(no subject)

[the_rck]

Did I give someone who reads this the copy I had of Nora Roberts' book, Morrigan's Cross?

I've had a BookMooch request for it, and I can't find it. Before I completely disassemble the house searching for it, I thought I'd ask. I can't think of who I'd have given it to. I didn't like it due to some anger inducing race issues and probably wouldn't pass it on to someone who was looking to read for pleasure (at least not to someone I know who was looking to read for pleasure). I might, however, have given it to someone who was a Roberts completist, who was reading popular romances with an eye toward writing them or to analyzing them.

Anybody?

If I can't find it, the person asking for it can still get it easily. There are seventy-five other people offering it on BookMooch. I just don't want to give up on getting rid of my copy. I don't want to keep the book, and it might be months before someone else wants it. ::grumbles::

On the plus side, this has led me to moving the loveseat in the living room and cleaning under it. The next step is looking under the bed. Ick.

Comments

[bardsong.livejournal.com]

Anger-inducing race issues? Can you explain? I have that book on audio and still haven't managed to read it and it's the sort of thing I like to know about.

[the_rck]

My comments constitute spoilers. That's a warning for anybody other than bardsong. Assuming anybody cares.



My main complaint comes down to the fact that there's one black character and that he gets red shirted.

The book is the first in a trilogy. Knowing that and that it's a romance series, I expected three couples. I got about a third of the way into the book and realized that there were four men and two women. I knew that that mostly likely meant getting rid of one of the men and adding another woman. There was a slight chance that there'd be a fourth woman added and that one of the couples wouldn't get a book or that one of the characters would remain unpaired, but I thought that pretty unlikely.

I flipped forward and, sure enough, saw that the black guy had died. He'd gotten turned into a vampire. The heroes had had to kill him. I'd kind of expected it because I'd have been surprised by an interracial couple or by a same sex couple. I'd have liked either an interracial couple or a same sex couple, but I'd have been extremely surprised.

I'd be less angry about the dead character if he weren't the only black character and if there weren't a vampire among the heroes. I just don't think that having one black character and then killing him for white characters' angst or to show how the monster works or to prove that the bad guys are bad and dangerous is a good thing. I liked the black guy, and I'd have enjoyed seeing more of him.

The fact that vampire books often annoy me anyway probably comes into things too. I find reformed or redeemed vampires particularly annoying if they're presented as unique, which this one is. There wasn't much explanation in the parts of the book that I read about why he was a good guy. I expect it's explained in the book that focuses on his love story.

Does that explain? It's not blatant name calling or crude stereotyping. It's subtler and probably not something the author did with awareness of being offensive. I might have missed it a few years ago.