Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson #3) Patricia Briggs

[rolanni]

The advertent auditor of this journal will have noticed that I keep a "books read" list. Mostly, this is for my own information, to prove to myself that I am too reading, at least a little. I rarely comment on the books, because I learned when I was working for SFWA that commenting truthfully on novels written by people I know was more likely to get me grief than not, and, thanks to the SFWA job, I know an awful lot of fantasy and science fiction writers.

That said, there was a conversation the other day regarding the third book in Patricia Brigg's Mercedes Thompson series, Iron Kissed. It seems that the excellent buymeaclue had some issues with the third book, and the question was asked what I thought.

I have not read buymeaclue's commentary, and don't intend to. What I think is that the [spoilery thing] of which I understand she complains, and its aftermath is handled appropriately and believably for this reader. The book was not a warm and cozy read, but the [spoilery thing] worked on the storytelling level (again) for me. As always, YMMV. If you are a person who believes that fiction must never use violence against women as a "plot device," then you might not want to read this book; it'll only get your politics in an uproar.

What I understand to be a secondary beef regarding the structure of the werewolf pack and the peculiar powers of the pack Alpha -- these things were set up very clearly and maintained consistently from early in the first book. If a reader of the series managed to get to Book Three only then to be offended by the pack social structure, well...sometimes we don't read as carefully as we ought.

Comments

[growlycub.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any of the books and don't plan to since the genre isn't my cup of tea, but I've seen so much discussion on this particular book I can't but help voice the following question:

If the main character had been male instead of female, would the author still have decided that a rape was the only plot device to bring him out of his shell?

If the answer to that is yes, then the use of rape as a plot device is justified, but if the answer would be no, then I have to ask: if the desired/necessary character development could be achieved in different ways for a male, why were those different ways not available for a female protagonist?

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

My feeling is the nature of the rape. It is less about her body and more about her mind. And yes, Patty's found ways to do 'rape' to men. Perhaps not in the traditional way, but she's found the worst thing that can happen to them to make them vulnerable and incapable and then hurt them a lot. It's hard to explain without you reading it, but the thing about this is that Patty dealt with this in a truly individual way--individual to the characters (both rapist and victim). It fit. Crap. I am not explaining this well. Sorry.