New Girl

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm new and I just needed to post what I thought about Micah. Cut and pasted from my writing LJ.



Recently bought and read Micah by Laurel K. Hamilton, it's a short story that takes place in her Anita Blake series. Now you'd think that with a book named after of of Anita's boyfriends/playtoys/whatever, we'd find out more about him. Well we do, for a few pages...

The book, despite the title, is really about a job in Philly, PA, that Anita takes at the last minute, to cover for Larry Kirkland. Larry's wife Tammy went into early labor (at 5 months) and he had to stay with her. Anyway, this story really deals with Anita's fucking hang ups about love, sex, relationships, basically crap she has a hard time dealing with and facing. It's the first time the two of them are alone together and Anita is forced to deal with her fears on the relationship, and the fact that everything is going fine and hasn't fallen apart yet, and won't if she lets it be.

All we really find out about Micah is how he became a were leopard and learn a little about his family. That is literally only a few pages of the book, it should of been the other way around, the job (a zombie raising) as a backdrop and us finding out more about Micah and he and Anita working on their part of the triangle she has going with her, Micah and Nathaniel, another were leopard and a part of Micah and Anita's pard.


Lately the Anita books have taken a real dive. The early books were really good, they had great plot, the right balance of monster stuff, police stuff, some sex, and very good characterization. But the last couple of books have been thin on plot and heavy on the sex. Normally, I don't mind, but I like having a good balance of things and the Anita series just isn't doing it. I'm seriously thinking of getting and reading Danse Macabre and dropping the series after that, it's just not worth it anymore.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels like this. Anyone else get this book, what'd you think about it?

Comments

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I thought Micah was a novel, not a short story. *confused*

[albinowolf.livejournal.com]

As LKH calls it, a "novel-lite". Too long for a short story, not long enough to be a novel.

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

I just called it short story because at the time I couldn't remember the real word I wanted, and compared to the other books; number of chapters wise, it is sorta a short story.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I thought the "novel-lite" was the Edward one. Clearly I am not following the Blog with sufficient attention.

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

Edward's next. She's also mentioned Richard and I think Jason getting their own books at some point. She seems to plan on churning out "novel-lites" on a more or less regular basis now. The floodgates have been opened. >.

[katekat]

Absolutely! Unfortunately I feel like I've read fanfic better than Micah. And part of me is very frustrated that LKH continues to reiterate all of Anita's hangups as if they were entirely new - I felt like much of the book was just her quoting other books. And sadly, I skimmed the sex because I just wasn't interested (which is totally out of character for me - heck, the reason why I started reading fic was *because* of the smut). It was simply that LKH didn't do anything new, interesting, or particularly ... worth reading, and I knew that's how it was going to be.

Also, it was incredibly cheap to have her knock Anita out during the climax and have her learn about everything afterwards.

What would have made it a streach, for the writer and the reader, was if she maybe took this book to write *from* Micah's perspective! Then at least we'd get to see his interior monologues, not have to deal with Anita's eternal knee-jerk responses.

But I suppose that would have required LKH to perceive Anita from the outside, and get some distance from her main character, something I'm not sure she can do.

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I was hoping when I heard about/saw the book that it would not only be entirely about Micah, but also be in his voice, instead it's all Anita.

Quick side rant:

And I just tried to get my mom to read my copy, because I wanted someone in the house to bitch about the book with, and she tosses it back in my face, after I ask her to not crack the spine (drives me nuts, its one thing to have it happen over time, or to be bought like that, but I like having my books look nice). FINE, you waste the 7 bucks after being asked nicely not to mangle someone else's property...

/End side rant

But yeah, I know Anita's been hurt, but please get over it already, every guy you are fucking has more or less proved that they aren't gonna leave. To one extent or another, so just deal already.

And the sex used to be real good, remember when Anita and Jean-Claude had sex for the first time? I've re read that part a lot, remember how hot it was? Now it's kinda ho hum.

Rip off clothes... check.
Fuck nearby guy or guys... check.
Really damn good orgasm/orgasms... check.
Feed aduer (sp?)... check.
Get back to whatever little plot there was... check.
And repeat.

Now it's all one big pile of yuck.... ~sigh~

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

I've played in roll playing games with better writing than I've found in the last several books, and FAR better plots, besides. Sighs.

I so used to love her books.

-Dira-

[darksongtrilogy.livejournal.com]

There is absolutely nothing new in any book since NiC. Every fight, every argument, every character issue/phobia/sex scene/fight scene/monster...all of it's been done. There's not a page's worth of originality in CS, ID, or Micah. Even the new characters are just retreads of the old. Micah's "issues" are Richard's. Requiem is a Jean-Claude/Asher doppelganger. Bigoted cop? Been done. Late night phone call? Been done. Anita angsting over her relationships? Been done.

The descriptions aren't only repetitive, they're cut-and-paste verbatim from earlier books. Kitty cat eyes? Girly face and manly shoulders? How many times can an author get away with not only repeated description, but the EXACT SAME PHRASING before readers catch on that they're being sold the same crap over and over again? This isn't even NEW. You're basically buying snippets of NiC over and over and over and over and over...

It boggles my mind that people say people's characters are evolving. No, they're not. Nothing's solved. Nothing's resolved. You always have bigot cop A, difficult client A, person in need A...the only thing that changes is the names and (sometimes) the physical description.

[lovedstrangely.livejournal.com]

holy shit. 5 months? 5 months and the baby and her are fine? laurell, you idiot.

[freyalorelei.livejournal.com]

If I remember correctly, they managed to stop the labour, and a still-pregnant Tammy went home healthy.

[tooimpurenangel.livejournal.com]

It can happen! It happened to my cousins wife.

[tricky-cracker.livejournal.com]

This book really makes me not want to go out and buy Danse Macabre. I think I'm just scared of what LKH has planned for us.

And I was actually kind of excited to read Micah because I thought it would be written from his POV. Let's hear it for disappointment!

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

Same here, just bleh....

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Le sigh. Bought it, read it, snarked it. Ever since Cerulean Sins, I've been reading the books purely as an exercise in comedy - I reached a point in that book where I don't think I can get any more pissed off, so all I can do from there on is just laugh. And from that viewpoint? The books are comedy gold!

[saadiira.livejournal.com]

True, when you snark them, it honestly is golden. :D.

-Dira-