tiger moran (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tiger_moran) wrote2023-01-18 12:26 am
tiger_moran) wrote2023-01-18 12:26 am
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I've been re-reading Michael Kurland's Moriarty novels for, uh, quite a long time now (some of them are pretty hard going to be honest since I couldn't care less about his original characters and unfortunately some of them spend a long time talking about those OCs and take a long time for Moriarty to actually show up or do anything). I have no memory at all of Who Thinks Evil even though that was the most recent one. I'm glad it has Moriarty in it a lot more than some but I'm still bitter about the lack of Moran meanwhile Barnett shows up yet again (I don't care! I don't care about boring Barnett (nor do I understand still why Moriarty ever wanted him in his employment or what he ever actually did for Moriarty) and his equally boring wife no not even if you keep on telling me how amazing and wondrous she is!). And it's like that in most of these stories, Moriarty interacts with the OCs I don't like (I don't really actually like any of them, they're all annoying) who all effectively replace all of Moran's roles and also Moriarty has loads of interaction with Holmes which is probably great if you're a Holmes/Moriarty shipper or something but really bloody irritating if you actively dislike Holmes/Moriarty.
And I'm re-reading The Empress of India now since I saved the best one for last. But even so... it still annoys me so much that Kurland barely uses Moran throughout the series and even in this book, instead of having him as Moriarty's close acquaintance, right hand man, bosom friend, whatever else, he's still just one of many random acquaintances. Yes Moran is finally a major character in this but his canonical role throughout has just been ignored, written out in favour of Kurland's tedious original characters who I genuinely can't stand instead, and even in this book it's just... nothing like the canonical relationship between them. And I mean this is essentially the best/only published book that actually has them both in it and interacting in a pretty positive way so that's kind of a massive downer really, that it still gets it so off from what should be and disregards this thing from the canon that is so horrendously overlooked and ignored by almost everyone else as well, that Moran was Moriarty's friend, his very close friend, and his chief of staff and probably his assassin sometimes too and there is a strong basis also to think they could have been lovers, and this gets ignored or denied over and over again and even Kurland, who unlike a lot of authors who use these characters does actually seem to like them and also unlike a lot of authors doesn't come across as a homophobe who feels a burning need to claim Moriarty is a Manly Virile Heterosexual every five minutes (*glares really fucking hard at John Gardner*), even he does it. It is so so disappointing when this is practically all there is, for someone who loves Moriarty, who loves Moran, who loves Moriarty/Moran, and it's not enough, because it still doesn't get the characters and the relationship right, it's barely even close really. Yes they seem to get along OK and that's great but... it's still so far away from what it should be, meanwhile I seem to be supposed to care not only about the original characters and their relationship but also about another relationship involving Moriarty which is basically my NOTP.
Also this doesn't actually make sense that Moriarty's butler doesn't recognise Moran yet he knew who Moran was in the only other book in the series that Moran appeared in (very very briefly) a few years earlier. The lack of continuity makes it feel even more than I thought before that even within this universe this Moran isn't actually the same character who appeared earlier and is even more suggestive that... Kurland never really knew what to do with Moran, like it never really crossed his mind how important Moran was to Moriarty canonically, he was just a random name to toss into the mix occasionally, that was all. And it is hugely disappointing because I would have loved these books so much if he'd just got Moran right throughout.
And I'm re-reading The Empress of India now since I saved the best one for last. But even so... it still annoys me so much that Kurland barely uses Moran throughout the series and even in this book, instead of having him as Moriarty's close acquaintance, right hand man, bosom friend, whatever else, he's still just one of many random acquaintances. Yes Moran is finally a major character in this but his canonical role throughout has just been ignored, written out in favour of Kurland's tedious original characters who I genuinely can't stand instead, and even in this book it's just... nothing like the canonical relationship between them. And I mean this is essentially the best/only published book that actually has them both in it and interacting in a pretty positive way so that's kind of a massive downer really, that it still gets it so off from what should be and disregards this thing from the canon that is so horrendously overlooked and ignored by almost everyone else as well, that Moran was Moriarty's friend, his very close friend, and his chief of staff and probably his assassin sometimes too and there is a strong basis also to think they could have been lovers, and this gets ignored or denied over and over again and even Kurland, who unlike a lot of authors who use these characters does actually seem to like them and also unlike a lot of authors doesn't come across as a homophobe who feels a burning need to claim Moriarty is a Manly Virile Heterosexual every five minutes (*glares really fucking hard at John Gardner*), even he does it. It is so so disappointing when this is practically all there is, for someone who loves Moriarty, who loves Moran, who loves Moriarty/Moran, and it's not enough, because it still doesn't get the characters and the relationship right, it's barely even close really. Yes they seem to get along OK and that's great but... it's still so far away from what it should be, meanwhile I seem to be supposed to care not only about the original characters and their relationship but also about another relationship involving Moriarty which is basically my NOTP.
Also this doesn't actually make sense that Moriarty's butler doesn't recognise Moran yet he knew who Moran was in the only other book in the series that Moran appeared in (very very briefly) a few years earlier. The lack of continuity makes it feel even more than I thought before that even within this universe this Moran isn't actually the same character who appeared earlier and is even more suggestive that... Kurland never really knew what to do with Moran, like it never really crossed his mind how important Moran was to Moriarty canonically, he was just a random name to toss into the mix occasionally, that was all. And it is hugely disappointing because I would have loved these books so much if he'd just got Moran right throughout.