Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Fool Moon

This is a bit of a rant. Usually I write reviews in my mother language, but when I rant, I do it in English (I have no idea why). First, I want to get something out of the way, the plot of this book is interesting, the mystery is good, the battles (these are small scale) are good. I liked all of that, but I can’t give this book more than 2.5 stars. That’s because the treatment of female characters is not anywhere near good. Yes, there are several female characters, some strong and with strong personalities. This could have been really good, BUT the OBJECTIFYING of those female characters is bad, really bad. I don’t think there were many scenes with female characters in the whole book where their appearance has not been addressed and referenced in some way. Every conversation, conflict, interaction of any sorts involving female characters had some remark about long legs, or sexy lips, or cute nose, or boobs, etc. All of those remarks had ZERO contribution to the scenes. They added nothing to plot, mystery, character, anything. As a woman, through the whole book I was trying to be patient, to let it slide because I liked the story, even if those remarks made me really uncomfortable. But when it came to the main conflict of the book, the culmination of the story, I could no longer ignore it and it pissed me off. It offended me not only as a woman but also as a reader. There was the protagonist, Dresden, finally confronting the antagonists in a desperate battle and through the whole scene Butcher kept making references to a female antagonist’s boobs. Here I was trying to feel immersed in the conflict but the tension was completely undermined by the several boob descriptions. My logic thinking could not forgive that someone faced with imminent death, outnumbered, outpowered, with the lives of others also on the line would have the time and the mind to focus on the opponent’s boobs…several times.
As it is, I can’t give it a higher rating, specially since it was a disappointment for me. I really enjoyed Storm front and I was really intrigued by Fool Moon’s plot. Considering this I will continue with the series in hopes that Butcher’s writing will evolve when it comes to female characters.

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