Unraveled, by Courtney Milan
Sep. 10th, 2014 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynThis is the third and last book in the Turner series I've been reading. It's also my favorite of the three. The characters are refreshingly forthright about what they want, and there's a lot of good banter. The characters are lovable and their motivations clear and intelligible.
One of the things I like best about Milan's work are its contra-trope facets. This one works against the idea of the "broken hero that only the heroine can fix through the power of LOVE". The male lead in Unraveled had a traumatic childhood, and he's quite plainly traumatized by it. But he's got established coping methods, functions fine in society despite the trauma, and doesn't regard himself as "broken". Neither does the female lead. It's cute.
Another thing: in each of Milan's books, there is at least one point where one of the leads has the opportunity to pick up the Stupid Ball. This is a chance to do something profoundly awful that the protagonist doesn't really want to do. The protagonist is given a handful of quasi-sound justifications for picking up the Stupid Ball. The reader, however, can tell that doing so will damage the relationship between the two protagonists, betray the trust of one of them, and benefit no one in the long term. This will happen around two-thirds of the way through the book, so the reader knows there's still time to patch over the damage from the Stupid Ball, and it's frankly exactly the sort of stupidity one expects in a romance novel. (Like "let's be irrationally jealous of this clearly platonic relationship!") The protagonist will then consider all of the reasons to pick up the Stupid Ball and run with it. And then, the protagonist will go "Nah, forget that, it's obviously a terrible idea." THIS IS SUCH A RELIEF. It's as if your favorite sitcom looked like it was about to use that plotline you hate and you're already cringing in anticipation of how bad it will be, and then it's all "HA FAKE OUT" and the episode is about something good instead.
Unraveled does have a poorly-developed sideplot with a resolution that's simplistic and naive, so I'll mark it down for that. But the central romance is delightful. I'll give this one an 8.5.
One of the things I like best about Milan's work are its contra-trope facets. This one works against the idea of the "broken hero that only the heroine can fix through the power of LOVE". The male lead in Unraveled had a traumatic childhood, and he's quite plainly traumatized by it. But he's got established coping methods, functions fine in society despite the trauma, and doesn't regard himself as "broken". Neither does the female lead. It's cute.
Another thing: in each of Milan's books, there is at least one point where one of the leads has the opportunity to pick up the Stupid Ball. This is a chance to do something profoundly awful that the protagonist doesn't really want to do. The protagonist is given a handful of quasi-sound justifications for picking up the Stupid Ball. The reader, however, can tell that doing so will damage the relationship between the two protagonists, betray the trust of one of them, and benefit no one in the long term. This will happen around two-thirds of the way through the book, so the reader knows there's still time to patch over the damage from the Stupid Ball, and it's frankly exactly the sort of stupidity one expects in a romance novel. (Like "let's be irrationally jealous of this clearly platonic relationship!") The protagonist will then consider all of the reasons to pick up the Stupid Ball and run with it. And then, the protagonist will go "Nah, forget that, it's obviously a terrible idea." THIS IS SUCH A RELIEF. It's as if your favorite sitcom looked like it was about to use that plotline you hate and you're already cringing in anticipation of how bad it will be, and then it's all "HA FAKE OUT" and the episode is about something good instead.
Unraveled does have a poorly-developed sideplot with a resolution that's simplistic and naive, so I'll mark it down for that. But the central romance is delightful. I'll give this one an 8.5.
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Date: 2014-09-11 04:04 pm (UTC)Anyway, yes, in the early parts of the series his "Swiss cheese memory" is an excuse for them to keep introducing new skills he has but doesn't know about (piano-playing, singing, photographic memory, Shakespearean acting, medicine, astronomy, all brands of SCIENCE, etc.). In Season 5, they introduce the phenomenon of him having "little bits" of the mind of whomever it was he replaced, so in the Lee Harvey Oswald episode he keeps going psycho, and in the second part of the wretched "Trilogy" sequence, he's all Randy McLustforbrains about the woman who'd previously been his little-girl DAUGHTER in the previous leap. (Oh, the CREEPINESS!)
So, out of fairness, they have a "reason" for the idiot ball ... but, boy, that idiot ball gets quite the workout in the last season, and it's still something were a good portion of the time you can just SEE IT COMING. (Even before then, throughout the series: Oh, people doubt our hero's sanity? Here comes Al the Invisible Hologram! What are the odds that Dr. Beckett is going to have an animated conversation with him in public and -- ohhhhh, someone SEES him talking to apparently empty air? Sur-prise, SUR-PRISE! ;) )
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Date: 2014-09-11 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-11 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-11 04:41 pm (UTC)Now if only I could do that in REAL LIFE with what comes out of my MOUTH. Wow. :D
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Date: 2014-09-11 04:21 pm (UTC)