I was really excited recently to start A Spell for Chameleon, book one of the massive Xanth series by Piers Anthony. Sly B picked it up for me months ago at our favorite used bookstore, and I just knew that reading it would boost my geek cred. The Dragon Page Cover to Cover podcast mentions the Xanth series often, and I had to find out what I'd been missing.
I only got through about 50 pages before I had to quit the book altogether. They misogyny and objectification of women was a lot more than this riot grrl could stomach, fantasy classic or no. In the 50 pages I read, the main character Bink fell in love with hot babe in his village; stood in for a farmer in an attempted rape trial and sympathized with the farmer because of the victim's hotness; got a boner while getting a lift from a hot, buxom centaur; and others.
I know that nerdy guys fantasizing about hot women falling all over them is a ugly stereotype. However, this book is about and for nerdy guys with hot women (and other female creatures) falling all over them. Come on fellas.
2 comments:
Thanks for the visit and the comment. ^^
Thanks also for steering me away from Anthony's work, at least as far as reading for pleasure is concerned. Now, I could get my feminist geek on and analyze the gross misogyny of it all, but reading is for fun, dammit! ^^
I've been enjoying Melissa Scott, Octavia Butler and Sheri Tepper of late, if you need an antidote.
Thanks for the visit and comment yourself!
Thanks for the recommendations, too. I don't know Scott or Tepper, and will look into both. We have several Butler books on the shelf here that I haven't cracked yet.
Right now, I'm reading the very enjoyable Acacia by David Anthony Durham, which takes the epic fantasy series and puts it into a realm where people of color are rulers and conquerers. So far, so good.
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