[Book Reviews] Werewolf Marines

[thewronghands]

Still way behind on book reviews (I have an entire list open in another tab), but these two books were so unusual that they deserve their own post. I spent a lot of last week babysitting *nix installs, which has long periods of waiting in it. I learned through Sherwood Smith's blog that her co-author on their recent book, the "Yes Gay YA" one,

Comments

[haikujaguar]

I thought the books were charming, but the cliffhanger thing with one of the books made me decide to hold off on recommending them.

[thewronghands]

Which one did you read first? I read "Prisoner" first, so reading "Laura's Wolf" felt like I was getting more story in the same vein, even though it was about supporting characters.

[haikujaguar]

I did the same order! But the cliffhanger on Prisoner was still galling, particularly since I don't know how fast the author writes. I don't mind cliffhangers in authors who are putting out 2+ books a year. Authors who don't write that quickly (or whose writing speed I don't know), I am a lot less easy to woo. -_-

Your comment about revising your idea that you liked romance... that was illuminating! Thank you for mentioning it! It has caused me to have all the thinky thoughts. :)

[thewronghands]

Over here she says she's hoping for a January release for the sequel, so, if that happens that would be satisfying to me. Here's hoping! [sends her tea]

You are so often helpfully thought provoking for me; I am pleased to return the favor!

[tylik]

"...or stupid fights for dominance which make me roll my eyes..."

Because werewolves must have the social dynamics of an amped up pack of chimpanzees!! (I find this offensive on multiple fronts.)

[thewronghands]

Heh. It is pretty Monkey Dance, now that you mention it. But I think a lot of the offputtingness is that it is so often literally a patriarchy story. MY MATE. MY LAND. I AM THE BESTEST FIGHTER. RAAR. And everyone else just kind of has to live with the results, which don't have a thing to do with anything beyond ego and might makes right. That's not a story I can get all vested in; too depressingly reminiscent of crappy things that actually happen. I want a different world than that.

[tylik]

Also, the alpha / beta whathaveyou dynamic that the overwhelming majority of werewolve pack dynamics seem to be predicated on is increasingly not considered to be a valid model of actual wolf behavior, but is, as I understand it, fairly close to how chimpanzee group dynamics are actually described. (Is this actually more accurate? No clue.)

I tend to find this most irritating when it intersects with societal models of masculinity, because most dominant = most desirable (and generally most possessive). And I usually want to start stabbing everyone involved about then. Well, okay, no, but I probably would if they tried to get any of it on me.

Seriously, I think in another few decades people are going to do their doctoral dissertations on negotiating femininity as viewed through the lens of paranormal romance. (And don't even get me started on vampire politics, which is often amazingly similar considering that it's supposed to be All Different And Stuff.)

[misslynx]

Yes! This is something that really aggravates me in werewolf fiction too. I could more or less cope with the non-stop alpha-beta-pack-hierarchy-rarr-rarr-rarr stuff back when I thought it was more or less a reflection of actual wolf behaviour - though I did wish that once in a while there might be a book where the protagonist and/or protagonist's love interest was NOT the alpha, or that other types of shape-changers than wolves might get a little more attention, in part so that we'd get some different kinds of social dynamics. But when I found out that that whole model is based on outdated research and doesn't really reflect how packs work at all, my tolerance for it dropped by a lot.

I was quite delighted when, some while back, author jimhines was contemplating writing a werewolf book and began by posting an open invitation in his LJ for fans to tell him what tropes, tendencies, etc. they found most annoying in werewolf fiction and never wanted to see again, so that he could avoid them. Would that more authors did that...

[hsifyppah]

Ooh, have you read The Silvered, by Tanya Huff? It also has, basically, werewolf marines. I loved it.

[thewronghands]

I have not but I have liked other books of hers! I'll check it out, thanks!