I have to make one complaint about Dunnett so far. I really hate how she resorts to the death of a pet to make a point about the cruelty of people or situations. In Book 1, an innocent hound gets it; Book 2, an innocent lapdog. Book 3 (I just started it) is the worst so far, with a lovely scene where the bad guys slaughter a large group of beautiful, affectionate cats right in front of the people who love them. Luckily I saw it coming and managed to skim most of the relevant paragraphs.
This is really pissing me off. I don't think it's just that this pushes certain buttons of mine. I'm also pissed off because I think it's cheap. It's lazy. There are all kinds of ways to establish that villains are cruel and ruthless and Dunnett is a good enough writer to do that without going for the easy way to make me cry. I suppose next it'll be kittens, or maybe baby otters.
I'll keep reading, but I'm pretty angry right now.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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How interesting. I've not particularly noticed the animal thing. Obviously the cats thing is pretty memorable, but I can't even remember the hound in book 1, and Willequin was well thought through and made the relevant point.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Dunnett ever kept Cats or Dogs, but she did have a fondness for Parrots, and a dislike of moths.