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Alicia's Reviews > Ice
Ice
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by
Alicia's review
bookshelves: young-adult-fantasy, fairy-tale-or-folk-tale-retellings, norse-mythology, reviewed, not-so-feminist-themes
Oct 21, 2010
bookshelves: young-adult-fantasy, fairy-tale-or-folk-tale-retellings, norse-mythology, reviewed, not-so-feminist-themes
Beautiful story, but I disliked the romantic aspects. The relationship between Bear and Cassie felt rushed, and in some ways was quite creepy. The Bear used his magic powers to forcibly impregnate her. Cassie had been taking BC because she had no interest in children, yet without telling her or asking for her consent, the Bear "fixed" her "chemical imbalance" caused by the pill using his magic and she was three months preggers before he told her what he had done. I guess this is the paranormal romance equivalent of using a pin to prick a hole in a condom. Of course, despite the fact that she had a baby put inside her against her will, she grew to realize the errors of her ways, forgive the polar bear who forcibly impregnated her and make a happy, perfect little family with him. Super realistic.
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Reading Progress
October 21, 2010
–
Started Reading
October 21, 2010
– Shelved
October 21, 2010
– Shelved as:
young-adult-fantasy
November 13, 2010
– Shelved as:
fairy-tale-or-folk-tale-retellings
December 5, 2010
– Shelved as:
norse-mythology
December 5, 2010
–
Finished Reading
December 7, 2010
– Shelved as:
reviewed
January 31, 2011
– Shelved as:
not-so-feminist-themes
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Kelly
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rated it 4 stars
Mar 03, 2011 11:21AM
That was bothersome but for some reason I thought it was an accident--that he hadn't understood human birth control, thought she was sick, and thought she needed "healing" from it.
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I wish you could see my face right now. o.O has never fit me so well. I have this book on my shelf and I plan on reading it soon... I'm not sure I want to.
I have this and I'm having trouble finishing it because the relationship isn't strong enough for me.And I felt the same way about Bear "fixing" her. The part that bothered me was, why didn't he tell her in the first place? "I think there's something wrong with you and I want to heal you."
I mean, if you think a loved one is sick, you suggest they see a doctor. You don't knock them upside the head and drag them there.
Well, that's true. :)
Kelly, I think you're right that he didn't understand human birth control or realize she was taking oral contraceptives. All he knew was that it was some kind of hormonal imbalance that would need to be corrected before she could have children, and those kind of imbalances can occur naturally, as a result of contraceptives or as a result of numerous other conditions and problems. The issue though is that he corrected the hormonal imbalance WITHOUT her consent, thereby impregnating her WITHOUT her consent. She was consciously trying to prevent pregnancy, and he went behind her back to try to impregnate her (undermining her contraceptive efforts). He never even asked her if she wanted to be pregnant or consulted her about why her hormones were off, lol. Just did it all without her consent, and that comes dangerously close to forced impregnation for my liking. Her body is her body, not his. It's like he was trying to own and take control of her body and its reproductive capabilities. Bear was big on ownership of Cassie, lol.
Lucy, I think it's still worth a read - the writing wasn't bad or anything. It wasn't an awful read by any means, it just had some weird aspects, which is pretty true of most PR and YA fantasy right now I'm learning, haha. Let me know what you think if you do give it a read.
Oh, absolutely he should not have done it without her consent. I just thought it was on sort of a lower level of egregiousness than, say, if he did know about birth control, did know she was blocking conception on purpose, and sabotaged her anyway. But YMMV of course.
What does YMMV mean? :)
Your Mileage May Vary. :)
Ahhh, that makes sense - thanks! I do see what you mean. He didn't really know that she was actively making an effort to prevent pregnancy. I guess he was working on an assumption that the first thing you do when you get married is try to get pregnant, and why on earth would his 17(? I think she was 17 or 18) yr old wife possibly want to prevent that? Doesn't she want to pop out a baby immediately? I still find it to be almost an act of forced impregnation because he did not even consult her about whether or not she wished to be pregnant and interfered with her body without her consent. And then he didn't even tell her about it for three months! Why didn't he say something after the first month? I don't know, I just can't abide by him taking control of her reproductive capabilities in the way that he did.
Yeah, I think he was acting in accordance with his "I'm a bear, and oh yeah, I'm magically responsible for all kinds of reproductive stuff" instincts and, in the process, did something really invasive and offensive by human standards. It was definitely wrong, I agree with you there.
Okay, I'm sort of glad he wasn't manically rubbing his paws together plotting to knock her up. Still so wrong on so many levels, but I can knock it down from 'terrified of reading' to 'very concerned about reading.However... I have a question. Was he a bear when he knocked her up? *eyes book cautiously*
Edit: Forgive me, I ordered it based on an author-recommendation as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I knew nothing more than that. Author recommendations are apparently worth toilet paper most of the time for me.
Nope, he's completely human during the sexytimes, thank god... the alternative sounds painful, and well, ugh. Like most werewolf/shifter/animal-as-a-main-character stores, there are some very, very slight undertones of zoophilia (after all, she's in a relationship with someone who spends half their time as an animal), but nothing gross or overt. The cover is indeed gorgeous. It's actually a retelling of this Norwegian folk take, not Beauty and the Beast. So in all fairness to Ms. Durst, she was more or less following a blueprint, and we all know that the original versions of those lovely old fairy tales are pretty much filled with fun stuff like zoophilia, incest, etc. lol. :)
Why do I feel that was a 'okay, Lucy, you taste the questionable berry first?' I love you anyway though :)
Maybe I'll read it for The Book Lantern next week. Although it might not be a good choice since I'm thinking dirty thoughts about the Care Bear rainbows burst from the tummy and fertility.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2WTAR...
It was my impression that he did not know she was trying to prevent pregnancy. In his eyes, they were having unprotected sex (her bc not known to him) and the baby was a natural consequence. He wasn't trying to make her do this against her will, I didn't get that at all.
He didn't know about the birth control pills, but he explained that he knew her hormones were off in a way that prevented pregnancy and then he "fixed" them for her with his magic (ie. meddled with her hormonal levels and her body without consulting her, informing her or asking her consent). So yes, I feel that she was deceptively impregnated against her will. You're free to feel differently. :)
I totally agree it was absurd to make her pregnant, and it was a convenient excuse by the writer to make him 'not know'. There was no development of their relationship at all imho. Blegh, sorry I wasted money on this book.
You got how a felt about this book perfectly! the who baby thing was weird, but it's not like it hasn't happened before(i.e. breaking dawn,lol). though it was strange, i don't regret reading it.
