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A review by tempscire
A Dream of Stone & Shadow by Marjorie Liu
1.0
I'm not marking spoilers because the plot points I discuss are predictable as hell in the first place. FYI.
I tried. I gave another shot to the Dirk & Steele series because ooh, a gargoyle (thanks, 90s childhood! You know exactly what I mean.) but this novella had all the same dumb things that drove me crazy in Tiger Eye. I just can't with instant-love, for one thing, nor the way the characters are all about Forever! after no time at all. Other parallels to the couple from Tiger Eye: male lead trapped by magic-user; male lead with tri-colored hair (!!! Is this an author kink?
Plot-wise, cribbing from one of my status updates: You know, this little girl is being repeatedly raped to produce child porn, and Charlie has found people who could help but doesn't think they're good enough because he wants to find someone who loves the little girl, too. WHAT THE FUCK kind of "hero"/protagonist is that? It feels like the schmaltzy sappy kind of thing that the first editor to glance this way should slap the author for not thinking about more than half a second. "Okay, I see that he loves this little girl, but...shouldn't he show that by rescuing her by any means?"
Ah, another goodie: "That's a patronizing hotel. But I guess someone has to try telling the reader how Aggie is being totes brave by walking around people-watching Glasgow at all hours for a month. And I'm sure that a nice hotel in a major city had neeeever had young lady guests do such crazy things before! Heroine so speshul." I know there are a lot of arguments about the concept and definition of "Mary Sue" characters, but seriously, 2 for 2 with Liu's romantic heroines.
You know, why are romantic leads always so samey? You can't set people up as the best, truest, loveliest, etc in a series where every book's heroine is, in the scope of that plot, the best, truest, etc. What makes them the best for that one love interest? Who knows, they've already fallen into infinite love that surpasses all loves in the span of two days. (And no, I don't consider willingness to blow a tiger or find a humanish gargoyle attractive to be stunningly unique qualities.)
I tried. I gave another shot to the Dirk & Steele series because ooh, a gargoyle (thanks, 90s childhood! You know exactly what I mean.) but this novella had all the same dumb things that drove me crazy in Tiger Eye. I just can't with instant-love, for one thing, nor the way the characters are all about Forever! after no time at all. Other parallels to the couple from Tiger Eye: male lead trapped by magic-user; male lead with tri-colored hair (!!! Is this an author kink?
Plot-wise, cribbing from one of my status updates: You know, this little girl is being repeatedly raped to produce child porn, and Charlie has found people who could help but doesn't think they're good enough because he wants to find someone who loves the little girl, too. WHAT THE FUCK kind of "hero"/protagonist is that? It feels like the schmaltzy sappy kind of thing that the first editor to glance this way should slap the author for not thinking about more than half a second. "Okay, I see that he loves this little girl, but...shouldn't he show that by rescuing her by any means?"
Ah, another goodie: "That's a patronizing hotel. But I guess someone has to try telling the reader how Aggie is being totes brave by walking around people-watching Glasgow at all hours for a month. And I'm sure that a nice hotel in a major city had neeeever had young lady guests do such crazy things before! Heroine so speshul." I know there are a lot of arguments about the concept and definition of "Mary Sue" characters, but seriously, 2 for 2 with Liu's romantic heroines.
You know, why are romantic leads always so samey? You can't set people up as the best, truest, loveliest, etc in a series where every book's heroine is, in the scope of that plot, the best, truest, etc. What makes them the best for that one love interest? Who knows, they've already fallen into infinite love that surpasses all loves in the span of two days. (And no, I don't consider willingness to blow a tiger or find a humanish gargoyle attractive to be stunningly unique qualities.)