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Dec. 7th, 2011 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsMany, many years after falling in love with the Night of the Solstice books, I have finally gotten around to reading some more L.J. Smith!
The Forbidden Game trilogy is not anywhere near as close to my heart as Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor. I mean, it could not possibly be, in my opinion, because a.) not enough siblings being hilariously squabbly and b.) not enough ridiculous Arthuriana and c.) too much boyfriend and d.) I did not first read it when I was ten.
THAT SAID, as an example of the archetype "an SEXY EVIL SUPERNATURAL FELLOW has fallen in LOVE with a BEAUTIFUL TEENAGED GIRL," The Forbidden Game is way more entertaining and delightful than most! It's actually -- okay, I have Labyrinth on the brain, but it really does remind me of Labyrinth! Except instead of a baby brother our heroine Jenny, she of the honey-colored hair and innate goodness etc., has to run around rescuing all her friends instead, which means ensemble dynamics and character growth for all.
The first book basically goes like this:
EVIL SEXY SUPERNATURAL JULIAN: Jenny, I have been watching you creepily for your whole life, and I am madly in love with you.
JENNY: . . . you are hot . . . but I have a boyfriend . . . and also, that is really creepy?
EVIL SEXY SUPERNATURAL JULIAN: Now I have trapped you and all your friends in this creepy nightmare house, and if you don't find your way out by the end of my arbitrary time limit . . .
JENNY: Oh dear, maybe I should just give in and go off with him after all to save my friends . . .
JENNY'S FRIENDS: Jenny, we will brave dangers untold and hardships unnumbered if we have to, but seriously, NO MARRYING THE EVIL SEXY DEMON LORD.
JENNY: Awww, you guys are the best!
Jenny's friends really are the best part of the book. I mean, they are all a bit Breakfast Club, or possibly Babysitter's Club -- there's the badass black martial arts girl, and the haughty European fashionista who's dating the insecure nerdy Jewish one, and the weird spacey girl, and the antisocial artsy guy, and then Jenny's varsity sports player jock boyfriend. None of them are exactly revolutionary character archetypes and it's sort of unclear why they all hang out together except that they all like Jenny. But they all get at least a little bit character growth in the middle of Jenny's bizrre supernatural experiences, and all of them consistently maintain a strict NO DATING EVIL SEXY DEMON LORDS stance, which I appreciate! GOOD JOB, JENNY'S FRIENDS.
Anyway, the first book is really the Labyrinth one, where Jenny wanders around and collects her friends from their nightmares and gamely tries to ignore Julian as he pops up to make neener-neener faces at her and tell her her friends are all going to die, she should just give in and love him and he will be her slave! In the second book there is a new game where Julian makes more neener-neener faces and kidnaps her friends one by one. In the third book there is an evil carnival! It is all highly entertaining and I realize this places me in a distinct minority, but man, it is so awesome to read a book where our heroine's consistent stance on dating sexy demon lords, from beginning to end, is NO THANK YOU. Go away, Julian! Come back when you manage to tone down your habits of creepy psychological torment so it doesn't result in your girlfriend thinking you killed one of her best friends for most of the plot.
The Forbidden Game trilogy is not anywhere near as close to my heart as Night of the Solstice and Heart of Valor. I mean, it could not possibly be, in my opinion, because a.) not enough siblings being hilariously squabbly and b.) not enough ridiculous Arthuriana and c.) too much boyfriend and d.) I did not first read it when I was ten.
THAT SAID, as an example of the archetype "an SEXY EVIL SUPERNATURAL FELLOW has fallen in LOVE with a BEAUTIFUL TEENAGED GIRL," The Forbidden Game is way more entertaining and delightful than most! It's actually -- okay, I have Labyrinth on the brain, but it really does remind me of Labyrinth! Except instead of a baby brother our heroine Jenny, she of the honey-colored hair and innate goodness etc., has to run around rescuing all her friends instead, which means ensemble dynamics and character growth for all.
The first book basically goes like this:
EVIL SEXY SUPERNATURAL JULIAN: Jenny, I have been watching you creepily for your whole life, and I am madly in love with you.
JENNY: . . . you are hot . . . but I have a boyfriend . . . and also, that is really creepy?
EVIL SEXY SUPERNATURAL JULIAN: Now I have trapped you and all your friends in this creepy nightmare house, and if you don't find your way out by the end of my arbitrary time limit . . .
JENNY: Oh dear, maybe I should just give in and go off with him after all to save my friends . . .
JENNY'S FRIENDS: Jenny, we will brave dangers untold and hardships unnumbered if we have to, but seriously, NO MARRYING THE EVIL SEXY DEMON LORD.
JENNY: Awww, you guys are the best!
Jenny's friends really are the best part of the book. I mean, they are all a bit Breakfast Club, or possibly Babysitter's Club -- there's the badass black martial arts girl, and the haughty European fashionista who's dating the insecure nerdy Jewish one, and the weird spacey girl, and the antisocial artsy guy, and then Jenny's varsity sports player jock boyfriend. None of them are exactly revolutionary character archetypes and it's sort of unclear why they all hang out together except that they all like Jenny. But they all get at least a little bit character growth in the middle of Jenny's bizrre supernatural experiences, and all of them consistently maintain a strict NO DATING EVIL SEXY DEMON LORDS stance, which I appreciate! GOOD JOB, JENNY'S FRIENDS.
Anyway, the first book is really the Labyrinth one, where Jenny wanders around and collects her friends from their nightmares and gamely tries to ignore Julian as he pops up to make neener-neener faces at her and tell her her friends are all going to die, she should just give in and love him and he will be her slave! In the second book there is a new game where Julian makes more neener-neener faces and kidnaps her friends one by one. In the third book there is an evil carnival! It is all highly entertaining and I realize this places me in a distinct minority, but man, it is so awesome to read a book where our heroine's consistent stance on dating sexy demon lords, from beginning to end, is NO THANK YOU. Go away, Julian! Come back when you manage to tone down your habits of creepy psychological torment so it doesn't result in your girlfriend thinking you killed one of her best friends for most of the plot.
