I know I've said it before but while in general I am a fan of the fact that romantasy as a genre exists, and popular culture is finally acknowledging that women get horny and like sex, I wish it didn't mean formulaic heterosmut now has to be shoehorned...
-
I know I've said it before but while in general I am a fan of the fact that romantasy as a genre exists, and popular culture is finally acknowledging that women get horny and like sex, I wish it didn't mean formulaic heterosmut now has to be shoehorned into every damn fantasy book with a female protagonist out there.
-
I know I've said it before but while in general I am a fan of the fact that romantasy as a genre exists, and popular culture is finally acknowledging that women get horny and like sex, I wish it didn't mean formulaic heterosmut now has to be shoehorned into every damn fantasy book with a female protagonist out there.
Female protagonist with a personality and agency? Brilliant! Complex world building and magic system? A universe where the fundamental rules of reality are different and a puzzle to work out, but human motivations are the same? I love that shit. But then the first guy shows up with features so delicate they would almost appear feminine were it not for the intensity of his aquamarine gaze and my heart sinks.
-
Female protagonist with a personality and agency? Brilliant! Complex world building and magic system? A universe where the fundamental rules of reality are different and a puzzle to work out, but human motivations are the same? I love that shit. But then the first guy shows up with features so delicate they would almost appear feminine were it not for the intensity of his aquamarine gaze and my heart sinks.
And then the second one shows up with raven locks and solidly muscled thighs and it's game over really. And the elegant sophisticated noble one treats her with snobbery and disdain, and the rugged one with the muscles that are definitely not liquid, gas or plasma has an issue with magic so doesn't respect her chosen profession, and the fact that both of them treat her like dicks only serves to make her fantasise about them more for some inexplicable reason.
-
And then the second one shows up with raven locks and solidly muscled thighs and it's game over really. And the elegant sophisticated noble one treats her with snobbery and disdain, and the rugged one with the muscles that are definitely not liquid, gas or plasma has an issue with magic so doesn't respect her chosen profession, and the fact that both of them treat her like dicks only serves to make her fantasise about them more for some inexplicable reason.
But it's okay because they both have tragic backstories, which excuses them being arseholes to her instead of getting therapy so they don't take out their issues on random women on quests that they stumble across. Seriously women, however driven or fully written, being responsible for fixing men who haven't done any emotional work on themselves has to be one of my least favourite tropes in fiction.
-
But it's okay because they both have tragic backstories, which excuses them being arseholes to her instead of getting therapy so they don't take out their issues on random women on quests that they stumble across. Seriously women, however driven or fully written, being responsible for fixing men who haven't done any emotional work on themselves has to be one of my least favourite tropes in fiction.
Seriously, it's 2025. Mainstream genre fiction has finally acknowledged that women enjoy sex. We haven't quite got as far as accepting that women have vulvas rather than "slick folds", but I'm optimistic. If we could bury this idea that being treated disdainfully is a massive turn on that would be great.
-
Seriously, it's 2025. Mainstream genre fiction has finally acknowledged that women enjoy sex. We haven't quite got as far as accepting that women have vulvas rather than "slick folds", but I'm optimistic. If we could bury this idea that being treated disdainfully is a massive turn on that would be great.
I just want to shake the heroine and tell her to fuck one, fuck both of them if she wants and get it out of her system. And then go and find a nice guy who talks to her respectfully, takes responsibility for his moods and actually respects her chosen career which is clearly very important to her.
-
I just want to shake the heroine and tell her to fuck one, fuck both of them if she wants and get it out of her system. And then go and find a nice guy who talks to her respectfully, takes responsibility for his moods and actually respects her chosen career which is clearly very important to her.
But ideally she should defer finding him for a bit because her 21st birthday is in 3 weeks now, at which point the curse will claim her magic. And magic is clearly very important to everything she values in life or she wouldn't have started on this quest in the first place and OH MY GOD WOMAN why are you wasting so much time lusting over a monosyllabic lump of muscular concrete and an upper class prat with eyes like Paul Hollywood???
-
But ideally she should defer finding him for a bit because her 21st birthday is in 3 weeks now, at which point the curse will claim her magic. And magic is clearly very important to everything she values in life or she wouldn't have started on this quest in the first place and OH MY GOD WOMAN why are you wasting so much time lusting over a monosyllabic lump of muscular concrete and an upper class prat with eyes like Paul Hollywood???
So, updates: Brickhouse McHardAbs has been knocked off his horse, causing his kilt to ride up and revealing both the corded muscle of his thighs and the fact that the author clearly has a thing for men who don't skip leg day. I have to give her credit for gender flipping a trope more commonly associated with anime girls in pleated skirts though.
-
So, updates: Brickhouse McHardAbs has been knocked off his horse, causing his kilt to ride up and revealing both the corded muscle of his thighs and the fact that the author clearly has a thing for men who don't skip leg day. I have to give her credit for gender flipping a trope more commonly associated with anime girls in pleated skirts though.
I must confess there are two wolves inside me at the moment, one of whom wants to continue reading out of spite and the other of whom is reminding me that I only have so many reading hours in this my one and only life and I could be spending them reading far better books than this. For the moment though I'm glad spite is winning because in a twist I didn't see coming our apparent hero has fucked off to attend to his brooding and manly affairs somewhere else.
-
I must confess there are two wolves inside me at the moment, one of whom wants to continue reading out of spite and the other of whom is reminding me that I only have so many reading hours in this my one and only life and I could be spending them reading far better books than this. For the moment though I'm glad spite is winning because in a twist I didn't see coming our apparent hero has fucked off to attend to his brooding and manly affairs somewhere else.
He and our heroine shared a moment when their hands touched and their eyes met while repairing a torn map together by candlelight, but this nascent intimacy was shattered when she discovered that this man (who I feel even the most inattentive reader must have noticed is more muscular than average by now, there really is no need to keep going on about) had prevented his ten year old sister from learning she had magical talent to protect her, adding paternalism and gaslighting to his many flaws
-
He and our heroine shared a moment when their hands touched and their eyes met while repairing a torn map together by candlelight, but this nascent intimacy was shattered when she discovered that this man (who I feel even the most inattentive reader must have noticed is more muscular than average by now, there really is no need to keep going on about) had prevented his ten year old sister from learning she had magical talent to protect her, adding paternalism and gaslighting to his many flaws
She has now convinced him to leave the sister in her care by swearing not to teach her magic and then immediately started to teach her magic, which counts as one of the most sensible decisions she's made so far. If I'm lucky he won't come back.
-
She has now convinced him to leave the sister in her care by swearing not to teach her magic and then immediately started to teach her magic, which counts as one of the most sensible decisions she's made so far. If I'm lucky he won't come back.
There's also a ghost now. I don't think she wants to fuck the ghost.
-
There's also a ghost now. I don't think she wants to fuck the ghost.
Anyway lunchbreak was abruptly curtailed by the need to rescue a colleague. Further updates if and when I can summon the will to keep reading.
-
Anyway lunchbreak was abruptly curtailed by the need to rescue a colleague. Further updates if and when I can summon the will to keep reading.
Right, updates. I thought for a moment I'd managed to leave the blasted book at work on Friday, but no such luck.
-
Right, updates. I thought for a moment I'd managed to leave the blasted book at work on Friday, but no such luck.
In the absence of either romantic lead, some actual plot happened. A portal was discovered, wards were scrutinised, new lore was dropped. Magic lessons were given, and little sister turned out to be a magical prodigy because of course she did. The white shape in the woods (which may not after all be a ghost, but I still don't think she wants to fuck whatever it is) flitted about portending things portentously
-
In the absence of either romantic lead, some actual plot happened. A portal was discovered, wards were scrutinised, new lore was dropped. Magic lessons were given, and little sister turned out to be a magical prodigy because of course she did. The white shape in the woods (which may not after all be a ghost, but I still don't think she wants to fuck whatever it is) flitted about portending things portentously
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and she decided to go and catch up with love interest number one of the piercing eyes, which were blue earlier but are apparently now an icy silver. On reaching his castle she was immediately accosted by one of his minions for no particularly clear reason, but when all hope seemed lost he showed up to the rescue and as the last scion of a powerful magical dynasty force choked him to death with swift brutality
-
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and she decided to go and catch up with love interest number one of the piercing eyes, which were blue earlier but are apparently now an icy silver. On reaching his castle she was immediately accosted by one of his minions for no particularly clear reason, but when all hope seemed lost he showed up to the rescue and as the last scion of a powerful magical dynasty force choked him to death with swift brutality
She is frightened by how powerful he reveals himself to be, and this would be an excellent place to have a discussion about how fear and arousal can produce confusingly similar physiological reactions but being scared of someone is never a healthy basis for a relationship, and how patriarchy tells women they have to find a strong and violent man to protect them against other strong and violent men but it's their fault if that man turns that violence on them.
-
She is frightened by how powerful he reveals himself to be, and this would be an excellent place to have a discussion about how fear and arousal can produce confusingly similar physiological reactions but being scared of someone is never a healthy basis for a relationship, and how patriarchy tells women they have to find a strong and violent man to protect them against other strong and violent men but it's their fault if that man turns that violence on them.
But that discussion doesn't happen. Instead he tells her how she was nothing before she had him as a patron but he saw and believed in her potential right from the start, and then shows her her reflection in a mirror where she sees herself looking confident, powerful and beautiful in spite of having spent the past hour being either terrified or relentlessly negged.
-
But that discussion doesn't happen. Instead he tells her how she was nothing before she had him as a patron but he saw and believed in her potential right from the start, and then shows her her reflection in a mirror where she sees herself looking confident, powerful and beautiful in spite of having spent the past hour being either terrified or relentlessly negged.
I mean there's not noticing red flags, and then there's gleefully and determinedly swimming out towards the centre of the riptide in a typhoon while the RNLI circle you and holler at you through megaphones
-
I mean there's not noticing red flags, and then there's gleefully and determinedly swimming out towards the centre of the riptide in a typhoon while the RNLI circle you and holler at you through megaphones
Anyway fortunately at that point the moor catches fire.
