Our hiatus lasted one week longer than I thought it would, but believe me, I would rather not have been doing this. I kid of course, it was a matter of necessity. My choice was either work on this or work on whether or not we ought to consider certain genetic diseases as vertical epidemics (we should). While this is much easier, that is more important.
We left off with a cliff hanger of sorts. Bella and Jacob made up, grinding what little tension there was in this book completely out, and are now going to meet up with the rest of the La Push gang. Jacob is now telepathic when he changes into a wolf, but only with other wolves. This is important because making every other character in the story telepathic allows us to solve inconvenient problems like plot development, or obstacles. Why worry when you can just solve every problem with magic? It's also important to remember that werewolves are like the Hulk, if they get angry you wouldn't like them too much.
The last point is rather silly, but in a story with psychic, prophetic vampires who am I to judge? Well, I'm me, and I'm judging. It's stupid and probably racist. Let's tackle that point right now. I can hardly be called a PC thug and despite my academic pursuits I'm not all that liberal. Don't get me wrong it's not that I don't land on the left side of things usually, but I would rather have a smaller government than a larger one and don't believe that gun control is a good idea. These are two big no nos on the left. All of that being written, I don't go looking for ways to accuse white people/white Christians for being racist. Bella (the reader by proxy) is supposed to prefer vampires to werewolves. Where the vampires are pale, stoic, reserved, and rich the werewolves are portrayed as being dark skinned, emotional, poor, and if their irrational nature gets the better of them they turn into monsters. If there were other werewolves who weren't Quileutes it wouldn't be a thing, but there aren't so it is.
Jacob and Bella meet the gang, who are not exactly happy that she has been brought into the secret. The gang isn't happy with Jacob, and one in particular "Jared or Paul" is really upset. What bothers me is that we don't know who it is, we, characteristically aren't given any description of the person. We just know who it could have been. And then we find out that it was Paul because Sam yells at him. I don't get why there is the confusion at first. I get that this a first person narrative and she didn't know at the time, but she isn't writing this as it happens. Possibly the night afterward, but just keep the character straight. Especially someone who is a side person that I doubt we will see again.
Either way, Jacob gets so angry that the gamma radiation stored in his blood transforms him. He leaps at Bella, "Halfway to the ground, there was a loud ripping noise, and the boy exploded. -Dark silver fur blew out from the boy, coalescing (? that's not the right word) into a shape more than five times his size--a massive, crouched shape ready to spring."
Why not just call the shape a "wolf?" That's trite, but seriously this is the first time we are seeing the transformation. I do like the sudden violence of it, rather than the tortured way it's depicted in movies like the Underworld series. What's important for us to note is that he "exploded."
Jacob in order to protect Bella explodes as well. The fight is briefly described and then Bella is shied away to go to Emily's. We don't know who Emily is, and it's not really explained. The remaining members of the gang describe Paul as being a loose cannon who loses his temper frequently, all that's missing is an older werewolf that's getting too old for this shit, so we can complete a cliche list. It's nice that they remember to bring clothes for them after they finish fighting. Which brings me to a complaint, Jacob already transformed earlier to telepathically communicate to the gang the information that Victoria was after Bella. Does this mean that Jacob was naked this whole time?
One of them seems surprised that Jacob brought his girlfriend into this, but why is he surprised? Just last chapter Jacob had done the telepathic communicating. All of these inconsistencies take place within five pages, it's a new record for our author.
Emily has cooked food for the men. At least Meyer's consistent on that, women do all of the cooking. The other thing women do in these stories is get abused by their men, "The right side of her face was scarred from hairline to chin by three thick, red lines, livid in color though they were long healed."
The happy family reunited they begin to talk shop. Jacob explains what Victoria wants, why she's been trying to get through the woods--revenge for James last year. Apparently there's some sort of turf treaty. The wolves can't attack vampires on Cullen territory unless they bite a human. Any vampire found on reservation territory is fair game. Victoria, and I suppose Laurent as well, have been stalking through the woods trying to get to Forks. This leads me to some geography question, does the reservation surround Forks? Not from what we know from the last book. They just have been stumbling into it perhaps. Or they are taking the Cullens' route thinking they were safe but then decided to kill the random people for fun. Perhaps they are unaware of the treaty which could make sense. No matter what, the bad vampires are pretty shitty at their job since they could just walk into Forks at night to seek Bella out and kill her.
Jared claims that they now have bait for the vampire. This is the most sensible thing that has happened thus far. It also leads to a plan that, unlike the Cullens' from last book actually seems reasonable. They are going to leave some holes in their patrol to try and draw Victoria in. Once in they will close the gap. It's very similar to the plan laid out in "The Seven Samurai," every fortress needs a good weakness said Kambei. The only trouble is that they have to divide up. Still it's a plan that makes sense, especially if Victoria doesn't realize how many of them there are. In a few days, it seems Embry will be a wolf too, so that will give them six.
Then Charlie shows up and the chapter ends with a trite conversation about Jacob's hair and how they made up. I still like the werewolves better than the vampires. Sam, actually lets Bella make a decision, which is more than the Cullens could accomplish. Despite the initial fighting over her, they do seem concerned with her well being. It seems that the wolves' violence toward women is only physical which could be better than the pyschological abuse that Edward inflicts on Bella. After last chapter I was ready to give up on this whole thing but now I'm a bit more conflicted as we have actually entered into what could be considered a plot.
