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	felinephoenix 2008-12-18 05:36 pm UTC (link)
	Heh. Books about kicking ass and taking names are fine, too. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles sound great, I'll definitely add those to my list. Just curious... why so capslocky about the horse book? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2008-12-18 05:41 pm UTC (link)
	Heh, "the horse book." :P It's a great misfit coming-of-age story by an excellent writer, with a living, breathing setting, in which the heroine earns her happy ending through work and personal integrity. I LOFF IT. It also has a prequel, The Hero and the Crown, which I don't like as much, but is still excellent. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2008-12-18 05:44 pm UTC (link)
	Oh! I thought you meant capslocky as in OH GOD THE SKEEVY ROMANCE ISSUES sort of capslock Twilight brings out in me. That sounds good, I'll check it out as well. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2008-12-18 05:46 pm UTC (link)
	Hah, no my SKEEVY ROMANCE ISSUES capslock comes out when I consider all the Anne McCaffrey books I loved as a 'tween. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2008-12-18 05:51 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I know that pain. :( But I still want tons of fire lizards. Menolly was, like, my hero. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2008-12-18 05:54 pm UTC (link)
	I was never as into the Dragonriders books as I was the Tower and Hive ones. I wanted to be a Talent SO BAD. I still kinda do. shifty eyes [reposted for not-actually-HTML fail] (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2008-12-18 05:58 pm UTC (link)
	Ohhh, I never got into those, although I wanted to. It was a "devour every Dragonbook ever" fest for me at that age. ~~Okay, I admit it, McCaffrey books are still a guilty pleasure. A horrible OH GOD THE SKEEVY ISSUES guilty pleasure, but...~~ (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kadath 2008-12-18 06:04 pm UTC (link)
	The Dragon books stayed better longer than the Talent ones; there are only three of those that are even what I'd call readable, plus the prequel Pegasus series. ~~And every last one of them is full of SKEEVY ROMANCE ISSUES.~~ I haven't read any McCaffrey in years. I should grab a couple from the library and see how they hold up. (Terribly, one assumes.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

felinephoenix
2008-12-18 06:15 pm UTC (link)

Well, from what I remember since the last time I read the Dragonrider trilogy... yeah, they hold up horribly. But I still thought the whole "Old Dragonriders and Old Ways vs. New Dragonriders and New Ways" subplot was good. As long as you ignored the SKEEVY MATING FLIGHTS and the SKEEVY WOMEN STEREOTYPES and the SKEEVY ROMANCE. I don't know, I still like aspects of the Pernverse, but sooo much of it gives me the squicks on re-reading.

Since I didn't really read anything other than Pern, I can't vouch for those books.

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	tofuknight 2008-12-18 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	My experience has been SKEEVY ROMANCE ISSUES remain ohsoskeevy and then you get the creeptastic feeling of how you didn't realize them earlier. Also, I can no longer stand any male in the Talent series except Afra, and that's before he gets married. Then he is back in the SKEEVYPANTS category. But... uh, I still like dragons? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2008-12-18 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	Ha, at least you didn't like F'nor. ~~I even thought he and Brekke would be cute together until the WTF DID HE RAPE HER AND SHE'S COOL WITH IT WTF.~~ (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mercorir 2008-12-20 05:25 am UTC (link)
	Ha, at least you didn't like F'nor. :( (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kadath 2008-12-18 06:58 pm UTC (link)
	Also, I can no longer stand any male in the Talent series except Afra, and that's before he gets married. Then he is back in the SKEEVYPANTS category. Even at age 12, I was a bit D: at Damia marrying THE MAN SHE'S KNOWN ALL HER LIFE AND CALLS "UNCLE" WHO HELPED RAISE HER oh and also HIM HAPPILY GOING ALONG WITH IT WTF. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2008-12-18 07:03 pm UTC (link)
	Someone needs to make a list of skeevy Anne McCafferey romances, categorized by degree of D: I'm just not sure if I would laugh or cry at it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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kadath, 2008-12-18 07:05 pm UTC

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felinephoenix, 2008-12-18 07:10 pm UTC

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tofuknight, 2008-12-18 10:33 pm UTC

	blue_penguin 2008-12-18 07:50 pm UTC (link)
	See, I refuse to re-read any of McCaffrey's stuff because I know the skeevy romance issues will spoil it for me now -- plus it'd be tainted by the knowledge that the author's totally batshit. I'd rather not destroy what's left of my fond early-adolescent memories of them (if... that makes sense). (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tofuknight 2008-12-18 10:35 pm UTC (link)
	Makes total sense. For instance, I'm currently forgetting why above commenter mentions that Menolly-Sybell is a little skeevy AND I'M OK WITH FORGETTING. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

kadath
2008-12-18 10:55 pm UTC (link)

It's skeevy mostly because the Harper Hall books are about how amazing and awesomely talented Menolly is, yet her fucking cipher of a husband who never does anything is the one who succeeds Robinton as Master Harper in All the Weyrs or whenever it is gramps Harper kicks the bucket.

(Plus there's the background count skeevy of how even the least problematic of McCaffrey's romances are a bit 50s.)

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tofuknight, 2008-12-23 08:20 pm UTC

	whimsy_chan 2008-12-18 05:47 pm UTC (link)
	Yes! They're wonderful books! I fell hard for them when I was twelve, and coughcough years later they're still awesome. Sadly, Beauty (also by Robin McKinley) does not stand up as well to rereading as an adult, but it has more of a romance plot AND a horse, so... maybe good for a teenage sister who likes Twilight? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2008-12-18 05:56 pm UTC (link)
	Hmm, maybe! As long as no one marries a sparkly stalker vampire, I don't mind if it doesn't hold up that well. ...or the horse. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	undomielregina 2008-12-18 06:32 pm UTC (link)
	Pretty much any McKinley is good (do not give your little sister Deerskin, tho, that one enters nightmare territory) but a lot of her more recent work has this dream-like quality that's not to everyone's taste. Beauty is an amazing book for a teenage girl, seriously. And I love The Blue Sword like burning. (Reply to this)(Parent)

hangingfire
2008-12-18 06:34 pm UTC (link)

Come to think of it, Robin McKinley's Sunshine would be an interesting tonic to Twilight, in the "here's how you do vampire/human UST, people" sort of way. The vampires in it are genuinely creepy, and there's a much stronger element of danger in the heroine's relationship with one of them. And the heroine's a hell of a lot more interesting than Bella. Now, frankly, it's not one of McKinley's better books (seconding The Blue Sword rec, incidentally; and personally I love The Hero and the Crown even more, but then that's the one I read first), but it's still miles better than Twilight.

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whimsy_chan
2008-12-18 08:24 pm UTC (link)

Well, it's a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. And the badness has less to do with the Beast's somewhat stalker-y tendencies and more to do with the heroine--who is short and mousy and bookish and good with horses and her hands--suddenly, inexplicably becoming drop-dead gorgeous. D: Because you can't be short and mousy and marry the ~~Beast~~ prince, apparently!

Oh, and definitely avoid Deerskin. That book is so very not YA.

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	jat_sapphire 2008-12-18 10:16 pm UTC (link)
	Well, don't avoid Deerskin forever! Because it is so, so, so very good, but yes, OMGissues!! Not for kids. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ustareth 2008-12-19 04:00 am UTC (link)
	Oh, my gosh! Someone else who has the exact same problem with Beauty. I was really enjoying that book until the YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL ALL ALONG reveal, at which point I threw it across the room. MAN. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	bienegold 2008-12-18 10:30 pm UTC (link)
	I loved Beauty when I read it for the first time in 7th grade. But yeah, it doesn't hold up that well. On the other hand, it's not quite as much of a tome like Rose Daughter. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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