incoherent bitter ranting below iām still enjoying this read but im also tiredā¦
forgot how much i hate katelinaās storylineā¦the thing is in isolation sheās a complex, smart and competent character but thereās a pattern in dunnett where smart and competent women are outsmarted by the hypercompetent hero (so Nicholas/Francis) to show how incredible he is. And that in itself is fine! I wouldnāt be reading dunnett if i didnāt want a hypercompetent hero. but itās just gross when every single woman (it feels like) they come across is bested by them not just intellectually but sexually - by seduction not assault obviously, but thereās a weird element of āputting them in there place sexilyā which someone ( @stripedroseandsketchpads ? or on one of your posts maybe?) brought up in context with joleta and it just grosses me outā¦i just read the scene where nicholas and katelina sleep together for the first time and apart from her whole arc of course just furthering his development vis a vis simon and you know, dinnettās general as much trauma as possible for her heroes, itās such a weird scene where heās like ohā¦sheās been arrogant and superior to me but now i guess i have to sleep with her out of pity because she thinks sheās unattractiveā¦just grosses me out and i know itās a ridiculous thing to complain about in a series where romance is such a huge thing but iād be happier if there was none bc so much of it is so grossā¦not to even get into the vaguely implied ānicholas is so good at sex because he was sexually abused as a childā thing??? which to be fair itās been a LONG time since i read that part so maybe that wasnāt intended at all butā¦yeah im really really enjoying this reread but. iād love to read an arc where nicholas outsmarts a woman but sheās not simultaneously overcome by his sexual power. itād be nice.
