Kiss the Dead: Linked Amazon bookflog

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Remember the Kiss the Dead bookflog that I mentioned coming across in my last post?

For those interested, I went back and found the same bookflog so you all can enjoy it as well!
http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-The-Dead-Book-Flog/forum/FxTO3NBR31RJME/TxJHAGA5M4KT3Z/1/ref=cm_cd_fp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&asin=0425247546&tag=5336432714-20

The highlights (in my opinion) include...

* Anita interrogating a vampire and getting her three-inch stiletto heel stuck in his chest when she kicks him so that when he falls backward, she gets taken with him and her thong panties get shown to everyone, teehee! How awful! This is surely a way of making Anita seem flawed (hint, flaws do not mean 'totally incompetent at something you're supposed to be the best at' like Anita supposedly is at dealing with vampires) and not an excuse to show off her sexy undies to all the boys without her MEANING to flash them. Gad, can you imagine the old Anita showing up to work in heels at all, let alone heels with a miniskirt and thigh-high stockings? There's really no job outside the sex industry I can think of where that's anywhere near office-appropriate, let alone when doing police work.

* She can apparently feed on rage now? Rage that is like cupcakes? Anita, I thought you were a living member of Belle Morte's bloodline, not the Dragon's? But feel free to switch if you like, at least the Dragon doesn't carry that ardeur nonsense!

* Apparently, vampires label the four vampire hunters they fear most after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Naturally, Anita is one of these. She, ever-modest, says "Let me guess, I'm Death" and the vampire tells her that's Edward (DUH) and that Anita is War because she's killed more vampires than Death. Um, what? Listen, whether you die from war, famine, or plague, you still DIE. Death gets you in the end regardless of cause, therefore shouldn't Death be the label for the hunter who has killed the most?

* Anita looks at a vampire boy she doesn't know and wonders why his hair isn't longer. GEE MAYBE BECAUSE MOST GUYS, DEAD OR ALIVE, ARE NOT TRYING TO BE RAPUNZEL LIKE YOUR HAREM? And then finds out JC steals energy from other vampires to grow his own hair, lololol forever.

* Bitchy jealous bimbos hate Anita because they think she is going out with some hot new police guy she's just met who wants to learn how to kill monsters from Anita and divulges he is actually a gay man in the closet (not much of a closet if you're telling people you've just met?). He agrees to date said bitchy jealous bimbos so they will stop being mean to Anita over him. Wut.

* Remember Cynric? That teenaged weretiger who is Anita's blue tiger to call (because she has a tiger to call of each color!) and who likes to be called Cyn (pronounced Sin)? Hooray, he's eighteen now! Yes, he wasn't before. Ew. Although to be honest, him now being eighteen does NOT make anything about his relationship with Anita better. See, Anita and JC are acting as his guardians (JC legally his guardian, Anita doing mommy stuff for him) and he's living with them (along with the other sweeties) and Anita goes to his PTA meetings like his mom because he is still in high school. Apparently it makes her feel awkward to be doing this AND banging him. UH WELL IT SHOULD. God you are a fucking skeezy sexual predator, Anita. It gets even worse when one considers this tidbit from Cyn's entry on an AB Wiki: "Cynric's youth makes him particularly vulnerable to the way Anita forges metaphysically bonds with her servants, leaving Cynric besotted with her for an unknown length of time. His level of devotion, however, does not appear to entirely remove his free will." Oh, not ENTIRELY? Just partly then? Well then that's just hunky-dory and not creepy/rapey at all, carry on! Which you have been since he was just a junior (he's now a senior) which makes me wonder why you're just NOW feeling weird about it.

* At the end of the book it is noted that Nathaniel is teaching Cynric how to strip-tease so he can do a private dance for Anita. THERE IS NOT ENOUGH NO IN THE WORLD.

* Anita thinks that using a ball-gag in bondage takes away the ability of the sub to say no. NOT HOW IT WORKS, HONEY. Helloooo, non-verbal signals? I thought you did ~research~ on this stuff, Hamilton?

* Nicky the lion, who used to be a bad guy until, according to an AB wiki, she "roll his mind completely, making him her slave" which he "does not seem to mind" is now the Rex of the werelions. Because having your leader be the slave of someone else is exactly what any group of wereanimals would want. And I guess that makes her the Regina, of course? Oh, and the term for such a slave is being a Bride, as in Bride of Dracula, nevermind that the three lady vamps in the novel were never actually referred to as such and people just started calling them that later. In addition to this being stupid as fuck, I guess Anita could never have a groom, because that would make her the bride, how girly, ew, she's Prince Charming dammit!

* Anita's gold tiger to call is a guy named Mephistopheles. Since that's such a mouthful, he's usually called Devil or just Dev. His sister is named Good Angel. Seriously. He and Anita have sex, then instead of cleaning up they decide to just nap as they are. When they awake, they find that this has resulted in the condom they used being glued INSIDE Anita and to his genitals. I cannot make this up.

* I have like zero idea what the actual plot is aside from it getting a few chapters in the beginning, wrapped up in a few chapters at the end, and the rest of the book having nothing to do with it at all. Oh yeah, and Asher is the new Richard.

Comments

[c-l-craft.livejournal.com]

How in the world could anyone think what she has going on with Nicky is okay?! That's child abuse, and it's frankly disgusting that someone thought it would be a good idea to include it as a healthy relationship. Anyone who thinks that's a good idea is a bad person.

Your right, there is not enough NO in the world.



I'm pretty sure Anita is out monstering some of her own villains at this point.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Mind-enslaved sex pets, one of whom is a high school boy? Oh pssh-tosh, that's not at all something that the villains of this 'vese would d--wait, oh no, they totally have and would and it was presented as the terrible thing that it is. but it's ok here cuz she wuvs them and they like it! REALLY THEY LIKE IT, THAT CAN'T POSSIBLY BE THE MIND-ENSLAVED BIT TALKING

[c-l-craft.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I like to hope that LKH is just the biggest troll on earth and the series is going to end with Anita being hunted down or turning out to actually be the big bad, but then I remember who it is I'm talking about.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

I knooooooow! I keep wanting the same thing, but then I read her blogs and twitters and such and it's like...oh god she's serious. Then again, maybe those are part of the act, eh?

[snarky-imp.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to read this for about the last two weeks. It's killing me each time I even look at the book. I'm only a third of the way into it (maybe a little less?) and I've already had to make notes and walk away to scream about how awful things are. There's the Cynric thing, there's the trying to pass Nicky off as a healthy relationship (and this is just in passing), but it's actually her destroying Larry's character that's driving me to drink.

How does not wanting to do something you consider evil translate into being the bad guy here? HOW?

I honestly think I'm going to finish this (because unfinished books make me twitchy) and then I'm done. Not done but will still read them when they come out, but flat out done. There's nothing left for me here other than high blood pressure.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

I salute you for getting this far. I had to stop after NiC and keep up through book flogs, fan wikis, and this comm. It makes things a hell of a lot lulzier than just reading the fail straight from the source.

Ugh, poor Larry D8

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

How on earth does she or her publisher get away with this Cynric storyline business? That's not edgy or just disturbing. Anita is abusive, predatory and manipulative. Playing a parental role, portraying herself as an involved school mom to cover up the grooming of a vulnerable and impressionable youth for nothing more than her own greed, desires and benefit. How does her publisher allow such an irresponsible portrayal of this scenario? Perhaps this is more common in fiction than I realize, but I am surprised there isn't more of a controversy surrounding it. Especially since LKH is so successful and.. I guess popular. Does anyone have an example of a lucrative popular series featuring a male protag grooming underage girls to join his harem?

I know it wouldn't be published if there weren't a market. I'm just surprised there IS such a large market out there for something that so clearly crosses the established lines of morality and criminality. No one seems to be having a conversation about it's appropriateness or exploitative treatment in cheap toss away popular lit outside of a few communities and blogs (and I'm assuming the Amazon comment section). I'm sure she's not writing this scenario to deeply explore the issue or to even mildly suggest Anita isn't completely in the right. Nate teaching this kid to strip is just so, so sad and I doubt there was even one fleeting reflective thought from Anita (or the author) as to why that might be. LKH is just writing this for her own fantasy pay off, because she thinks (and I guess her readers agree?) it's cool and totally okay because 'it's just fiction'.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Ditto, it's really downright scary.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

A REALLY (as in SCARY) devoted fan got into a long and heated debate about this on the Amazon boards and kept couching it in the following ways

- Cynric was never an 'illegal age' , the AoC in Nevada was 16, and he didn't come to St Louis till he was 17 which was the AoC of MO
- Anita is NOT his guardian....JC is.
- Cynric's parents are okay with it
- Cynric is in love with Anita.
- Anita doesn't REALLY want Cynric...but she doesn't want to HURT him.

And kept avoiding the following-
- Cynric is STILL at least a decade younger than Anita.
- She's a US marshal, and boinking your SO's Ward on the side while not illegal (due to age) would DEFINATLY be side eyed something fierce by her co-workers and superiors
- And if she doesn't want Cynric around and groomed to 'please her' why doesn't she DO something about it. Like telling JC off for accepting the guardianship of him...ripping Nate a new one for daring to teach him out to strip and dance to 'please her'
- Anita's silence to everybody involved in this mess is her approval and acceptance of Cynric as a lover.

IE the troos are using double speak and loopholes to justify her relationship to 'Cyn'

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Legal age or not, he is a TEENAGER. His brain is NOT fully developed yet. Even if they were both human and there wasn't any of this weird metaphysical bonding/enslavement going on, someone who is a decade older than him is NOT the same than if he was boinking and/or having a relationship with someone around his own age. She's on a completely different level than he is, there's just no way this can be anything but taking advantage of him.

Oh, she doesn't REALLY want Cynric? What does that change? If she's still doing the same thing, how is it any different whether she wants to or not? He's still being exploited and, in my opinion, sexually abused here.

Kinda like how it's ok when Anita has loads of sex with loads of men but not when other women do the same thing because Anita doesn't WANT to it's just the ardeur or she needs to heal/defeat/bond someone/etc., huh?

[jya-bd-cp-ttgb.livejournal.com]

I read the damn thing and can't remember three words of it without a teleprompter. Has my brain failed or they just suck that bad now?

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

So. Much. Ugh. I just don't get some people. None of those Troo' ideas are the least bit convincing.

He could be 19 and 'legal' everywhere. It's still creepy. It's still sad for Nate to be involved in grooming her next troubled, vulnerable, barely-legal and completely inappropriate sex slave. Basically his replacement since he's outgrown the 'too young' part of the role. There is probably a poignant arc (if one were into that sort of thing) involving Nate training his replacement to please her. How Nate's come full-circle in this cycle and is now actively involved in luring Cynric in instead of being the eternal victim and what Nate might really think of that. But, yeah, that would mean these characters actually have some kind of depth, right? So that ain't happening. On the bright side... I'm sure Nate still smells like vanilla and can teach Cyn the art of not getting tangled up in ankle-length while hair he's stripping in his self-deluding attempts to capture and keep Anita's fickle attention. So there's always that for a compelling storyline.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

He could be 19 and 'legal' everywhere. It's still creepy. It's still sad for Nate to be involved in grooming her next troubled, vulnerable, barely-legal and completely inappropriate sex slave. Basically his replacement since he's outgrown the 'too young' part of the role.


God, it gives me the shivers EVEN MORE when you put it like that. This is like something off of Law & Order SVU!

[snarky-imp.livejournal.com]

The first third is just people kissing Anita's ass or causing situations where her ass needs to be kissed (but not literally. I would imagine that comes later?) so... I'm going with them sucking that much now.

[jya-bd-cp-ttgb.livejournal.com]

Ah. Well, Hell, my taxes have paid for worse than my library's copy of Anita.

[daphne-gateau.livejournal.com]

I know, right? And yet.... Anita is supposed to be the heroine, not the bad guy. How can anyone not see that's a problem? arrrgggh

Thanks for a great discussion post and update on the books. Always when I think this series can't get any more ridiculously offensive and remain popular... it does.

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you!

And...ditto DX

[plastraa.livejournal.com]

If I still read the books I'd be waiting for Chris Hansen (to catch a predator) to show up in her kitchen.

All the non/dub-con she's having with her 'harem' is frankly not edgy and showing what a strong women she is, bucking convention and having lots of men. I don't believe in 'slut shaming', I don't think there is anything wrong with women having sex with any one who has the ability to make an informed decision.

Unfortunately with Anita it's at the very least exploitative but I think it's sexual abuse and she is a rapist. (that's not cute, or edgy, or special)

The men can't consent, either because of age, or because of the ardeur...so either way non-consensual. And the ones that aren't non-consensual are at least dubious (everyone knows she's willing to kill people who won't toe the line, remember the were lions). Nothing's sexier than having to get it up on pain of death...huh, wow sexy. I'm turned on right now. :-|

Like I've said elsewhere, she's hit monster status long ago.

I wish that LKH would stop writing her as the protagonist of this piece, and admit to what she is. I might even read the books again, if she was considered the monster and then Edward could get out of the PTA and come kill her! (End Series!)

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Yup. The amount of sex she has and the number of men she has it with aren't a moral problem at all (just a writing problem because it's too damn many characters and the sex eclipses the plot), the fact that she's a domestic abuser, rapist, and just plain awful partner (for instance, expecting them to be celibate for her) are the issue as far as I'm concerned. And ahaha, funny, a friend of mine was just saying the same thing to me this morning about how he wants Anita to be the new bad guy (which she really already is even if LKH doesn't think so) and have Edward take her out!

[plastraa.livejournal.com]

OK I just have to put a disclaimer here a bit, because consent issues are a super trigger with me. And lots of popular fiction today seems to be rife with it. 50 shades is another one I can't read, because her lack of self esteem and issues of self worth, makes her consent impossible as well.

JUST so much. I'm not sure why exploitative relationships seem to be so popular right now in fiction. BUT I would like to see an actual women in lit who is well adjusted, and capable of making informed consent have sex with loads of equally well adjusted dudes or women...and maybe go out and kick some supernatural ass, OR even better, have loads of sex, but it done off screen, and we get an actual PLOT!

BUT I guess where's the fun in that?

[rodentfanatic.livejournal.com]

Ditto with you on consent, it's a huge deal to me too---as it SHOULD be to everyone, and it's abolutely appalling how little, as you note, it seems to currently matter in fiction. Sure, it's 'just fiction' but fiction reflects the culture it's in and vice versa, and that makes this downright scary.

BUT I would like to see an actual women in lit who is well adjusted, and capable of making informed consent have sex with loads of equally well adjusted dudes or women...and maybe go out and kick some supernatural ass, OR even better, have loads of sex, but it done off screen, and we get an actual PLOT!

THAT WOULD BE NICE, YES. VERY YES.

[pearkiwi.livejournal.com]

Poor Asher. He was so awesome when he first showed up, too.

[plastraa.livejournal.com]

"Does anyone have an example of a lucrative popular series featuring a male protag grooming underage girls to join his harem?"

Ok so maybe this isn't 100% parallel (because, ostensibly, he isn't trying to sex her up) but Edward in Twilight is 100+ years old and he creeps on little miss Bella a lot. And watches her sleep, and plays with her mind (and there didn't seem to be a lot there to play with, but, yeah) etc. So in a way yes....grooming a young girl. :-\ (TO be fair I have to admit, I couldn't make my way through that series either. I read about 200 pages of the first book, and it took me over a month to get that far. So I relied on blogs etc for info and sporking!)

[plastraa.livejournal.com]

It annoys me when people say "it's just music, tv, books, video games...etc" we are all a product our culture, culture is created by those things, and especially in today's media obsessed world. It drives me crazy for people to not admit how much control that sort of thing has on infiltrating a person's mind and belief system.

UGH and the consent thing. I am flabbergasted by the people arguing about the age of consent in some state and how it wasn't non-consensual because Cyrnic didn't come to St Loius intil he was 17 or whatever. Consent isn't only about AGE and that that's what I think annoys me the most about this series. Because everything Anita does makes sure her harem have no power to consent or refuse her. WHICH makes her a f*ing rapist! period!

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Thats what we kept trying to tell the Scary Troo.

If Anita was this one true paragon of a hero/anti-hero that LKH is telling us she is...she wouldn't BE in these situations she wouldn't BE boinking a kid...yes in my Opinion Cynric is a KID barely out of HS, and yes she is taking advantage him at worst or letting him be in 'charge' of the relationship at best. Neither is really good for the kid either way.

And the mental notes from Anita that she really doesn't want Cynric is the same tired excuse for why she has to keep having lots of sex (even when she doesn't want too) by keeping to the tired old...and down right PRUDISH...POV that "Good Girls" shouldn't want to have sex...only "Bad Girls" want to have sex...and Anita is a "Good Girl" so any sex.

BLARGH!