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Hexed (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #2)
by Kevin Hearne (Goodreads Author)
by Kevin Hearne (Goodreads Author)
Valerie's review
bookshelves: read-in-2011
Nov 01, 11
bookshelves: read-in-2011
Read from October 31 to November 01, 2011 — I own a copy
I'd like to think I tolerated a lot. Atticus' Gary-Stuness, his talent of getting away from danger every single time, the fact that an omg scarily powerful!!!! fallen angel was no match for him (and oh hey, it pierced his side to the point where he felt the claws "scrape by his ribs" - and after the battle was finished, all he had was a "flesh wound"). The veiled sexism (covered very well in this review, which gave me a Bad Feeling before starting this): every woman is introduced by how attractive she is. The completely out of place snark on public schools. The Morrigan healing his ear with magical healing sex. Brighid coming by immediately after that, burning his kitchen, and then sitting through a three- or four-page scene wherein he subdued her, lectured her on why that was wrong, and made her apologize. Remember, this is an Irish goddess we're talking about here.
It's a short book, so I kept going.
p. 203:
"Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune!" I cried with all the venom of Charlton Heston.
< What's a strumpet? > Oberon asked.
"It's a Shakespearean word for whore."
...
< Who'd you call a strumpet? >
"Fortune. It's a quote from Hamlet. The idea is that Fortune is fickle or unfaithful, like a whore."
... Okay. Well. That made me uncomfortable, but I guess that's... accurate... ? Kept going.
And then he encounters the Bad Witches. Okay. Pages 212-213:
They looked like they wanted to be Pat Benatar. Or maybe Joan Jett. They wore form-fitting black leather pants with boots rising to mid-calf, spaghetti-strap black camisoles barely restraining the sort of epic chests one finds in comic books
Bolded text is when I snapped and threw the book at the wall. I don't think I've ever done that before.
You know what, I don't give out one-star reviews very often. And this was a series I really, really wanted to like - I thought the first book was pretty cool, with a few issues, but was assured that those problems were resolved. (They're not.) And maybe it's unfair that I'm giving a one-star review to something I haven't finished - maybe those last eighty pages are pretty good! But at this point, I do not care. This has crossed the point from being funny to grossing me out.
I might revise this when I've cooled off a little. Maybe I'll pick it up, and if the ending's to my liking, raise it to two stars. But I'm not exactly hopeful.
eta: Finished it, it never got better. Dropping this series.
edit 4/24/12: Shoot, Goodreads ate the Oberon quotes between the brackets - added spaces to make them visible.
It's a short book, so I kept going.
p. 203:
"Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune!" I cried with all the venom of Charlton Heston.
< What's a strumpet? > Oberon asked.
"It's a Shakespearean word for whore."
...
< Who'd you call a strumpet? >
"Fortune. It's a quote from Hamlet. The idea is that Fortune is fickle or unfaithful, like a whore."
... Okay. Well. That made me uncomfortable, but I guess that's... accurate... ? Kept going.
And then he encounters the Bad Witches. Okay. Pages 212-213:
They looked like they wanted to be Pat Benatar. Or maybe Joan Jett. They wore form-fitting black leather pants with boots rising to mid-calf, spaghetti-strap black camisoles barely restraining the sort of epic chests one finds in comic books
Bolded text is when I snapped and threw the book at the wall. I don't think I've ever done that before.
You know what, I don't give out one-star reviews very often. And this was a series I really, really wanted to like - I thought the first book was pretty cool, with a few issues, but was assured that those problems were resolved. (They're not.) And maybe it's unfair that I'm giving a one-star review to something I haven't finished - maybe those last eighty pages are pretty good! But at this point, I do not care. This has crossed the point from being funny to grossing me out.
I might revise this when I've cooled off a little. Maybe I'll pick it up, and if the ending's to my liking, raise it to two stars. But I'm not exactly hopeful.
eta: Finished it, it never got better. Dropping this series.
edit 4/24/12: Shoot, Goodreads ate the Oberon quotes between the brackets - added spaces to make them visible.
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Reading Progress
| 10/31/2011 | page 55 |
|
19.0% | |
| 10/31/2011 | page 149 |
|
51.0% | "Hm." |
| 11/01/2011 | page 215 |
|
73.0% | "picked this up after throwing it against the wall and came across Oberon going "Can I bite them on their giant boobs?" oh my GOD this is TERRIBLE" |
Comments (showing 1-2 of 2) (2 new)
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But what about Granuaile, who Atticus consistently praises for her intelligence and quick-thinking? Malina, who is respected for her magical prowess? Laksha and the Morrigan who have complete control over their sexual identity and bodies? Just because a woman's form and the character's attraction to her is mentioned doesn't mean the author is sexist. He's using a lot of female characters very different from each other, and not one is a bimbo, not one can be considered a damsel... I think he did much better in this book developing secondary characters than he did in Hounded.
Guess I'm no better in the generalization department, but in this case, I'm sticking with it.