hating the men of AB and MG

[sister-ananke.livejournal.com]

I really really REALLY hate most of the male characters LKH writes. To the point THEY, not Merita, is why I no longer read either series. So I thought a fun thing would be to detail why in a long, drawn out post. Well, probably not long or drawn out, studying journalism curtailed my instinctive effervesence somewhat. Not entirely though, as my last sentence illustrated...

So, we start with the hate.

First up, the darling of the series, JeanClaude. Or, as I see him, the stalker date-rapist. "Oops, I'm sorry my little* I've infected you with something that forces you to fuck me? And I've isolated you from everyone you cared about? Terribly sorry about that". His controlling psycho behaviour in the first few books really put me off. I figured Blake was gonna stake him at some point and take over herself. Or at least make the vampires in the city descend into chaos. Except, the mighty cooze triumphs over sanity, Blake starts thinking with her quim, and we have some pantywaister, long-haired creep frenching it up all over the place and it's supposed to be romantic? Hot even? *shudders*. Maybe it's because I started reading the ick-Blake while I was living with a hot long-haired bloke who, apart from being off limits, was entirely unnattractive to me sexually, in spite of his natural hotness. I've never met a man hot enough to short-circuit my self preservation. Let alone the fifteen or so who populate Blake's world.

*ma petite translates as 'my little'. Why hello patronising, infantilising misogyny! How surprising to find you in the guise of romance...

Secondly, Richard. At least more people hate him as well. Except they usually think JC is somehow better. I've got an ex like Richard - whiny, angsty, prone to violence and still enamoured of this idea any sane person would have dropped a few years back. Also seems to think yelling at me, calling me names and threatening me will make me love him again. I dumped that guy, cut him out of my life and never looked back. Blake enables it, what with the random fucking and the petty bullshit. Richard has no spine, he never did. He had some good ideas, and was emotionally honest, but doesn't have enough spine to keep it all going. Not enough to make democracy amongst the wolves work. Not enough to protect his pack (why oh wy hasn't Sylvie taken him down?) and not enough to cut Blake off as the psychotic hosebeast she really is. I had hoped (vainly and lets face it, stupidly) that LKH would elaborate the rape he suffered through (both Raina and that of his kin) and integrate it. But male survivors don't really exist in Blake's world beyond angst for her. I find it hard to hate Richard as much as the rest, I still find him somewhat understandable. Except the relationship with Blake.

Thirdly we've got everyone's favourite cardboard cutout and rapist, Micah. "Oh you need to have sex but don't want to? Let me ram my gigantic, injurious penis into you repeatedly until you bleed in the name of love!" - nice work LKH. Make a character with no actual personality still despicable. Then there was the 'oh noes, no one will ever love my giant peen! I couldn't possible try not having sex until she's comfortable, or stop when it hurts her though, I just have to find the perfect fit and when I heard about you doing the rounds of the wolf pack, I just knew you were The One". I do dislike 'The One' as a romantic concept, particularly when they just seem to exist as a foil to your brilliance and to look pretty. Also, green and yellow eyes? Looks ill. Like vomitous ill. Chartreuse doesn't make it better, just sounds nicer.

Then in the other corner we have Rhys, immature dipwad extraordinaire, Frost, whining knobjockey, Barinthus the icky uncle, Doyle who seems to be channeling the darkity-dark into whinety-whine and of course, Galen who is like that jock from highschool who acts like a kid except when he's trying to get in your pants.

My special vehement hatred though? Jason. I fucking despise that sexually abusive creep. From the very first. I hated the 'we're friends so it's okay' spiel because it belies his abusive nature as someone who again, has raped Blake. For her own good you see. Plus he's always really wanted to fuck her. So it's okay. Except it's just sleazy and gross, like that creepy dude down the road who always tries to drink with you, and touches your hair.

So, yeah, my neuroses are on show here, but I'm suspecting it isn't just me. Even though I know some of you like these guys. I've stopped now because, well, I'm tired and sick of thinking about arseholes. So, who do you hate? What's your pet characterisation peeve?

Comments

[cicipsychobunny.livejournal.com]

I especially hate Richard, but with a disclaimer: most of the reasons I hate him (as a character) are the fault of LKH's appalling writing - if she could just grasp the concept of "character development" and stop having him, every bloody book, knock down the door for no reason because he's pissy for no reason and end up crying and having a Revelation - only to do the same damn thing next book - he'd be much more likeable.

On the Merry front (and having only read the first three), I have special hate for the first sex scene with Frost - the doggy-style, can't meet his eyes because this is a Special Time for Frost and it's Not About Her, because he hasn't gotten his rocks off in however many centuries. I mean, talk about squick.

And Galen. Fucking pansy-ass Galen. It's not his fault, though: it's bloody Merry, who keeps going ON AND ON about how Galen could Never Be King, but insists on fucking him and running the risk of *making* him king because they have Twue Wuv.

[sister-ananke.livejournal.com]

I think their weirdest sex scene was in the limo in the most recent one, after the water stuff, when they randomly start talking about electro-play. Totally random, like LKH just found out about it.

But yeah, the whole 'sex after years' thing is just ick all round.

[pandaemonaeum.livejournal.com]

It's as if LKH cannot imagine a relationship which is not abusive mentally, physically and sexually. Which says a lot about her relationships.

I don't like the 'out of control' notion, I honestly believe that we wouldn't think so little of Merita if she was choosing to have sex with all these men, without the trappings of love/ ardon't/ need to get pregnant for political reasons. If she said "I like this man, I want to have sex with him, I'll have sex with him." then you could respect her honesty and integrity. But this need to dress things up, to force her into the sexual relationships, is what has turned the character into what she is.

I never could stand Richard, to be honest, from the very first. And considering when he first showed up in CoD, he was naked and in bed with another shapeshifter, I had him pegged as a shapeshifter immediately. His later claims that his only sexual relationship was Raina were kind of dodgy, considering he was naked in bed with a woman, and to claim not to be interested in men when he was acting as food for the bisexual, incubus-channelling Master of the City was a bit dubious too. I think they used to refer to the kind of relationship Richard and Anita have as co-dependence, but I may be wrong.

I despised Micah, a spineless, lying rapist from the very beginning. Politically motivated, he's still the ultimate spin-doctor. Really, he should have plotted to be Nimir-Raj then bumped off Merita.

Jean-Claude was always a manipulative bastard, and I kind of liked him for that. He gets his own way, he never gets his hands dirty, and he secures his power base. He's a politician, and I liked that. I don't like this "I have never loved anyone like I love you Anita" schtick, he's become toothless recently. Unfortunately :/ I like it when he issues the smackdown and reminds Anita she's nothing more than a servant.

Merry, where to begin? I kind of like Rhys, who at least has a reason to be a miserable twat, but isn't as bad as whiny Frost. How could Merry love Frost? All he does is whinge! Doyle started out okay but now is pathetic. I haven't read Mistral's Kiss yet, and don't intent to, to be honest. I think the only male characters I liked were her boss at the Grey Detective Agency, and Sholto. I like Sholto :) I even kind of like Andais, for her psychotic bitchery and random torture :)

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

Second on the Sholto-love! He has good reason to be angsty, and he still isn't as annoying as some of the others.

I also liked Jean-Claude better when he was a little more Macchiavellian. Anita has enough doormats, thanks. One hopes the Master of the City would be a bit better than that.

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

It's not just you. I don't hate them quite as vehemently, but I can't fault your arguments.

My pet characterisation peeve? Nathaniel, or as I affectionately call him, Man-Bitch. -_- I almost had a stroke during that chapter in Incubus Dreams when Anita says that she's been trying to get Nathaniel to get a girlfriend, go to college, and generally start having his own life. And someone (I forget who) tells her "but as far as he's concerned, you are his girlfriend, and he's perfectly happy being your housekeeper and caring for your every need."

Uhm... right. But just because Anita is his girlfriend "as far as he's concerned" it doesn't mean she has any duty to be. In fact, this would be the point where Anita has to bring herself to tell Nathaniel, "I can't be what you want me to be, and you can't spend your life catering to my every whim," even though it breaks her heart to take away the tranquility he's achieved. That could have been a really sweet, sad, pathos-filled scene... so of course it doesn't happen, and Anita decides that it would be selfish of her not to play into Nathaniel's happy little fantasy. Aaarrrgghhh.

[pandaemonaeum.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Just because someone has made you the centre of their fantasy world doesn't oblige you to them in any way. Even if you think they're hot, you're not obliged to act on it.

I think the relationship between Anita and Nathaniel is quite disturbing. He manipulates her all the time, and she just sighs and suffers it.

[raging-muse.livejournal.com]

My pet peeve with the Merry books is Frost! I cannot stand Frost or understand _why_ any self respecting woman would fancy herself in love with a whiner like him. I mean honestly, who out there finds Frost sexy? Galen is the second one I don't think much of, he's weak, really week, he's worse then Nathaniel! And i'm a female that likes a strong male not a weak one so it does nothing for me to see a guy that's just pretty muscle.

Doyle is probably the least sickening of them, at least he has his own agenda, but he's no where near as cool as he could have been in the first book. For some reason male characters in Merry/Anita/Laurell's world can't get ahead of the female in any way. I'd personally love to Doyla knock her up, get the kingship and kill her off, along with Frost. That would make my day, it really would! Rhys i don't mind either.

Anita's harem is just going from bad to worse. Once upon a time I'm a little ashamed to admit i liked JC, he was interesting, but he's just been pussy whipped or the real JC got kidnapped by aliens and a clone got put in his place. He just sux.

Richard is probably my most hated character in Anita's books. He didn't do much for me at the start and he does even less in the recent books. Nathaniel is another one that i particuarly hate, I imagine no self respecting top would touch him. Also for an guy that grew up on the streets he certainly doesn't seem so, he seems to soft to have survived on the streets.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

I. FUCKING. HATE. FROST.

Even in the first book (maybe the first two books) where her harem actually had some charm, I wanted to throttle Frost. Honestly, what turned me off the Merry books was LKH's fawning over this whiny, spineless little twerp and shunting Doyle off to the side. Doyle is the only one left with any sense! He's much needed. -.-

Most of her men start well (Rhys and Richard are good examples), but the more LKH writes about them, the more she kills them. A cheerful death god and possibly the only guy in Merry's harem with a sense of humor? That was cool. Then he became an obnoxious wankstain.

[kerame.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why JC gets a free pass from so many readers for blackmailing Anita into dating him.

In the early books I found him mildly intriguing, but when Anita accepted his blackmail it turned her into one of those pathetic "heroines" straight out of a pre-feminist bodice-ripper.

I doubt Harlequin would have pulled that kind of crap after the '70's.

[ladymina.livejournal.com]

because he was a bad guy like type
the whole machiavelli thing is fun
but then he got to be pod-JC and the adeur woke ... gah

[ladymina.livejournal.com]

I liked the first books for guys like Edward, Rafael, Dolph - and the whole mystery/fantasy angle - and the bitchy anita who was still not that bad at the time

I dislike the pod-characters now, and actually hate it that all of them got to be whiny ...

Merry, well I liked Doyle and Barinthus in the first two books
apart from that, meh not so much, whiny, weird rules, sex deprieved guys = argh

[bubblefaerie.livejournal.com]

In the Anita books, I hate Richard and Nathaniel, mostly for the reasons everyone else has given already. Richard is a whiney asshole that hates Anita and everyone else around but keeps coming back because Anita is sooooo irresistable. Nathaniel should just be put down, he's so useless.
As for JC, I forget he exists a good majority of the time now. I liked him in the beginning. He may have been evil, but that's what his character was supposed to be. Now he has no real personality for me to hate.

In Merry, honestly I've forgotten most of the people. There were so many from the beginning that most of them never made an impression. The general thing that bothers me about Merry's boys is that they were adults when she was a baby. I know in the fairy thing they stop growing and live forever but it bothers me more than the vamps. I guess it's when they talk about how they were good friends of her fathers.
But Frost has been the biggest crybaby bitch for a long long time.

[lastshotringing.livejournal.com]

I don't remember any of Merry's men either :/ I'm trying to remember their personalities or anything distinct off the top of my head and I just can't.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

I admit that I liked Rhys and Richard-- early on. And then she divorced Gary and Richard went nuts, and she can't resist making guys whiny and neurotic, so what good characterization she had of Rhys went down the crapper. That's my biggest pet peeve with the series. How does she take good characters and tear them to shreds like she does?

I think the character that drives me crazy the most is Kitto. He had such potential, and I was seriously intrigued when she first introduced him (also, and I'm shallow for saying this, but he's the prettiest *cough*). Maybe it's because I'm short, but the way she talks about him like some kind of child drives me up the fucking wall. He's older than all of them, and sure LKH writes him as a cowering ninny, but he's still smarter than the rest and has the sense God gave little green apples, which is more than I can say about... anyone, even Doyle. I loved Doyle early on, and because she ignores him in favor of her angstpuppies, he doesn't get lobotomized nearly as badly, but... gah. If he's gonna be tough and badass, he needs to be badass.

[bubblefaerie.livejournal.com]

I forgot about Kitto.
I think he's the Merry version of Nathaniel.

[sharkbytes.livejournal.com]

Well, you won't get any argument from me on Micah-hate, lol. The most one-dimensional character I've ever seen, certainly. But Jean-Claude, in my opinion, has been Machiavellian and intelligent all along. He knew he wasn't powerful enough alone to control St. Louis and to have the Council in fear. So his manipulation of Anita makes total sense. It also makes sense for her to fall for it, since at the time of Guilty Pleasures, she hadn't accrued all of these souuuper-powahz! yet.

Even now, I think a large part of JC's motivations comes not out of some misplaced love for Anita, but out of a more business-like approach: He knows that his own well-being depends on Anita not only accepting her life the way it is, but also taking steps to ensure that no one threatens it. Since we view the books through Anita's POV, it makes sense that she's convinced herself that all of these men love her and want a true relationship with her. It's almost a Stockholm Syndrome, in my opinion.


As for Richard, his character was assassinated so badly, there just isn't any way to repair it. Having the wolf-king be a mild-mannered Science teacher was a cool idea, but giving him all of these issues was a really bad move on LKH's part. He's a scapegoat in every sense of the word, but instead of feeling sorry for him, i've just become increasingly annoyed.

I think a lot of these issues boil down to LKH believing that as long as there is a relationship in place, you aren't being used. Which explains the ridiculous idea that any of these men would truly consent to being in what amounts to a nonagon.

[akaibara.livejournal.com]

You know, that's rather cool, and I wish there was some chance of having a book where Jean-Claude actually turns on Anita and 'bwahaha this was my plan all along~'

...except that at this point it wouldn't work and would come off as silly. And they would probably still end up having sex. T-T

[nightangel486.livejournal.com]

Yeah, JC definitely had some intresting, manipulative Machiavellian stuff going on in the early books, where we first see inklings of the whole Anita being forced into sexual situations theme. What annoyed me was that Anita fell for it, and then wangsted about it. Having the Executioner fall for a bunch of monsters/become one is a pretty good way to ensure she no longer kills any.

I admit I liked Richard at first, it was interesting to see someone Anita actually was attracted to instead of being manipulated into liking/dating them and the mild-mannered schoolteacher thing amused me. Trouble is he like everyone else was an avatar and turned into a scapegoat as others have said, causing LKH to completely ruin any characterization or character development he may have had. And then continue to do so in every. single. book.

I never liked Micah, I wish LKH had stuck with her original plot and made him into a villain instead of deciding he and Anita were omgz!soulmatez

[denouement16.livejournal.com]

Cerulean Sins. In their first one on one encounter, Anita was intending to feed off of Jason in the same way she was using Nathaniel at the time. A little biting, sucking whatever without actual sex. Jason lifts her up and onto his cock even though she said she didn't want the actual sex. I haven't read CS in awhile, so I'm not sure if Anita said to Jason "I don't want actual sex." or if it was only in her internal monologue.

[mm_madb]

Richard in the first book he showed up in, back when I first read the books, was what I wanted. Outdoors-y, smart, good with kids, and working to find da balance in a situation that was nearly unbearable. I have successfully stopped my brain from allowing me to remember anything from the "Anita freaks out and screws the corpse" scene on with regards to Richard.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Micah I will eternally hate for being nothing more than a waste of space. A) I don't see the attraction, B) he isn't even a character because that would require giving him some kinds personality rather than a description and an Issue, C) omfgwtf, he's meant to be a Nimir-Raj? WHEN HAVE WE EVER SEEN HIM TOTALLY ALPHA PWN ANYONE? And worst, he came to Anita to help him protect his people!? So in that action, he kinda already admits he sucks at this whole authority thing, dumps it all on Anita -- who alreay sucks at this whole authority thing in the worst possible way -- and blissfully kicks back to tell her she's doing a fine job.

Yeah. Great. Die, already.

I'm not going to fault you on your argument, because they're all valid points. But I will chime in with a whole, "OMFG WHY IS THERE SUCH AN ELABORATE SET UP AND JUSTIFICATION FOR EVERY. TIME. MERITA. HAS. SEX?" -- because that really does need to be said in all caps for the sheer WTFery of it all.

And I have to wonder why sex has to be so fucking important, pun fully intended.

With Anita, it's...really not necessary. At all. Ever. I get that she was apprehensive about having a sexual relationship with someone after getting burned by her college ex -- but everything after that? ZOMGWTF? SPECIALLY the whole ardeur thing, which I maintain is one of the worst plot devices ever, when it could have been seriously so freaking awesome and scary (well, it could...in the hands of a more competant writer).

With Merry, okay, I can understand that getting pregnant requires the sex. But not with a different guy every single night. And again, there's all this complex justification that Merry must have sex with this new guy or else he'll die, she'll lose her harem whom she wuvs so vewy vewy much, blah, blah, blah -- these are the people who tried to kill her on several occasions, finding out that they're really misunderstood and need nookie to fix it all is ridiculous beyond words. Just because she's got the option of sexing over thirty six dudes doesn't mean she has to do all of them.

And let's not forget her ex that sold their happy snaps of the porn to the media and was branded an utter bastard...while Merry quite happily puts on various shows for the helicopters that fly over Maeve Reed's house, and later has the very public sex. Yeah. Great. Uh-huh. He's the bastard for making an extra buck and dumping her for being a mongrel...wait, what? THIS SOUNDS EERILY FAMILIAR.

I have way too many issues with the MG series to air out in a simple comment.

[slayra.livejournal.com]

It's pretty obvious that LKH wanted to write alpha males so that she could have fun later watching them turn into a bunch of sissies because of her Anita Blake's power. Too bad she didn't grasp the context of 'alpha male' right. She should have read a lot more romance novels.

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

I see it differently. I think the sissification is a side effect she's not even aware of. I see it as ambition: Anita deserves the highest-status lovers around. So she gets the alpha males and the Master of the City. If the series were more human-focused she'd be dating the mayor and the chief of police.

[ctrl-issue.livejournal.com]

AB: I hated JC from the beginning. Now, granted, I picked up CoD first, because it looked interesting, not realizing that it was actually third in a series. I read it, and was so thrilled with the 'marks' were nixed. Why? Because for all intents and purposes, JC read as dirty. As in: you know those con-sluts you see walking around that will hug/kiss/sleep with anyone? That's him, only he's been doing it for quite some time. And then there was the kindergarten-grade manipulation. Yuck. Who'd want that in a man, srsly?! Richard was 'meh' to me. He sounded good for Anita, but my ovaries were squeeing for Edward. I mean, no one could compare to the awesomeness that was Death (except for maybe Raphael). There were certain times when I was rooting for Anita and Edward to hook up and live the true life of monster hunters and badassmutherfuckers. Alas, it was not to be. There was never a moment when I wanted her to hook up with Raph, though. He was always just too cool for her. To... honorable? Sophisticated? Something. Something that none of the other men had, including Edward. Jason was okay, struck me more as "Best friend's younger brother" type deal, until they had sex, and then he was just one more of her zombies. Nathaniel and Micah? Couldn't care less about them. They're both so weak that they don't even show up on my radar, and I usually like the femme-type boys. Oddly, I enjoyed Zane, though, as he seemed to have moments of lucidity.

MG: Will someone please kill Frost now, please? srsly. kthxbai. From his first introduction, I knew I wouldn't like him, and the first three books cemented it. He was useless and whiny and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out WHY she was interested in him. Even she doesn't want to deal with his emotional baggage most of the time. Galen is that whole high school sweetheart deal gone bad because she's really just stringing him along. She doesn't really want him, no matter how much she 'loves' him, and the idiot honestly believes he has a shot. Fool. Mistral is another one I'd like to kill, braggart and louse that he is. I mean, is it just me, or does he just suck the life outta every scene he's in? Not even in the awesome way that villains can do, but just because he sucks. so. hard. Rhys had such potential, but... I don't know. He isn't really in it for the kingship, I don't think, though there are times when I think that of all the men, he would do the best. I mean, he's not really that hung up on the power. He isn't interested in politics. He just knows that some things have to be done, and even when he isn't the best at a task, he's there and available, so he's going to do something about it. Plus, he seems the most 'immune' to Merita's charms, which I like. Doyle on the other hand, started off with SUCH. PROMISE. Now, Doyle is totally not my type. I prefer them more my height and build, but even I gotta stand up and recognize that of all her men, Doyle is by far the hottest both in appearance, ability, and intelligence. Too bad the only way he'd survive a kingship is to reduce himself to being her lapdog. There are times when I want to smack him, and force him into seducing Rhys so that at least -someone- could be happy. Kitto is one that I'm torn on. On the one hand, he allows Merita to indulge in pedophilia without being truly, well, a pedophile. I mean, my gods, she dresses him up as an eleven-year old! There are things about him, though, that are interesting, like his determination to survive even though he knows that, when the chips are down, the only thing he can really do is hide. I dunno. Seems kinda... real to me.

[slayra.livejournal.com]

Of course Edward is a sociopath... but who cares? *grins*

Rafael (or Raphael?) is the male character that is more like the 'alpha male' LKH aims to write, really. He's 'mucho macho', good looking and strong; a bit dark and mysterious. But at the same time he is strong willed, corageous and self-sacrifying. And where does he rank on the characters list? Not very highly. :p

I don't dislike JC all that much (except for the corny-ness) and I actually thought that from what we first glimsed of Richard he wasn't supposed to be an angst-y, whiny, needy and insecure character. LKH just decided to change most of his traits in the middle of the book.

Know what you just said of that Frost character (sorry, never read MG)? Someone do the same for Micah. Please! Guh.

[lastshotringing.livejournal.com]

I totally don't associate the name Blake with Anita ... so for this entire post, I was picturing that gay kid from American Idol.

... It made it a lot more entertaining, to say the least. ;)

[longtail.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I just don't get the "Anita is being raped!" perspective. I just don't see it. I can see WHY it would get interpreted that way, but even with LKH's shitty writing and her constant whines about "You guyz jus don't understand Anita's being pushed further and further out of her comfort zones!" it just doesn't come across that way to me.

I just don't see evidence of rape. Just badly written romance cliches where a man just "takes" the woman without pretense or the usual build up to finding out if you want to have sex with this person or not.

On another note, I have to say I FUCKING HATE ASHER. He should get together with Frost, his Merry double, and have a serious self-centered whineathon and we can all call in and pledge for charity and buy books for young people who seriously need GOOD books to read.

[sister-ananke.livejournal.com]

Those romance cliches? Rape.

No consent = rape. Ensuring consent through threatening/false means? Rape. JC makes her 'need' sex and then doesn't teach her to manage it without sex. Micah, Jason, Richard and a few strangers take advantage of the metaphysically drugged woman to fulfil their fantasies. How is it not rape? LKH may then write it as romantic after the fact, but fucking someone against their will because you've taken away their ability to consent? Rape.

[easol.livejournal.com]

I refuse to hate Richard, because I know that is what LKH is shooting for -- trying to make us hate the avatar of her hubby, as she tries to bend that avatar to love and serve her again. Sorry, I don't like manipulation. Frankly, Richard may be whiny and neurotic, but he also seems to be the one character even remotely connected to reality anymore.

[slayra.livejournal.com]

They are Ken dolls. No personalities, no intelligence, no BRAIN.

I agree with you and the whole concept disgusts me too.
SPOILERS FOR THE NEW BOOK (sorry, just trying to make a point). I read a scene on The Harlequin (can't remember which chapter) where Anita was thinking she would not stand for Nathaniel to have an affair with another woman. She was acting all self-righteous and angry, because he was thinking about it. I mean, she has sex with so many men we've lost count. If Nathaniel had any cojones at all, he'd say "listen biatch you f**** all these men and I have to be faithful? No freaking way! I'll have as many women as I want, especially since you won't play bondage with me. End of story. Don't like it? Don't sleep with other people or I'm going.". Instead all he says after she asks him if he would really seek another woman to get a little BDSM, is that he doesn't want to go to another woman to get what he needs because he luuurves Anita. Of course she is so "jealous" that she barely acknowledges his sacrifice (not having sex the way he likes it, because Anita isn't willing to do it).
I totally admire Richard for being the only schmuck in her "harem", SNORT, to say that he wouldn't sleep with Anita only, because she didn't sleep with him only. Of course he is now a hated character, but at least he hasn't been completely castrated.

And... that is yet another proof of:
1. how Anita doesn't love the men she is involved with (as it's obvious that males and females tend to want to have sex with only the person they love when they are in love);
2. how LKH's views of 'strong females', 'feminism' and HECK 'what a male is' are severely distorted. No male would accept to go through half the humiliation these men go through. Not even for love. It's ridiculous.

Sorry for the rant, but this brand of so called feminism is horrible and I hate LKH's books for it. :p

[darksongtrilogy.livejournal.com]

My favorites are actually Frost and Richard. So sue me. LKH has destroyed both of them, and if you're going to be fair about it, Richard is the avatar of her ex-husband and Frost is his Merryverse clone. There's definitely some editorializing in the writing process. Same thing as Ronnie: is she now a gutless, whining hypocrite because that's a logical evolution of her existing character, or because LKH made her an avatar for her detractors and then laid the smack down via Nathaniel, of all people? Richard is her whipping boy, so it is impossible that he'll ever be allowed to be right, get over his issues, or find any sort of happiness.

I liked their original characters. I always hated Jean-Claude, Machiavellian or not, because A) he's not really, and B) he's lost every fight he ever fought himself. He's a pansy and has been from the beginning. Richard's biggest problem through the time the series was good was his idealism. It was only after TKD that he went off the deep end, and I could understand it for a few books. LKH gave us all the impression it was resolved in BM, and went as far as to say he'd held the pack on his own, strongly, for the year or two Anita was gone. It was only in NiC that everything went to hell, and that's more than just a problem with Richard. The whole series went to shit. He just bore the brunt of it.

Take his sudden closet sadism and homophobia, which was never evident before, and was the result of a heretofore unknown rape from Raina and Gabriel. Aside from the WTF-ness of this revelation (you'd think THIS bit of info would've been imparted one hell of a lot sooner--NOT WANTING GAY SEX DOESN'T EQUAL HOMOPHOBIA. IT MEANS YOU'RE STRAIGHT. (Witness my furious CAPSLOCK.) That little gem is something that makes me want to bitchslap LKH over and over again. I don't like to kiss women so I'm somehow homophobic? Bullshit.

LKH gets to rain these little labels all over the characters she doesn't like, and at some point it stops being about logical story-telling and all about the grudge. I can understand people who didn't like Richard from the beginning, but I really don't think it fair to slap him because LKH did.

Ditto with Frost. LKH's apparent penchant for whining, crying men is what destroyed him, and for the record, Doyle has cried, too. Every goddamned male in both series has broken down in tears, which just disgusts me no end. But it's the fault of the author, rather than the characters.

[kerame.livejournal.com]

Anita is the one who won't allow JC and Asher to touch each other even while the 3 of them are in bed together so who's the real homophobe? In TH Hamilton tries to blame even this on Richard.

If Nate and Micah are continually having 3-ways with Anita then they (and Jon) are either bi or they're even more servile in bed than they are out of it.

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

I've infected you with something that forces you to fuck me? And I've isolated you from everyone you cared about? Terribly sorry about that".

Somehow I don't think he infected her with the ardeur on purpose. He was probably getting more sex from her before she had it because he didn't have to share her with dozens of other guys.

And who exactly did she care for that he isolated her from? She had no life before they got together. She didn't date, didn't socialize, didn't speak to her family- the extent of her social life was working out with Ronnie and trading witticisms with Zerbrowski. She has more friends now that before she bonked Jean-Claude.

[sister-ananke.livejournal.com]

Except now Ronnie 'hates' her, Zerbrowski, Dolph/f and the rest avoid her because how compromised would your life be if you were RPIT and friends with the vampires? Richard hates her but is tied to her. She doesn't have friends now, she has a series of men she shares her bed with.

She was isolated before, but now everyone she's tied with is either forced (by the ardeur or politics) or not a friend. Seems like a step back to me.

And I figured Jc couldn't have done it accidentally - he's a master vampire, surely he's got some control?

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

I hate Rhys. Oh my God, I hate him. I hate him so much. I think he's a complete creep. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't implied in KoS that he was hitting on Merry before she was legal? I'm not certain, but I have a vague memory of Merry telling him he always went too far or something.

That aside, I just found my skin crawling every time he entered a scene. I can't explain it really.

[relmneiko.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm probably going to be the only one to say this, but I initially liked Nathaniel. His character was a great opportunity for LKH to explore sexual abuse and *actual* sexual kinks... but she failed. So hard. I mean, despite the fact that it was mentioned that Nathaniel used to sell himself for drugs, you NEVER hear any more about it afterward. His personal issues are largely ignored, and his relationship with Anita SHOULD be portrayed as grossly unhealthy... but it's not.

I see Nathaniel as LKH's failure to get into the darker side and recognize that he SHOULD be really, genuinely fucked up and not just Anita's devoted and happy plaything.

[rianax.livejournal.com]

Nathaniel is basically a child-- he is not emotionally or mentally ready to deal with an adult relationship that does revolve around expoilation. Remember how distraught he was in the earlier books over Anita protecting him, but refusing to fuck him?

The boy can't conceive of anyone caring for him in a non sexual way.

[belledewinter.livejournal.com]

I think the one I hate the most is Micah. Maybe because he's been the last one to arrive and his appearance seemed to signal the end of whatever was good in these books. It's not that he's a bad guy, it's that he's just oh-so-perfect for Anita and such a doormat when it comes to her needs, and so accepting - I mean, everyone has limits in any sort of relationship and he doesn't. His whole purpose seems to be there for Anita because 'nobody else understands'.

Jean-Claude had something fun about him before he got with Anita. He's the typical vamp stereotype - patronising, gorgeous, french, the image of these old-fashioned romance novels hero with fangs. But he's also manipulative like woah. At the start he wasn't completely unlikeable as a character, but it was the sort of person I wouldn't have let Anita date, ever. He could keep the chase up for a couple of books, but it was just never going to happen. Besides, after Asher showed up I kept wondering what the hell he'd want Anita for anyway. See, that made some sense but Anita still had to be in the middle of everything. And now he's just lost whatever charm he had in the first book.

And Richard now is all bloodthirsty and agressive. Where is the Richard from the first books? Sure, he was slightly tachicardic over being a werewolf, but no wonder. Why does LKH make him seem the bad guy because he won't accept his girlfriend fucking everyone in sight? Since when does Anita have the moral high ground on that? It seems like LKH is trying to give us all of these reasons to hate Richard, but out of all the characters (degradation included) I'm not sure I could completely blame Richard for his neurosis right now. I would have a heart attack as well if I'd been all 'goody-two shoes' and the girl had agreed to everything, then when things go wrong she does everyone in the neighbourhood. He used to be a good guy, maybe too good? But now he's just an asshole and that's because LKH needed him to be one to keep Anita's Mary Sue-ism up. If Richard had still been nice he would have been able to be reproachful to Anita and she would have been guilty, and God forbid. ¬¬ Out of all the butcherings I think I regret Richard's the most. He was never my fav character but there used to be something about him, issues included, that I could understand.

You know what else I hate? How Edward was handled. Now, he was my favourite character. And while Obsidian Butterfly is not the worst book ever and he was in it a lot (it was worth it just for that) he seemed to turn into a completely different character. I know he's a human being, but why make him care that much? And specially - why give him that kid to tag along? There was just zero need for that. He was meant to be polite, cold and ruthless. Now the only thing he is is... well, sort of polite. Disappointing.

And Nathaniel? Saying no to him is like kicking a puppy. It's fine that Anita had to learn to take care of someone, but why do him as well? Or Damian? She seems to want everything around her or have 'a really good reason' to be with all of them at the same time, and they accept it. It's insane. It's like one big author wank fantasy. They are all so one-dimensional now, and apparently just 'good for one thing'.

Terrible.

[raging-muse.livejournal.com]

Oh my God! I was having a rare nosy on LKH website and saw some comments on the message boards about Hamiton maybe seriously injuring or KILLING OFF one of the male main characters in Merry's books! There was huge speculation and even a vote from fans on WHO should be killed off. I'm shocked and vaguely interested, what if she's ACTUALLY going to kill off a main character? The main opinion or guess work seem to suggest Frost will be one killed off, which would be interesting.

What do you guys think? Would she actually kill a main character?