Betrayed: Chapter 11
May. 13th, 2011 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zelda_queenZeldaQueen: In which Zoey continues to be stupid, her friends continue to be horrible, and the Cast ladies continue to emulate Meyer
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Chapter 11
ZeldaQueen: Upon seeing the necklace, Neferet gets all bitch-faced and furious. Gee, I wonder why? Zoey gets all freaked out and tells them that it's the symbol of the Dark Daughters and that she has a necklace just like it. They ask Zoey if she can show it to them, and she says she can't because it's in her room. Neferet butts in and again asks them if they're accusing Zoey of something. *rubs head* By this point, I'm convinced that the Cast ladies have watched far too many cop drama shows, because I find it very hard to believe that two homicide detectives would let Neferet stick around if she kept interrupting and blocking them like that.
Oh, and it's also mentioned that Neferet is clearly scaring the officers when she says this. Again, I'm not very good with how police interviews work, but wouldn't they tell her to fuck off or something? I mean, surely this counts as threatening an officer or something.
The detectives finally tell Neferet that they're not accusing Zoey of anything and just questioning her, and Zoey asks how the kid died. They tell her that it was through multiple lacerations and loss of blood. She asks if it might have been knife wounds, though she already suspects it wasn't. They tell her that the wounds were from animals and that the body was almost entirely drained of blood.
Neferet butts in again and goes on about what horrible bigots the detectives are for thinking the vampires are suspicious. I mean, the kid was only chewed to death and drained of most of his blood, after being kidnapped from a place not far from the school. It's just racist for the officers to question the vampires! The officers again assure her that they're not up to no good and Neferet, for no reason at all, spouts this
"'Then I suggest you do a blood alcohol content test on the human boy. Just from the little I know about the group of teenagers the boy had as friends, they are habitual drunks. He probably got intoxicated and fell into the river. The lacerations were more than likely made by rocks, or perhaps even animals. It's not uncommon for coyotes to be found along the river, even within Tulsa city limits,' Neferet said.
'Yes, ma'am. Tests are being performed on the body. Even drained of blood, it will still tell us many things.'
'Good. I'm sure one of the many things it will tell you is that the human boy was drunk, perhaps even high. I think you should look to more reasonable causes for this death than a vampyre attack. Now, I assume you're done here?'"
ZeldaQueen: *steeples fingers* Let's have a list!
First of all, exactly why is it important to bring up that the kid was probably a drunk who - le gasp - smoked pot? Thus far, we've been told that he disappeared from a strange area and was found chewed on and with most of his blood drained.
Second, yes I think it's rather obvious by now that Neferet is up to something. And I must say, she has got to be one of the dumbest criminals I've ever read about. Let's see, we're told how she puts on a sweet face for her public, and yet here we see her being bitchy and constantly lose her temper with the police. And no, don't tell me she's trying to champion Zoey. In no way were the police threatening Zoey or asking questions that indicated that she was being seriously considered as a suspect. All of the things they asked were perfectly within line. Not only that, but when they don't do what she wants, she basically says that a dead teenager was probably just a drunk and a pot-smoker and died by falling in the river. And yeah, she has the knowledge to say such rude and hateful things because she met Heath and clearly anyone he hangs out with has got to be a slovenly drunk as well.
That's not even bringing up how stupid she is while trying to deter the officers. Yes Neferet dear, I'm sure a kid who was pummeled by rocks and drowned looks the same as someone who was ripped apart by wild animals and drained of blood before being tossed in the river. Clearly you know nothing of modern methods of solving homicides, or you'd know that we can tell what bodies look like after they've been in water for too long, or what sorts of animals have what sorts of teeth and bites, and whether or not someone stumbled drunkenly into a river as opposed to being tossed in, and how they got drained of blood. And by shouting out "He probably drowned while drunk! And was bashed by rocks....or possibly eaten by coyotes! AND HE WAS PROBABLY ALSO HIGH!" it doesn't make the police look like bigoted pricks wrongly persecuting the vampires, it makes it look like the vampires are really guilty and you're lying to protect them. Because your agitated actions, your constant attempts to block the questioning, and your really stupid and easily disproved theories of how the kid died? They just are one big neon sign saying "I'M SUSPICIOUS!"
Finally though, let's not forget the police officers and Zoey. Let's start with Zoey, who's supposed to be all for human-vampire harmony and hated how the Dark Daughters wanted to kill all humans. Let's look at how her beloved Mentor is standing there, saying all sorts of horrible things about a dead teenager that she used to know, not even bothering to call the kid by his name, and she doesn't see a thing wrong with it. Now, one could argue that she's stunned by everything and is too upset to notice straightaway. Fine. She doesn't notice it later, either. All throughout Marked and into this book, Neferet has done nothing but talk about how humans are insignificant, humans are weak, humans are stupid, and humans are hateful bigots who don't understand or care about vampires and never ever will, and right here we see her outright being a bitch about someone who just died a horrible death while he was young and just getting into life and surely had ambitions and plans and it's never noticed! GOD!
As for the police officers, I love the implied "fuck you" they gave to Neferet. You know, for all we're supposed to believe that the vampires are just so misunderstood by the humans, it's things like this that make it impossible for me to support it. Honestly, I'd be surprised if vampires weren't a suspect by the end of the interview!
The detectives ask Zoey where she was at eight o'clock on Thursday night. She says that she was at school, and the detectives are amazed that she'd have class then. Neferet continues to be bitchy because aren't they so stupid, not knowing how vampires work? Lady, you don't tell them anything!
They then say that they're done questioning Zoey for the time being, and ask if it would be possible to question Loren Blake. Um, why? How is he related to what's going on at all, besides this being a very bad attempt at FORESHADOWING! Neferet says that he took their private jet to England to see the final rounds of the monologuing contest (Jesus, these people really are the X-men!) and shows the detectives out. Before leaving, Detective Marx gives Zoey his phone number and tells her that if she can think of anything, anything at all that will help them solve the murder, to please let him know.
And as soon as they leave, we're beaten over the head with SUBTLE FORESHADOWING. "She'd lied about Loren. He hadn't left the school yesterday before dawn. At dawn he'd been at the east wall with me". So she knows that something is up, and that either Blake had lied to Neferet to sneak around or Neferet was lying to the detectives, which implies that Blake knows something she doesn't want the detectives to find out. Of course, Zoey doesn't think about this again for the entire rest of the book.
Jump to...later in the night, when Zoey tells her friends about this all. While Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae figure that Aphrodite planted the necklace and murdered the guys, Zoey and Damien show a modicum of sense and think that while Aphrodite's a bitch, she's not a murderess and also doesn't have her Dark Daughters necklace anymore. They also decide that the police have no real leads, because they were going off the tip-off from Kayla, who they have never met and thus immediately are certain is just a jealous bitch who wants Heath all to herself and who they have charmingly nicknamed "Stank Bitch Kayla". Okay, what is the deal with Kayla here? Was she based off of someone who pissed off Kristen in school? Lay off of her already! Jesus! Oh, and Zoey has also not told her friends about how she drank Heath's blood, so they don't know that Kayla had a legitimate reason to be scared and go to the police. But Zoey knew that, and is just fine with joining in calling Kayla a skank bitch.
I hate Zoey. I hate her and I wish she would die in a fire.
Oh, and we get a random reminder of Erik and how much Zoey loves him and misses him and she didn't even remember he existed three chapters ago! Also, why don't they talk on the phone? I mean, yeah it could be that Erik's busy, but we don't hear about anything between the two of them, not even a quick "I honey, I love you" before bed. I know Erik goes on about how much he missed her when he gets back and Zoey here is going on about how she misses him, so why don't they call?
Zoey goes to bed thinking about how on Sunday Erik and Blake would both be back. *dully* Oh joy, that sounds fantastic. And there's that stupid ritual, which Zoey apparently forgot about until now. And in four hours, she is going to call for that bomb threat. To help herself sleep, she starts counting sheep. There's actually a decent transition to her dream, as she gradually notices the sheep wearing football uniforms and jumping over the goalposts, and then...
"After sheep number 56 the numbers started to blur in my mind and I finally slipped into a fitful dream where I noticed the sheep were wearing Union's red and white football uniform. They had a shepherdess directing them over the gate they were jumping (which now looked like a mini-goalpost). My dreaming self was floating gently above the sheep scene like I was a superhero. I couldn't see the shepherdess's face, but even from the back I could tell she was tall and beautiful. Her auburn hair was waist length. As if she could feel me watching, she turned toward me and her moss green eyes looked up at me. I grinned. Of course Neferet was in charge, even if it was just a dream. I waved at her, but instead of responding, Neferet's eyes narrowed dangerously and she suddenly spun around. Snarling like a wild animal,
she grabbed a football-playing sheep, lifted it, and in one practiced motion slashed its throat with her abnormally strong, talonlike fingernails, burying her face in the animal's bleeding throat. My dreaming self was horrified as well as freakishly drawn to what Neferet was doing. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't … wouldn't … then the sheep's body began to shimmer, like heat waves rising from a boiling pot. I blinked and it wasn't a sheep anymore. It was Chris Ford, and his dead eyes were wide open, set and staring at me accusingly.
I gasped in horror and tore my gaze from his blood, meaning to look away from the gory dream scene, but my vision got trapped because it was no longer Neferet who was feeding at Chris's throat. It was Loren Blake, and his eyes were smiling up at me over the river of red. I couldn't look away. I stared and stared and…
My dreaming body shivered as a familiar voice drifted in the air around me. At first the whisper was so soft I couldn't hear it, but as Loren drank the last drop of Chris's blood the words became audible as well as visible. They danced in the air around me with a silver light that was as familiar as the voice.
ZeldaQueen: A SYMBOLIC DREAM! SHE JUST DREAMT THE ANSWER TO TWO BOOKS WORTH OF CONFLICT IN THIS ONE FUCKING DREAM! And OH LOOK, IT'S TOPPED OFF WITH TRITE, OVER-USED MORALS FROM A FREAKING GODDESS! And yes, we all know that it's Nyx who is behind all of this. Because Zoey's just sooooo speshul that she gets divine guidance and yet she still doesn't get it!
Oh, and it gets even better! Because after this?
SHE FORGETS ALL ABOUT THE DREAM!!!
I'm dead serious. She briefly mentions how she gets an "awful foreboding feeling" and that's it! Even after everything she's been told about how vampires have their intuition and instincts and she ought to follow them, even after she is well aware that vampires have powers and it's not unlikely that she's seeing what's going on in dreams, even after she's been in contact with Nyx, she still dismisses it and forgets about it! MY GOD!!!
I need to calm down. *splashes a glass of water over her head* There, that's better.
Right, so after forgetting about that dream *violent twitch* she feels claustrophobic and decides to go outside. We get a brief explanation of how vampire students go out and about in town without being noticed. Apparently they get some magic over-up for their Marks and are required to hoof it back to the school after a few hours, lest they die from not being around the adult vampires. How does that mesh with the science thing again? The only handwave we get is "The Change from human to vampyre was a bizarre and complex one—not even today's cutting-edge science completely understood it". And there's a ton of human-bashing from Zoey on how it's such a good thing that vampire fledglings have a way to hide themselves in public, because if humans knew that they were outside they would hurt and kidnap and spit on them and spread rumors about vampire gangs, and I'm just going to skip ahead to her leaving. We're beat over the head with how SHE SHOULD JUST STAY IN AND NOT LEAVE THE SCHOOL, but out she goes.
There's a lot of really boring description of her buying stuff in town, and the Cast ladies trot out the old cliche about how Zoey was just so weird at her old high school because "I liked to shop in the chic midtown stores versus the loud, boring, food court–smelling mall". Why is it that I hear every word out of her mouth dripping with disdain? And yes, we are beaten over the head with a dead herring - OH WELL, SHE'S CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO MEET ANYONE SHE KNOWS, NOPE, NO, NOT AT ALL!
So she goes to a Starbucks and starts feeling some itchy feeling under her skin. She looks up from her table and OH MY GOD, IT'S HEATH! How amazing!
Guys, please tell me, am I the only one desperate for an actual plot here?
Onward to: Chapter 12
Back to: Chapter 10
Back to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
Chapter 11
ZeldaQueen: Upon seeing the necklace, Neferet gets all bitch-faced and furious. Gee, I wonder why? Zoey gets all freaked out and tells them that it's the symbol of the Dark Daughters and that she has a necklace just like it. They ask Zoey if she can show it to them, and she says she can't because it's in her room. Neferet butts in and again asks them if they're accusing Zoey of something. *rubs head* By this point, I'm convinced that the Cast ladies have watched far too many cop drama shows, because I find it very hard to believe that two homicide detectives would let Neferet stick around if she kept interrupting and blocking them like that.
Oh, and it's also mentioned that Neferet is clearly scaring the officers when she says this. Again, I'm not very good with how police interviews work, but wouldn't they tell her to fuck off or something? I mean, surely this counts as threatening an officer or something.
The detectives finally tell Neferet that they're not accusing Zoey of anything and just questioning her, and Zoey asks how the kid died. They tell her that it was through multiple lacerations and loss of blood. She asks if it might have been knife wounds, though she already suspects it wasn't. They tell her that the wounds were from animals and that the body was almost entirely drained of blood.
Neferet butts in again and goes on about what horrible bigots the detectives are for thinking the vampires are suspicious. I mean, the kid was only chewed to death and drained of most of his blood, after being kidnapped from a place not far from the school. It's just racist for the officers to question the vampires! The officers again assure her that they're not up to no good and Neferet, for no reason at all, spouts this
"'Then I suggest you do a blood alcohol content test on the human boy. Just from the little I know about the group of teenagers the boy had as friends, they are habitual drunks. He probably got intoxicated and fell into the river. The lacerations were more than likely made by rocks, or perhaps even animals. It's not uncommon for coyotes to be found along the river, even within Tulsa city limits,' Neferet said.
'Yes, ma'am. Tests are being performed on the body. Even drained of blood, it will still tell us many things.'
'Good. I'm sure one of the many things it will tell you is that the human boy was drunk, perhaps even high. I think you should look to more reasonable causes for this death than a vampyre attack. Now, I assume you're done here?'"
ZeldaQueen: *steeples fingers* Let's have a list!
First of all, exactly why is it important to bring up that the kid was probably a drunk who - le gasp - smoked pot? Thus far, we've been told that he disappeared from a strange area and was found chewed on and with most of his blood drained.
Second, yes I think it's rather obvious by now that Neferet is up to something. And I must say, she has got to be one of the dumbest criminals I've ever read about. Let's see, we're told how she puts on a sweet face for her public, and yet here we see her being bitchy and constantly lose her temper with the police. And no, don't tell me she's trying to champion Zoey. In no way were the police threatening Zoey or asking questions that indicated that she was being seriously considered as a suspect. All of the things they asked were perfectly within line. Not only that, but when they don't do what she wants, she basically says that a dead teenager was probably just a drunk and a pot-smoker and died by falling in the river. And yeah, she has the knowledge to say such rude and hateful things because she met Heath and clearly anyone he hangs out with has got to be a slovenly drunk as well.
That's not even bringing up how stupid she is while trying to deter the officers. Yes Neferet dear, I'm sure a kid who was pummeled by rocks and drowned looks the same as someone who was ripped apart by wild animals and drained of blood before being tossed in the river. Clearly you know nothing of modern methods of solving homicides, or you'd know that we can tell what bodies look like after they've been in water for too long, or what sorts of animals have what sorts of teeth and bites, and whether or not someone stumbled drunkenly into a river as opposed to being tossed in, and how they got drained of blood. And by shouting out "He probably drowned while drunk! And was bashed by rocks....or possibly eaten by coyotes! AND HE WAS PROBABLY ALSO HIGH!" it doesn't make the police look like bigoted pricks wrongly persecuting the vampires, it makes it look like the vampires are really guilty and you're lying to protect them. Because your agitated actions, your constant attempts to block the questioning, and your really stupid and easily disproved theories of how the kid died? They just are one big neon sign saying "I'M SUSPICIOUS!"
Finally though, let's not forget the police officers and Zoey. Let's start with Zoey, who's supposed to be all for human-vampire harmony and hated how the Dark Daughters wanted to kill all humans. Let's look at how her beloved Mentor is standing there, saying all sorts of horrible things about a dead teenager that she used to know, not even bothering to call the kid by his name, and she doesn't see a thing wrong with it. Now, one could argue that she's stunned by everything and is too upset to notice straightaway. Fine. She doesn't notice it later, either. All throughout Marked and into this book, Neferet has done nothing but talk about how humans are insignificant, humans are weak, humans are stupid, and humans are hateful bigots who don't understand or care about vampires and never ever will, and right here we see her outright being a bitch about someone who just died a horrible death while he was young and just getting into life and surely had ambitions and plans and it's never noticed! GOD!
As for the police officers, I love the implied "fuck you" they gave to Neferet. You know, for all we're supposed to believe that the vampires are just so misunderstood by the humans, it's things like this that make it impossible for me to support it. Honestly, I'd be surprised if vampires weren't a suspect by the end of the interview!
The detectives ask Zoey where she was at eight o'clock on Thursday night. She says that she was at school, and the detectives are amazed that she'd have class then. Neferet continues to be bitchy because aren't they so stupid, not knowing how vampires work? Lady, you don't tell them anything!
They then say that they're done questioning Zoey for the time being, and ask if it would be possible to question Loren Blake. Um, why? How is he related to what's going on at all, besides this being a very bad attempt at FORESHADOWING! Neferet says that he took their private jet to England to see the final rounds of the monologuing contest (Jesus, these people really are the X-men!) and shows the detectives out. Before leaving, Detective Marx gives Zoey his phone number and tells her that if she can think of anything, anything at all that will help them solve the murder, to please let him know.
And as soon as they leave, we're beaten over the head with SUBTLE FORESHADOWING. "She'd lied about Loren. He hadn't left the school yesterday before dawn. At dawn he'd been at the east wall with me". So she knows that something is up, and that either Blake had lied to Neferet to sneak around or Neferet was lying to the detectives, which implies that Blake knows something she doesn't want the detectives to find out. Of course, Zoey doesn't think about this again for the entire rest of the book.
Jump to...later in the night, when Zoey tells her friends about this all. While Shaunee, Erin, and Stevie Rae figure that Aphrodite planted the necklace and murdered the guys, Zoey and Damien show a modicum of sense and think that while Aphrodite's a bitch, she's not a murderess and also doesn't have her Dark Daughters necklace anymore. They also decide that the police have no real leads, because they were going off the tip-off from Kayla, who they have never met and thus immediately are certain is just a jealous bitch who wants Heath all to herself and who they have charmingly nicknamed "Stank Bitch Kayla". Okay, what is the deal with Kayla here? Was she based off of someone who pissed off Kristen in school? Lay off of her already! Jesus! Oh, and Zoey has also not told her friends about how she drank Heath's blood, so they don't know that Kayla had a legitimate reason to be scared and go to the police. But Zoey knew that, and is just fine with joining in calling Kayla a skank bitch.
I hate Zoey. I hate her and I wish she would die in a fire.
Oh, and we get a random reminder of Erik and how much Zoey loves him and misses him and she didn't even remember he existed three chapters ago! Also, why don't they talk on the phone? I mean, yeah it could be that Erik's busy, but we don't hear about anything between the two of them, not even a quick "I honey, I love you" before bed. I know Erik goes on about how much he missed her when he gets back and Zoey here is going on about how she misses him, so why don't they call?
Zoey goes to bed thinking about how on Sunday Erik and Blake would both be back. *dully* Oh joy, that sounds fantastic. And there's that stupid ritual, which Zoey apparently forgot about until now. And in four hours, she is going to call for that bomb threat. To help herself sleep, she starts counting sheep. There's actually a decent transition to her dream, as she gradually notices the sheep wearing football uniforms and jumping over the goalposts, and then...
"After sheep number 56 the numbers started to blur in my mind and I finally slipped into a fitful dream where I noticed the sheep were wearing Union's red and white football uniform. They had a shepherdess directing them over the gate they were jumping (which now looked like a mini-goalpost). My dreaming self was floating gently above the sheep scene like I was a superhero. I couldn't see the shepherdess's face, but even from the back I could tell she was tall and beautiful. Her auburn hair was waist length. As if she could feel me watching, she turned toward me and her moss green eyes looked up at me. I grinned. Of course Neferet was in charge, even if it was just a dream. I waved at her, but instead of responding, Neferet's eyes narrowed dangerously and she suddenly spun around. Snarling like a wild animal,
she grabbed a football-playing sheep, lifted it, and in one practiced motion slashed its throat with her abnormally strong, talonlike fingernails, burying her face in the animal's bleeding throat. My dreaming self was horrified as well as freakishly drawn to what Neferet was doing. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't … wouldn't … then the sheep's body began to shimmer, like heat waves rising from a boiling pot. I blinked and it wasn't a sheep anymore. It was Chris Ford, and his dead eyes were wide open, set and staring at me accusingly.
I gasped in horror and tore my gaze from his blood, meaning to look away from the gory dream scene, but my vision got trapped because it was no longer Neferet who was feeding at Chris's throat. It was Loren Blake, and his eyes were smiling up at me over the river of red. I couldn't look away. I stared and stared and…
My dreaming body shivered as a familiar voice drifted in the air around me. At first the whisper was so soft I couldn't hear it, but as Loren drank the last drop of Chris's blood the words became audible as well as visible. They danced in the air around me with a silver light that was as familiar as the voice.
… Remember, darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good"
ZeldaQueen: A SYMBOLIC DREAM! SHE JUST DREAMT THE ANSWER TO TWO BOOKS WORTH OF CONFLICT IN THIS ONE FUCKING DREAM! And OH LOOK, IT'S TOPPED OFF WITH TRITE, OVER-USED MORALS FROM A FREAKING GODDESS! And yes, we all know that it's Nyx who is behind all of this. Because Zoey's just sooooo speshul that she gets divine guidance and yet she still doesn't get it!
Oh, and it gets even better! Because after this?
SHE FORGETS ALL ABOUT THE DREAM!!!
I'm dead serious. She briefly mentions how she gets an "awful foreboding feeling" and that's it! Even after everything she's been told about how vampires have their intuition and instincts and she ought to follow them, even after she is well aware that vampires have powers and it's not unlikely that she's seeing what's going on in dreams, even after she's been in contact with Nyx, she still dismisses it and forgets about it! MY GOD!!!
I need to calm down. *splashes a glass of water over her head* There, that's better.
Right, so after forgetting about that dream *violent twitch* she feels claustrophobic and decides to go outside. We get a brief explanation of how vampire students go out and about in town without being noticed. Apparently they get some magic over-up for their Marks and are required to hoof it back to the school after a few hours, lest they die from not being around the adult vampires. How does that mesh with the science thing again? The only handwave we get is "The Change from human to vampyre was a bizarre and complex one—not even today's cutting-edge science completely understood it". And there's a ton of human-bashing from Zoey on how it's such a good thing that vampire fledglings have a way to hide themselves in public, because if humans knew that they were outside they would hurt and kidnap and spit on them and spread rumors about vampire gangs, and I'm just going to skip ahead to her leaving. We're beat over the head with how SHE SHOULD JUST STAY IN AND NOT LEAVE THE SCHOOL, but out she goes.
There's a lot of really boring description of her buying stuff in town, and the Cast ladies trot out the old cliche about how Zoey was just so weird at her old high school because "I liked to shop in the chic midtown stores versus the loud, boring, food court–smelling mall". Why is it that I hear every word out of her mouth dripping with disdain? And yes, we are beaten over the head with a dead herring - OH WELL, SHE'S CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO MEET ANYONE SHE KNOWS, NOPE, NO, NOT AT ALL!
So she goes to a Starbucks and starts feeling some itchy feeling under her skin. She looks up from her table and OH MY GOD, IT'S HEATH! How amazing!
Guys, please tell me, am I the only one desperate for an actual plot here?
Onward to: Chapter 12
Back to: Chapter 10
Back to: Table of Contents
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 12:25 pm (UTC)I watch a certain amount of cop shows, and Nefert couldn't be more suspicious if she tried. In fact, if this was an episode of Bones or something, I'd say she couldn't possibly be connected to the murder, because someone that openly suspicious almost always turns out to be a read herring. But I guess that's a little too subtle for the Casts. Someone who reveals the entire plot halfway through the book and expects the reader not notice has a long way to go before they get to red herrings. Also, the whole "he was drunk and high" thing is... uncomfortably victim blamey. I hope that's supposed to be a sign of how evil Nefert is and not another one of this book's shoehorned moral messages. Because "if you drink or do drugs, it serves you right if you get killed and eaten" has some seriously unfortunate implications. And I can't help feeling like it's almost a male equivalent of "her skirt was too short."
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 02:23 pm (UTC)Oh thanks! I was trying to figure out exactly why that accusation was so uncomfortable for me, and couldn't quite figure it out. That's exactly it!
And I know it can be argued that Neferet's evil and thus we aren't supposed to be siding with those arguments, but it really gets me that Zoey NEVER picks up on it. I mean, like I said, I know she's upset at this point, but she never looks back and thinks "Wow, that was horrible for Neferet to say. What's up with that?"
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-15 09:58 pm (UTC)I wouldn't say it's the male-equivalent, more like gender-neutral. If it had been a girl it would've been more like, "She was drunk, high, and her shirt was too short anyway!"
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 01:30 pm (UTC)Wow. I never liked the Symbolick Dream of SymbologyTM, and this is just stupid. I mean, what was the point of showing the readers the entire dream and then have Zoey not remember any of it? I mean, the story is from Zoey's POV, is it not? Why not just describe the dream in vaguer terms?
"The sheep I was counting suddenly started playing football while wearing pads and helmets and little team-uniforms, and it was actually really cute to watch. During all of this, I was flying over the field, and Neferet was there, dressed like Bo-Peep.
Suddenly, one of the sheep started bleeding, and then Neferet wasn't Neferet anymore, it was Loren Blake - but still dressed like Bo-Peep - and I heard this voice but couldn't hear what it was saying... then I was suddenly driving a hot dog cart while wearing a duck costume, and I woke up."
In other news, I second what detritius said about hoping that the victim-blaming is just used as a sign of Neferet being OMGZEVIL!1! Because otherwise... Yeah, that's not cool.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 02:25 pm (UTC)Exactly! I'm pretty sure that this book and Marked could have been meshed together, for all the character development and actual plot there is. Or heck, this book and Chosen!
"Why not just describe the dream in vaguer terms?"
Because that wouldn't have been symbolik enough -_-
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 07:40 pm (UTC)Then again, I haven't read these books, so I don't know for sure what goes down in Chosen, so...
Because that wouldn't have been symbolik enough -_-
Ohh, right. I forgot about that. It still confuses me, though. I'd love to hear the Casts explain just why they want the reader to know the answer to the "mystery" halfway through the book, and still have Zoey go "Gee, I wonder who could possibly be out there killing these guys..." I don't think they're talented enough to pull something like that off.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-15 11:42 pm (UTC)Ohhh you're going to see what goes down in Chosen. You're going to see! *shudders*
They'd probably explain that they'd expect the reader to not pick up on that Neferet and Blake were eeeeeevil, because just because Zoey had a Mysterious Deus Ex Machina dream doesn't mean it MEANS anything!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 01:43 pm (UTC)And I bet 50$ that Neferet turns out to be the villian of this series....
Hey I have a question, do you know any sites that could help me use skillful prose? My writing just doesn't seem very descriptive at the moment.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 02:27 pm (UTC)I can't think of any sites off of the top of my head, but you might look around via Google. I know that there's a number of authors and the like who keep blogs with tips on what to do and what to avoid and so on.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-14 03:48 pm (UTC)Oh and I'm confused, Zoey's the harmony between vampires and humans but she doesn't like humans and agrees with Neferet? WAT
And maybe this was addressed already, but what happened to her real father? We know that she has a step father but what happened to her dad? Did he die? Leave her family? If its the later shouldn't she be more bitter about that? What about her siblings? Why am I still bringing logic into this coversation?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-18 03:59 am (UTC)Zoey flip-flops on her views of humanity. On one hand, she has those plans for the Dark Daughters to help with human charities and argues that if they don't act like a part of the local community, they won't be treated as such. On the other hand, she's constantly going on about how bigoted and stupid and silly and ignorant humans are. And while she doesn't exactly ever agree with Neferet, she sure doesn't piece together that something's a wee bit wrong with the teacher saying "KILL ALL HUMANS!"
"And maybe this was addressed already, but what happened to her real father?"
It's very briefly mentioned in the first book that he left the family while Zoey was little. More might be brought up later, but I doubt it. Zoey's vaguely bitter about it, but doesn't think about it much. Then again, she hasn't thought about her siblings since about the third chapter of the first book, so I guess she just can't be bothered.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-16 12:19 am (UTC)I think that Kayla might be the Jessica of the series. She can join poor Erik, the Jacob to Zoey's Bella, in the Mistreated Characters Club.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-18 03:54 am (UTC)Yes, she really does. She thinks they're stupid and weak and don't matter to vampires, and our dearest protagonist is only mildly bothered by this.
"I think that Kayla might be the Jessica of the series. She can join poor Erik, the Jacob to Zoey's Bella, in the Mistreated Characters Club."
I think so too. She can also join Aphrodite, who's pretty much a cross between the Rosalie and the Leah of the series.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 01:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-28 06:36 am (UTC)Okay, we get it, SUSPICIOUS NEFERET IS SUSPCIOUS!!!111 (Just in case no one got it :P) If anything, the cops would have told her to fuck off right about now and not put up with one word of her bullshit. And in regards to her forensics fail, forensics has become so advanced in this day and age that we are able to differentiate between bitemarks from either humans and animals (both vastly obvious and different from one another) and detect even the slightest things that the naked eye cannot.
Why were we supposed to hate Kayla again? Does she ever come back into this series?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-29 07:12 pm (UTC)It gets even better. Consider that vampires like Neferet have the ability to erase memories and so on. Now consider that they apparently feel perfectly justified in hiding this from humans and not cooperating with the police at all. Yeah, I'd just fee so safe with them around! >_<
"Why were we supposed to hate Kayla again? Does she ever come back into this series?"
Not so far as I've seen, no.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-08 10:21 am (UTC)THE ENTIRE PLOT OF THE BOOK IS REVEALED TO HER, AND SHE BLOODY FORGETS IT?
That is it. Zoey is officially the DUMBEST main character I have ever had the misfortune to read about, and I've read my fair share of horrible fanfiction.
God, how stupid do you have to be?
A freaking GODDESS practically shoved the answer in her face, and she STILL doesn't get it?
Gah...
You've done much better in sporking this thing than I would have. If it were me, the recaps would be nothing more than enraged gibberish by now...
(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-06 09:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-11-07 01:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-05-27 03:17 am (UTC)Okay, first: Suethors, we get the whole pot-smoking crap, okay? While I myself do not support pot-smoking OUTSIDE OF ACTUAL SERIOUS MEDICAL USE, this is getting really annoying. Also, pot is not the only drug out there. At least try to be creative when you're attempting to deliver a (admittedly poor) drug PSA.
Second: No, Zoey, Kayla is not a slut. Neither is Aphrodite. If anything, YOU'RE the slut. You lusted after AN ADULT TEACHER and let him feel you up while your ACTUAL FUCKING BOYFRIEND WAS AWAY YOU FUCKING SKANK—ahem, sorry. Oh yeah, and you do realize that you NEVER ACTUALLY, OFFICALLY BROKE UP WITH HEATH? Therefor, you are not only dating TWO GUYS AT THE SAME TIME, but also cheating on both with the ADULT teacher?
Third: Sweet jegus how much of a fucking ditz are you? Nefet has been a total bitch lately; an EVIL bitch (hella more than Aphrodite, despite what you claim) then you recieve a dream, (probably even prophetic since you are so SPESHEL) from a GODDESS, … and you forget about it. I wish I knew how to use gifs. in this format.
… Whew, okay. Wow. I got all of that out of me. e_o
Actually, I forgot something: Why is this book so slow? I mean, in the last book it took us like… twenty or so chapters to get to some actual conflict, and that was reletively minor and got resloved in a page. What is the big threat here? Oh, yeah, Nefet. I forgot. And maybe Loren; I dunno, he's just kinda there.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-05-27 09:36 am (UTC)And yeah, her relationship with Blake is incredibly creepy. I've read teacher-student romances that are cute and adorable (Tohru's mom and dad started out that way, in "Fruits Basket"), but Zoey's total cluelessness just reads like she has no idea the implications of what she's getting into. It honestly feels like a guy's taking advantage of a clueless kid. Which...uh, we'll find out he is.
And I suspect with Neferet, she was supposed to be a case of her being evil but putting on such a convincing disguise that no one wants to believe it. However it's rather hard to buy that after hearing her continuously rant about how humans are stupid and evil and should be cut out of one's life entirely.
God, I have no clue why these books are paced the way they are. As far in as I've gotten, they're ALL like that. Marked? All about Zoey taking down Aphrodite, which takes all of a day. Betrayed and Chosen are the same. There's stuff that could make for genuine conflict, but the Cast ladies "spin it out" by just having Zoey be a MORON because otherwise, she's too overpowered. You could easily combine the first three books, cut out the filler, and it would work fine.