Witches, Incorporated, pt ii
Dec. 28th, 2012 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chocolatepotSo I finished, and I'm not significantly more impressed, possibly the opposite.
Characterization: Meh. I already went over what annoyed me about Mel - her character isn't consistent with the first book, and she doesn't make sense, and whatever. Everyone else is just flat. Bibbie is Spunky and Pretty and Bold. Gerald is the tortured secret agent. Monk is a genius. Bibbie and Monk fight ~*~hilariously~*~ because they're siblings. Reg is snarky and points out that Mel is plump. You can't really read these books for characters.
Plot: The weird thing is that this book is 500 pages long, yet roughly 75% of it is bickering and 25% is plot. Little bits of plot eked out between long stretches of characters talking back and forth. The basic gist is this: Gerald's department is investigating the Wycliffe Aircraft Company (this is a zeppelin universe) because their plans or something are possibly being funneled to Jandria, a country that lost a war to Ottosland and isn't supposed to rearm. Witches, Inc. is hired by the owner's sister (Ambrose, Permelia) to investigate the theft of biscuits from her office. Both Gerald and Mel are working undercover as low-level employees. At one point, Gerald finally rules out an upper-level employee who's hated him for years. Close to the end, Mel interrogates Permelia's friend/secretary and finds out that she's running out on Permelia's behalf to pay a guy who's destroying magical teleportals (which helps the aircraft business, obvs). There is a confrontation and Permelia kills her brother. Witches, Inc. gets taken into the secret agent department. Bam, that's it.
You know what I was hoping would happen? Permelia's extremely soppy friend would be the real mastermind. YOU KNOW? When Mel was asking her about what Permelia wanted her to do, I was like THIS IS LIKE QUIRREL, and it seemed like it could be that she was throwing Permelia under the bus and just pretending to be wet and pathetic. But no.
Themes: Simultaneously too much and not enough feminism. I mentioned the "gels" thing before, and it was no less obnoxious through the rest of the book. That bickering I mentioned, that too - it's generally someone going NO, YOU CAN'T DO THAT, and then Mel or Bibbie going IS THAT BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN, I'M NOT A GEL YOU KNOW. Sometimes between Mel and Bibbie. My god. If your characters have time to repeatedly argue over whether it's fair for some of them to be protective of others, or to think the others don't have the same skills and are less powerful especially when they are, then your plot is not moving fast enough and/or your book has too many extra pages in it. Trouser stuff etc. from first post.
At the same time, there isn't really a resolution to all of this? Permelia rants a bit about how Ambrose is driving the company into the ground and if she were in charge they'd be successful (she was selling the plans to Jandria and he was paying for the portals to be tampered with, I think). Her second in command at the company is the one stealing the biscuits and she's a nastybad fuddy-duddy who sacks gels because they get bobs.
So on the one hand, there's a lot of talk about underestimating women and people just being shitheads who think women can't do anything and of course bobs/trousers, but on the other hand, there's no discussion of a wider feminist movement or anything women can actually do in that world to help their situation. At all. It's the epitome of what's so often wrong with historical fiction that tries to be actively feminist - it acts like feminism is just doing your own awesome thing and individually proving to sexists that women are capable.
I read the first two books because I got them cheap at a book sale and I love light fantasy. I'm not looking for the next two.
Characterization: Meh. I already went over what annoyed me about Mel - her character isn't consistent with the first book, and she doesn't make sense, and whatever. Everyone else is just flat. Bibbie is Spunky and Pretty and Bold. Gerald is the tortured secret agent. Monk is a genius. Bibbie and Monk fight ~*~hilariously~*~ because they're siblings. Reg is snarky and points out that Mel is plump. You can't really read these books for characters.
Plot: The weird thing is that this book is 500 pages long, yet roughly 75% of it is bickering and 25% is plot. Little bits of plot eked out between long stretches of characters talking back and forth. The basic gist is this: Gerald's department is investigating the Wycliffe Aircraft Company (this is a zeppelin universe) because their plans or something are possibly being funneled to Jandria, a country that lost a war to Ottosland and isn't supposed to rearm. Witches, Inc. is hired by the owner's sister (Ambrose, Permelia) to investigate the theft of biscuits from her office. Both Gerald and Mel are working undercover as low-level employees. At one point, Gerald finally rules out an upper-level employee who's hated him for years. Close to the end, Mel interrogates Permelia's friend/secretary and finds out that she's running out on Permelia's behalf to pay a guy who's destroying magical teleportals (which helps the aircraft business, obvs). There is a confrontation and Permelia kills her brother. Witches, Inc. gets taken into the secret agent department. Bam, that's it.
You know what I was hoping would happen? Permelia's extremely soppy friend would be the real mastermind. YOU KNOW? When Mel was asking her about what Permelia wanted her to do, I was like THIS IS LIKE QUIRREL, and it seemed like it could be that she was throwing Permelia under the bus and just pretending to be wet and pathetic. But no.
Themes: Simultaneously too much and not enough feminism. I mentioned the "gels" thing before, and it was no less obnoxious through the rest of the book. That bickering I mentioned, that too - it's generally someone going NO, YOU CAN'T DO THAT, and then Mel or Bibbie going IS THAT BECAUSE I'M A WOMAN, I'M NOT A GEL YOU KNOW. Sometimes between Mel and Bibbie. My god. If your characters have time to repeatedly argue over whether it's fair for some of them to be protective of others, or to think the others don't have the same skills and are less powerful especially when they are, then your plot is not moving fast enough and/or your book has too many extra pages in it. Trouser stuff etc. from first post.
At the same time, there isn't really a resolution to all of this? Permelia rants a bit about how Ambrose is driving the company into the ground and if she were in charge they'd be successful (she was selling the plans to Jandria and he was paying for the portals to be tampered with, I think). Her second in command at the company is the one stealing the biscuits and she's a nastybad fuddy-duddy who sacks gels because they get bobs.
So on the one hand, there's a lot of talk about underestimating women and people just being shitheads who think women can't do anything and of course bobs/trousers, but on the other hand, there's no discussion of a wider feminist movement or anything women can actually do in that world to help their situation. At all. It's the epitome of what's so often wrong with historical fiction that tries to be actively feminist - it acts like feminism is just doing your own awesome thing and individually proving to sexists that women are capable.
I read the first two books because I got them cheap at a book sale and I love light fantasy. I'm not looking for the next two.
