Book Report: Magic Bites

[leahbobet]

(Published in accordance with the Tenets of Book Reporting and the support of Viewers Like You.)


So far this year...

#1 -- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Tombs of Atuan
#2 -- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore
#3 -- Ursula K. Le Guin, Tehanu
Not-#4 -- Neil Gaiman Anansi Boys
#4 -- John Scalzi, The Android's Dream
#5 -- Carrie Vaughn, Kitty Takes A Holiday
#6 -- Caitlin R. Kiernan, Daughter of Hounds
#7 -- Caitlin R. Kiernan, Threshold
#8 -- Catherynne M. Valente, In the Night Garden
#9 -- James Ellroy, The Cold Six Thousand
#10 -- Minister Faust, From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain
#11-17 Ru Emerson, Night-Threads 1-6
#18 -- Louse Cooper, Avatar
#19 -- Meredith Ann Pierce, The Darkangel
#20 -- Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia
#21 -- Richard Peck, Remembering The Good Times
#22 -- Patricia A. McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
#23 -- Nick Mamatas, Under My Roof
#24 -- Christopher Fry, The Lady's Not For Burning
#25 -- Terry Pratchett, Thud!
#26 -- Eliot Fintushel, Breakfast With the Ones You Love
#27 -- Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms
#28 -- Justine Larbalestier, Magic Lessons
#29 -- Holly Black, Tithe


(I will review any of the above here on request, but with a 30-book backlog, I don't think I'm doing them all just to say what I want about this one.)

#30 -- Ilona Andrews, Magic Bites

I am going to be unfair here. Deeply, drastically unfair, and it's doubly unfair because I mostly enjoyed this book. It's a quick little read (little meant literally: it's quite short) that I burned through in one evening before bed and didn't want to put down. It has some interesting worldbuilding used to best advantage, which a lot of people don't do with their worldbuilding, so bravo. It's fast-paced without being contrived, and has interesting characters, and is overall a strong showing for a first novel. I'll be recommending it at work to people who liked the Carrie Vaughn Kitty books and as a shining example of You Too Can Write Urban Paranormal Fantasy Without Bad Sex In! (I hate that).

The reason I am going to be unfair is because it has finally tipped me off as to...well, why I have a problem with Urban Paranormal Fantasy (aside from the bad sex), and thus I am going to use it to illustrate that problem I have with a whole subgenre. Unfair, see? That problem starts with the Everyone Loves Protagonist effect (even when they don't!), leads into how girls and boys are generally treated in Paranormals, and ends up with responsibility.

In Magic Bites, everyone does seem to want Kate. She has an attractive, rich, nice plot point in Dr. Crest, who pursues her sexually for most of the book. She has Curran, who fights with her all the time but kisses her near the end, who tells her his name even though that's Not Done. She has all sorts of men she's getting special treatment from, and my first reaction was OH MY GOD ENOUGH WITH THE ROMANTIC POWERS OF MARY SUE, especially since she spends about every spare second saying "well I might not be pretty but grr at least I'm tough and those 110 -pound girls couldn't kick ass so there humph", which let me tell you gets irritating when the whole book's throwing itself at you, dear. Until I stopped, realized something, and did a Girl Headcount on the book.

Kate's really the only major character who's female. There's Maxine, who's a receptionist and has two scenes or so. There's Anna, her guardian's ex-wife, who likewise has about two mother-figure scenes from afar. There's four girls who are missing and thus cannon fodder (one ends up with her head staked to Kate's lawn). There's Jennifer, who's a werewolf and again, appears for a scene or two to fill function. There's Olanthe, who goes I AM A VAMPIIRE-- and then gets offed in short order (one scene). And there's a smattering of girlfriends, arm candy, and nameless cannon fodder in and around the place. Why's Kate the person we're having a story told about? Because she's the girl who isn't doing a girl job. Gender is really, really fixed in paranormal urban fantasies. One or the other, and there are fixed attributes for being a boy and being a girl.

Kate isn't being A Girl.

Kate's world is quite literally a man's world. No wonder they all want her; every straight paranormal boy in Atlanta's probably hard up due to the scarcity of girls. And...really, this is pretty characteristic of this genre. Women are rare. When they are there, it's as support characters, enemies, or...well, they're not the protagonist. And she's simultaneously a superwoman and not really a woman at all.

Why's she not really a woman? Well, the paranormal, unless you're a witch, is a boy's world full of boys. It's about strength and killing and toughness and how many swords you have and so forth, especially in werewolf books. The protagonist in this subgenre is a woman, but she's tougher than the boys, has more swords, maybe not stronger because we all know about those weak girl arms but knows how to use what she's got, etc. And it makes her even tougher because she's the one woman playing in their sandbox. So she mouths off to them, and we think ooh, tough, and she kills people, and we think ooh, tough, because nobody slaps her down.

She gets away with being a better boy than the boys. Why? Because she's a girl.

Oh yes. Our protagonist is still A Girl. We can tell because of those breasts and hips she keeps denying she has, while every guy in a five-mile radius wants to either screw or parent her depending on their age bracket. And boys are not supposed to hit girls, so the honourable boys in our stories can't deal with her like she's a boy: thus she gets a reputation for toughness and effectiveness, just because the boys won't hit her unless they're The Villain. She's a loner -- remember, not many other girls here, and boys are generally not for friends, they're Other -- so she can't be socially influenced into falling into line. And she has swords and stuff, so they can't treat her like a girl. Our Protagonist gets her reputation, her successes, her...centrality by gender-transgressing but not in a world where you are either A Boy or A Girl. Her peers just don't know how to deal with her. She doesn't fit into their world, and nobody else would think to be both a Boy and a Girl. So she ends up Out-Boying the boys, Out-Girling the girls, and if she's accomplishing more than every other character in the world, she must be...

What? Let's hear it?

Special.

So here's the new theory. The fantasy here isn't about being a capable woman, or a tough one, or anything like that. The fantasy is about Out-Boying the Boys and Out-Girling the Girls and most importantly, getting away with it. Because if you act according to both gender roles, nobody can hold you to account. Nobody can say "you're not acting right" because you're acting right for a boy but you're still retaining the "privileges" of being a girl in this kind of rigid gender role world: you can get sad and faint once you've killed the bad guy. You can accept the protection of the army of boys because there's sexual threat involved and that's what girls do. You can be weak when you want to be loved. You can mouth off, get people killed, screw up your local werewolf hierarchy, and whatnot, because why would you know better? You're a girl. You're a girl, so if you're tough the boys should respect and love you when you fuck up bad. You're getting the privileges of both gender roles and the negatives of neither.

And if nobody can ever hold you to account, you essentially never take a consequence.

The fantasy here, folks, is lack of responsibility for one's actions.


So why did Magic Bites make me think of all this, so I can be unfair to it? Well, it's about responsibility on one level. Kate says a few times she doesn't want to be responsible for others; when she is, she does blow it. The end is someone telling her that this feeling in her gut is being responsible for others and accountable in terms of her actions. She is supposedly reintegrated into society.

But y'know? She's not. Not really. And I don't feel that feeling in her gut.

She didn't learn responsibility, because she didn't take consequences.


So...I liked this book. It was a good read. But I'm not sure how much of this subgenre I'll be able to take in. Because it's someone's world -- I suspect it's the world of the people who used to read period piece romance and admit it or not admit it -- but it's not mine. In my world, there are consequences. Always.

My Mary Sues, my fantasy-projection characters, they are not these. Because I've been the one girl in a group of boys, in a boy-world, and y'know what? Being tough, being mouthy, using your tits as a weapon while denying that they're there?

It doesn't get you respect.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Nice--I use that word in the Austenian sense--observation. (And this character type is not a new one--check out Anybody's in West Side Story)

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I remember her. I recall wanting her to quit hanging around making a fool of herself with her neediness and just go start her own gang already.

Anita and Maria could have joined. I bet Anita knew how to cut a bitch--

*cough*

*stops writing the West Side Story fanfic*

Thank you. :)

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious to hear your take on the Fintushel. I started it, was enjoying it, then suddenly didn't care anymore. Did I miss much?

>You Too Can Write Urban Paranormal Fantasy Without Bad Sex In!

Heh. I keep veering wildly between being delighted that these books exist and being furious that they're rare enough to to be delightful for that alone.

>Kate's really the only major character who's female.

Oh, thanks. I meant to talk about that a little in my writeup and then didn't. It would have been much less thorough than here, so probably just as well.

>The fantasy is about Out-Boying the Boys and Out-Girling the Girls and most importantly, getting away with it.

Spot-on. I don't think the fantasy is lack of consequences for your actions, exactly. Or rather, I think that's one of the fantasies, but not the one at play in what's quoted above. I think the fantasy at play here is not having to choose.

Which I feel like--is related, but not precisely the same thing. One is about consequences for what you do; the other's about consequences for what you are. If that makes any sense outside my head?

I'm not sure I think this analysis is as good a fit for Magic Bites as it is for other examples of the type. Because I do think Kate ran into some consequences (as you say, she blows it) and because--I want to say that doesn't really play the girl card. Though I think your post is really less about what she does (what heroines in general do) than about how the rest of the story-world reacts to them, and that you're on to something there.

I did feel, kind of interestingly (just to me) in the context of this discussion here, that the points where Magic Bites is most inclined to falter--where the pieces feel like they don't fit--are those romance-y bits. I mentioned Crest in my writeup, and I actually...Curran doesn't do anything for me, and the bit with the kiss felt almost out of place. Like the book actually wanted to resist the everyone-wants-her thing, but for whatever reason couldn't get away with it.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Should have been a question mark after that "just to me?"

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Okay, I shall write up the Fintushel today or tomorrow. :)

If that makes any sense outside my head?

It does, entirely. And ties in with the innate magicness, werewolfness, or whatnot of the characters at play thematically: not having to take consequences for being different as well as gendered. A society of differents.

I'm not sure I think this analysis is as good a fit for Magic Bites as it is for other examples of the type.

*nod* I think it was the blatant talk of responsibility that made it click in my head re: the whole subgenre, which is why this all came out now and not with say, Keri Arthur's books or Carrie Vaughn's or Kelly Armstrong's or any other of the subgenre. Although it occurs that this is why I hurled Stolen across the room: "I will be tough until my boyfriend shows up, then I will revert into girl-privileges". Bleh.

that the points where Magic Bites is most inclined to falter--where the pieces feel like they don't fit--are those romance-y bits

Hmm. The whole thing with Crest...I'm not sure why it was there in some ways. I mean, aside from Teaching Kate A Lesson about...where she belongs? Or how her attitude affects others? I'm not sure.

I'm not sure about the Curran kiss either. It didn't fit how they seemed to be working (or fit my suspicions too well -- I groaned audibly). Also, doesn't he have one? Or were werewolves supposed to be poly? I wasn't clear on that. But yes, it seemed...too expected. Pandering.

I really do wish it'd stayed away from the everyone-wants-her. I mean, Jim? Was great.

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

Being tough, being mouthy, using your tits as a weapon while denying that they're there?

It doesn't get you respect.

Yeah. And after a while, it doesn't get you dates. I think men generally don't fawn all over this kind of woman.* (A man would tell you he just doesn't find it attractive. My inner-sexist would tell you that nothing wilts the pecker faster than an intimidating woman.)

One of these days I'd like to see an urban paranormal in which the Mysterious Hot Guy turns out to be a real weenie with misogynist and/or mommy issues.

*This is, of course, a sweeping generality. I married a guy who crushes this stereotpye to dust beneath his less-than-manly sneakers.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

One of these days I'd like to see an urban paranormal in which the Mysterious Hot Guy turns out to be a real weenie with misogynist and/or mommy issues.

Heehee. Write it! Write it!

And yeah, I don't think men like this kind of girl. I suspect the boys who actually want to have relationships and settle down and smooch you with a book on Sundays want someone with less emotional manipulation, more actual substance. And the ones who want flings/pets? Yeah. That wilty bit. *g*

[maradydd.livejournal.com]

So, I work in a boys' world, and I mostly hang out in one, too.

I know women who flaunt their tits and their technical ability at the same time, and mostly it's because they don't have enough technical ability to flaunt on its own. In the end, the lack of technical ability comes back to haunt them, and they end up outing themselves as cockteases, and then they don't get dates anymore. At least not here.

I've stuck with the C++, the LISP, and the biochem-using-common-household-items, and I seem to be happily married and respected within my field. I think what it comes down to is, I decided what game I wanted to play -- the tech game -- and I pumped all the XP into those skills, and that netted me respect from people who also pumped all their XP into those skills. Who are the people I wanted respect from in the first place, so it seems to have worked.

Perhaps the rule of thumb is simply "if you're going to cheat at the game, people will notice and they won't like it."

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine your guy crushing even stereotypes. Maybe he just argued it into submission?

[catrambo.livejournal.com]

Great food for thought here, thank you.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

Mmm, thought. *munch*

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I should write my UPF, because it's not like that.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

You should!

(Is this the one you were doing research for a bit back?)

[mekkavandexter.livejournal.com]

that's a really good point. I am half-way to abandoning the werewolves to rewrite Pea as the nonUF UF, with almost no romance and mostly incapable characters who try really hard.

and i will keep this comment in mind, for sure.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Do not abandon! Finish the wolves first! Rah rah wolves!

[pabba.livejournal.com]

I'd lurve to read your thoughts on Thud! as I'm a big Sam Vimes fan. Pratchett has been doing interesting things with the character in the last few books. I believe he was more of an antagonist in two (Going Postal and Monstrous Regiment). I liked Thud! a lot, but felt that the whole racial war between dwarves and trolls was a bit...meh. Poorly developed over the series? So yeah, gimme some Discworld posts!!!

Oh, not to turn this into my platform...I saw Magic Bites in the store the other day, read the back cover, and decided it just wasn't for me.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I shall write it up today or tomorrow then. :) Granted, it's the first book I read in the Guards storyline (I've only read two Discworld books before it, Mort and The Truth, and was meh on both) and so my perspective on the ongoing storyline will be skewed if it even exists. *g*

I actually do wonder how large of the UPF readership is male. We have a bunch of guys who pick them up at work (one being a weekly regular who has incredibly broad tastes in books and can talk intelligently about all of them, while devouring four paperbacks a week. I like him.) but they're mostly a girl preserve in terms of the store's customer base.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to think if there are any paranormals out there with the woman being a woman. Unfortunately, I think you have to take the kick-ass out of the story to get to that stage--the Sookie Stackhouse books as well as the other series by the author, for example? I'm not sure the females in them are the best model of women (they're kinda 50s-ish women), but they're not being a boy-with-breasts, they stay consistent to themselves, and actually, i think there are other women in the story. I wonder if that's the key bit. Now I have to think about others I've read recently.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Not sure. I don't really read enough paranormals to get a good survey of the field. Did you read Patricia Briggs's ones? I've heard good about those...

[sksperry.livejournal.com]

So basically what you're saying is you read it, liked it, and then you're brain got in the way. *g*

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Heh. Read it, it was okay except something was nagging at me with annoyance. And it was this, and this is why I was annoyed. *g*

[stillsostrange.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I have known a girl for whom the boy's boy/girl's girl swoon-when-boyfriend-arrives thing worked just fine. Sure, eventually she burned all her bridges and had to leave the state, but the tough-but-swoony thing lasted years past its expiration date with 99% of the boys we knew. And I bet half the guys who claim to be sick of her shit would still run sniffing if she blinked at them.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Bleh.

Is this the one who fled for Seattle?

[mmarques.livejournal.com]

Have you tried any of Marjorie Liu's paranormal romances? If you haven't their sort of X-Men / James Bond / romance, and definitely have women being feminine and often more than one strong female (although some are villains).

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

and definitely have women being feminine and often more than one strong female (although some are villains).

Don't mean to pick on this, but part of what I'm objecting to in the UPF worldbuilding is that feminine and strong woman seem to be...well, mutually exclusive.

[phantom_wolfboy]

I'd be very interested in reading your thoughts on Carrie Vaughn in light of this. Cause I just read the first Kitty book and am considering the sequels.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed those books in a similar way as this one: light reads. I take them into the bath when I am feeling sad and stressed and then I feel better. The sequels hold up, although things got a little silly for a while in the third, and they're a hell of a lot more thoughtful than most of the paranormals out there right now.

That being said, I think they do suffer from some of the same syndrome that the rest do, but...very slightly. The strength of Vaughn's stuff, at least by me, is that it seems to be aware in the narrative of the genre conventions it's working with. And will occasionally snark them, or undermine them, or tip them a nod as it goes. Which went a long way, at least with me, to making the people populating those books feel a hell of a lot more like people.

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Hey there. :)

No problem -- I know it must be awkward at best when it's your own book that's the jumping-off point for a discussion of a whole genre's ways and means (sorry. I tried to write it up without the specific reference and examples, and it just...well, didn't make the point). I do want to reiterate that I did enjoy the read, and look forward to the second.

As for the books, well...working on them. *g*

Thanks for stopping by!

[tacithydra.livejournal.com]

I would sing and dance with joy if you did #3!

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I shall do so, then!