by SB Sarah • Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 01:48 AM
“Love, he thought as he held her to his heart, was an agony beyond compare.”
-Raphael Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh
There are two series I follow and cannot get enough of that focus on one couple in subsequent books. Rather than having related protagonists in each book, these series follow the same protagonists. Many of you are huge fans of J.D. Robb’s in Death series, which follwos Eve and Roarke. My two are Julia Spencer-Fleming’s Miller’s Kill series, which features Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne, and Nalini Singh’s Archangel series, with Raphael and Elena. While thinking about my enjoyment of these two sets of books, I had to ask myself (Random musing time! Unanswered questions ahoy!) why is it that these books hold my attention while I lose patience with other series that feature collections of couples who interrelate to one another in various connections? Why is the continually evolving series about the same two people satisfying in the individual books, even when there’s no happy ending overall (yet)? When is Eve going to have a baby? (I’m kidding!)
I think the key is what Julia Spencer-Fleming called “Happy For Five Minutes Until The Next Crisis Hits.” That happiness interspersed with moments of chaos and conflict seems like real life to me - perhaps that’s part of the allure. Or perhaps that happy ending studded with conflict in each installment is in itself hopeful and inspiring: that even the happy ever after takes work and commitment to endure.
I’m fascinated by how that enduring happy-for-now again and again is constructed. While I’m going to try to examine these two series without spoilers, please be aware that at times it may be unavoidable.
First: vulnerability. There’s always an element that undermines the solidification of their relationship. One slip or one wrong moment and it’s over, not because of inherent weakness in either party but because they struggle to maintain equilibrium in their commitment to each other amid huge and tempestuous imbalances and not insignificant antagonists.
Elena is vulnerable because she can be killed. Raphael is vulnerable because Elena is his weakness, and politically and immortally he shouldn’t have one if he wants his rule over New York to remain unquestioned by other aspiring angels. Clare is vulnerable because she’s both emotionally troubled at times, and because she’s the spiritual leader of her community - she’s a priest. And her relationship with Russ is at times highly… unappealing to her superiors and to her congregants. Russ is equally vulnerable because he represents the law, and yet he may be breaking several moral codes that are both legally and spiritually unbending in the values of those around him. Both Clare and Russ represent law and code of conduct, and yet their own conduct is questionable, even though they’re acting on the best of intentions.
Second: each book reaches a resolution of the conflict at hand, but they never full triumph. Perhaps there’s a cliffhanger (Ms. Spencer-Fleming, I am looking at you, ma’am) or there’s a metaphoric and literal rebirth at the end that sets up the next book (Ms. Singh, same goes). The vulnerability of the happy-ever-after is restored and emphasized at the end of every book because of the larger questions that surround the survival of the protagonists. They might solve the matter at hand and figure out who did what to whom and why, but there’s never a final scene to the protagonist’s relationship because things are always changing.
For example, Raphael has powers that are evolving, weaknesses that are revealed because of his connection to Elena. Yet that tie to her creates a strength and balance that he’s never had before. His relationship both undermines and fortifies.
Elena has become more powerful but is also among the weakest - she’s moved from being one of the streongest among the mortals, a big badass fish in a mortal pond, to a new and therefore weaker creature in a vast sea she’s not familiar with. Yet her lack of power creates a different sport of advantage: she fights with weapons that her combatants aren’t expecting, using techniques that they can’t predict, because on a basic level she thinks in a way that is foreign to them. She understands their ways a little more in each chapter, but few of her antagonists see her as an adversary worth knowing.
Clare and Russ find momentary happiness but nothing is ever fully smoothed out: she’s still younger. He’s still the chief of police, and she is often in his way. The town’s opinion of them does influence their lives. She’s always going to be younger than he is, his cultural perspective is always going to be markedly different from hers. Theirs is a relationship marked by dichotomy of multiple origins, and their attempts to navigate that based on the conviction that the joy of being together is worth the pain of getting there makes for powerful narrative.
This is a happy ending in reality: there’s never an “Ok, we’re all done now and can wallow in the warm mud of happiness without any effort on our parts.” Happy endings in the real world don’t reach an endpoint like that because all relationships take work. That may be the biggest draw for me: there’s another crisis, but even with multiple doses of WTFNOWWHAT?! the pair are still together. For both couples, Elena and Raphael, Russ and Clare, the new relationship and the troubles that it brings, particularly between people of such enormous differences, creates an ongoing tension that isn’t resolved easily - and keeps me as the reader interested. There’s no “end,” which can be exhausting (for both the reader and the writer, I imagine!) but there’s a perpetual “ever after,” and in the hands of a skilled writer, that hook is a hard one to shake.
What series that feature the same protagonists do you follow? Are there major differences that cause continual tension between them? What keeps you hooked?
by SB Sarah • Monday, February 08, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Sonya Bateman and I want to know: what do you want to see in urban fantasy this year? I don’t mean vampires and werewolves, Battle Extreme round XVII. Urban fantasy has expanded to include a whole mess of folklore and mythology, and it shifts rapidly to include things I’d never heard of before. So what are you interested in, and what are you tired of? You like genies, dislike faeries? Dig selkies living in the Central Park pond (they’d be very green) but are tired of crouching gnome, hidden leprechaun? What weird thing would you never expect to see in an urban fantasy? (I am personally hoping for an entire LINE of Sheela na Gig urban fantasies: She’ll kick your ass… and her vagina doubles as a U-Store-It!)
Sonya has two ARCs of her next book to give away to random commenters (US only please), to increase your impulse to Google bizarre mythology. Hit me with your best folkloric oddity.
by SB Sarah • Saturday, February 06, 2010 at 12:40 AM
Thanks for your comments and suggestions to Darek from OrchidGames for our Solitaire giveaway. Behold, a message from Derek:
Thank you, thank you! Your response was wildly beyond my expectations. I learned so much from your comments. I knew before that many of you play games, but I had no idea that some are so hard core! Impressive. Also, thanks a lot for all the books recommendations. I’ll be looking them up on Amazon and ordering a few.
Few direct comments:
- BevQB: I might just take you on that dare, who knows!
- Kelly S: yeah, it was supposed to say “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”—bad typo, sorry… it was a late evening ;)
- Jean T: please drop me a note at support@orchidgames.com and I’ll do my best to help
Ok, so let’s sum it up. When reading the comments I noted about 20 that popped out at me and from them, with help of http://www.random.org, I picked 5 winners:
* Bibliophile - 02.03.10 at 01:33 AM
* ReganB - 02.03.10 at 09:28 AM
* DianeN - 02.03.10 at 12:02 PM
* EliG - 02.03.10 at 01:06 PM
* AndieG - 02.03.10 at 02:56 PM
If you’re on the list, please email me at support@orchidgames.com and I’ll set you up with a free copy.
by SB Sarah • Saturday, February 06, 2010 at 12:14 AM
Thanks to Jill for picking the winners, here are the folks who get a spanky copy of Jill Shalvis’ upcoming book, Slow Heat:
1. Sharon
2. Wendy
3. Peggy P
4. Kara
5. Melody
6. Carolyn
7. Sandy H
8. Liz M
9. Lil¹ Deviant
10. Chris.
11. Tina C
12. Lisa Hendrix
13. Carrie.
14. Theresa
15. Francesca
If you’re a winner, please email me at sarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom with your mailing address and “Shalvis” in the subject line. Thanks for playing - and happy reading!
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.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said...
I know little about Urban Fantasy, but if you are looking for a strong women who takes no prisoners, consider Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, dance, volcanoes and violence (no relation to Pele of Brazil). Hawaiian mythology explains…
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said...
I tend to view it as it is the happily ever after. The only difference is I get to read it instead of have it spin off the end page into eternity. I get to enjoy the HEA and watch…
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said...
Perhaps the appeal of one couple making it keeps readers going in their own one-couple relationship. As a military spouse, I have friends (and adventures) from various bases around the world. But the one constant is the love, affection, and…
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said...
For Lan, who wanted Mermaids, and Jane, who wants the other-wordly creatures to have saomething to do with changing the world, you both need to pick up Judi Fennell’s first three books about Mer people. And the latest, Catch of…
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