Book frustrations

[mothwing]

Is there a reason why werewolf fiction sucks this much? I thought Shiver was the bottom of the barrel in aTwilight-clone-filled world, but looking through the tag on Amazon, I find that most things I found look SO. MUCH. WORSE.

And why does everything have to be a romance?
Can this generation of Fantasy readers not conceive of any interaction with mythical creatures apart from boinking them? 

I probably need to dig a bit deeper than going through the first couple of results pages on Amazon, though. 

Comments

[krakelwok.livejournal.com]

Exactly, that baffles/annoys me, too. For some reason it doesn't sit too well with me how people now romanticise and even idolise age-old symbols of depravity and the worst aspects of human nature.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Exactly, though with vampires I can at least see it, especially after Victorian novelists ran with the theme. But werewolves? If you're not a furry, seriously, where's the attraction?

And where are all the, I don't know, fierce werewolf detectives, sniffing out suspects, etc. (Angua notwithstanding)? Not to mention the rampant romanticisation of human monsters as ~misunderstood rebels~ and whatnot.

[krakelwok.livejournal.com]

I guess there's an element of elitist wishful thinking to that. I've only watched the first Twilight movie but the Cullen clan is an age-old family that's well off, shares a rather strong bond among themselves, has admirable superhuman abilities, no strong outside signs of deformity/eternal attractiveness and most weaknesses attributed to literary vampires don't apply to them. All they have to do is keep their blood lust in check and take care their physical awesomeness doesn't get noticed. Who wouldn't want that? The only 'downside' seems to be lack of public (human) acceptance but that only further asserts the special status.

[moonystone.livejournal.com]

Have you tried the Skinwalker series by Faith Hunter? Not quite werewolf, but close, i.e. shapeshifter. And thankfully very little romance. A friend lent it to me and I was hooked after a few pages (though my demands are rather low, I'm afraid...)

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Haven't tried them, will look into them, thanks!