Vaginal Fantasy Book Club discussion
May 2014: Hunter's Claim
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WTF did I just read?: Hunter's Claim (Spoilers)
Did anyone else find Hunter really, really creepy?I admit that I'm struggling to get through the book. I'm at 25% right now and am finding Hunter's perspective quite disturbing. Sure, he's an alien and he has that whole "animal" thing going for him, but it's not making for an enjoyable read.
Sentences like:
- "He knew how devious women could be"
- "He was at her mercy and that did not sit well with him as either a male, or a Trivator warrior."
- "Frustration gnawed at him, he wanted to get the female alone. It had been a long time since he had relieved himself with a living female."
- "He was going to strangle the female when he found her. Then he was going to strangle her sisters."
- "His seed was to be given only to the female. It was his gift to her. Jesse had rejected that gift when she ran away.”
... are really making me feel uncomfortable and worried for Jesse.
Jesse has been struggling to survive with her sisters for years because of the alien invasion, and Hunter can’t seem to understand why she wouldn’t want to stay with him. Being bonded to him without her consent must be terrifying for Jesse, yet all he can think about is her rejection of his “gift”.
I’m genuinely a bit concerned as to how this situation turns into a romance… I really don’t like where it’s heading. But maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit?
Come on... it's super romantic to be referred to as, 'the female.' ;)
Hannah wrote: "Come on... it's super romantic to be referred to as, 'the female.' ;)"... and every gal dreams of the gift of "seed".
Hi all, I'm only new to the group and I haven't even intro'd myself yet coz I'm super slack like that, but I just had to jump in on this one. I agree with everything said so far! This was so bad that I had to like it. I imagined the aliens as Thundercats, never saw the Na'vi until someone mentioned it and now that's all I can see lol. Now, I can't get Erin's "Amate means family" saying out of my head.
I think I'll just agree with all of the wisdom that has already been said in this thread and end with this book being like a train wreck for me, no matter how bad it got, I just couldn't seem to take my eyes off it....thank goodness I only wasted $4 on this one lol.
Alicia wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Come on... it's super romantic to be referred to as, 'the female.' ;)"
... and every gal dreams of the gift of "seed"."
...and here I thought it was just me!
Hunter reminded me more of a dog than a cat. Protective, loyal, not to bright but skilled. And, oh so pretty. Women have done worse in the husband department. It wasn't his stimulating conversation skills that drew Jesse in.
So much all of these things.It seemed incredibly insulting that Earth was attacked or the aliens arrived, or whatever the catalyst was (still unsure on that front), and immediately the men became rape monsters. When I read that avoiding rape was Jesse's main concern, my first thought was, "Great, another threat of rape towards women to prove their strength. Love it." My second thought was, "Just what all men are waiting for—an excuse to rape indiscriminately." Why is it that the women in this new age of unrest are worried about their physical safety and staying fed, but the men are just like, "Where can I find a vagina? Even an unwilling one?" Priorities at the end of the world, man.
As you all have already mentioned, the lack of world building...I just can't even.
There was a lot of "telling" instead of "showing" in this book. I noted this especially during moments like the at least two times that someone asked Jesse, "You're really stubborn, aren't you?" It just felt so false. Same with the emphasis on her having to be the "mother" to Jordan and Taylor. That particular phrase was repeated at least four times. Another telling rather than showing moment, Taylor telling Hunter to take care of her sister or that her sister needs him...I think there was a real opportunity lost to build that relationship between the youngest sister and her mandatory brother-in-law. That could have been a really tender, joking, lovely relationship, but there was no development of it whatsoever. It just seemed to appear.
Was it just me or did Taylor oftentimes use phrasing and was even treated younger than 15? Maybe it's because the aliens came four years ago, so she would have been 11? Some kind of arrested development? And the fact that Jesse calls her "Squirt"?
I have to say, if I was one of Jesse's younger sisters, I would have found her extremely condescending. Maybe it's because I am often contrary just to be contrary, but the constant emphasis on having to take care of her sisters. Get over yourself, maybe? Again with Jesse calling her sister Squirt. As a fifteen year old, that would have irritated the hell out of me, even and especially with such turmoil in my life.
Also, as soon as we knew Jesse was pregnant, I highlighted and noted, "Dollars to donuts, it's a boy to emphasize Hunter's virility." Because that just seemed so in line with the misogynistic society that was happening.
Jordan wrote: "So much all of these things.It seemed incredibly insulting that Earth was attacked or the aliens arrived, or whatever the catalyst was (still unsure on that front), and immediately the men became rape monsters..."
That really bothered me. I like to think society would last maybe a week after first contact before imploding, not totally collapse within 24 hours.
Yeah, the whole rape society thing bothered me too.You know what I just noticed? The whole "he needed to claim her to get her medical help" plot point stands on very wobbly legs. Didn't Jesse note that the aliens were giving out food and medicine, going as far as to leave it in special dead drops for people that didn't trust them enough to ask them for help? Why would benevolent aliens like that refuse to help three sick girls unless one of them was married to Hunter? Am I missing something here?
Felicia wrote: "FOR THE RECORD, Gann was Veronica's first choice for next month, and I felt that the rape themes would be a bad followup given last month's choices. SO just defending her a little haha"No defence needed for the book choice. Pity though. I just think its preferable to read about rape when its openly treated as rape rather than dancing around rape treated as "rapey" or a throw away plot point and all the other things everyone complains about.
As for the quality of the writing and story...oi... the things you 4 put us through! I was going to read it while standing in the queue to vote today, but decided I'm not that much of a masochist :)
Frakki wrote: "- the song "Every Sperm Is Sacred"And... now I'm picturing the cast of Monty Python dressed in Thundercats costumes. Casting sorted!
Just started reading the alt pick - and boy is it in a different league from this one. And now that I've checked the page count - waaay in a different league. Though not just because of that... /goes to look for the alt pick thread
... I just realized I'm not reading the alt pick. Somehow I got it in my head that The Last Hour of Gann was our alt pick. Sooo disregard my previous post :)
I knew what I was in for when I read (on my version’s page 21) the sentence, “The sensation of her thumb rubbing tenderly against his skin was igniting a fire in his loins that he hadn’t experienced in years.” And this sentence did NOT appear in a sex scene! Ok, I gave this book a 3, it amused me, kept my attention and was a quick read. Maybe I over-rated it, but I needed a good laugh and diversion.
I gave it a three also, it entertained me and was a different story to what I'm used to reading. With the hole rapey thing, I guess it made it seem like there was a sense of peril for the girls.
PointyEars42 wrote: "Frakki wrote: "- the song "Every Sperm Is Sacred"And... now I'm picturing the cast of Monty Python dressed in Thundercats costumes. Casting sorted!"
Please elaborate!
FYI, for those who want to continue on with the series, the next book Razor's Traitorous Heart is not about either of Jesse's sisters. "Kali Parks is a shadow in the war between two factions that are fighting to gain control of Chicago. Born and raised on the streets, she stands as a silent sentinel at her brother’s side as he battles to gain control. She will do whatever it takes to bring peace to those she has pledged her life to protect, including fighting against the creatures that came to their world almost six years before."
Crispina wrote: "... I just realized I'm not reading the alt pick. Somehow I got it in my head that The Last Hour of Gann was our alt pick. Sooo disregard my previous post :)"Just started reading last Hour of Gann in addition to the main and alt, as a kind of uber-secret alt. Really good book that one! I think I prefer its take on the whole sister as mother plot. However it is a lot "heavier" than the piece of literary fluff that was the main pick.
Joia wrote: "PointyEars42 wrote: "Frakki wrote: "- the song "Every Sperm Is Sacred" And... now I'm picturing the cast of Monty Python dressed in Thundercats costumes. Casting sorted!"Please elaborate!"
"Every Sperm Is Sacred" from the Monty Python movie "The Meaning of Life" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLV...
All of the WTFuckery in these books would be perfect fodder for a traditionally over-the-top, no sacred cows, Monty Python sketch - all they'd need are Thundercats costumes to look the part.
PointyEars42 wrote: "Joia wrote: "PointyEars42 wrote: "Frakki wrote: "- the song "Every Sperm Is Sacred" And... now I'm picturing the cast of Monty Python dressed in Thundercats costumes. Casting sorted!"Please elabor..."
Holy cow, yes! And now we know what the relief rooms look like...
Signing off, before VF sucks up all my productivity for the month of May. See you at the Hangout.
PointyEars42 wrote: "Felicia wrote: "FOR THE RECORD, Gann was Veronica's first choice for next month, and I felt that the rape themes would be a bad followup given last month's choices. SO just defending her a little h..."LOL, it's better when the book is bad. Leads to more entertaining conversations, both in my home group and in the video.
Nemi wrote: "Yeah, the whole rape society thing bothered me too.You know what I just noticed? The whole "he needed to claim her to get her medical help" plot point stands on very wobbly legs. Didn't Jesse not..."
I agree with you so much on the rape society thing. I think it was WAY more disturbing than last month's pick, where rape was treated as horrible. In this book it's like the second society's constraints vanish, every man reveals his TRUE NATURE!!!
Nemi wrote: "Crispina wrote: "... I just realized I'm not reading the alt pick. Somehow I got it in my head that The Last Hour of Gann was our alt pick. Sooo disregard my previous post :)"Just started reading..."
A lot more character building, and a lot more relationship building between the two too... was up till 5:30 am this morning reading it... still not done. Maybe we can start a separate thread for it?
Aliens come in peace and we immediately descend into chaos, start fighting them, each other and declare open season on women.There are so many things that need an explanation. Why had Jessie and her sister been in hiding since their father died if the aliens were there to help. Why had the men apparently turned into rapists. Why did the aliens send warriors if they came in peace. Why did the aliens keep making contact with new species if every time they did everything went to hell. Why was their seed so precious. Why was it implied that Hunter had no family/was alone when he had a mother, father and plenty of siblings. How could one of the sisters do those gymnastic flips when they had been on the run for four years and were starving when they got rescued/kidnapped by the aliens. Why, why, why...
I kept wondering if the author wrote and outline for the story but couldn't really be bothered to flesh it out.
On the upside this was a quick read for me and many of the comments here have made me laugh like hell. Read about the Monty Python Thundercats today at work and it made my day.
Thanks for the laughs.
I'm going to be a little different here and say I actually liked this one. I totally agree with a lot of the other posts here in that it was cheesy and/or ridiculous at times but to me it seemed like it had the skeletal structure of a great story. If only she had fleshed it out and went more in depth in the emotional struggles (i.e. why am I in bed with a naked stranger and has he done anything to me?!?) If this book was at least twice its length the writing would have seemed less cheesy. The writing that bothered me the most though, was Taylor's dialogue. Was she 15 or 8...?
I just read the free preview of The Last Hour of Gann and I think you made the right choice of not picking it. People would be going NUTs in here due the rape/virgin sacrifices.Don't get me wrong, I'm buying and finishing the book. It has great world building and a cool female lead. But Hunter was just such a light and fun read, and the forum has been a riot.
Not sure how you will talk about it for a whole show, though.
Gunnhildur wrote: "I kept wondering if the author wrote and outline for the story but couldn't really be bothered to flesh it out."I wondered a few times if what we were reading WAS the outline
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought it was ridiculous. None of the characters had any range, the writing style was very "First attempt at fanfic" and toning made sense. All human males are rapists now? And nice guy alien (and his entire species, apparently) are only ever thinking of sex. All characters, regardless of species and level of trauma, fall in love instantly. My personal favorite is how a teenage girl--an alien, for all intents and purposes, with limited language skills on this new world, has found information an intergalactic army could not by googling a guys name and race. That's believable.
Oh, it just occurred to me what this is. It's furry fanfiction.
Amanda wrote: "Oh, it just occurred to me what this is. It's furry fanfiction."for a while i thought maybe it was a Charmed AU where they didn't have magic...
Any wrote: "since the book is fantasy/sci-fi I'm not going to hold it to the same standards..."NOOOOO!!! Don't fall into that trap!!! This was a horribly-written book! There are some AMAZINGLY good genre books.
This book was TERRIBLE! I can't... I don't... ugghhh I'm into escapism and a light read as much as the next girl. This book just is NOT worth it. The writing is SO bad. There was apparently no editor at all. I feel like in the end the only reason I continued to read was because my OCD nature got obsessed with highlighting all of the TERRIBLE grammar! I couldn't help it. Please, allow me to share some of the best gems:
"If we are going to take control of this area and eventually the western half of the United States we need to know how to kill the bastards. If we can kill them, we can rule the world ourselves," she laughed." (Oh the cliche!!!)
"He had not gotten close to the one that had driven the transport that he was in."
"He would forsook any other female, including seeking relief in the relief room." (!!!!)
"...the beginnings of a bruise was beginning to form at her temple."
"'You are forgiven as long as you get her the hell out of here while you still can," Dagger grounded out." ("Grounded" was used in this way at least one additional time).
"...moved up on their own violation until she had buried them in his hair again." (I didn't even notice this said "violation" instead of "volition" until right now! I originally marked it for the "on").
"Turning his head, he spit the rag out of his mouth with a low snarl of hatred. Turning his head, he glared at the small female..."
ok ok, enough...
*SPOILERS*
There is no describable plot. It is full of all the worst, most irritating, most destructive tropes and cliches in romance novels:
- inappropriate face-touching/chin stroking
- drugging a woman
- marrying her and abducting her while she's unconscious
- locking her up
- Paternalistic, possessive, "caring" - "He would tie her down if he had to. It was time she understood that he was going to take care of her and protect her from now on. She belonged to him." Barf
- she is "spunky" though and manages to "save" him by disobeying orders and endangering everyone in the most absurd way
- turns out he's a "Duke-ish" dude
- the entire culminating section of the plot is passive domesticity and pregnancy
- nagging female character (she's always scolding her sisters for saying bad words)
- Wrist/arm grabbing and forceful shaking
- patronizing and infantilizing attitude of all male characters towards women. (The stuff with Saber and Taylor totally put me off)
Oh but at least there's hot alien sex right? Not so much, there are only two sex scenes with a bunch of "fade to black" moments.
Bad book.
Tiffany wrote: "His seed was to be given only to the female. It was his gift to her. Jesse had rejected that gift when she ran away.”I highlighted this one too... gag.
@Anna, at least earthling women didn't revert into some-kind of beasts.
hahaha i love the comments, the more i read i def agree it was badly written, the plot intrigued me though.
we may have a contestant for the title of "worst book of the year"
I still haven't read this, so please take this with a huge grain of salt, but I'm starting to really have issues with the entire concept of an abduction as the foundation of a romance. I know that it's a very old romance trope - probably designed originally to allow for racist and colonialist attitudes about being able to have interactions with an exotic "other" which would never be permitted in daily life. (See The Sheik for one of the first examples in literature I'm aware of.) But it's so problematic in the modern era! Look at what's happening in Nigeria right now, for goodness' sake! Wouldn't we all squirm if 6 months from now we heard a story where one of the girls who was kidnapped by Boko Haram told how she fell in love with her captor and he was described as acting the way that the hero in this book has been described as acting? Or to take a similar example closer to home, what about Elizabeth Smart?
I just find the entire theme deeply troubling. I may still enjoy the silliness of the book, but I wonder if the trope should be something that romance authors should actively try to avoid.
Anna wrote: "There was apparently no editor at all. I feel like in the end the only reason I continued to read was because my OCD nature got obsessed with highlighting all of the TERRIBLE grammar!"YES. I absolutely couldn't get over the abysmal sentence structure. I actually googled the author to see if she is a native English speaker, since many of her errors are common mistakes for ESL writers.
The one that absolutely KILLED me was "alright" and "all right." Even if we are operating on the assumption that "alright" is a word (which most grammarians are staunchly against), she doesn't use it in the right context! This lady needs to hire a freelance editor STAT.
Wow, I couldn't get through three paragraphs of this. So, so bad.
It really makes me wonder how it got published. Everyone talks about how difficult it is to get published at all, then what a tedious, story-changing process editing is. How did this book slip through?
Anna wrote: "NOOOOO!!! Don't fall into that trap!!! This was a horribly-written book! There are some AMAZINGLY good genre books. ..."I think that's really important - there are beautifully written, compelling science fiction books. And there are workman-like scifi books that won't set the world on fire but are grammatically correct and entertaining. We shouldn't give them a free pass just because it is genre!
Amanda wrote: "It really makes me wonder how it got published. Everyone talks about how difficult it is to get published at all, then what a tedious, story-changing process editing is. How did this book slip thro..."It's a self published book I think, so at least no publisher can be blamed (the paperback comes from a self-pub service called Create Space as far as I can tell).
Mod
I think those were "Gor" As in 'Priest-Kings of Gor', 'Warrior or Gor', Ca..."
Oh yes! I think you are right."
True story, I read all of the Gor novels when I was like 12 years old, my mom thought they were Conan books. It was...troubling, hahaha.
Felicia wrote: True story, I read all of the Gor novels when I was like 12 years old, my mom thought they were Conan books. It was...troubling, hahaha. "When you were TWELVE?! Wow. You poor thing...lol. :) I thought I got warped from reading them at 17, I can't imagine reading them at 12.
Jordan wrote: "I have to say, if I was one of Jesse's younger sisters, I would have found her extremely condescending. Maybe it's because I am often contrary just to be contrary, but the constant emphasis on having to take care of her sisters. Get over yourself, maybe? Again with Jesse calling her sister Squirt. As a fifteen year old, that would have irritated the hell out of me, even and especially with such turmoil in my life."As an older sister with two younger sisters and an age gape of 10 years between the youngest and I (there is about a 7 year age gape between Taylor & Jesse) I have to say I didn't find Jesse's treatment of her younger sisters odd at all. My youngest sister will be 18 in two months but I still always think of her as a little girl and use nicknames for her from when she was small. It's an affectionate thing though not a condescending thing.
I get the taking care of them thing too as I did a lot of taking care of my youngest sister growing up, especially after our parents divorced and then even more so a few years later when our Dad passed away. Honestly my sisters still come to me to have me help them or take care of things for them.
So given their apparent ages and their life circumstances I don't think the relationship between the sisters and Jesse's treatment of them was off at all.
Whitney wrote: "Jordan wrote: "I have to say, if I was one of Jesse's younger sisters, I would have found her extremely condescending. Maybe it's because I am often contrary just to be contrary, but the constant e..."Sure, I get that. Different experiences, I suppose.
I'm also an older sister of two younger sisters, with my youngest sister 14 years younger than me. And I get the taking care of them thing and even the nicknames that stick. That makes sense. I guess I personally would just react differently if I was treated that way by an older sibling. Which is not to say that, as an older sibling, I wouldn't totally react the same way. You know? I guess I was thinking more of the point of view of Jordan and Taylor, rather than directly the way that Jesse was treating them. But I didn't articulate that very well.
Did anybody else get an image of Hunter as some kind of Klingon + Cowardly Lion mash up? Beside the cringe-worthy description and dialogue, this was all I could think about.
This book had bad grammar, spelling and plot, but, I couldn't put it down. I am the type of reader that tries to guess the next events before they happen. So, when she found him tied to a table I thought, hey I bet she has to help him escape because he is too injured and for some reason they end up on the run from both species. Nope. Then when he caught her and she was healed I figured they would spend the rest of the book fighting and she would end up with Stockholm syndrome. Wrong again. Skipping the completely unneeded middle of the book. I thought perhaps she would join the council as she mentioned she needed something to do. It would have made complete sense if she was elected and had to figure out a way to make first contact with other worlds. Sadly this line was also abandoned. So what I ended up with at the end was a feeling of What the heck did I just read? It was like the author had ADHD! Every possible twist that might be good was abandoned as soon as it was mentioned. Way too many problems with this book.
The best way I can think to describe it is 'A semi-erotic quicky'
I just found the thread 'Hunters Claim drinking game', and realized I didn't mention in my post that I was drinking throughout the book. I was not playing a game, but I did wish I had more beer when it was getting close to the end of the book and ran out.
Geohyde wrote: "...romance fanfiction written by a teenage girl"That sentence summed it up pretty good. I thought it was poorly written, weird sex and flat characters. All characters are just on thing ex. childish, smart, brave and so on. No depth at all.
Also a bit boring that Jesse always get away with anything...I´m waiting for her or her sisters to do something unforgivable and get caught. So in lack of better judgement I will read the second book...
Vaginal Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Last Hour of Gann (other topics)The Reality Dysfunction (other topics)
The Sheik (other topics)
Razor's Traitorous Heart (other topics)
The Last Hour of Gann (other topics)
More...
Every. Damn. Time.