Miscellaneous Monday: What Makes a Hero?

Welcome to the first Misc. Monday of 2012! Last week I asked everyone what they thought the most important trait for a hero is. The most common response was, surprisingly, "Intelligence". We like our men smart!

So, lacking any TV or movies or other junk to talk about, I'm dedicating today's post to all of the great book heroes that I've discovered (so far). I read female centered books, so I think I tend to focus on the female characters in my reviews. This post is the guys' time to shine. So, without further ado, my Top Seven Heroes (in no particular order).

Ethan Quinn from Rising Tides by Nora Roberts. If I'm going to talk about awesome heroes, I obviously have to include the Quinn men (see my snippet reviews for more information). I chose Ethan in particular, though, because he's such a quiet, gentle soul. One would be tempted to call him a Beta male, but I don't think the term quite fits. He's dependable, loving, and great daddy material. He's got a dark, tear-jerker of a past. For those of you who love nice guys in contemporaries, Ethan is for you.

Curran from the Kate Daniel's books by Ilona Andrews. Curran makes it onto the list for being a genuinely scary dude who I would not want to piss off...who is still genuinely likeable. If you like alpha males, he's it. This is as alpha-like as they get. He's a tough, smart, loyal bad-ass who's carried Kate out of more than one burning building--and who wouldn't want a guy to do that for her? He's the leader of the Pack--basically all of the shape-shifters--which equals a ton of power. What really won me over to him, though, was when he tells Kate that he would ditch the Pack and let them all go hang if she asked him to. What a prince!

Vishous from the Black Dagger Brotherhood books by J.R. Ward. Smart guys really are super sexy. Combine that with his tragic past and present day issues and you get a hero who's a little messed up, a little scary, but still incredibly likeable. I liked seeing his emotional journey, in which he struggles to reconcile what he feels in his heart with what his brain tells him is "best".

Mark Turner from Courtney Milan's Turner series. He makes it onto the list for having an impeccable moral code and being such a decent man. That makes him sound terribly boring, but in fact he's one of the more well developed characters I've seen in historical romance. Once I learned that his stance on male chastity was brought on my finding a starving baby in an alley, I was won over to his side 100%.

Jamie Fraiser from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. He earns his spot on my list for being a survivor (of, like, every terrible thing that can happen to a person), in addition to more heroic traits than I can reasonably expect to name. He's a big, tough, handsome Scott with more layers than an onion. Clair carries this series for me, but it wouldn't be half as memorable without Jamie by her side.

Jericho Barrons from the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. The thing I like most about Barrons is that he's incredibly mysterious. He's something of an antihero. I was never sure, even right up to the end of the series, whether I could really classify him as a "good guy". Yet, I was always sure that he loved Mac, at least in some distant corner of his heart.

Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. While Mark made it onto the list for being moral and good, Bones earns his spot by being pretty naughty. He's a bounty hunter and former prostitute, who now uses his talents to help and...please his wife. All of that aside, he gets points for putting up with Cat who, let's be honest, puts him through the emotional wringer a time or two.

So, those are my most memorable heroes. Who makes your list? What makes him fantastic?

This week, as so many of us are starting our 2012 reading challenges, I'm asking how many books you usually read in a year. Don't forget to vote, on the right side of your screen. Happy reading!

Miscellaneous Mondays: Is Your Favorite Series Past It's Expiration Date?

Last week's poll asked our readers how many books is optimal for a series, and more importantly how many is too many? We're talking about series that you love, or at least loved at first. You love the author's style, love the characters, love the world, and yet after book 14 or 15 you find yourself asking the question "Is there a point to all this?!" The responses the the poll varied, with 7-8 books getting the most votes, and over 12 coming in at second. So for the most part everyone feels that there is a limit, but most feel that it's pretty high. I noticed that no one voted for hating series, and I'm not surprised--series are the big thing right now.

By way of kicking off our discussion, I'm going to talk about my specific experiences with series and what I feel they did right or wrong with regard to length. Remember that this is just my opinion, and feel free to disagree.

Harry Potter: The Finite Series

This was the first continuity based series that I ever read. I've gushed about it enough on this blog that I don't think I need to explain why I like it.  

Rowling had said fairly early on that she'd be writing seven books, and only seven books. As a kid reading these, that idea used to torture me. It tortured me the entire time I was reading the last book, knowing that this was my last encounter with Harry (barring some spin-off series way down the road). But now, looking back, it was the best thing for the series. As a whole, the series has plot structure--rising action, climax, and resolution. There's a big goal, and that goal gets accomplished within exactly the time frame that Rowling set out to do it. I'm not saying it's a perfect system, but it worked for me.

Bottom line: If you are going to write a continuity based series that follows one character or very few characters, planning is key. Have in mind how many books the story is going to take to tell (or at least an approximation), and how you're going to end it. Make sure each book builds toward something, and DON'T pad the series with more books than you need.


The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning: Should Have Stuck With The Plan

This is a wonderful series that had a finite number of books...that the author kept changing. I believe it was originally going to be a trilogy, and then it was 4 books, and it FINALLY ended at 5. And the thing is, it didn't need five books! The exact same story could have been told in 3 or 4 books if the author had planned better and tightened up the narrative. When I look back at this series PADDING and FILLER are two words that always enter my mind, even though I'm extremely fond of it and recommend the series all the time.

The Carpathians by Christine Feehan: Why Copy-Pasting is BAD

Every time a new book in this series comes out, I think "Holy Penguin Poop, they're still publishing that crap?" It's one of those series that ALWAYS gets brought up when you talk about series that have gone on too long. A lot of people complain about the silliness, like the made up language that Feehan is so proud of (sorry lady, but you aren't Tolkien and this isn't Middle Earth), plus the plots that don't make sense.

My qualm, and the reason that I stopped reading them, is that every love story in this series started to feel the same. At first, there were some original ones--Dark Desire had a bat-shit crazy hero, Dark Melody had a pregnant heroine...and that stuff worked as smoke and mirrors to prevent me from realizing that every character in this 20-something book series experiences love the same. This is boring and, in my opinion, inaccurate. Romance is interesting to me because real people, and really well written characters, all experience love differently. Every couple should have a different journey.

Bottom line: sameness/repetitiveness is probably the most common way for a series to go stale, and is the reason why series should be capped at 12 books.


The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R Ward: Derailing for a Different Reason?

I've been having mixed feelings about this one. It's not growing stale due to repetition, but it may be headed in the opposite direction. The last book had me thinking that Ward no longer wanted to be writing romance, because she spent so little time on her main couple. This begs an important question: If a series needs to change in order to keep from going stale, how can it do so without changing so much that the fans no longer connect with it? If you started reading a series as romance, how do you feel if it suddenly changes to more fantasy or mystery?

Bottom line: I'm reserving official judgement on the expiration status of the BDB for at least one more book. However, I do think the series would be stronger if Ward decided how many more books to write and stuck to it. No more introducing new, unheard of characters that no one cares about just to extend the life of the series. No more foreshadowing things that she'll forget to address later. And for the love of God, a little more focus please.

What's Your Opinion?

I think even the best of series should stop at ten. I have yet to read a Book 11 or Book 12 that was as good as the earlier books in the series. By this point, you've seen enough of the world, you know everything there is to know about your main character(s), and if there's a big overarching goal in the series, it should have been reached by Book 10. I'm sure there are exceptions, and I'll be happy to declare myself incorrect in this matter the minute I find that magical, perfect 15 book series. Whatever happens though, I remain a believer in planning and finite series.

What are your experiences? Do you have any big ongoing series that you continue to love? Series that you read out of loyalty only? Hopes for a series to make a come back? What keeps you reading, and what makes you stop?

PS--The new pole is up, and it's a lighter one: Best cookie variety! Be sure to vote!

Snippet Reviews: Fever

I'll be the first to admit that Karen Marie Moning's Fever series isn't the best urban fantasy series out there, but it's far from the worst. More importantly, it holds a special place in my heart for introducing me to the concept of urban fantasy in the first place, and to help me get over some reading prejudices. I picked up the first book kind of by mistake, because Borders insists on putting them in the romance section (where they DO NOT belong). And upon discovering that it was a first person narrative I wanted nothing more than to get rid of it. I know that sounds like a stupid reason not to read a book, but at the time I had such negative feelings toward first person POV that it really seemed like a deal breaker. But the people I talked to about the book kept insisting that these books were the height of awesome and well worth enduring the narrative, so I gave it a shot.

The basic premise is as follows: Mac's sister is killed in Ireland and the police are unable to solve the crime. Angry and upset, Mac travels to Dublin for answers and discovers, to her horror, that supernatural creatures known as Fae seem to have been responsible. Mac learns that she is a Sidhe-Seer, a person with the ability to see the fae. She can also sense objects of power, weapons and other items that are of fae creation. One such object is called the Sinsar Dubh, a dark book of evil magic that has been let loose in the world. Many people (and non-people) are scrambling to find and own the book. One such person is Barrons, the bookstore owner and simultaneous object of Mac's lust and suspicion. There is also Vlane, a faery prince, who pursues Mac constantly in spite of her ongoing protests.

Book One: Darkfever: I really loved Moning's use of mythology. The story is very imaginative, turning what might have otherwise been a bland fantasy story into a genuinely interesting and somewhat frightening novel. Mac feels like a familiar, friendly character, probably because I've known people like her. Young, shallow, and untried, but full of unrealized potential. At times she's really irritating, but it's forgivable. This book is full to bursting with exposition and has absolutely no stand alone power, which is always a negative in my mind. 4 stars.

Book Two: Bloodfever: This is the book where we finally start to see Mac develop a spine and a sense of self. With some of the exposition out of the way, Moning got better at building a tone and setting a stage that felt real and creepy. The sexual tension between Mac and Barrons continues to grow, even as her feelings toward him remain uncertain. It's definitely a transitional book, but a good one. 4.5 stars

Book Three: Faefever: By this book Mac has learned a certain sense of self-sufficiency and independence, and she starts playing for multiple teams as it were. She's trying to prevent the walls between the human and fae worlds from coming down, and her struggles are admirable and entertaining. On the downside, this book has a massive cliffhanger. It ends on a climax instead of a resolution, and that kind of annoyed me. 4.5 stars.

Book Four: Dreamfever: This is a book where there is so much to love and so much to hate at the same time. This one has a sort of dystopian post-apocalyptic feel to it, which I'll admit isn't my favorite sort of plot thread. Mac behaves pretty irrationally and it's maddening at times, because by now you'd think she'd have more direction. But, the world building and plot remain engrossing. The secondary characters--Barrons, Christian, Dani--really shine. Again, there is a massive gimmicky stupid cliffhanger. At least I so this one coming. 3.5 stars.

 Book Five: Shadowfever: This book had the responsibility of answering all of the questions from the previous books, and for the most part Moning does a decent job. It has more introspective portions than the previous books, and as a result I'd say the page count is higher than necessary. But you get a resolution to the biggest of the problems, Mac finds some stability in her love life and life in general. There's a definite hint of more to come from the Fever universe. 4 stars.

Overall, this is a great series. Granted, each book has absolutely no stand alone power and the plots kind of run into and blend into one another. Also, I do think the story could have been told in only three or four books had more careful planning been implemented. But if your willing to overlook the flaws and you like urban fantasy, I recommend this series.