At Jessewave's, the review generated an interesting discussion. It highlights how different readers perceive characters and their motives, and also demonstrates how plot elements that people find distasteful can make or break a book for them. I've already posted a (lengthy) list of things that grind the gears of m/m fiction readers. But they're certainly not alone in their pickiness.This fascinates me. Aside from the usual gag-inducing/taboo themes (cannibalism, bestiality, "romanticized" or gratuitous rape, torture, incest, sex involving minors,
fetishes involving really icky stuff), I'm willing to accept most anything an author puts in his/her work, as long as I'm reading a good story well told. I'm not, for example, a big fan of yaoi. And I'm not a fan of certain character types. But, hey, let Katrina
Strauss spin out some yaoi or Frank Tuttle throw a detective (rather, a "Finder") at me, and I am so there. The Age of Sail? Couldn't have cared less . . . until Alex Beecroft came along. I have some issues with BDSM, too, but so many authors handle it so well (and, sometimes, in such original ways) that it no longer automatically hits my recoil button.Have you ever found one of your reading prejudies vanish in the space of a just-plain damned good book?
