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*very minor Spoilerage* Except I suppose everyone else has read these already.
Ruddy Charles Stross. This small rant has been brewing since I first read the Atrocity archives a year or so ago. It annoyed me the first time around. In order to progress and read the second book in the Laundry series, I felt I should go back and re read the first. I've just finished that read. I'm annoyed all over again by the roles he allows the women. The male protagonist gets to be clever, decisive, active, rebellious, heroic. The nearest thing there is to a female protagonist is described as appealing and clever but is given pretty much no agency at all, and of course she ends up as the girlfriend. The only other significant female characters are a pair of offensively officious rule bound administrators. There are two other women mentioned, both in only a few words. One is a nervous class attendee, the other is a nose powdering truant. GAH. edit: oh, and the horrid not quite ex girlfriend.
Does it get better in the later books? Do any women get to do stuff? be competent and admirable: (and the latter not for their physical appearance). I sure hope so, or I'm really unlikely to buy any more of these.
Aside from my feminist objections, I suspect there is some content I'm missing through not being more IT knowledgable.
Ruddy Charles Stross. This small rant has been brewing since I first read the Atrocity archives a year or so ago. It annoyed me the first time around. In order to progress and read the second book in the Laundry series, I felt I should go back and re read the first. I've just finished that read. I'm annoyed all over again by the roles he allows the women. The male protagonist gets to be clever, decisive, active, rebellious, heroic. The nearest thing there is to a female protagonist is described as appealing and clever but is given pretty much no agency at all, and of course she ends up as the girlfriend. The only other significant female characters are a pair of offensively officious rule bound administrators. There are two other women mentioned, both in only a few words. One is a nervous class attendee, the other is a nose powdering truant. GAH. edit: oh, and the horrid not quite ex girlfriend.
Does it get better in the later books? Do any women get to do stuff? be competent and admirable: (and the latter not for their physical appearance). I sure hope so, or I'm really unlikely to buy any more of these.
Aside from my feminist objections, I suspect there is some content I'm missing through not being more IT knowledgable.
