I recently caught up on Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid series (via audio-books) and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them. I say I was surprised not because I avoid“chick lit” (far from it) or because I am not usually attracted to books where demons walks among us, but because I usually dislike the “hooker with a heart of gold” or “sadder but wiser girl” tropes. Therefore its was with a mixture of pleasure and annoyance that I realized I like Georgina Kincaid, a succubus who reluctantly serves “Team Hell” while trying, in her own way, to do the right thing.
Georgina has an obligation to her infernal masters to seduce and corrupt people with her sexuality, and she must “feed” off of mortals by taking part of their lives as they orgasm. Georgina is a bookstore manager, but in the past she has been both as stripper and a prostitute. She is still not shy about using her sexuality. Heroines who manipulate others and who frequently have sex with people they don't like are usually not ones that I admire, even if the author paints the heroine as both feeling guilty and acting sweet in proper measure. Somehow I still feel for Georgina.
The reluctant hero may not be all that uncommon, but the reluctant fan is probably relatively rare. It does happen though. After reading Deep Wizardry, Heinlein allegedly wrote author Diane Duane saying, "I'm a Navy man. We don't like sharks. You made me like that shark. That was a dirty trick." In a way, that's how I feel about finding how much I care about this succubus.
Despite my feelings about some of the the things that she does, I like Georgina. I'm a closet romantic of sorts. We usually don't like the“hooker with a heart of gold” spiel. Richelle Meed made me like this one. That was a dirty trick.
To be fair, my feelings on “using” others and commercialized sex have mellowed some over the years. I still think it's philosophically undesirable to encourage a mechanical and impersonal view of human sexuality, but I have started to feel the same way about the commercialization of sex as I do about the commercialization of Christmas. I'm not found of it, but people are going to do it anyway. Honestly, I worry more about other things I can't control because I have made some sort of emotional commitment to the outcome. For example, I was more upset about the cancellation of Caprica than I am about the continuing proliferation of pornography on the Internet. Honestly, I am still not over the cancellation of Firefly or the Dresden Files. Maybe this shows I accept that some things may be both commercialized and meaningful. I don't mind if people make money off of things I connect with, so long as the content providers do not mess with those aspects I consider sacred. For example, the prospect of making a Buffy reboot movie without Joss Whedon strikes me as an abomination. Next to such unnatural and clearly malevolent perversions as canceling my favorite shows or making heretical and no doubt watered-down copies of stories I love into crappy movies, the admittedly negative prospects of commercialized holidays and impersonal, mercenary views of sexuality seem rather unimportant. I guess I can accept the“bad” with the good so long as the bad does not outweigh the good. Also, what I really want is a good story. Everything else is relative to how much I like the story.
Georgina has a good story, even if she plays on some familiar patterns. She is a troubled and guilt-ridden succubus that way many popular vampires are reluctant and broody blood-suckers. She has a dark past. After one mistake that lead to a contract with Hell, she became an immortal servant of Satan. At first she fell into her new role in ways that she now feels damn her even more than the original sin (so to speak). When she is depressed she can fall back into destructive behaviors, but she is not beyond redemption. Her best friends may be vampires and imps, but she genuinely likes them and tries to protect them, even as she tries to protect the humans she has befriended. Also, she seems to have an angel in her corner, up to a point. Not bad for a daughter of Lilith.
Georgina's stories are interesting enough warrant attention and eventually loyalty as a fan. Richelle Mead's skill for creating complex characters and interesting plots are hard to resist. It helps that not only does Georgina try to do better than she has in the past, but she does not give up on love. It doesn't hurt that she has excellent taste in men―well not always, (she routinely sleeps with men who are already little sleazy so she won't feel guilty about shorting their lives when she feeds on them) but she has excellent taste in “true love”.
Though I enjoy the obstacles and conflicts Georgina must overcome when she tries to solve diabolical mysteries and save her fellow immortals, I'll admit that I like the main romance story in this case. The leading love interest, writer Seth Mortensen, pushes every book nerd button I have. There are certain common fantasies that never seem to go out of style. Teenagers daydream of going to concerts and having their pop idols look out into the crown, recognized a soul mate, and single the teen out for a personal connection. Middle-aged women fantasize about being mistaken for a woman half their age and being swept off their feet by (a) Johnny Depp or (b) a reasonable facsimile thereof. Loyal readers dream of meeting their favorite authors at a book signing and falling in love with the writer the way they fell in love with the books. If this were not true, women would stop sporting “Mrs. Gaiman” t-shirts at book clubs. Seth often looses himself in his writing and he expresses himself better in email than he does in person, which just makes me love this character more. He is the perfect sweet but introverted writer for any level of devotedly daydreaming reader.
The local demonic forces and their angelic counterparts are also fun and compelling at many levels. Though the local head angel and head demon hangout together and sometimes even work together, they both play their greater cosmic roles. Each immortal of any kind has a believable personality, but they are no better than they ought to be, not even the angels. Sometimes creatures from other mythologies make an appearance. Ultimately, this promises to be a story of love and redemption, but it is neither preachy nor simple. This is an entertaining series and well worth reading (or listening to).
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