I've found the romance in the Skolian series more and more troubling too. I like Soz and Jaibriol because of the gender role reversals and the Romeo and Juliet quality of their relationship, but all of the forced marriages later on take a lot of the spontaneity out of the relationships and every couple seems very much the same after a while. I prefer romantic SFF to romance, but some authors depend on romance tropes and stereotypes and it's getting on my nerves. I wouldn't recommend Asaro's Luna books to you since those all have the same forced marriages, plus I found the fantastical elements to be too cutesy and silly in some of the books, and the female characters aren't as strong. Her AI books are pretty good and the romances in them are a bit rushed, but more realistic, plus the tech is cool.
I'm looking forward to the new Skolian book because it doesn't seem to be as relationship-focused, at least from the excerpt I read in Baen's Universe. It's about Kelric and Jai and finally advances the plot. I actually found the retelling of events from multiple perspectives to be very frustrating and to me it was just a symptom of never-ending-series-itis. Asaro has said on panels at conventions that she could write 30 or more books in this series and I have nightmares that it will end up unfinished like The Wheel of Time.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-10-17 03:05 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to the new Skolian book because it doesn't seem to be as relationship-focused, at least from the excerpt I read in Baen's Universe. It's about Kelric and Jai and finally advances the plot. I actually found the retelling of events from multiple perspectives to be very frustrating and to me it was just a symptom of never-ending-series-itis. Asaro has said on panels at conventions that she could write 30 or more books in this series and I have nightmares that it will end up unfinished like The Wheel of Time.