(no subject)

You know, it's a sad commentary on the state of assassins in literature when your first comment on discovering one is "Oh my god, an assassin who kills people without remorse? And isn't a retired and regretful badass? HOW UNUSUAL." ...So of course the assassin retires at the end of the first book, and picks up a hobby of saving innocents in the next. Is it so much to ask for the occasional assassin protagonist who's actually a remorseless killer without being a bleeding heart for anyone in trouble?

Although urban fantasy seems to have gone past the whole "it centers around a woman! Romance is always required to be just as important as the main plot!" since the last time I dug around for some shortly after I gave up on LKH for good. And I'm the kind of person who's happiest when the author never bothers resolving any romantic relationships, so it was a frustrating trend for all the entertaining Mary Sue badasses to care more about their relationships rather than kicking ass. I mean, shit man, badass Mary Sues are fun if you can identify with them at all. Why do you think equally badass and usually even more bland Gary Stus are pretty much universal as the protagonist in thriller type novels? (Seriously, do thriller authors have something against giving their protagonist a personality besides generic badass or something? Jack Reacher had to be one of the blandest protagonists I have ever read about. I hate the idea that you have to make a protagonist boring in order for people to project themselves into their heads. ...Actually, now I totally ship Jack Reacher/Bella. PersonalitylessProtagonistTP!)

I'm three quarters convinced that the entire reason paranormal romance/urban fantasy is so popular right now is because it's the first genre to really figure out fantasizing about being an impossible badass is a fun activity for all genders.