Saturday, April 5, 2008

Midnight Breed: Still Kicking Ass & Freaky thing #1

Here I am in Pewaukee, Wisconsin visiting my parents and sisters and nieces and nephew. In all the commotion, I am not making much progress on LOS, (not to mention getting a serious case of blog withdrawal!) but that's okay, because I am sort of backlogged and I wanted to talk about books I've already finished, and specifically, certain freaky things about Midnight Breed.

I finished Midnight Awakening last week - my predictions didn't come true, but  that's probably for the best. All in all, it was as thoroughly entertaining as the rest of the series.  

In a lot of MB books and others of that ilk, you have a sense of the hero rescuing or fulfilling the heroine in one way, and the heroine helps the hero in a different way. Like pieces of a puzzle - or a hungry bird and lonely bird feeder. But usually their attraction is more based on something animal/chemical. What I enjoyed here was the way Elise and Tegan rescued each other from the same sort of self-destructive vigilantism. I liked that they had that whole lost love/vengeance thing in common. Like that their attraction was based a little more on their characters.

I also enjoyed the part Elise played at the end. I hope the warriors will see from this that they can utilize Elise and the other females more often. I mean, those females have some pretty awesome superpowers. Best of all, I like Savannah's superpower of reading the history of an object and knowing about its owner. That would actually be a cool superpower for a writer to have, too, though not quite as cool a superpower as the power to not have a job.

Anyway, this being the third book I've read, there are a few recurring freaky things I wish to discuss, and all I have time to write about right now is freaky thing #1, but this one is the complexly freakiest anyway.

Entertainingly Freaky thing #1: The infantilization of the breedmate ladies as they suck the warriors blood.
Something about the whole feeding-off-the-warrior thing kept on striking me as a very strange and odd, and I remembered the feeling from previous books. 

Of course I was having too much fun reading to stop and think about it, but finally, then, I did. At first I thought it was just the use of the word mewling to describe the sound the women make. Mewling, if you look it up, is to cry weakly, as a baby or young child, or whimper or wail. 
But part of the effect was also lines like this: "The pinch of her blunt little bite was an erotic pain that went through him like an arrow."  It's always about the blunt little teeth. 

It actually never occurred to me until now that that's what babies sort of have in common with vampires, that they feed off human bodies for food; and the way the breedmate women feed is more babyish than vampirish, though it's a little of both. And then you add in the sex part, and it's its own crazy deal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing here. I enjoy this weird and creative world building. It's just something I think about - briefly, while they are feeding off the warriors, the breedmates turn into these oddly infantilized creatures. Is it just me, or have other people noticed this? It will be interesting to see if this continues in Rio's story, which I have and can't wait to read. (After LOS!)


Okay! Next up, the other 4 freaky things.

25 comments:

lisabea said...

Cj~What an amazing observation. It's gross and wonderful. Mewling always reminds me of Shakespeare, ya know? mewling and puking at thy mother's breast

I wonder if one could apply this to Eric and Sookie in the shower? On further reflection I see that his teeth are too sharp. But he had that sort of clinging, needy, nursy thing going on because she was his life line.

Wait you read that right?


I love your mind. And I have CJ withdrawal.

Carolyn Crane said...

Oh, yeah, I read that. That was my favorite era. Though didn't he bite her in the thigh? That's not very babyish, unless, did you ever see that old horror film where the women would have these monster babies that would come out and eat them? Hey, that book is coming out soon, isn't it???

Carolyn Crane said...

Hey, look at you and Shakespeare.
Yes, the effect is sort of gross and wonderful.

lisabea said...

er. Theatre major. It's from years of not actually reading the plays but sneaking into the library the night before they were due and watching those BBC productions from the early 80s. Cheat to win.

I was thinking of Eric and the thigh...Bill was the breast, right? But it was erotic as hell. We should duel review the new one. Good times.

Carolyn Crane said...

That would be really fun. When is it coming out?

KT Grant said...

CJ: It is sad to say I am not a fan of these books :( I tried with the first time and was a DNF. *ducks*
I always wondered as the guy and gal are sucking each other, their blood that is, what it really tastes like.
Mint?
Deep thoughts on this Saturday night.

Carolyn Crane said...

KB: I didn't realize that! But I always like it when not everybody thinks alike on books.

Wendy said...

Yeah, I don't like the mewling. Why can't they growl? Why is it mewling? that just seems weakly!

Erotic baby-women?

Ew. Just.. ew.

KT Grant said...

Thanks CJ :)
I do enjoy your posts. Maybe you will lead me into the light because vampire loving is hot!

Carolyn Crane said...

Yeah, I sort of don't want them to mewl. Sometimes I think Lara really doesn't have mewling in mind, like mewling probably means something different to her than what it really means. I think it would be sort of cool if they growled instead.

Carolyn Crane said...

KB: well, if you didn't like Kiss of Midnight, though, that was I think the best of the first three. If you like BDB, it makes sense you'd like this one. I don't know if you like BDB.

lisabea said...

I'm afraid to go to Charlaine's website and get struck again by the terrible implications of that COVER. OH NO NOT MR BILL! Ok Vampire Bill, but you know what I mean.

June?

KT Grant said...

OH do I like BDB? heh heh. Ask Lisa.
I don't think I should say what I think about this series because I believe Ward has ruined me for all vampire series.

Carolyn Crane said...

LB: maybe they will give us arcs of that!

KB: with a comment like that you DO deserve an ARC of the next BDB.

Okay, mom's computer officially running out of juice.

KT Grant said...

I am addicted to everything ARCs so to get the next one from Jr Ward's publisher would be a dream. :)

LorelieLong said...

I am entirely pleased to report this phenomena isn't present in Rio's book. :) No mewling at all. For one thing, it's from her perspective and she's wrapped up in the "power" crackling through her as a result.

Carolyn Crane said...

LL: Well, that is excellent news. I can't wait to read that one. I've been very worried about Rio!

Joanna Chambers said...

Mewling, erotic baby-women who bite bluntly?

Ew.

Just, ew.

Carolyn Crane said...

You know, maybe I made it sound more yucky than it really comes off in the book.

Carolyn Crane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carolyn Crane said...

Okay, I just changed 'erotic baby women' to 'strangely infantilized creatures,' because erotic baby women really is a few bridges beyond what I really meant. That would actually be sort of creepy. And it's not really creepy, just a bit strange.

Sarai said...

LOL god I love your post! Seriously this is very entertaining on a Sunday night! Now I have to go back and re-read the damn books so I can join in

sula said...

See for all of the comparisons between these books and the BDB and how the heroines are so much stronger, blah blah, I beg to differ. They're not even vampires in their own right. Just vessels. Breedmates. *shudder* That squicks me out, I gotta say.

LOS on the other hand...wanna talk about a kickass heroine? Hells yes! Put me down in the Jessica/Dain fanclub.

btw, CJ, I think I have solved the mystery of the bird feeder. Those birds are all at my house. Hanging out in my back yard. I could try spreading a trail of breadcrumbs from here to MN...

lisabea said...

I still think she needs a chicken.

Carolyn Crane said...

Sarai, Thanks! You are so sweet.
Sula, I would love for you to do that bread crumb thing. Though I have birds around here, they're just not that curious.
LB: Yeah, I don't think so.