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katewritesI guess my problem with these books is that I was so charmed by the first one that even though the subsequent two books have been... lacking plotwise, I still read them.
My reactions tend to be like this:
Me: A book about teenage girl spies! Like D.E.B.S! THIS IS SO COOL!
Book: It should be right! Except they're still in school, so all their adventures need to be based around being in school.
Me: Ok, that's cool. They'll still go on missions, right?
Book: Kind of. Their missions will be based around the incredibly, sickeningly Stars Hollow town near the school. Sometimes they'll go out, but mostly they stay in school.
Me: ...ok. Well, they'll at least have neat Hogwarts style in school adventures?
Book: HA. NO. Most of their adventures will be about boys. Because no one thought that while training an elite school of spy girls, you might want to acclimate them to, you know, average boys. So, the first book will be about getting a boyfriend. Which she does. That'll be the only plot in 3 books, by the way.
Me: But in the second book, secret boy spies MOVE INTO THEIR SCHOOL. Isn't that adventurous?
Book: ...not really. In fact, the entire book will be about whether the boy flirting with her is good or evil, and it turns out he's good.
Me: But the third book advertises itself as about a kidnapping/assassination plot!
Book: ...yeah. It'll still be about whether the boy likes her. And figuring out who's trying to kidnap her friend. Only it turns out that her mom and aunt knew the whole time, and just didn't bother to tell her.
I think the major flaw in these books is the age level of the protagonist. Although Cammie is 17 and a superspy, she's still awkward with boys, and doesn't think about sex at all. I'm all for girls waiting, or girls that aren't interested in sex, but the book itself doesn't really acknowledge that teenage girls might be interested in sex.
Which would be great if the books were about girls being awesome, doing it on their own, except that in all three books, her life revolves around boys. Which is... I don't know. Kind of two different stories you're telling. If Twilight is about extremely awkward and inappropriate sexual tension, these books are about extremely awkward lack of sexual tension.
I think that a lot of these narrative problems (in books 2 and 3 a huge amount of the conflict is caused by her mom simply not telling her information that she should know) could be solved in Cammie was 4 years younger. Make her 13 or 14 and I'd buy that she thinks and acts the way she does.
From a 17 year old (much less a 17 year old super spy) I just didn't buy it.
My reactions tend to be like this:
Me: A book about teenage girl spies! Like D.E.B.S! THIS IS SO COOL!
Book: It should be right! Except they're still in school, so all their adventures need to be based around being in school.
Me: Ok, that's cool. They'll still go on missions, right?
Book: Kind of. Their missions will be based around the incredibly, sickeningly Stars Hollow town near the school. Sometimes they'll go out, but mostly they stay in school.
Me: ...ok. Well, they'll at least have neat Hogwarts style in school adventures?
Book: HA. NO. Most of their adventures will be about boys. Because no one thought that while training an elite school of spy girls, you might want to acclimate them to, you know, average boys. So, the first book will be about getting a boyfriend. Which she does. That'll be the only plot in 3 books, by the way.
Me: But in the second book, secret boy spies MOVE INTO THEIR SCHOOL. Isn't that adventurous?
Book: ...not really. In fact, the entire book will be about whether the boy flirting with her is good or evil, and it turns out he's good.
Me: But the third book advertises itself as about a kidnapping/assassination plot!
Book: ...yeah. It'll still be about whether the boy likes her. And figuring out who's trying to kidnap her friend. Only it turns out that her mom and aunt knew the whole time, and just didn't bother to tell her.
I think the major flaw in these books is the age level of the protagonist. Although Cammie is 17 and a superspy, she's still awkward with boys, and doesn't think about sex at all. I'm all for girls waiting, or girls that aren't interested in sex, but the book itself doesn't really acknowledge that teenage girls might be interested in sex.
Which would be great if the books were about girls being awesome, doing it on their own, except that in all three books, her life revolves around boys. Which is... I don't know. Kind of two different stories you're telling. If Twilight is about extremely awkward and inappropriate sexual tension, these books are about extremely awkward lack of sexual tension.
I think that a lot of these narrative problems (in books 2 and 3 a huge amount of the conflict is caused by her mom simply not telling her information that she should know) could be solved in Cammie was 4 years younger. Make her 13 or 14 and I'd buy that she thinks and acts the way she does.
From a 17 year old (much less a 17 year old super spy) I just didn't buy it.
