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reading more BL (as always)
Oct. 20th, 2006 12:38 amI know I've bitched about (and summarized) bad BL novels, but there are actually some that are so pointless and worthless it isn't worth the time and effort to even talk about in detail. Instead of writing up posts on the many good novels I've read, I've been reading more crap. And when I say crap, I mean crap.
I came across the first book in which I found the seme and uke to be just plain unpleasant. Their personalities are beyond deficient and just...ugh. In the end, I could only say that...they deserve each other, because they suck so badly as humans. -_- The only small (tiny....miniscule...) positive was somewhat nice illustrations.
Last night I read a novel that...just disappointed me. Yes, it was cliched. But it had a nice mix of cliches that worked together in an intriguing way. I enjoyed the mentalities of the uke and seme and how they were always holding back for the others sake and missing each others intent. It was very cute, and I was enjoying it...until the cliche that broke the camel's back came along. GAR. I know it was the device to move the plot forward and break through the stalemate of the relationship, but....it was a cop-out of the worst kind. *sighs* I shouldn't feel so betrayed given the genre, but I can't help it.
Skimmed through an older book by an author I like that....just confused me. It was pretty well incoherent in plot and in the motives of the characters. A lot of events seemed to happen just because, and the end was unnecessarily violent and shocking (I think it was supposed to be shocking?). And it had the added bonus of being lame (the seme goes to jail after stabbing some people and poking out his eyes and the uke declares that he's going to wait for him). The characters felt, more than usual, like puppets being manipulated to play out some scenario. I've read manga of this type many times before, but never a novel this disjointed.
On a positive note, Jun'ai Romantica volumes 2 and 3 were very fun to read. Set smack dab in the middle of cliche-land, it was easy to imagine several scenarios for a part given the title (such as the Valentine part in which drugged chocolates resulted in much sex) and of course one of them would be right on the money. The author must be a decent enough writer to make scenes such as the following work:
Uke: *lost in thought regarding seme's birthday present*
Seme: What are you thinking about?
Uke: *surprised and not wanting to tell the truth* Uh...
Seme: Were you thinking about me?
Uke: *very surprised* How did you know?
Seme: *gazes into uke's eyes* Because I was thinking about you.
It made me smile precisely because of the sappiness and because the seme is dead serious when he pulls gag-worthy cliched sap like that. I also love the retarded prologues and epilogues with the Junjou Romantica characters making a mockery of the sappy events of the novel.
I came across the first book in which I found the seme and uke to be just plain unpleasant. Their personalities are beyond deficient and just...ugh. In the end, I could only say that...they deserve each other, because they suck so badly as humans. -_- The only small (tiny....miniscule...) positive was somewhat nice illustrations.
Last night I read a novel that...just disappointed me. Yes, it was cliched. But it had a nice mix of cliches that worked together in an intriguing way. I enjoyed the mentalities of the uke and seme and how they were always holding back for the others sake and missing each others intent. It was very cute, and I was enjoying it...until the cliche that broke the camel's back came along. GAR. I know it was the device to move the plot forward and break through the stalemate of the relationship, but....it was a cop-out of the worst kind. *sighs* I shouldn't feel so betrayed given the genre, but I can't help it.
Skimmed through an older book by an author I like that....just confused me. It was pretty well incoherent in plot and in the motives of the characters. A lot of events seemed to happen just because, and the end was unnecessarily violent and shocking (I think it was supposed to be shocking?). And it had the added bonus of being lame (the seme goes to jail after stabbing some people and poking out his eyes and the uke declares that he's going to wait for him). The characters felt, more than usual, like puppets being manipulated to play out some scenario. I've read manga of this type many times before, but never a novel this disjointed.
On a positive note, Jun'ai Romantica volumes 2 and 3 were very fun to read. Set smack dab in the middle of cliche-land, it was easy to imagine several scenarios for a part given the title (such as the Valentine part in which drugged chocolates resulted in much sex) and of course one of them would be right on the money. The author must be a decent enough writer to make scenes such as the following work:
Uke: *lost in thought regarding seme's birthday present*
Seme: What are you thinking about?
Uke: *surprised and not wanting to tell the truth* Uh...
Seme: Were you thinking about me?
Uke: *very surprised* How did you know?
Seme: *gazes into uke's eyes* Because I was thinking about you.
It made me smile precisely because of the sappiness and because the seme is dead serious when he pulls gag-worthy cliched sap like that. I also love the retarded prologues and epilogues with the Junjou Romantica characters making a mockery of the sappy events of the novel.