Blood Queen (Blood Destiny #6) by Connie Suttle

Oh dear gods this book is awful. I mean, really awful.

Now I’ve read a lot of awful books lately – usually because they’ve had some social justice fails that are inexcusable like the House of Night series and the Shifters series. So very inexcusable

This is not the case with this book (don’t get me wrong, it’s not exactly stellar on that front), this is terrible because it reads like it was written by a 10 year old. It has that level of complexity

This has been the problem with this series for a while now, I’ve complained before about the utter simplicity of the world setting, especially as they’ve expanded too many alien creatures and worlds. I’ve also complained at the utterly simplistic lack of conflict in the conflict with such terribly un-nuanced abilities like being able to “smell” evil (and, of course, the evil being so very very very evil and lacking in nuance or development that you can just kill them). This is the tone of this book. The evil is evil and you just have to kill it (it has no reason to be evil. It’s just evil). It has no subtlety, no difficulty in identification. It’s just evil.

This book takes this whole child-like simplicity and takes it tenfold further.

Firstly there’s Lissa, Supreme Queen of Mary Sues. Oh dear gods she is. And this Sue-ishness is the core of why everything in this book is simple to the point of boring. There are no challenges, none at all. There can’t be. Lissa has super powers, powers that completely eclipse everyone and everything. We open this book with a desperate struggle where the forces of good (and their amazing super powers) are being completely overwhelmed until Lissa arrives and destroys nearly the entire army by herself. There are creatures that are literally destroying entire planets which Lissa completely wipes out in her free time between dinner dates. And the closing scenes of this book involve Lissa pulling off completely unexplained god-like feats with no damn explanation at all. She just ZAP decides the bad guys can no longer have their powers – and lo, entire species across the galaxy are fundamentally changed in terms of magic, physical abilities and lifespan.

Where she gets these powers? I don’t know. And it doesn’t even matter – it’s just a ridiculous over the top tool. Even if you could justify your protagonist having these powers, it’d still be a bad idea because it destroys any kind of tension in the plot. Sure we generally expect the protagonist to win, and the genre is full of protagonists who have awesome powers who we know will win in the end – but when Anita Blake pulls another load of super powers from her vagina, there’s at least an attempt to present the conflict as an actual conflict with the suggestion that Anita COULD lose, that there’s an actual fight

Not in this book. Lissa shows up. The enemy dies. There’s no conflict here. Lissa shows up. Super powers happen. Enemy dies. This isn’t conflict – stepping on an ant has more conflict than this. And it’s boring

Face Off: Elena vs Sookie, Battle of the Spunky Agents

And this week we look at protagonists we’ve come to dislike in so many ways - Sookie from True Blood and Elena from The Vampire Diaries. Oh the many ways that these 2 champions of Spunky Agency need to face off against each other so we can see which Mary Sue is the Spunkiest of them All.

Let’s look at the criteria


Shoddiest Treatment of Friends and Family!
You can’t be a proper Spunky Agent unless you have a friend to use and abuse

Sookie: Tara. Enough said. Sookie’s treatment of Tara is legendary in its awfulness. When Tara was kidnapped and raped by Franklin, Sookie spared all of two seconds attention. Lafayette traumatised and tortured by Eric? Sookie didn’t even know. Even her own brother went through hell in Hotshot, and Sookie could hardly wait to get back to herself. Of course, when Sookie needs help, who is there to help carry her?

Elena: Bonnie is a servant who is continually dragged into situations she wants no part in because of Elena’s demands. For that matter, look at what Caroline went through with barely a spec of Elena’s attention. And do we even have to mention Jeremy? Her little brother went through at least as much as she did, and only received attention when she wanted to nag him.


Assumption of authority despite more experienced people present
A Spooky Agent has utter confidence in her abilities. She never lets a little thing like not having a clue what she’s doing stop her from taking charge and taking control!

Sookie: When Bill first turns Jessica, the two are having trouble relating to each other. Sookie in all her wisdom decides to take Jessica to see her parents, despite Bill telling her that he had control of the situation and it turns into a disaster.  Yes, Sookie may know teenage girls having been one herself, but she has no idea of what it is like to be a newborn baby vampire, yet still had the nerve to lecture Bill.

Elena: Do I have to write a list? The plot to kill Elijah? Elena took it over and changed it. Letting Katherine out of the nice locked cave when Katherine was the big bad. Giving herself to Klaus And how many times has she decided to throw away all their plans so she can nobly sacrifice herself?


Shamefully Ignored/Excused Crimes of Love Interest
Of course, we’re talking about love stories here, so true love conquers all - and excuses all!

Sookie: Bill told Sookie he had killed people almost from the very moment they met. Eric has not only killed and tortured people - even her friend Lafayette. Bill left Tara at the mercy of Franklin and it barely caused Sookie to hesitate in her professed love. I think Eric and Bill could do anything to her loved ones and she wouldn’t blink.

Elena: Despite seeing a list of the number of people that Stefan has killed, Elena still sees him a good person and actively tries to get him back.  She has seen absolutely blood drunk and just treats him like he is an alcoholic rather than a mass murderer. His name is after all “the ripper”, but somehow Elena’s love is magical enough to cure him from being what he is.

The Friday Discussion: The Mary Sue

The term Mary Sue is quite common in discussions of urban fantasy. It has become so ubiquitous that  I often wonder if everyone is truly aware of not only what the term means, but how it effects historically marginalised women.  A Mary Sue is a character who is perfect, flawless or only having very cutesy flaws (cute non flaws), and who is instantly adored by all of the cast.  If someone is not instantly enthralled with a Mary Sue, it is because they are jealous and or evil, and sometimes even both. 


Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood,  Elena Gilbert from the Vampire Diaries, Clary Fray from The Mortal Instruments Series, Tessa Grey from the Infernal Devices series, Elena from Kelly Armstrong's Otherword Series, Clare from the Morganville Vampires, Abby Corrigan from Sanctuary, Bella Swan from Twilight, are just a few examples of the Mary Sue phenomenon from books, movies and television.  Each one of these characters is beloved for absolutely no reason. The people around them follow them without question and without cause quite frankly (especially considering that these women have the sense of a concussed penguin), even in cases when doing so places themselves in jeopardy. This is exacerbated by the Mary Sue usually representing the most privileged form of femininity in that she is normally straight, cis gendered and White. 


It is rare to see a protagonist of colour in this genre and they never ever fulfill the role of Mary Sue. (In fact, when “Mary Sue” or “self insert” as a criticism is levelled at authors of colour and other marginalised authors, it is usually because the mere presence of a POC character that is capable and not a side-kick is considered “overly perfect” in a genre that frequently prevents POC from being main characters) Mary Sue then on some level relates to the perfection of White womanhood and marking it as superior to women of colour.  In many ways, it reminds me of the faux pedestal that White women have historically been placed upon.  This pedestal exists solely to give them race privilege and certainly does not apply to equality with White men.  


Even as it works to oppress in terms of race, it is also extremely sexist as it leaves no room to appreciate strengths based in intelligence, loyalty, speed, humor or strength.  It tells women that they must perform womanhood in a very specific manner to be considered truly feminine. Mary Sue is not complimentary to women, and in fact acts as a sort of literary corset, restricting individuality even as it promotes a false form of agency.  Real women are not made of sugar and spice and all that’s nice.