Betrayed: Chapter 20

[zelda_queen]

ZeldaQueen: In which nothing happens. LORD

Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...

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Chapter 20

ZeldaQueen: We start off with a lot of really pointless details about the group getting candles ready and setting up a statue of Nyx with tributes of meats, fruits, and cheeses to her. I'm serious, this is the only ritual held in the entire book, and I have no idea if they do any more for the rest of the frigging series. I have no idea why this much description of the room is needed.

Zoey is all nervous, and tells us so

"It was a big change to have me lead the Dark Daughters. Aphrodite had been leader for the past two years, and in that time the group had become a cliquish, snobby club where fledglings who weren't part of the 'in' crowd were used and made fun of.

Well, things were changing tonight."

ZeldaQueen: Um, spoilers which probably are very obvious - Zoey doesn't actually change that much. I mean, yes she stops the refrigerator thing and the pot smoking (and yes, she spends more time complaining about the latter rather than the former), but we never actually see any evidence in this book of the Dark Daughters becoming this totally new body with this totally new club through her regime change.

Also, considering that the Dark Daughters is more or less made up of Zoey and her bitchy friends, she has room to talk.

Anyway, we're told that everyone is wearing black because they're goffic to keep with a theme, and Zoey goes into a lengthy and pointless description of the dress Erik gave her. She also bashes the low-cut dress Aphrodite wore, for no reason at all. I must say, if Zoey uses the word "ho-ish" to describe something of Aphrodite's one more time, I'm going to scream.

Zoey spares one moment to ponder the mystery of the Dark Daughter necklace found next to the dead body (yeah...remember that?) but shoves it out of her head because she can't be bothered thinking about stuff that upsets her now. No, really.

Meanwhile, Damien is still setting up their candles. Stevie Rae touches hers and then freaks out. Damien calls Zoey over, and upon reaching them, Zoey realizes that she can smell freshly-cut hay, honeysuckle, and newly-ploughed dirt.  This confuses Zoey, because it's almost like Earth was summoned, only she didn't summon Earth yet. So OH MY WORD, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN, I WONDER?

"Then Damien sucked air and his face split into a huge grin. 'Stevie Rae has an affinity for earth!'"

ZeldaQueen: You know when I first read that, I was very confused. I mean, hasn't she been summoning Earth for those stupid rituals? I...guess she was just a conductor or a placeholder until now. Now, it seems that Stevie Rae can summon Earth at will. I honestly have no idea what good this does, because all it ever seems to manifest as right now smelling outdoor-sy things or feeling the grass under your feet. It's not like she can make an earthquake or something. Also, why is this popping up now? She's been at the House of Night for some time, hasn't she? She apparently hasn't felt anything before now. Do most fledglings need a training period before their affinities manifest, or something? And if so, that leaves rather bad implications for Zoey's Sue-ness, given how she sparked her affinity on Day One.

*sigh* So Shaunee and Erin come over and smell the various smells and ask if Stevie Rae's trying some "bumpkin perfume". Because she's from a hick town, and we all know those small-towners wear perfume smelling of dirt and hay.

Zoey's Deus Ex Machina feeling kicks in again, and she asks Shaunee and Erin to think about fire and water respectively and wonder of wonders, THEY HAVE THE POWER OF FIRE AND WATER AS WELL, IMAGINE THAT! Again, no idea of how that's any different, what practical purpose that serves, or why it's coming up now of all times.

Zoey then turns to Damien to see if he has the affinity of Air. Damien angsts. A lot

"I knew what was wrong. Damien was afraid he would fail, that he would be left out of the magic that was happening to the girls. In Soc class I'd learned that it was unusual for a gift as strong as an affinity for an element to be given to a male. Nyx gifted men with exceptional strength, and their affinities usually had to do with the physical, like Dragon, our fencing instructor, had been gifted with exceptional quickness and visual accuracy. Air was definitely a female affinity, and it would be nothing short of incredible for Nyx to gift Damien with an air affinity."

ZeldaQueen: First of all, YES WE GET IT! DAMIEN IS ANGSTY! HE'S THE TOKEN GUY IN THE GROUP OF GIRLS AND IS SELF CONSCIOUS ABOUT IT! DID ANYONE NOTICE?

Second of all, seriously is no one in this world actually pissed by the gender stereotypes which apparently their goddess herself is insisting on confining men to? You know, for all of Neferet's dressing Mr. Heifer down for worshiping a god that calls for confining women to limited and humiliating positions, this doesn't come across as much better. Not all guys are manly manly. I know many guys who are quiet or not very physical at all. And yet, whether they like it or not, apparently the only option guys have for power is just that in most cases. Yeah, I'm having a hard time picturing Nyx as the kind, loving figure she's portrayed as. She really seems like a bitch to me.

Which, incidentally, makes this about as good a time as any for me to pause about something that's honestly been bothering me. Notice almost all of the guys in this and how they're described. Most of them are portrayed as being very stereotypically masculine. Heath is a star football player. One of two male teachers is the fencing teacher. Erik is heartily congratulated at the end of Marked for physically fighting off the demons. Even Loren Blake is described as having a very powerful presence, which melts Zoey to butter.

Now, let us look at the only two gay characters in this book, Damien and Jack. They are both described in very similar terms - cute, puppy-like, doe-eyed, soft-spoken, and very submissive and just...squishy. They're the only guys who are depicted like that. No straight men are ever written as being that quiet or submissive or vulnerable. Inversely, so far as I know, there aren't any gay men in this series who are portrayed as showing traditional masculine traits like being dominant, physically powerful, or otherwise holding a commanding presence. This goes for the powers as well. Most guys are given physical affinities. Who gets the affinity more likely to go to a woman? The gay guy.

In other words, it kind of gives the implication that gay men basically fall under a lot of the same traits traditionally associated with women. I'm sure the Cast ladies weren't aware what they were implying with all of this but...am I the only one bothered by that?

Right. So yeah, of course Damien does have an affinity for Air. He shouts out "Superb! Glorious! Wondrous!", which apparently "made use of his large vocabulary". He then gets so happy that he starts to cry

"I knew what he was saying in that one word—that he realized Nyx found him worthy even though his parents didn't, and even though much of his life people had made fun of him because he liked guys. I had to blink hard to keep from bawling like a baby"

ZeldaQueen: YES! WE KNOW HE'S GAY! WE KNOW THAT APPARENTLY EVERYONE IN THIS WEIRD WORLD IS HOMOPHOBIC! SHUT UP NOW!

Neferet saunters over and comments on how Mary Sue speshul Zoey's friends are. Zoey remembers that oh yeah, something suspicious is going on with Neferet, and thus keeps her guard up. Neferet heads off to start the ceremony, and begins stealing Zoey's ideas.

"'It is time the Dark Daughters had a foundation. It has been decided that Zoey Redbird will begin an era and a new tradition with her leadership. She will form a Prefect Council, made up of seven fledglings, of which she will be Head Prefect. The other members of the Council will be Shaunee Cole, Erin Bates, Stevie Rae Johnson, Damien Maslin, and Erik Night. There will be one more Prefect chosen from Aphrodite's old Inner Circle to represent my wish for unity  among the fledglings.'

Her wish? I ground my teeth together and tried to find my happy place while Neferet paused to let the general sounds of celebration die (which included the Twins, Stevie Rae, Damien, Erik, and Jack, cheering their brains out). Jeesh. She was making it seem like she was responsible for ideas I'd sweated over for weeks!"

ZeldaQueen: You know, it might just be me, but it honestly seems like Zoey's more bothered by Neferet stealing her ideas than Neferet doing something shady with undead vampire fledglings. And "sweated over for weeks?" Dear, you spent one day Googling stuff. Just because you spent weeks being nervous doesn't mean you actually did any work! And some of the stuff was thought up by your stupid friends. Enough of this nonsense!

Neferet goes on for a good many long paragraphs in this vein, and I have to ask why Zoey is the only one who notices what's going on. She already told her ideas to Damien, Shaunee, and Erin. Why are they cheering Neferet on as well? Surely they'd also notice the idea-stealing?

Anyway, Neferet finishes up by having five male vampires bring out squares of wet cement and laughs at Zoey's confusion. Of course, seeing as we're supposed to see Neferet as Evil now, Zoey describes every action she takes as being patronizing and nasty. In other circumstances, I'd chalk that up to a point of view thing, like now that Zoey knows that Neferet isn't a nice person, she notices little things about her mentor that she didn't notice before. In this though, it just feels like bad writing. Anyway, Neferet credits Zoey with the idea of the handprints in the wet cement, and Zoey internally bitches because that was actually Damien's idea, while correcting Neferet on that publicly.

Neferet finishes up and sweeps off, leaving Zoey all confuzzled and upset. And we're left on that note, and with me wondering why this apparently warranted its own chapter. Cut out the unnecessary descriptions and it probably could have been easily meshed with the one after

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Onward to: Chapter 21

Back to: Chapter 19

Back to: Table of Contents

Comments

[carmyn]

Dude, we are what? Over half way through the book and absolutely NOTHING has happened. Even in the romance department, where the suthors apparently insist putting emphasis on, one can't really say that anything has happened. Loren Blake has hit on her, what? Once, twice? If there is suppose to be some great connection or Blake being the ultimate creepster how come we don't really see them together? More time is spent with Zoey waxing poetically about him that any actual interaction.

It's almost like the Casts are juggling with all of these plots and instead of taking one and running with it and seeing it to the end, they start something new each chapter that disappears the next. No wonder there is 10+ books! When you practically start a new sub-plot or plot every chapter, IN THE SECOND BOOK, it's going to take forever and a day to finish them all out!

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

And would you believe me if I told you that there are MORE subplots that keep getting trotted out and dragged on? -_- Good lord, at least A Song of Fire and Ice actually had the excuse of having legitimate plot to explain why it is so long!

[yemi-hikari.livejournal.com]

No wonder there is 10+ books!

Which should be a clue to their fans that something is wrong. These books. Each one feels like an episode from a telivision show. Do you know how many episodes a book is supposed to make if the series is done well plot wise. Definatly more then one, Worst Witch being one example. I couldn't even make this into a movie if I wanted to, not one that wouldn't bomb out with anyone BUT the rabid fans.

[lisaerin.livejournal.com]

I noticed nothing happens in these books a lot. Let's see, plot wise there's humans being murdered but no one cares, Neferet is being a bitch and Aphrodite is upset by her visions, but no one cares. I guess I can include Zoey trying to reform the Dark Daughters, but I don't think that's been mentioned too much. The rest of the stuff seems to be Zoey's guy troubles, but I'm not sure if that counts as a plot point.
Any time something plot relevant happens, it's ignored in favor of Zoey soapboxing or going on about her boyfriends. Half this book could be cut out, since it's blatant filler. It's like the Casts don't know how to progress from plot point to plot point, so they stick in random shit until the plot shows up.
As to your comment about being uncomfortable with the whole Damien thing, I agree. Just because a man is gay does not mean he acts like a female. I really hate that logic. They can be gay men who do masculine things. It's not so black and white. I'm all for diversity and what not, but I'm not congratulating the Casts for making a stereotypical gay character. If they make Damien multidimensional and quit relating his entire character on being a gay stereotype, then I'll congratulate them.

[yemi-hikari.livejournal.com]

Except, sticking in random shit amounts to the author not knowing wher they are even going, so all those things people praise them about in their story... they seem overly accidental to me.

[tsukasabuddha.livejournal.com]

The more I thought about it, the less I understood Neferet here. Why is she tipping her hand to Zoey that she is evil?

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Because the Cast ladies are total Suethors who, in an attempt to get readers to start to see who the villain is, makes her totally over-the-top.

[greenerygripes.livejournal.com]

I read that whole excerpt about IT IS SUPER RARE FOR A *MAN* TO GET AN ELEMENT and couldn't help but think...aren't two of the elements considered "masculine?" Why don't guys ever get those? I mean...not to be sexist or anythig of the srot, but if two elements are feminine and two are masculine, why should the girls get affinities way more than guys? Shouldn't there be an equal chance?
(Also, this JUST came to me. If Nyx blesses girls more than boys, then she must favor girls...if that's true, she's a pretty awful god, and why isn't there another god that favors boys?)

And my first thought about finding out three of her buds had affinities for certain elements was "Oh, shit, we're going to have some A:TLA or Captain Planet thing now, aren't we?"

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I was thinking, "Who gets the Power of Heart?"

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

I think the reasoning is that summoning the elements is a spiritual/mental thing and not physical, and in this crazy world physical = masculine.

I don't think Nyx blesses girls more, but she seems to give them the cooler powers if this is anything to go by. I can understand the idea of her favoring women since the society is a matriarchy, but I don't get why everybody just is of exactly the same mindset and thinks that Nyx is so awesome and the vampire world is so great. I mean, we had the feminist movement because people looked at society and saw how unfair things were. By that logic, shouldn't there be at least a few people who protest the double standards?

[yemi-hikari.livejournal.com]

The entire book series is sexist towards men. I mean, over in the Bleach fandom, some joke about how Tite Kubo is sexist towards the men by making them look like idiots compared to his female characters, well... the Men's Society that is... but he's really not. This... this is down right sexist.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/No straight men are ever written as being that quiet or submissive or vulnerable. Inversely, so far as I know, there aren't any gay men in this series who are portrayed as showing traditional masculine traits like being dominant, physically powerful, or otherwise holding a commanding presence./

You're not the only one bothered by this. This is homophobic, sexist, and stereotypical. Portrayals like this of straight men and gay men only serve to perpetuate harmful ideas such as the belief that any guys who don't fit into the stereotypically masculine role must be gay, the stereotype that gays are all feminine wusses, and the insidious conclusion that women and femininity are shameful and undesirable since any men perceived to have "feminine" traits are immediately scorned and derided as "girly" and "unmanly."

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of something I read awhile back, about the stereotypes of the gay best friend who is always dependent on his female friend for everything. It's just another reminder that the Cast ladies aren't going beyond chick flicks. -_-

[yemi-hikari.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the fact that it places an imphasis on the fat that his powers come from him being feminine too.

[mancalledtrue.livejournal.com]

By their powers combined... Dammit, Midoriri already used that joke.

It's worth noting that I can, off the top of my head, think of a good five Biblical heroines. Meanwhile, for all that vampires are OH SO FEMINIST, the women seem to be doing very little of the heavy lifting. Bear in mind that I'm an atheist and yet I can see holes in the Cast family's bias.

And I can't help but notice how... campy Damien's "large vocabulary" is skewing here.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Um...Judith. Deborah. Ruth. Esther. Who else? (I mean, I can think of a lot of Biblical women and a lot of female saints, but not many that I'd class as heroines.)

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

There's Jael, who delivered Israel from King Jadin by killing Sistera via driving a stake through his head clear through one side and out the other.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I was initially confused, thinking this was Judith, whom I recall stabbing and beheading an enemy, but nope, she killed Holofernes, not Sistera. So thank you for un-mixing the two.

It looks like messing with Hebrew women during Old Testament times, and especially during wartime, was a very bad idea.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Indeed. ^_^

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

"It's worth noting that I can, off the top of my head, think of a good five Biblical heroines. Meanwhile, for all that vampires are OH SO FEMINIST, the women seem to be doing very little of the heavy lifting. Bear in mind that I'm an atheist and yet I can see holes in the Cast family's bias."

Yeah, that annoys me as well. I mean, we get one mention in Marked that Stevie Rae took Tai Kwan Do, but we never see any of her using that. Instead, she just stands around and uses the power of Earth. And it was mentioned that it was considered unusual for the Amazons to be their own protectors, instead of having their husbands do that.

[yemi-hikari.livejournal.com]

And it was mentioned that it was considered unusual for the Amazons to be their own protectors, instead of having their husbands do that.

That sentence doesn't sound right.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

I know, right? For all these people go on about how empowered their women are, they still slide pretty neatly into the traditional "women have strong emotions/are smart/have a good soul, men are physically powerful" concept.

(Not that I have any problems with women who control the elements or anything or with men who have physical powers, it's just that they came right out and said that that's how it ALWAYS is in this world, with few exceptions. Not even Meyer put it like that -_-)

[yemi-hikari.livejournal.com]

So... how many chapters are in this book and how many were in the last one? There were at least twenty if I recollect, so this is fourty chapters with no true plot to the storyline?

I ponder if what she can be said to be steaing Zoey's idea, when first off, Zoey is not really doing it for unity sake, but to solidify her cliche, and second... Neferti's the teacher, so her having that wish makes sence. If it had been announced that Zoey had made the decision and it had been Zoey who made the wish... doesn't she realize how that would make herself look. Then again, this is Zoey we're talking about.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

I think there were thirty-some in the last book. This one has about thirty-two.

You're right. It was never stated anywhere that Neferet didn't also share Zoey's dream of uniting the students. I could see Zoey being pissed because it's stated several times that the adult vampires don't give a damn about the fledglings and leave them to sort things out amongst themselves, but instead she just whines "OMG, I GOOGLED THAT, NOT HER!"

[yemi-hikari.livejournal.com]

Which only makes her sound like an idiot.

[overlordmikey.livejournal.com]

Nyx is just…
Zoey is…
This is just…

You know what-
In place of actually saying anything I’m just going to bash my head against a wall and scream.

I may also cry, no shame in that…

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

No, no shame in crying at all. I nearly cried several times, including when I read the...erm "plots" the later books have. T_T

[winki-pop.livejournal.com]

"It was a big change to have me lead the Dark Daughters. Aphrodite had been leader for the past two years, and in that time the group had become a cliquish, snobby club where fledglings who weren't part of the 'in' crowd were used and made fun of.

Well, things were changing tonight."

Uh, no offence, Zoey, but we the readers never saw any evidence of Aphrodite or her minions being cliquey or snotty at school, so in that case we cannot believe you. If anything, you have demonstrated such behaviour with your blatant nepotism in choosing all your damn friend to be in the Dark Daughters, not to mention all the other crap you yourself have pulled throughout the story. If anything, Zoey leading the Dark Daughters will be much, much worse! She has no idea what to do, first off. It's gonna take more than just Googling ideas, that's for sure! :P

Wait, how does raising smells out of nowhere like fresh-cut grass or wet soil constitute a power? Huh?

And why did everyone bring a meat and cheese platter to the ceremony? Are there gonna be nibbles afterwards? :P

I, too, find it offensive about Damien and his 'gayness' having to equal 'feminine.' He just can't catch a break, huh? It doesn't help that his so-called 'friends' have to keep tagging him as such as well. Then there's the Casts displaying their blatant ignorance, taking their inspirations from cheesy rom coms where the gay guy is OTT flamboyant or the whiny and overly' feminine' BFF *rolls eyes* You think they could have better spent their time, you know, researching vampire or Greek mythology central to the story instead :P

I've also noticed, since everyone is talking about the unnecessary amount of subplots (not to mention the mood whiplashes :D), that it's kinda like the Casts come up with an idea, but realising that they either have to continue thinking of things to keep it going and can't simply be bothered or they just become lost in the whole story, they seem to forget after a while just where they're going or where they're up to. That's why I write plans and outlines of things to my stories: they help you keep track of things and help you to decide later what to cut and what to keep. It's like to the Casts every subplot is somehow an afterthought when they finally return to it.

And what happened with Zoey' worship of Neferet all of a sudden? She's being praising her since she arrived at the House of Night, and now suddenly she's got the daggers out for her and bitching about her! Huh? But not because Neferet is a callous and nasty cow who treats the students in her care like shit and is a blatant hypocrite who treats men like the subclass she claims they treat women to be and coming off all pseudo-feminist, but rather for Zoey it's like 'Waaaaahhhhh! She stole my great ideas that I stole from the internet!' :P

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Nonsense, Aphrodite and her friends administered blowjobs and burned pot as incense. They're demons from hell, I tell you!

I have no idea. These elemental powers don't actually do anything besides give Zoey a power/confidence boost, leastwise not before the end of this book. Heck, even Ted Turner knew how to use the elements for the offensive! Ted-fricking-Turner!

Apparently we're in ancient Greece/Egypt, where you put food at the alter of whatever deity you pray to as an offering.

I know, right? For heaven's sakes, Sailor Uranus and Neptune of "Sailor Moon" were well-rounded, kickass lesbians and they were in a fandom that was centered around crystals and magic girls and pretty outfits! Meanwhile, the gay boys in a dark vampire fandom are giggly stereotypes. Poor guys. Fail, Cast ladies. -_-

Zoey's morality tends to center around who has wronged HER. Notice that Kayla wasn't a cheating whore until she moved in on a guy that Zoey still had some interest in? Aphrodite was a villainness when she didn't kiss Zoey's ass. And now Neferet's a Bad Guy not because she's apparently working with undead students and involved in some conspiracy, but because she stole Zoey's stolen ideas. Lovely

[illyriasacolyte.livejournal.com]

Well, not to say that Uranus and Neptune weren't a little stereotypical themselves (but it's children's anime; everyone is), but they were so much better than this. Hell, Malachite, Zoicite, Fish Eye, Fiore, Seiya (trans?)... they were all a little cardboardy too, but leaps and bounds ahead of these idiots.

[often-partisan.livejournal.com]

"I mean, yes she stops the refrigerator thing and the pot smoking (and yes, she spends more time complaining about the latter rather than the former),"

Priorities, people!

The cheesy stuff with the elements in this chapter was cliched but it's still probably better that giving Zoey control over all 5 and making her a God Mode Sue.

[often-partisan.livejournal.com]

What I meant was if they all had control over one each instead of Zoey hogging the powers

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Zoey still does hog the powers. Each of them can control their one element, but she can control all five. -_- And apparently they can...give her a power boost or something. The Cast ladies never really write up a situation where Zoey doesn't have enough power to accomplish something, so saying that they give her more power doesn't really mean anything.

[(Anonymous)]

So Zoey is Captain Planet, basically.

[illyriasacolyte.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, they all get elemental powers? Team Avatar these chucklenuts are not.

And seriously, this gay nonsense is getting angrifying. I'm convinced Damien is really a girl. There is no way he's male. There's just... I'm very tired of him.

[star-dragon5.livejournal.com]

I hate all this fucking misandry and all this fucking slut-shaming. I hate Zoey. I HATE THESE BOOKS.