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A review by myth
Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey
3.0
This isn't the first time I've read this. I went through a craze several years ago where I tried to read everything Mercedes Lackey had ever written, and this one, along with select books out of the Heralds of Valdemar series, is one of the ones that I still like.
The good? It's a portrayal of strong women written in the eighties, when the rapetastic Old Skool romances were still being written (not that they're not being written now, unfortunately, it's just a much less widespread phenomenon. Also, nowadays it is often diluted into stalking/emotional abuse/extreme possessiveness=sexy, which... no. And it often involves the supernatural, maybe in an attempt to justify it in some way? This is a topic for another time)
This book is one of a trilogy, though I think she meant it to be a longer series. They include werewolves and vampires (though the vampires are more psychic vampires than blood-drinking ones. Sort of. It has both, okay?) and witches. A strong heroine, men who don't see it as a problem, men who she is just good friends with, men (or a vampire) who thinks it's sexy as hell. Aztec gods. Loving and longing from a distance. Women who get along. On paper (no pun originally intended)? This book sounds like the best book ever, tailor-made to fit my interests. That's how I feel about a lot of ML's books, actually - in theory, they are perfect.
Because I'm contrary, I of course have some problems with them.
My main problem is that Di is just so damn preachy. About everything. She is the most open-minded person on the planet, and she will tell you so. And that you should be more open-minded. And that your third cousin twice removed should be more open-minded. I am all for open-mindedness. I love open-mindedness. I write entire papers about open-mindedness. But I feel the same way about telling people to be open-minded as I do about Avatar telling people to save the trees, dammit. It doesn't work if you beat them over the head with it, and to those of us who agree with you, it's downright annoying to have it every five pages or so.
Also, Di just bugs me sometimes. I should like her, and often I do, but sometimes I just want to shake her and be like 'stop going on and on about how open-minded you are! Stop being so infernally omniscient! Have a little more difficulty in taking on a freaking god!' (the ironic thing is that ML has Di tell an aspiring writer the same thing in another book)
Oh, and did you notice how often I used italics up there? Was the enforced stress beginning to hurt your brain? Try reading three hundred and twelve pages of it.
I don't remember the other two being like that, and I should probably mention that they were published out of chronological order if you're thinking about picking them up. Burning Water is smack-dab in the middle chronologically but published first, and unfortunately, that reflects poorly on Di, since you can see more development in the first (chronological) one.
Please don't take all of the above as meaning I don't like the book. I do. I wouldn't reread it so many times if I didn't. It's just that Mercedes Lackey almost always does these things, and after a while you begin to sense a pattern. And a little while after that, you begin to wonder why Diana has to be so crazily and amazingly awesome without being shown that she's worked for it while the narrative keeps telling us that it is showing us that she's working for it.
I give it a 3.5/5, partially for nostalgia, partially because it introduced me to Aztec mythology, and partially because it is advertised as a mystery and you do really want to figure out who the hell is killing every-freaking-body.
The good? It's a portrayal of strong women written in the eighties, when the rapetastic Old Skool romances were still being written (not that they're not being written now, unfortunately, it's just a much less widespread phenomenon. Also, nowadays it is often diluted into stalking/emotional abuse/extreme possessiveness=sexy, which... no. And it often involves the supernatural, maybe in an attempt to justify it in some way? This is a topic for another time)
This book is one of a trilogy, though I think she meant it to be a longer series. They include werewolves and vampires (though the vampires are more psychic vampires than blood-drinking ones. Sort of. It has both, okay?) and witches. A strong heroine, men who don't see it as a problem, men who she is just good friends with, men (or a vampire) who thinks it's sexy as hell. Aztec gods. Loving and longing from a distance. Women who get along. On paper (no pun originally intended)? This book sounds like the best book ever, tailor-made to fit my interests. That's how I feel about a lot of ML's books, actually - in theory, they are perfect.
Because I'm contrary, I of course have some problems with them.
My main problem is that Di is just so damn preachy. About everything. She is the most open-minded person on the planet, and she will tell you so. And that you should be more open-minded. And that your third cousin twice removed should be more open-minded. I am all for open-mindedness. I love open-mindedness. I write entire papers about open-mindedness. But I feel the same way about telling people to be open-minded as I do about Avatar telling people to save the trees, dammit. It doesn't work if you beat them over the head with it, and to those of us who agree with you, it's downright annoying to have it every five pages or so.
Also, Di just bugs me sometimes. I should like her, and often I do, but sometimes I just want to shake her and be like 'stop going on and on about how open-minded you are! Stop being so infernally omniscient! Have a little more difficulty in taking on a freaking god!' (the ironic thing is that ML has Di tell an aspiring writer the same thing in another book)
Oh, and did you notice how often I used italics up there? Was the enforced stress beginning to hurt your brain? Try reading three hundred and twelve pages of it.
I don't remember the other two being like that, and I should probably mention that they were published out of chronological order if you're thinking about picking them up. Burning Water is smack-dab in the middle chronologically but published first, and unfortunately, that reflects poorly on Di, since you can see more development in the first (chronological) one.
Please don't take all of the above as meaning I don't like the book. I do. I wouldn't reread it so many times if I didn't. It's just that Mercedes Lackey almost always does these things, and after a while you begin to sense a pattern. And a little while after that, you begin to wonder why Diana has to be so crazily and amazingly awesome without being shown that she's worked for it while the narrative keeps telling us that it is showing us that she's working for it.
I give it a 3.5/5, partially for nostalgia, partially because it introduced me to Aztec mythology, and partially because it is advertised as a mystery and you do really want to figure out who the hell is killing every-freaking-body.