Very little foreshadowing/crime solving.

[hartswood47.livejournal.com]

I have to say that out of the books later in the series "Obsidian Butterfly" was my favorite, probably because it was all asskicking and crime solving and no sex. I also wonder if LKH gets a lot of reader feedback complaining about too much sex. Maybe DM will be different because she knows what her readers want. [hopeful]

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I loved OB. Good mystery/Anita on unsolid ground. Plus, Edward.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I'm turning into a waffler. You're right, there was that hypocritical aspect, and the blinders on the world.... I can't say which I prefer because my mind has made the transision from "old Anita" to "new Anita" and there's no going back. Does that make any sense?

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Some of the most "human" characters in the books are the monsters. So it makes sense :)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks! I'm never sure what LKH wants us to think about Richard -- are we, the audience, supposed to be on his side or not? I think that's one of the reasons I find Richard a hard character to "get"

Anita at crime scenes = awesome, no matter what :)

[eavling.livejournal.com]

It disturbs me that I cannot recommend these books to my friends on account of the profusion of gratuitous and overly descriptive sex (which is a novelty in some ways, but is still the subject of nagging by my cultural sensibilities.) I feel embarrased to read the books in public because of the nudity and eroticism of the cover art, (with oldschool, Emily Post style ettiquette looking over my shoulder.) I feel like I'm carrying around a Romance novel ( you know...the ones with a picture of a hulk of a manly man embracing a voluptuous and bodice-clad woman.) Like when I was reading Micah in the bookstore, there was a man on my right and another on my left, and I was desperately trying to hide that damn cover (lovely art, but not my taste in book cover.)

What is interesting to me is that LKH was asked during an Italian interview why her books had so little sex. In her blog, LKH said that that was the first time she had ever been asked that.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point. I found that if I folded over the first cover, it'd only show that leopard print and that was okay. But yeah. I like the hardbacks because I can *remove* the dust jacket.

I find interesting the differences between the European and American views on sex and violence. In Europe, sex on TV, no problem, but the violence is what's censored. Makes sense to me. But that's probably because I'm Canadian.

[denitta.livejournal.com]

I'll start by saying that I don't have so much of a problem with the sex in the books. It's probably because the first LKH book I read was NIC, so I sort of came into the fandom ass-backwards. I had no idea just how many books there were and when I got them, I got them as the local bookstore had them in stock, so my reading of the series was a bit disjointed. I have since read the whole series in order once or twice and am actually in the process of doing so again, and I still like the later books first.

Maybe I'm like a baby duck and I'm just following what I know, but I like the relationships that Anita has developed in the later books, and I "feel" the lack of them in the earlier books, so they're not as much fun for me to read. I can understand others' dislike of the Anita in the later books for her lack of confidence, but I do think that makes her a little more real. I'm a fan of happy endings and the like so when she is with pard and the pack and the vamps and all the friends that she has made over the years through being a ball-busting bitch, I don't have a problem with it. I skim over the sex parts cuz there's only some many ways Part A can fit into Slot B.

I'm intrigued by the spoiler for Danse Macabre, particularly the much-expanded one on her site that takes the scene a bit further. I want to know what what's going on with Dolph and I keep wondering if Harry is going to bring anyone with him when he comes back for Christmas (oops wrong story), but I'm still interested and I don't see that ending any time soon.

[deepfishy.livejournal.com]

Ack, Dolph. Dolph.

*shakes internal spellchecker*

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

Makes perfect sense, and I'm right there with you. I read the first books because of the supernatural crime while hating Anita's personality. I read the later books because she was finally acting like a person, though the crime aspect is diluted with too much porn. Choices, choices.

Do you read Merry Gentry? I find I like that series better. More honest, so to speak. And even if Merry is the biggest MarySue ever, she's at least someone I'd like to spend time with. Anita makes me want to chuck her in a bathtub full of cold water and send her to therapy.

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

Here I hope she isn't because I read the AB books for fantasy, not real life issues. What's appealing about the books is that they are so out there, so surreal. The very thought that's she's pregnant, or possibly so, is so offputting it makes me not want to read the next book. THat's not entertainment for me, that's a bucket of cold water and chucking me right of of the story.

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

LKH has Famous Authors Syndrome, a disease which counts among its victims JKR, the late Patrick O'Brian, and pretty much any major author whose books represent a sizable chunk of his/her publisher's profits. This disease causes the writer's latent dislike/distrust of editors (the old-fashioned term for "paid betas who are very merciless and thorough") to overwhelm his/her common sense, causing them to refuse to let editors do more than correct typos.

There's a reason that Penthouse Forum letters usually feature 'first encounters' between people. It's because, on the printed page at least, the first sexual meeting between two or more people is usually the most interesting, or at least the most sexually charged. Unless there's a particular reason to delineate a sex/love scene in autopsy-like detail -- especially when you've got a character who literally is forced by the ardeur to have sex more often than she goes to the bathroom -- much of the sex scenes in the later books can be dealt with in a paragraph or even a sentence.

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and almost forgot:

((((hug))))

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

Here, here! OB was the best of the bunch, in my opinion. It had plot and Edward and minimal angsting. What's not to love?

[crazy-vasey.livejournal.com]

I like the covers that are in this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841491349/qid=1142437645/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl/202-4564631-4370239) theme. Honestly, I've only ever seen the other covers on the Internet and I don't think I'd dare bring those sort of covers home. My brother would torment me forever for reading kinky romance novels.

[crazy-vasey.livejournal.com]

There's never enough Zerbrowski. Never. Other than that I don't really have any major complaints. I preferred the earlier books before Anita started getting all the funky powers but that's nothing major. Saying that, I've only read the first nine books of the series so far and from what I've heard the sex-obsession starts to really kick in with the next one, which will without a doubt piss me off.

[shallanelprin.livejournal.com]

As a whole, I love the Anita Blake books. Unlike some people I've run across I actually liked ID, but only because of character/relationship development in the Nathaniel area (one of my fave characters). In the next book I wish for more crime solving, more relationship issues, and most of the sex to be 'off-screen'. More plot, less porn. Then I would be a very happy girl.

[uforeah.livejournal.com]

First off let me say that I love the series and since I am pretty much the only person in my circle of people that reads it I spend a lot of time talking to myself about them.

I don't mind the sex, I was surprised that it took so long for it to become a major part of the story because of how sexually charged the books were from the begining. I do however mind that the sex seems nearly rote and I don't like that Anita has a OMGTHATWASAMAZINGNEVERSTOP!!!!!111!!!! orgasm every single time she has any form of sex. Every single time. That's just not very likely for most women out there...like at all.

Also, I don't like that we don't see zombie rasing and the inter office meetings nearly as much. What happened to Manny? He has been gone for a while and that makes me sad.

The biggest thing that bothers me is that until this last book, there was never any mention of Anita's time of the month. I mean when you sleep with vamps and weres both of which are turned on by blood and can sometimes lose control over it, shouldn't that you bleed for several days a month factor in a little? I don't want over sharing about it but it would be interesting to see how they deal with it even just once so we understand.

[shopteacher-guy.livejournal.com]

I think I am one of those sad people who actually find the world of "Inevitable" more interesting than the cannon they come from. NOT all Fan-ficiton mind you but a few authors seem to do more with it. I am reading all the AB books and they are good, but because I came to AB through "Inevitable" I look to THAT as my canon...

[penyn-1600.livejournal.com]

I started reading the AB series with NIC, when Anita was already involved with Jean Claude and Richard and was just getting involved with Micah. You would think, because of that, that I would be more comfortable with the whole multiple relationships thing. Personally, I just find it really complicated and when I read the first couple of books in the series I found it hard to reconcile the old Anita with the new Anita. Anita, no matter what, is tough and doesn't take crap from anyone. But it feels like, in the later books, the LKH has been moving Anita into a direction that I don't think is all that realistic. And its the multiple relationship thing, so much as the sex with random supernatural men that she's not even romantically attached to. That feels sort of out of character and that's make me uncomfortable because I don't like it when a character I like is made to do something that isn't realistically within their personality to do. You know what I mean? I understand her emotional connections to Jean Claude, Richard, Micah, and even Nathaniel. Her being with each of them at the same time isn't a character violation because the fact that she cares about them is within the realm of reality. But the sex with guys that she doesn't even particularly doesn't really feel like something the old Anita or the new Anita would realistically do. So, that kind of bothers me. So, I guess you could say that I don't like the ardeur and don't see the point of it, as far as Anita's character or the plot goes.


And wasn't there a whole the original Mom of the vampires storyline that all of the sudden was brought up and then dropped like a hot potato? Or did I imagine that?

[penyn-1600.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love OB. Great plot-big with the murder mystery and lots of Edward. Good stuff.

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

The thing I most dislike about the later AB books is the whole ardeur plot. Let me start by making a couple of disclaimers. I don't mind sex in books. Hell, I love sex in books. I don't even mind a female character sleeping around with various men (I'm from Holland. We're a liberal bunch here). In fact, the whole Anita wanted to marry Richard before she fucked him plot-line from the earlier books kinda baffled me, but anyway, that's not the point.

What I truly hate about the ardeur plot-line, is that it changes Anita's motivation to have sex. She doesn't want to have sex, she needs to have sex. And on top of that, the ardeur is something that takes away consent. It forces her to have sex, whether she likes to or not. There is nothing romantic or arousing about it, at least not in my book.

Because, you know, something that takes away consent and forces a person to have sex twice a day sounds a lot like rape to me.

I get the feeling that LKH started the AB series and didn't feel comfortable writing sex yet (or publishing it). Then as the series progressed, she discovered this new hobby – writing sex – and wanted to put some in the AB books, but damn, she'd written Anita as a chaste girl who wanted to marry a guy before diving into bed with him. She managed to get her into bed with Jean-Claude, but that's only one vampire and writing only sex scenes for him and Anita would get boring pretty quickly.

So she came up with the worst possible plot in the history of plots: OMG, let's just give her a new power that will force her to have sex with dozens of sexy men!

*headdesks*

That's really how the whole ardeur plot feels to me when I read the books. It's a cheap, easy way to have your characters fuck, and it adds nothing to the plot or character development, because it doesn't really offer the characters a choice. And choices are always more interesting to read about than outside forces.

What I also noticed is that LKH is disabling characters that could possibly call Anita on her sudden change of behavior in the sex department. Edward, who would have a few interesting things to say about recent developments, methinks, hasn't shown up in the last 3 books. Before, we saw him at least every other book, but now he's mysteriously vanished from the planet, or so it seems. And from what I know, he won't show up in DM either.

Dolph. My god, what the hell happened to poor Dolph. I didn't recognize him in CS. Now, I don't want to go tell an author how to write her own character, but damn, LKH really fucked Dolph over in the characterization department. And I think she did it because previously she'd written Dolph as a pretty well-balanced, intelligent guy, who'd definitely have a few (true!) things to say about Anita's behavior.

And then there's Ronnie, who has also mysteriously vanished, mostly, and when she shows up again (in the teaser from DM), she's suddenly jealous of all the sex Anita has with dozens of men. ...Right.

So, to make a long story short: I don't really have a problem with sex in the AB series, but I do have a BIG problem with how the sex is written. And all the angsting Anita does about it. That gets old very, very quickly. Plus the fact that the sex has mostly replaced the plot in the books. I love plot! Gimme back my plot!

And then there's of course the fact that Anita is a blatant Mary Sue, with superpowers (and she gains more every day, or so it seems), and every man she meets adores her and wants to fuck her. Well, every incredibly handsome, cute, well-hung guy she meets. The other guys either vanish (Edward), suffer from character assasination (Dolph), or are the bad guys who want to kill her (and in most of those cases, even the bad guys want to fuck her too).

*sighs*

That just bores me to tears.

At the moment, I'm slugging through Cerulean Sins. I still have about 50 pages to go, but my god, this book is dull. I fear for Incubus Dreams, which I have here on my desk waiting to be read, and I'm not even sure if I'll ever read Micah or Dance Macabre.

I still love plenty of the AB fanfiction out there, but AB canon has lost most of its appeal to me be now.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

It forces her to have sex, whether she likes to or not. There is nothing romantic or arousing about it, at least not in my book.

You have just hit upon a plot angle I am planning to address in a fic-to-be-named-later -- Yes, Anita was having sex with JC and with Richard before the ardeur. She would probably have gotten around to Nathaniel at some point. What she would *not* have done is sleep with stranger-Micah. Or Jason. Or those guys in ID I won't name just in case you get around to reading it. Or, in my opinion, even Asher. I have no problems with the sex -- I just *wish* LKH would have Anita deal with this reversal in her life. Please? Oh well. That's why I write fanfic.

And um, if you loathe the sex, be warned on ID.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

But the sex with guys that she doesn't even
Are you talking about Requiem? All the other guys I can think of are Jason and Asher and Damian.

But I do get your point. LIke I said in my above post, I view the books through the fanfic-writer filter -- I see what fits my plot. And in my plots, I see that Anita's not dealing with this, and she really needs to. Of course, I have her doing just that. Ahem.

oh, the MoaD storyline. I hope LKH is setting that one up for later, because I *really* want to see that villan again.