zelda_queen | Marked: Chapter Six

Entry tags:

Marked: Chapter Six

ZeldaQueen: Alrighty, time we got to the infamous House of Night. Also, someone with sense created an It Just Bugs Me page for Hogwarts Exposed, so all tropers, feel free to contribute!

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

Chapter Six

ZeldaQueen: Zoey is in the middle of having a nice dream about her grandmother, when she remembers the whole turning into a vampire thing, freaks out, and wakes up. Grandma Redbird is there, and to give credit, it is nice to finally have a guardian who actually seems to care about their kid, or grandkid in this case. Anyway, she tells Zoey that she found her bloody and unconscious and freaked out, before bringing her to the House of Night. So we finally are there, thank the dear and ever-loving God. Grandma Redbird adds that she called Zoey's mother and "I had to pretend that my cell phone cut out so I could hang up on her. I'm afraid she's not happy with either of us". Zoey has a giggle over how funny it is that her mother is upset with the two of them, and I have to wonder why her mom hasn't called the frigging police. I mean Zoey's mother gets a call which apparently went something like "Oh hey, your daughter randomly showed up at my place and I found on the cliffs, passed out and with her head cracked open like a coconut. She also appears to have been Marked as a vampire and I'm just going to drive her away to this weird place where we don't know if she can ever come back again. What's that? You had no idea she was leaving? You thought she was still in her room? You don't want me to take her there? Uh oh, my cell phone's cutting out, talktoyoulaterbye!" Isn't that grounds for kidnapping? And no, just because it's between family members doesn't mean it can't be kidnapping. Plenty of kidnappings happen within families.

Zoey claims that her parents locked her in her room - um, no they didn't, you went there yourself - and that she crawled out the window to escape. Grandma Redbird grimaces and then admits that she's surprised that this happened. No, she's not surprised that her granddaughter was Marked, because "The Redbird blood has always held strong magic; it was only a matter of time before one of us was Chosen". So apparently it's family tradition to be initiated into a vampire school? I don't know! But no, what's so shocking is that Zoey's Mark is completely colored in, instead of just being an outline. Zoey is also shocked by this, and I'm sure that if we were given any sort of backstory to this world and what something like this would imply, we would be just as shocked as well.

A previously-unmentioned third person speaks up at this point, disappointed that Zoey couldn't explain why her Mark was filled in. Zoey turns and we get the description of our first actual vampire

"Her voice was amazing. Even before I looked up from my reflection I knew she would be unique and incredible. I was right. She was movie-star beautiful, Barbie beautiful. I'd never seen anyone up close who was so perfect. She had huge, almond-shaped eyes that were a deep, mossy green. Her face was an almost perfect heart and her skin was that kind of flawless creaminess that you see on TV. Her hair was deep red—not that horrid carrottop orange-red or the washed-out blond-red, but a dark, glossy auburn that fell in heavy waves well past her shoulders. Her body was, well, perfect. She wasn't thin like the freak girls who puked and starved themselves into what they thought was Paris Hilton chic. ("That's Hott." Yeah, okay, whatever, Paris.) This woman's body was perfect because she was strong, but curvy. And she had great boobs. (I wish I had great boobs.)"

ZeldaQueen: Fuck, not this crap again! Just for once, can't we get vampires that aren't always hot? I mean, I know the idea is that it's easier to get prey and all, but this just gets ridiculous!

Not to mention it makes Zoey comes across as airheaded and shallow. Carrot orange-red and blond-red are both undesirable colors? Oh, really? And what were those asides about Paris Hilton and the boobs supposed to show? They were completely unrelated to what was going on! Jesus Christ!

I'm sorry. I have a rather low tolerance for airheaded teen talk like that.

The woman smiles and Zoey pointedly mentions that she has no fangs, and for some reason sees this as reason to bring up that the lady also has a Mark and is thus a vampire. Uh, given that she was incredibly hot and at a vampire school, that reveal wasn't as shocking as I'd imagine the Suethors were going for.

So yeah, the lady is Neferet, High Priestess of the House of Night. She explains that a filled-in Mark means that a vampire is fully mature however Zoey is still a fledgling, hence why it's so odd. Neferet then tells Zoey that because being a vampire is soooo speshul, she gets to pick the new name that she gets for the rest of her life. Zoey sticks with "Zoey Redbird", and in a better work of literature, I would imagine that this would be used to show how she is true to herself or wanting to keep something of her human life. Given how this is being written, I'm kind of doubting that.

Neferet grabs Zoey's arm as...some vampiric handshake I guess, and we get this

"Her touch was warm and firm. Her smile blazed with welcome. She was amazing and awe-inspiring. Actually, she was what all vampyres are, more than human —stronger, smarter, more talented. She looked like someone had turned on a blazing inner light within her, which I realize is definitely an ironic description considering the vampyre stereotypes (some of which I already knew were totally true): They avoid sunlight, they're most powerful at night, they need to drink blood to survive (eesh!), and they worship a goddess who is known as Night personified"

ZeldaQueen: Oh yeah, "more talented" my ass. Looks like we're getting another case of "vampires are better than humans, nyah!" And that switch to the info dump about vampire stereotypes? That was just clumsy and badly done, period.

So back to Zoey and how speshul she is. Bet you all missed that. Neferet asks if anything odd happened to Zoey and Zoey lies and just says she passed out and can't remember anything. So yeah, time for Zoey to meet her roommate! Hooray, I guess! Grandma Redbird is still worried about her granddaughter's health, so Neferet makes a Solemn Oath (book's capitalizations, not mine) and this puts her at ease. I, only the other hand, feel the urge to scream, mostly because it reminds me of far too many Harry Potter fanfictions.

Grandma Redbird leaves, and Zoey starts to think of how cool it would be to be a High Priestess, for no reason that I can see. She also thinks that there's just no way in hell she'll be one, so best to just forget about it. Yeah, I think most of us know where this will be going
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Onward to: Chapter 7

Back to: Chapter 5

Back to: Table of Contents

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Geez, I know this is first person and all but dear god there are so many asides! It's just so jarring.

Oh, and they are so lucky their asses didn't get sued to hell with that Paris Hilton reference.

I know. Half of them can just be put in the narrative itself and the other half are just out of place and have no business being in there!

And...that was me. ^^;

She wasn't thin like the freak girls who puked and starved themselves into what they thought was Paris Hilton chic. ("That's Hott." Yeah, okay, whatever, Paris.)

I was talking about that from the quote from the book. What did you add?

O.o???? What was you? I was talking more about the line: She wasn't thin like the freak girls who puked and starved themselves into what they thought was Paris Hilton chic

No, no, what I meant was that I was the anonymous person who made that comment! ^^;

I don't think Paris Hilton would be able to sue as while it isn't nice, it is based off her actual life and would be written simply as Zoey's oppinion. Except... Zoey seems to act like the girls she talks down about so much.

Actually, technicallly, she could. This is why writers have to be super sneaky when refering to anything in popular culture (And...why Meyer failed miserably). Paris Hilton is a brand which means her name is trademarked. Which is grounds for a suit because they would be infringing on her trademark and the character's 'opinion' could be damaging to her brand (not that she's damaging it all on her own, but I digress.). They are kind of saying that she essentially promotes anorexia nervosa and bulima nervosa with the line: She wasn't thin like the freak girls who puked and starved themselves into what they thought was Paris Hilton chic. I'll give Ms.Hilton credit and say she's not purposly trying to promote dangerous eating disorders.
All I'm saying they could have used a more generic stereotype (Like, 'blonde bimbos' or something. Personally, I think 'models' would have worked perfectly.) and it would have gotten the same point across

Ahh. Thank you for explaining the brand thing, which is actually something I don't know much about I'll admit. I don't think when she does stupid things she is meaning to be a bad role model for girls.

Yeah, Paris Hilton could sue if she wanted. The Casts were probably banking on the idea that she either wouldn't come across it or wouldn't see it as worth her bother.

Yeah, that prose absolutely hurt my eyes. Did the Casts really think that their teen-speak was "realistic"? Anyone else in that situation would be panicked, scared, upset - not thinking about Paris Hilton and boobs. Honestly. The girl has an obsession with boobs. There's this one part of the series - I don't know if it's this book - where a semi-serious paragraph is punctuated by the "joke" of (Heh. Boobies). Yes, another aside. You'll know when you get to it.

That description of Neferet reeks of badly-written fanfiction. We just get throw with how "beautiful" she is, along with her coloring, but we really don't know what she looks like.

Grandma Redbird leaves, and Zoey starts to think of how cool it would be to be a High Priestess, for no reason that I can see. She also thinks that there's just no way in hell she'll be one, so best to just forget about it. Yeah, I think most of us know where this will be going

OMG HOW COULD U KNOW???!!!!!!!!!!111111

Yeah, the line is "Speaking of boobs—I was totally
sounding like one. (Boob…hee hee)." I was going to bring it up in the next chapter, where Zoey hates on this girl for being a stereotypical slut, even though she herself is a stereotypical airhead.

"OMG HOW COULD U KNOW???!!!!!!!!!!111111"

I is psychic. ;)

I hate, Hate, HATE Zoeys inner monolouge. There's loads more comments like the Paris Hilton one that we have to hear that have absolutely nothing to do with what's happening when she thinks about them.

What is it with Zoey's breasts? Why are Neferts so great? Because they're bigger or something? Wait, I don't even wanna know.

On the TV Tropes page it says the ridiculousness of said "slut". In reality she dresses like a bit of a whore and has been with about two, I swear, two guys in the series. And people call her a whore and a slut, blah-de blah-da. What does Zoey do throughout the series? Well, for starters, she is ALWAYS juggling more than one guy at a time, except for a few brief instances. Where the hell is the logic in that!?

I hate how her voice can't stay consistent! She swings from being a stereotypical airhead to a mystic Cherokee girl in touch with her heritage and back again! Dear lord Suethors, consistent characterization is your friend!

And this series has a terrible problem with protagonist-centered morality, from what I understand. Yippee.

There is a huge dump of the ways vampires are superior to humans over the course of the book :S That is one of the major things that bugs me - except for one part in the beginning of the second book. *shudders*

And now we get to the stereotypes on steroids.

How many books have you read? Have you read book 3? Because then you'll really know what I meant in my comment about the TV Tropes page to ZeldaQueen.

I've read up to the first couple of chapters of book 2, and it's started freaking me out relationship-wise from there. I think I'll wander over to the TV Tropes page and have a looksies though.

I'm likely not to read the book series.

You won't regret it.

Kind of like how I won't regret not reading Twilight. However, if I do become a teacher anytime soon, that is entirely a different matter...

I just got my registration as a teacher :P

The parenthetical asides really annoy me, too. It's one thing, if you want a stream-of-consciousness sort of style, I guess, but the parentheses make it more annoying to read, and most of the comments Zoey makes in them don't contribute to her characterization, at least not in a good way.

Come on, people, a vampire doesn't need to be HOT to get victims! Look at Dracula! He's not Edward (*gag*), but he's very dignified, charismatic, and he has power! He gets plenty of victims through being charismatic and the like!

Also, for some reason, I think those asides about Paris Hilton and the "(I wish I had big boobs.)" are some random things one of the authors wrote in the editing process, some sort of banter or whining, and they forgot to edit it out. It's the only reason I can think of for it even being in there.

And hypnotism. Whatever happened to the good old days, when vampires just hypnotized their victims into submission?

"Her hair was deep red—not that horrid carrottop orange-red or the washed-out blond-red, but a dark, glossy auburn that fell in heavy waves well past her shoulders. Her body was, well, perfect. She wasn't thin like the freak girls who puked and starved themselves into what they thought was Paris Hilton chic."

Speaking as a member of a Cooperative wherein one member has blond-red hair (really quite dynamic in different lightings) and is naturally thin...I wish to register Murloc Rage at the suggestion that such a woman cannot be beautiful.

HARGABRBLBRBLBRLBRLBRL!

Registery accepted.

I do wonder whether it's P.C. or Kirsten who puts in those sorts of things. I'm tempted to go with Kirsten, but one has to wonder...

Oh, and yes, I'm sorry for not answering in my previous: Grandma Redbird kidnapped Zoey. She could argue that she was delivering the girl for medical treatment, but I doubt the House of Night is legally recognized as a hospital or health-care provider.

Yeah, I thought so, especially since it was clear that her mother and stepfather didn't want her to go there.

Actually, come to think of it, the House of Night thing should be one huge lawsuit waiting to happen. I mean heck, in Harry Potter the kids didn't *have* to go there or else they'd die.

She may be not-thin and have 'boobies' but what does the red-head look like? She is how curvy exactly? Because I can think of 3 of my friends who are well endowed boob-wise, but I don't think that's the curvy the Cast's mean (also, each of said friends has an intelligence at least 2x as high as the collective sense of every character in every one of these books--and I'm probably still selling them short).

And you know, I'm curvy too, without such awesome boobies, but even if I did, I still don't think I'd be what this girl is supposed to be. A description defined by 'absence' or 'not' can be effective, but in this shallow way, not at all. That's the point I have been trying to make.

All we are told of her boobs is that they're "great".

And yes, this is the same problem Twilight had - we're just *told* that someone's hot, but given very few specifics.

I've seen complaints for Twilight that go along the lines of "Hey, Meyer, not everyone will agree with your standards of beauty!" Which is true, but providing an actual description, however paradoxically, doesn't leave this impression. Because if your narrator is convinced enough of this person's attractiveness--without resorting to "hot, totally, I promise you; no I can't tell you want that means"--the reader will at least trust that the narrator isn't lying or delusional.

Though Zoey totally is. But that's a different issue.

Oh my God, the teen speak… it hurts! Seriously, no teen speaks like that, it's just a total caricature now! And is Paris Hilton even relevant anymore, she's so dated?! She's a cultural footnote and a punchline, she's soooo 2003 :P Some hip girl you are, Kristen!

Okay, from now on I'm referring to the redhead woman as Ferret :D Ferrets are hilarious.

Also, in Australian slang a redhead can also be known as a 'ranga' (y'know, like orang-utan? :D)

And I happen to have a 'carrot-top' friend, thanks Zoey. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, bitch.

Zoey better not start ragging on black hair. Then again, they'll probably just stereotype that, too, to make it seem 'soooo goffic' :P

And why didn't Zoey pick a super-speshul vamp name, I had a great one picked out for her: Enoby :D

I agree, WHY do vampires have to be ridiculously attractive? It's so cliché and and boring and just keeps the anti-human train chugging along (cough, *Twilight*) Not all vamps have to look like plastic and airbrushed cyborgs to be considered attractive. Just look at Being Human and True Blood, not all the vamps are pretty, that's for sure!

Remember: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, bitch :P

Although, on the subject of hot vamps: hello, Mitchell, you hot hobosexual, you! And not just any vamp either, an Irish one! Kicks your arse, Ferret :P (Actually, when I was 15 I was totally entranced by Queen of the Damned as well… not that I was the only one for obvious reasons ;D)

And I'm loving the lesbo vibes between Ferret and Zoey. I'm glad to see her un-priorities are still at the fore since the first things she sees are boobs! I expected her to have her eyes bulge out all cartoon-style and start squeezing them and drool like a maniac! :P

God, I'm glad there's so much comic relief in this story: Heifer, Drunk Heath, Lesbian Vibes, Ferret. Twilight had none of this!

"She's a cultural footnote and a punchline, she's soooo 2003 :P"

The only thing of significance I've heard from Paris recently was her role in "Repo: The Genetic Opera", which was also one of the few things she's done that's had positive reception. Oh, and some incident where she was caught with cocaine and insisted that she thought it was gum. XD

"And why didn't Zoey pick a super-speshul vamp name, I had a great one picked out for her: Enoby :D"

Oh God! XD

"I agree, WHY do vampires have to be ridiculously attractive? It's so cliché and and boring and just keeps the anti-human train chugging along (cough, *Twilight*)"

I guess on one hand it makes sense. It's theoretically a way to attract prey. The trouble is that we get all about how super-skinny these people are, and that still doesn't make sense by an evolutionary sense. Excessive skinniness...isn't really good for survival. I mean, in our controlled environments today it's fine, but our biological selves don't know that.

"God, I'm glad there's so much comic relief in this story: Heifer, Drunk Heath, Lesbian Vibes, Ferret. Twilight had none of this!"

Just wait until Zoey discovers her Sue power. XD There will be rants and laughs aplenty.

I really hate all this "paranormal creature is Better Than You" crap. I hated about it Twilight; I hated it about Percy Jackson; I hated it about True Blood, and I'm not anymore impressed about it here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Marked: Chapter Six

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject