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A review by mehak_ds
DarkFever / BloodFever / Faefever / Dreamfever / Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
1.0
I give it one star for some very specific reasons.
Maybe my self hatred of being a brown girl has decreased and I find these things distasteful instead of agreeing with them, or they're a lot more blatant than I'm giving them credit for being.
Maybe as a non-POC reader, you might not notice the things I noticed, and if you did they might not strike you as odd or uncomfortable like they did for me. But as a WOC, I gave it the benefit of the doubt for the first two books, and quit at book 3. I was almost 1000 pages in before it got to be too much and I quit.
1.) There's some very weirdly worded white-supremacist, southern sympathizing and antebellum-glorifying attitude laced throughout.
Um.... WHAT? By "We lost everything once", is the author referring to the Civil War - oh, sorry , I mean The War Between The States™ That Definitely Wasn't About Slavery. Is the author implying that that loss - aka, the wealth and privilege accumulated through the LITERAL ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICANS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS was some kind of main-character-backstory 'loss of something something important, like my mom or grandma' and not BLOOD MONEY that my family has had for centuries?
Ah yes, Southern White Men, famous for the chivalry that magically resulted in thousands of enslaved women having children much lighter than them. That's nice.
3.) There's a lot of not-too-mild racism, far too many uses of the word 'exotic', and lots of the white protagonist dressing up and pretending that dyed her makes her exotic and I quote, "Arabian Nights"-esque.
This description showed up, almost word-for-word, about six or seven times so far.
So now we're adding Orientalism to the mix too, got it.
This description shows up four times! Yes, Arab blood! So famously savage, animalistic, and NON-HUMAN that SEVERAL CENTURIES LATER a random white descendant has just enough of it to look 'exotic' BUT DEFINITELY STILL A WHITE MAN DON'T YOU WORRY.
4.) There are some horrible remarks about rape, rape culture, cat-calling, and unwanted sexual attention in general.
For context here, he did definitely ASSAULT her here because he controls her mind with magic woo woo and makes her strip in front of him.
Hahaha, stupid female! Stop being PC and sensitive you idiot SNOWFLAKE! He didn't rape you! If he had raped you, we'd know because the female body shuts that sort of thing down! /s
But seriously, rape is still rape if you don't fight back. Rape is still rape if you had an orgasm during it. Rape is still rape if you don't show any physical signs of it afterwards. Rape is rape as long as you AREN'T CONSENTING.
Also, here's a nice string of street harassment being framed as cute and fun and Sexy, because she dresses Hot™ so that means she asked for it.
Maybe my self hatred of being a brown girl has decreased and I find these things distasteful instead of agreeing with them, or they're a lot more blatant than I'm giving them credit for being.
Maybe as a non-POC reader, you might not notice the things I noticed, and if you did they might not strike you as odd or uncomfortable like they did for me. But as a WOC, I gave it the benefit of the doubt for the first two books, and quit at book 3. I was almost 1000 pages in before it got to be too much and I quit.
1.) There's some very weirdly worded white-supremacist, southern sympathizing and antebellum-glorifying attitude laced throughout.
In the Deep South, we understand pride. We lost everything once, but by God, we held on to our pride. We heaped fuel onto the fire of it, stoked it as high as a crematorium. And we immolate ourselves on it sometimes.
Um.... WHAT? By "We lost everything once", is the author referring to the Civil War - oh, sorry , I mean The War Between The States™ That Definitely Wasn't About Slavery. Is the author implying that that loss - aka, the wealth and privilege accumulated through the LITERAL ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICANS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS was some kind of main-character-backstory 'loss of something something important, like my mom or grandma' and not BLOOD MONEY that my family has had for centuries?
Down South, a man would have draped a shirt around me. He would have taken a quick glance while he did it, I mean, really, breasts are breasts and men are men, but chivalry is not entirely dead where I come from.
Ah yes, Southern White Men, famous for the chivalry that magically resulted in thousands of enslaved women having children much lighter than them. That's nice.
3.) There's a lot of not-too-mild racism, far too many uses of the word 'exotic', and lots of the white protagonist dressing up and pretending that dyed her makes her exotic and I quote, "Arabian Nights"-esque.
I had a head of shoulder-length, tousled Arabian-Nights curls that framed my face seductively and made my green eyes stand out even more than they usually did.
This description showed up, almost word-for-word, about six or seven times so far.
A deep voice came out of the darkness on my left, marked by that untraceable accent that hinted of time spent in exotic climes. Like places with harems and opium dens.
So now we're adding Orientalism to the mix too, got it.
I knew from Barrons, who knows everything about everyone, that the fierce, ruthless blood of a long-ago Saudi ancestor runs in O’Bannion veins.
This description shows up four times! Yes, Arab blood! So famously savage, animalistic, and NON-HUMAN that SEVERAL CENTURIES LATER a random white descendant has just enough of it to look 'exotic' BUT DEFINITELY STILL A WHITE MAN DON'T YOU WORRY.
4.) There are some horrible remarks about rape, rape culture, cat-calling, and unwanted sexual attention in general.
He rolled hard and fast, and I was on my back beneath him, with my hands pinned above my head, the weight of his body crushing me to the floor, his face inches from mine. He was breathing harder than the exertion merited. “Make no mistake, Ms. Lane, I didn’t rape you. You can lie there on your pretty little P.C. ass and claim with your idealistic little P.C. arguments that any violation of your will is rape and that I’m a big, bad bastard, and I’ll tell you that you’re full of shit, and you’ve obviously never been raped. Rape is much, much worse. Rape isn’t something you walk away from. You crawl.”
For context here, he did definitely ASSAULT her here because he controls her mind with magic woo woo and makes her strip in front of him.
Hahaha, stupid female! Stop being PC and sensitive you idiot SNOWFLAKE! He didn't rape you! If he had raped you, we'd know because the female body shuts that sort of thing down! /s
But seriously, rape is still rape if you don't fight back. Rape is still rape if you had an orgasm during it. Rape is still rape if you don't show any physical signs of it afterwards. Rape is rape as long as you AREN'T CONSENTING.
Also, here's a nice string of street harassment being framed as cute and fun and Sexy, because she dresses Hot™ so that means she asked for it.
There were cute guys all over the place, and I got more than a few catcalls and whistles. A bartender, a young single woman and a music lover, this was my element.
The first time I’d ever walked into this part of the city, I’d gotten whistles and catcalls, and had enjoyed them all. I’d been the kind of girl who dressed for attention, in an eye-catching outfit with all the right accessories.
I stared curiously, interestedly into the faces as they passed by. I offered smiles, collected many in return. I got a few whistles, too. Sometimes the small pleasures in life are the sweetest.