The Hero Ditch

This one is an odd one so buckle up.

Here's the burned down core of this post - heroes who turn out to be like all the other heroes the author has written before.

Now I'm talking fairly well known authors who for some reason have a distinct impression of character but who then, once they get to that heroes book, mush him into some sort of mold that looks exactly like the previous heroes of a series.

The most extreme example for me is Butch from J.R. Ward's series.

Now I'm being lazy so I can't be quoting passages from the books. I just remember being so enamored of Butch - weary, ass dragging, over worked, seen to much cop. He was gorgeous in his ragged ways.

Books 2 and 3 of the series have him becoming a metro-sexual. Okay. I can cope. Cause down deep he's still that weary cop.

And then his book comes and holy crap, what a shit storm of character assassination.

Here's this man who is lovable just the way he is. I mean seriously french kissable.

I couldn't wait to see how Ward would deal with a human male being in love with a female vampire (I'm watering this part down).

Didn't happen.

Nope.

See, Butch isn't meant to be human, he is a Brother. So instead of becoming happy as the man he was (which would have been a wonderful story) he becomes another Brother with all the woo-woo factors and suddenly he has a purpose to his life.

Guess those years as a human cop were nothing.

So instead of reading a story about Butch, we get a somewhat similar copy of the previous Brothers.

I don't think I'm explaining this well.

So another author.

Suzanne Brockmann (Someone cover C2's eyes!)

I noticed it with a guy named Cosmo.

Again, a super quiet hero of a man. Little dark.

You know I love the dark.

Get to his story and well, what a down right talkative SOB. He's just misjudged by all who have ever known him. I tell you, when he started a speech (I'm talking epic) about how he's not a hero to the heroine I had to visualize my happy place to keep from puking.

And then Max.

Don't get me started.

Too late!

Max was dark and tortured and just yummy. By the end of his book he was laughing and singing an Elvis song.

Uh, no.

I'm not saying Max should have remained a bear but singing? Don't see it. He's just too intense - or he was before he was mashed into a 'hero' mold.

I guess this melts down to series books.

You catch a glimpse of a hero or heroine who is different and edgy and down right mind blowing. You think about how *this* is the story you are waiting for.

Only, when the story shows up, there is this other character walking around pretending to be the hero/heroine you have been waiting for. Huh. They aren't dark or intense or anything. They are just like all the other heroes in the series and darn if they don't start to sound like them also.

Since we talked about the bad I can tell you the good.

Sam from Brockmann's series.

This guy must have been living with the author because I don't remember one thing he did that wasn't true to his character. Sam was a hero that doesn't come around that often. He was different from all the other heroes of Brockmann's.

I really have no interest in reading about similar heroes meeting their heroines. Sure, I have my guilty pleasures (Diana Palmer) but I always thought that really great authors could tell different stories with unique heroes and heroines.

Anyone else noticing this in their favourite series? Any characters you have been waiting for only to discover the story isn't really about the character you got to know in the previous books?

Okay, I'm brain dead now and praying I made a point that is understandable in there somewhere.