Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey

1 review

litalia's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Book one of my decide-if-I-still-like-my-Mercedes-Lackey-books-enough-to-keep-them-on-my-shelves project and I have some seriously mixed feelings.

On the one hand, once I got into the book, I really enjoyed the stories - I like fantasy books that aren't about the end of the world! 

On the other hand...
  • The short story that started the story isn't in this book - getting into the beginning of the book is hard.
  • It's a collection of short stories not billed as a collection of short stories - lots of repetition and minimal overarching plot
  • For some reason, we get the whole setup to a situation, then the situation is resolved off screen. This happens repeatedly. Why??!?
  • There's something uncomfortably male-gaze-y about how the female protagonists are described (repeatedly, due to aforementioned short story situation - it probably would bother me less if it had been once at the beginning of the book).
  • Rape. A) there's a lot. B) 
    The up-until-then-not-at-all-morally-grey protagonists decide to punish a rapist and murderer by arranging for him to be gang raped to death. This is presented as just.
  • Body swapping
    A male character is magically transformed into a female body against his will. It is not handled well.
  • Asexuality. I've seen several reviews praising this book for being early ace representation, and I suppose it is, but I was uncomfortable with how it was presented. Tarma is more accurately described as celibate than ace - she wasn't ace to begin and gave up her sexuality in exchange for power from her goddess. It felt like being asexual was presented as giving something important up, rather than just a normal way to be.
    Oh, and the ace character gets gang raped. Because of course she does. On the plus side, while she worries about this breaking her vow of celibacy to her goddess, it does not.
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