This is one time when I think that I will agree with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, recycling is a bad thing when it comes to plots. Once things are resolved they should be just that, resolved. Dredging up the past for the sake of convenience is not only boring but it also reminds you of all of the bad things from before. When we yearn for the past we are romanticizing it, forgetting the bad and only remembering the good.
For instance, in the last novel it took almost 300 pages to get to some actual tension. The meeting of the evil vampires. Looking back in my memory it would seem as though it was a highlight of an otherwise wearisome book. That doesn't mean that I want to relive the same shit from the past, because unromantically I remember that it was shitty. Unfortunately fate is a fickle mistress that likes to mess with you just because she can.
Before we get to that last week I had a criticism of Bella. It's pretty normal of me and this blog, but I mentioned how Bella is pretty dumb for wondering why Jacob hadn't called her when she was pretty explicit about not returning his affections and in fact never going to return his affections. Well if only I had turned the page last week, "He was taking my advice and not waste any more time on someone who couldn't return his feelings."
You get one point there Bella Swan, but the debt you're running is going to take forever to even up. Moving on.
Bella, upset about Jacob not calling lies to her father and decides to go and look for the meadow at the top of the forest herself. I suppose that her character could have grown, but if the experienced Jacob couldn't find the place it's pretty doubtful that the ignorant clumsy Bella could find it on her own. Except that her clumsiness isn't expressed once in the whole trip. Remember when Edward had to carry her because she couldn't make it without falling down? Yeah, me too.
Miraculously, she makes it just fine locating the meadow herself. It's been a year and it seems that nothing has changed. There is even a dark figure who steps out of the woods as she enters it herself. Who could it be?
"Laurent!' I cried in surprised pleasure."
We remember Laurent from the last book...and we're at the recycling. This is only book 2 of a series and there is roughly no reason to reintroduce a character that played no major role in the previous book. Sure he was part of the evil coven but he wasn't the evil one, that was James. Laurent had given the impression that he was going to convert to the vegetarianism of the Cullens going so far as even slap one of those apple stickers on his car (that's a joke for faithful readers with good memories). So why bring him back? It's lazy and cheap at this point. It's as bad as the fact that every iteration of Star Wars has to revisit Tatooine, it's a desert planet and it's not that interesting (they even say it in the first movie).
What's more puzzling is that Bella's reaction isn't one of mild fear or even hesitance but pleasure. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. She's so deluded that seeing a vampire, even an evil one, reminds her of her dear sweet Edward. It's so incredibly stupid. Visiting the place where they had their first kiss is also stupid, but it's heart broken stupid which is forgiveable. It's important to note that this is a reaction, she doesn't have time to think, 'oh it's Laurent and I shouldn't be scared but rather happy to see him because he reminds me of Edward for some reason.' It's the first thing she thinks of, it's her impression upon first image. That's pretty messed up.
The message here ladies is this: if a group of people try and kill you and your boyfriend saves you by murdering one them, but later you meet one of the survivors you should be happy because that person reminds you of your boyfriend.
But wait there's more. Seeing Laurent sends Bella into some kind of nostalgia. Laurent apparently was a convert moving to Alaska to live with another vegetarian family up there, this memory forces her to think about the Cullens: "The other family like...but I couldn't let myself think the name." Later it occurs again but this time she allows herself to think it "I'd begun to picture him, on the rare occasions that I thought of him at all, with the same golden eyes that the...Cullens-I forced the name out, wincing--had."
Both of these are internal monologues, and she winces at them? She's not talking to anyone and the thoughts of a person don't change much if you don't use their name. What is she trying to do, not summon them? And who thinks occasionally of a friend of the person that tried to kill them? Idiot.
What's worse is that Laurent doesn't just look the same, but exactly the same. Meaning that he looks at Bella like she's food, Laurent hadn't changed, he met up with Victoria who is going to be upset, "about me killing you."
So Laurent, the person who thought that the Cullens had it good, actually lived in Alaska with the other vegetarians, is now suddenly an evil vampire once again. I get that sometimes people don't change, actually it's most of the time, but these two people put an entire country between them and somehow Laurent can't help but run into her. Why not bring us a new character or have Victoria be the one who returns. Laurent is there at her behest, why bring in a middle man. It's not like stealth seems to be his modus operandi, if the Cullens were there he would have been found and interrogated or just straight up murdered.
Just as Laurent is about to eat her, out comes the saving hand of the divine. A wolf so large and dire that it was the creature being mistaken for the bear in the woods. Laurent is afraid of it, and for once we actually get a good scene because Bella admits that she doesn't know what the hell is going on. She wants to know why Laurent is afraid, I mean they're wolves but he's a vampire. He should be able to annihilate them. Her questions make sense, her anxiety makes sense but the wolves don't seem to care about her at all. The trouble is that the situation presented is better than the writing of it. Bella is just too whiny and too enthralled with the voice of Edward in her head to make it work. Which is odd because the voice in her head has to be a memory, Edward's telepathy doesn't work on her, but somehow the memory is able to give new information for new, completely unique situations. If the voice never appeared the scene would have been good.
I should mention that there are five of them, and how many people were getting approached by the La Push gang (A French Rapper if I've ever hear of one*)? Two (Jacob and Embry), plus the three original members. We know where this is going.
Subtlety cannot be made with a hammer.
________________________________
*Not my joke, but a commenter on the wordpress version of this blog made it.
For instance, in the last novel it took almost 300 pages to get to some actual tension. The meeting of the evil vampires. Looking back in my memory it would seem as though it was a highlight of an otherwise wearisome book. That doesn't mean that I want to relive the same shit from the past, because unromantically I remember that it was shitty. Unfortunately fate is a fickle mistress that likes to mess with you just because she can.
Before we get to that last week I had a criticism of Bella. It's pretty normal of me and this blog, but I mentioned how Bella is pretty dumb for wondering why Jacob hadn't called her when she was pretty explicit about not returning his affections and in fact never going to return his affections. Well if only I had turned the page last week, "He was taking my advice and not waste any more time on someone who couldn't return his feelings."
You get one point there Bella Swan, but the debt you're running is going to take forever to even up. Moving on.
Bella, upset about Jacob not calling lies to her father and decides to go and look for the meadow at the top of the forest herself. I suppose that her character could have grown, but if the experienced Jacob couldn't find the place it's pretty doubtful that the ignorant clumsy Bella could find it on her own. Except that her clumsiness isn't expressed once in the whole trip. Remember when Edward had to carry her because she couldn't make it without falling down? Yeah, me too.
Miraculously, she makes it just fine locating the meadow herself. It's been a year and it seems that nothing has changed. There is even a dark figure who steps out of the woods as she enters it herself. Who could it be?
"Laurent!' I cried in surprised pleasure."
We remember Laurent from the last book...and we're at the recycling. This is only book 2 of a series and there is roughly no reason to reintroduce a character that played no major role in the previous book. Sure he was part of the evil coven but he wasn't the evil one, that was James. Laurent had given the impression that he was going to convert to the vegetarianism of the Cullens going so far as even slap one of those apple stickers on his car (that's a joke for faithful readers with good memories). So why bring him back? It's lazy and cheap at this point. It's as bad as the fact that every iteration of Star Wars has to revisit Tatooine, it's a desert planet and it's not that interesting (they even say it in the first movie).
What's more puzzling is that Bella's reaction isn't one of mild fear or even hesitance but pleasure. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. She's so deluded that seeing a vampire, even an evil one, reminds her of her dear sweet Edward. It's so incredibly stupid. Visiting the place where they had their first kiss is also stupid, but it's heart broken stupid which is forgiveable. It's important to note that this is a reaction, she doesn't have time to think, 'oh it's Laurent and I shouldn't be scared but rather happy to see him because he reminds me of Edward for some reason.' It's the first thing she thinks of, it's her impression upon first image. That's pretty messed up.
The message here ladies is this: if a group of people try and kill you and your boyfriend saves you by murdering one them, but later you meet one of the survivors you should be happy because that person reminds you of your boyfriend.
But wait there's more. Seeing Laurent sends Bella into some kind of nostalgia. Laurent apparently was a convert moving to Alaska to live with another vegetarian family up there, this memory forces her to think about the Cullens: "The other family like...but I couldn't let myself think the name." Later it occurs again but this time she allows herself to think it "I'd begun to picture him, on the rare occasions that I thought of him at all, with the same golden eyes that the...Cullens-I forced the name out, wincing--had."
Both of these are internal monologues, and she winces at them? She's not talking to anyone and the thoughts of a person don't change much if you don't use their name. What is she trying to do, not summon them? And who thinks occasionally of a friend of the person that tried to kill them? Idiot.
What's worse is that Laurent doesn't just look the same, but exactly the same. Meaning that he looks at Bella like she's food, Laurent hadn't changed, he met up with Victoria who is going to be upset, "about me killing you."
So Laurent, the person who thought that the Cullens had it good, actually lived in Alaska with the other vegetarians, is now suddenly an evil vampire once again. I get that sometimes people don't change, actually it's most of the time, but these two people put an entire country between them and somehow Laurent can't help but run into her. Why not bring us a new character or have Victoria be the one who returns. Laurent is there at her behest, why bring in a middle man. It's not like stealth seems to be his modus operandi, if the Cullens were there he would have been found and interrogated or just straight up murdered.
Just as Laurent is about to eat her, out comes the saving hand of the divine. A wolf so large and dire that it was the creature being mistaken for the bear in the woods. Laurent is afraid of it, and for once we actually get a good scene because Bella admits that she doesn't know what the hell is going on. She wants to know why Laurent is afraid, I mean they're wolves but he's a vampire. He should be able to annihilate them. Her questions make sense, her anxiety makes sense but the wolves don't seem to care about her at all. The trouble is that the situation presented is better than the writing of it. Bella is just too whiny and too enthralled with the voice of Edward in her head to make it work. Which is odd because the voice in her head has to be a memory, Edward's telepathy doesn't work on her, but somehow the memory is able to give new information for new, completely unique situations. If the voice never appeared the scene would have been good.
I should mention that there are five of them, and how many people were getting approached by the La Push gang (A French Rapper if I've ever hear of one*)? Two (Jacob and Embry), plus the three original members. We know where this is going.
Subtlety cannot be made with a hammer.
________________________________
*Not my joke, but a commenter on the wordpress version of this blog made it.
"Why not bring us a new character or have Victoria be the one who returns(?)"
ReplyDeleteBe careful what you wish for...