A review by tc_mill
Beneath the Thirteen Moons by Kathryne Kennedy
1.0
Content warning: sexual assault, angry ranting about the aforementioned
It's not the weird formatting that bothered me, even though the Sourcebooks paperback uses possessive apostrophes in pluralizations several times, and a reluctance to italicize inner monologue required me to reread a few paragraphs when the tone got confusing.
It certainly wasn't the setting, which was actually quite interesting. "Dune" meets "Earthsea" as the protagonists navigate the reaches of a world ocean as descendants of human colonists. Meanwhile a drug, zabbaroot, enables them to unleash psychic powers. Some of the "futuristic" technology is clearly dated (this book is from 2003, so a spaceship is carrying data on hard disks, for example), but not enough to make the basic concept untenable. Several scenes of the ocean environments are even quite beautiful. The action rarely lags: kidnappings, medical emergencies, assassination attempts, and sea monster attacks appear just as things threaten to quiet down.
And readers without the patience for a slow romantic build would certainly enjoy how very touchy feely Mahri and Korl are by page 50. Of course, this is partly because the story uses a Prophecy as a substitute for the characters having any in-world chemistry. Yet, given the genuine effort Kennedy spent in worldbuilding and action, I can forgive some cut corners in this department, especially as Mahri's reaction to the aliens trying to set her up with Korl is very realistic (although, if the native aliens are encouraging what happens later on...well, her anger was actually less than the bastards deserve).
Mahri in general for the first half of the novel was great fun. Plucky, intelligent--if sometimes reckless--compassionate, and with a touch of self-doubt, she balanced heroic and more mortal characteristics. All the same, she was not quite as dominant as I could wish from a woman who sparks off the plot by grabbing a handsome man and tying him up (for reasons that are not at all sexual in-plot, granted, but still, how can you not acknowledge the possible subtext there, especially in a genre that's at least partly about fulfilling fantasies?). She's taking no orders, not even doctor's orders from her captive healer, but in her own mind she takes this as a sign that she's "broken". Korl's characterization was more uneven--sometimes a soft healer, sometimes a pensive prince, and sometimes a chest-pounding 80s Romance Hero (TM). I should have taken that as a warning sign.
While taking notes for this review, I jotted down "80s Romance Hero--quote line for illustration." How about "I want you and nothing can stop me?"
How about--
"He's coming to claim his prize."
5 pages later : Yet, in a tiny corner of her mind lay the knowledge that he had manipulated her, using the gifts of the Sea Forest [aka an herb, or what we here in the 21st century might call a roofie or a date rape drug] to get what he wanted...so did Korl pound himself into her, trying to lay a claim, and Mahri fighting it all the way. (p146)
It's a bad sign when we're not even at page 150 of a romance novel and I want the hero to die. Sure, Korl is sort of called out on this behavior--in an "Oh, you" slap on the wrist way. Oh, sure, the narrative seems to say, Mahri's just having a temperamental tantrum over being seduced via drug, she'll come to her senses and return to him soon. She spends a few chapters making him suffer, not so much for raping her as for his privileged princely perspective in general. Still, I decided to give this story a chance--partially because I knew I was going to write something scathing and felt it was only fair to hear the full story first.
The full scathing review, which talks about rape scenes in romance and erotic in general, continues at my blog. But the most pertinent bit--the fact that I will give 1-star reviews to books which try to portray rape scenes as evidence of the hero's love in anotherwise vanilla-friendly romance--has been established, I think.
It's not the weird formatting that bothered me, even though the Sourcebooks paperback uses possessive apostrophes in pluralizations several times, and a reluctance to italicize inner monologue required me to reread a few paragraphs when the tone got confusing.
It certainly wasn't the setting, which was actually quite interesting. "Dune" meets "Earthsea" as the protagonists navigate the reaches of a world ocean as descendants of human colonists. Meanwhile a drug, zabbaroot, enables them to unleash psychic powers. Some of the "futuristic" technology is clearly dated (this book is from 2003, so a spaceship is carrying data on hard disks, for example), but not enough to make the basic concept untenable. Several scenes of the ocean environments are even quite beautiful. The action rarely lags: kidnappings, medical emergencies, assassination attempts, and sea monster attacks appear just as things threaten to quiet down.
And readers without the patience for a slow romantic build would certainly enjoy how very touchy feely Mahri and Korl are by page 50. Of course, this is partly because the story uses a Prophecy as a substitute for the characters having any in-world chemistry. Yet, given the genuine effort Kennedy spent in worldbuilding and action, I can forgive some cut corners in this department, especially as Mahri's reaction to the aliens trying to set her up with Korl is very realistic (although, if the native aliens are encouraging what happens later on...well, her anger was actually less than the bastards deserve).
Mahri in general for the first half of the novel was great fun. Plucky, intelligent--if sometimes reckless--compassionate, and with a touch of self-doubt, she balanced heroic and more mortal characteristics. All the same, she was not quite as dominant as I could wish from a woman who sparks off the plot by grabbing a handsome man and tying him up (for reasons that are not at all sexual in-plot, granted, but still, how can you not acknowledge the possible subtext there, especially in a genre that's at least partly about fulfilling fantasies?). She's taking no orders, not even doctor's orders from her captive healer, but in her own mind she takes this as a sign that she's "broken". Korl's characterization was more uneven--sometimes a soft healer, sometimes a pensive prince, and sometimes a chest-pounding 80s Romance Hero (TM). I should have taken that as a warning sign.
While taking notes for this review, I jotted down "80s Romance Hero--quote line for illustration." How about "I want you and nothing can stop me?"
How about--
"He's coming to claim his prize."
5 pages later : Yet, in a tiny corner of her mind lay the knowledge that he had manipulated her, using the gifts of the Sea Forest [aka an herb, or what we here in the 21st century might call a roofie or a date rape drug] to get what he wanted...so did Korl pound himself into her, trying to lay a claim, and Mahri fighting it all the way. (p146)
It's a bad sign when we're not even at page 150 of a romance novel and I want the hero to die. Sure, Korl is sort of called out on this behavior--in an "Oh, you" slap on the wrist way. Oh, sure, the narrative seems to say, Mahri's just having a temperamental tantrum over being seduced via drug, she'll come to her senses and return to him soon. She spends a few chapters making him suffer, not so much for raping her as for his privileged princely perspective in general. Still, I decided to give this story a chance--partially because I knew I was going to write something scathing and felt it was only fair to hear the full story first.
The full scathing review, which talks about rape scenes in romance and erotic in general, continues at my blog. But the most pertinent bit--the fact that I will give 1-star reviews to books which try to portray rape scenes as evidence of the hero's love in anotherwise vanilla-friendly romance--has been established, I think.