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sunlit_musicThis post was edited to make the third paragraph clearer.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHOY FOR ROBIN WASSERMAN'S SEVEN SINS SERIES.
Also! You may not enjoy reading the following if you enjoyed Wasserman's books.
Now. To be fair to Wasserman's Seven Sins series, it *is* genuinely well written and witty. It's entertaining. All the characters have flaws and good points. However, there were things about the series that ticked me off:
I found it really annoying how the two girls who have a life and interests outside of a man are both horrible (Kaia is the cruellest and manipulative, and Beth kills Kaia). Whereas the less horrible ones (Harper and Miranda) are the ones whose lives revolve around *snagging* a guy. At least Miranda has interests outside of snagging a guy (like Dostoevsky), but the Seven Sins series barely focuses on that.
And it disappointed me that the girls tend to be more backstabbing, and gossipy than the guys in general. Ugh. Miranda and Harper gossip about other students a lot (there is a quote from one the book that state they bitch about 99.99 percent of the student body - can't remember which book it was. I think it was Pride or Envy.)
The main female characters are much more unsympathetic than the male characters too. All of the main female characters are extremely unpleasant (whereas out of the guys, only Kane comes close to being anything as nasty as the girls, seeing how he spreads nasty rumours about Miranda and Beth. Adam and Reed are very likeable in general.)
Harper is basically forgiven for being nasty and selfish towards Miranda and Adam in the last book. Her transgressions are forgotten. She doesn't change, but Miranda and Adam are perfectly OK with this. I suppose this is why I like Beth better, despite her having done worse things than Harper (like accidentally killing Kaia).
Beth suffers the consequences of her actions, and apologises. She tries to atone for what she did by asking Harper "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" (re: not telling Harper for a long time that Harper wasn't responsible for killing Kaia). Beth does redeem herself eventually by refusing to write a libellous article about Harper and Kaia. This costs her her job and the only possible chance of getting into the job of her dreams.
Harper doesn't apologise for offering fake apologies to Miranda. Nor does she apologise for getting angry at Miranda, when Miranda calls her on her selfish behaviour. She apologises on lying about helping Miranda win Kane over, but then takes her apology back.
She doesn't apologise for slandering Beth (she says to Beth that what she did to her was horrible. But she never says sorry. And she doesn't clear Beth's name with her high school by pointing out that Beth didn't cheat on Adam after all). In the end, she doesn't try to atone. And Miranda and Adam are OK with this.
Which reminds me of how Snape and Harry are treated in the HP books. Now, Snape is a generally horrible man. But the fact that he works so hard to save people and atone himself (and ends up with people hating him for being an asshole) makes him a lot more bearable than Harry. Harry is an asshole, but he's constantly told he's got a good heart, he's compassionate etc. And Harry doesn't apologise or feel great remorse for the horrfying things he's done (like slashing Draco's face and torturing of a Carrow, for instance). I know Harry is horrified for a few minutes that he slashed Draco's face, but then he promptly forgets about it. It's never mentioned in the HP books again, and there are no major repurcussions (like suspension or expulsion).
WARNING: SPOILERS AHOY FOR ROBIN WASSERMAN'S SEVEN SINS SERIES.
Also! You may not enjoy reading the following if you enjoyed Wasserman's books.
Now. To be fair to Wasserman's Seven Sins series, it *is* genuinely well written and witty. It's entertaining. All the characters have flaws and good points. However, there were things about the series that ticked me off:
I found it really annoying how the two girls who have a life and interests outside of a man are both horrible (Kaia is the cruellest and manipulative, and Beth kills Kaia). Whereas the less horrible ones (Harper and Miranda) are the ones whose lives revolve around *snagging* a guy. At least Miranda has interests outside of snagging a guy (like Dostoevsky), but the Seven Sins series barely focuses on that.
And it disappointed me that the girls tend to be more backstabbing, and gossipy than the guys in general. Ugh. Miranda and Harper gossip about other students a lot (there is a quote from one the book that state they bitch about 99.99 percent of the student body - can't remember which book it was. I think it was Pride or Envy.)
The main female characters are much more unsympathetic than the male characters too. All of the main female characters are extremely unpleasant (whereas out of the guys, only Kane comes close to being anything as nasty as the girls, seeing how he spreads nasty rumours about Miranda and Beth. Adam and Reed are very likeable in general.)
Harper is basically forgiven for being nasty and selfish towards Miranda and Adam in the last book. Her transgressions are forgotten. She doesn't change, but Miranda and Adam are perfectly OK with this. I suppose this is why I like Beth better, despite her having done worse things than Harper (like accidentally killing Kaia).
Beth suffers the consequences of her actions, and apologises. She tries to atone for what she did by asking Harper "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" (re: not telling Harper for a long time that Harper wasn't responsible for killing Kaia). Beth does redeem herself eventually by refusing to write a libellous article about Harper and Kaia. This costs her her job and the only possible chance of getting into the job of her dreams.
Harper doesn't apologise for offering fake apologies to Miranda. Nor does she apologise for getting angry at Miranda, when Miranda calls her on her selfish behaviour. She apologises on lying about helping Miranda win Kane over, but then takes her apology back.
She doesn't apologise for slandering Beth (she says to Beth that what she did to her was horrible. But she never says sorry. And she doesn't clear Beth's name with her high school by pointing out that Beth didn't cheat on Adam after all). In the end, she doesn't try to atone. And Miranda and Adam are OK with this.
Which reminds me of how Snape and Harry are treated in the HP books. Now, Snape is a generally horrible man. But the fact that he works so hard to save people and atone himself (and ends up with people hating him for being an asshole) makes him a lot more bearable than Harry. Harry is an asshole, but he's constantly told he's got a good heart, he's compassionate etc. And Harry doesn't apologise or feel great remorse for the horrfying things he's done (like slashing Draco's face and torturing of a Carrow, for instance). I know Harry is horrified for a few minutes that he slashed Draco's face, but then he promptly forgets about it. It's never mentioned in the HP books again, and there are no major repurcussions (like suspension or expulsion).
