Your favorite is problematic

[bjornwilde]

I don't know if it is my exposure to so many different voices on Tumblr, many of them minorities I never really had exposure to, or if it is simply due to my having read the book several times before, but I am seeing lots of things wrong with Black Blade Blues, the first book in the Sarah Beauhall series.

I remembered the character being a hot mess in the first book, but then, with a lot of character growth, she gets much better. I liked it cause a lot of times in books, the main character is perfect or nearly so. Conflicts tend to come from outside themselves and once in a while, it's good to see someone with big character flaws overcome them.

But looking at the book this time around, I can't help but feel like Sarah is a male power fantasy and not the great female character I first read. Then again, am I any judge as to what a female power fantasy can be?

I still love the series, just seeing it in a clearer light I guess. I must have been distracted by the dragons the first few times I read it.

Next up, the either The Night Circus or Fool's Errand, as I finally start my year of not reading any books written by white men.

Comments

[silveraspen]

Haven't read this series - should I?

And I know I should probably know this, but I cannot for the life of me recall - have you read the Mercedes Thompson series, by Patricia Briggs?

[bjornwilde]

I would say if you like Wager flavored Norse and can put up with a man writing a lesbian couple, who adds some fetishy stuff (S&M dominance games and sex magic) with other characters in later books, then you should read it.

The world is very interesting, dragons secretly ruling the world after having killed the gods in a war, and I love that it's set on the Pacific North West Coast, lots of places around Seattle, but the main character is a hot mess in the first book. She comes from a sever Christian family, like Westboro mixed with some orthodox Mormanism, and struggles with accepting herself and her sexuality because of this (she is gay as well as being a black smith, aka not lady like). Other characters call her on her shit, so there is no door mat or enabling happening, but it is messy...kind of like that paragraph.

I have read the Patricia Briggs, up to Iron Kissed or the one after it. I need to get back and my taking a year off white male authors is the prefect excuse! I can also get back to the Jane Yellowrock series.

ETA: I should clarify that the fetishy stuff happened to secondary characters and not the main couple.