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[osaraba]

WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT IS GOING ON?! I FINALLY GOT AROUND TO STARTING BULLET BY LKH AND WHAT! WHAT! ASHER! WHAT! RICHARD! WHAT! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!!!! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS AND MY HEART IS BEATING REALLY FAST AND I AM FULL OF DISTRUST AND WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!

I'm only a quarter of the way in, and the way this is going it's going to be another day and a half in story-time, but DEAR GOD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!

(Don't actually.)

I DON'T HAVE ANY ICONS THAT PROPERLY RENDER MY FEELINGS OF SHOCK!


ETA: Some mild spoilers in the comments.

Comments

[firefox1490.livejournal.com]

hehehehehehe, if youre still confused by the time you finish I'll do a recap with references.

[osaraba]

Ha, I'll let you know. I had to make a reaction post because I was so fucking stunned. I COULD NOT BELIEVE I STARTED TO LKH IS TRYING TO MAKE ME LIKE RICHARD. IF I END UP LIKING RICHARD -- LIKE FOR REAL -- I MAY SHOOT SOMEONE.

[firefox1490.livejournal.com]

shes slowly been slipping it in for the last 2 books or so. you'll only end up liking him if you sort of liked him in the beginning or else for me anyway i just went to not actively hating him.

[osaraba]

NO, NO I HATE RICHARD AND HAVE SINCE THE BEGINNING. AND HAVE COME TO ENJOY HATING HIM. BUT, BUT HE SEEMS ALL APOLOGETIC AND SINCERE AND LIKE, SUPPORTIVE. I CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS.

[badmomma64.livejournal.com]

well friggit! you are not making me want to pick up that copy of bullet that's been sitting on the shelf for months now, catching at the corner of my eye now and again. i've been waffling over whether i even want to keep reading LKH's AB series (not that i'm reading the Meredith one) b/c they have felt more and more like petty little Mary Sue fanfic of late - and the near total absense of ~my~ favorite boys in Skin Trade really ticked me off!!! the only thing that saved Noir was Jason.

so... if she's trying to make us like Richard again, is she... trying to put us off Asher? i don't know that i could handle that. he's not technically in my top 3, but he is firmly in the 'like' category.

please, be honest with me, i must know!!!

[osaraba]

So, trying to be as vague with the spoilers here as possible:

1. Asher has some issues he hadn't previously brought up, and that kind of came to a head. It didn't make me actively dislike him, in fact I think the issues he had were perfectly reasonable, and his reaction makes sense considering the time period he's from. The biggest thing here is that it seems like it came totally from left field -- and that could be because (a) it was, or (b) that LKH didn't do a very good job of working it into previous books, OR (c) that I totally didn't see it because her books have become progressively ridiculous and I tend to forget everything that happened in the last book long before I read the most recent one.

2. Richard dealt some issues and is... becoming more involved in the triumverate. This one was also a shocker. I've hated Richard from the beginning and truthfully don't care to start liking him, but... if I choose to continue not liking him it's going to have to be a dislike born of obstinate distrust rather than a reaction to the choices he's come to make between the last book and this one.

If Bullet is the only one you haven't read yet, I say go and read it. This might be the book to decisively put you off, or renew your interest as there is setup in this book for a relatively big arc. The last book I really actively liked was Burnt Offerings (was that #6 or #7?). I can't help but continue to read them because I'm clearly still invested in some of the characters, but yes her Mary Sue-ism is rampant and while she kept it small in the beginning of the series, it's been out of control AT LEAST since the time she started the Merry Gentry series.

Which, btw, I also have kept up with. I'm not sure why I do -- the Mary Sues and the fact that her books have so much filler and not much plot (and that each one takes place over a 2-day span!) are real put-offs as well as being ridiculous. I guess it's that LKH is really the only one writing this genre the way I REALLY like it: with a lot of sex and violence. Hahah.

Let me know if you want more spoilers. I'm happy to give more details but I personally HATE to be spoiled unless I specifically ask, so. =D