Marked: Chapter 15
ZeldaQueen: In which the Casts waste a perfectly good plot and proceed to emulate Holly Potter
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 15
ZeldaQueen: As they head off for the Full Moon Ritual, Zoey notices that Stevie Rae seems upset and asks her what's wrong. She says that a student just dropped over dead in her Tae Kwan Do class and she feels guilty because she heard the girl hacking up her lungs (a sign that the Change is being rejected) and tried to just ignore it. She says "Elizabeth was so nice" and thus we find out that the girl who died was Elizabeth No Last Name, who we saw once in Drama class. Oh no, and I had so much emotional investment in her!
Zoey is shocked by this because Elizabeth was just fine in Drama class and Stevie Rae says that's how it is - someone will seem perfectly healthy and then just start coughing and die, with nothing that can be done about it. Zoey then asks why everyone is going around like normal since someone died, remembering how her old high school brought in guidance councilors and canceled athletic events when two students died in a car accident. Stevie Rae says that that's how things always work at the House of Night - the fledgling deaths are ignored and only Elizabeth's roommate and best friends will show any signs of grief. Everyone else is just expected to get over it. She then says something very interesting
"Truthfully, I don't think the vamps think of any of us as real until we actually Change"
ZeldaQueen: Now that right there? That has the potential for a really interesting and frightening vampire world. Not only is there the threat of dropping dead at any moment, but these kids all have to deal with the knowledge that the fully-mature vampires don't actually care about them. It would explain why everyone is so scared of being Marked and why parents get all upset when their kids are Marked - they have to be sent off to a strange place and go into the care of strange people who don't care if they live or die or consider them "real". Going further, it would be an excellent way to show the good side to humanity as well as introduce a bit more conflict into the book regarding the vampire world. After all, if the adult vampires don't care and the human parents aren't there, the fledglings would turn to each other for guidance and support, which would also explain why girls like Aphrodite are able to get followers. It's a matter of getting people to have a feeling of acceptance and caring.
All of that though, all that stuff I wrote up there? None of it happens. None. Nothing. It in no way impacts the plot of this book. I guess there's the possibility it might influence later books but dude, it's just bad writing to save all of the foreshadowing for sequels!
Instead, we get Zoey noting that Neferet doesn't seem to see her as temporary, but doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to sound like a teacher's pet. You know, if anything that seriously backs up Stevie Rae's claim, given that (A) Zoey is the one showing signs of becoming a mature vampire via her filled-in Mark, (B) We'll later see that Neferet is apparently fine with letting the Dark Daughters run around and abuse other fledglings who show no speshulness or potential... (C) until Miss I've-Been-Blessed-By-Nyx gets her involved.
*rubs head* And we aren't even at the most infuriating parts yet.
And then...they're suddenly at the temple of Nyx and Shaunee is bitching at them for taking all day. Well. They all go in and tell Zoey that they'll all have pentagrams traced on their foreheads and be told "blessed be" and all they have to do is repeat "blessed be" back. And then...what the holy fuck?
"'Wait.' I grabbed Stevie Rae's sleeve. 'I don't want to sound stupid, but isn't a pentagram a sign of evil or something like that?'
'That's what I thought, too, until I got here. But all that evil stuff is bull that the People of Faith want you to believe so that…Heck," she said with a shrug, "I'm not even sure why they're so set on people-well, humans that is- believing that it's an evil sign. The truth is that for like a zillion years the pentagram has stood for wisdom, protection, perfection. Good stuff like that. It's just a fivepointed star. Four of the points stand for the elements. The fifth, the one that points up, stands for the spirit. That's all it is. No boogieman there.'
'Control.' I muttered, glad we had a reason to quit talking about Elizabeth and death.
'Huh?'
'The People of Faith want to control everything, and part of that control is that everyone has to always believe exactly the same. That's why they want people to think the pentagram is bad.'"
ZeldaQueen: Let's have a list!
First of all, really? Are the Casts seriously going that route, the way that a spillion people have gone before, including Dan Brown? Yes, Ms and Ms Cast, we are well aware by now that the pentagram is just as misunderstood as the swastika. You aren't clever or unique for that.
Second of all, what was the point of the exchange? Was it supposed to be some clumsy attempt at showing how misunderstood the vampires are? How EVILLLLL that fucking People of Faith group is? How "tolerant" and "insightful" Zoey is for picking it up so quickly? Because it doesn't do any of that. All of the points it could possibly have made were already made (or attempted to be made), and were done just as clumsily and ham-fistedly. Cast ladies, you suck at symbolism. Stop it. Which leads us to point three...
The use the pentagram serves in this book? It's the way it's used for Wiccan and Neopaganism beliefs, not ancient Greek. The ancient Greeks used it as a sign of mathematical perfection. Here, it is used like some a prop in a roleplaying session. And yes, I know that real-life Wiccans and Neopagans probably don't dance around the pentagram, trying to summon Nyx, but the book treats it like representing all the same things (the four elements and spirit, Mother Earth, etc)
Fourth of all, wasn't the pentagram begun to be associated with Satanism in the eighties? They're treating the People of Faith like they're the only ones to spread the "pentagram is evil" thing around. Exactly how old and how much influence does this group have?
Fifth of all, Christians also used the pentagram as a positive symbol, you bungholes. It was used as a symbol of, among other things, the five senses, the five fingers on a hand, the five wounds of Christ, the five joys Mary had of Jesus, and, in Arthurian literature, the five virtues of knighthood that Sir Gawain hoped to embody. In fact, the pentagram was the symbol of Sir Gawain's shield. Yeah.
I am very cross now.
They go inside and see a lady vampire who gets a description worthy of My Immortal. Black clothes, hair the color of wheat, blah, blah, blah. So this is Anastasia, wife of the Dragon and teacher of the Spells and Rituals class. She will have absolutely no part in this story, after this scene.
They all get pentagramed and blessed and head on in, and there's SUBTLE FORESHADOWING about how it used to be a People of Faith's church but now it was all awesomesauce and they all join the circle and it starts. And instantly, my already bad mood goes worse, because THIS IS THAT STUPID SUMMONING RITUAL FROM CHILD OF GRACE!!!
Ohhh, you don't believe me? Well, strap in and let's see!
So four figures walk to the center of the room, and one is a male vampire who apparently is hot (of course), six feet tall, and "looked like he belonged on the big screen". Apparently he is Loren Blake, the "Vamp Poet Laureate" and Shaunee and Erin promptly start drooling over him. Stevie Rae explains that it's so amazing that he's the first male Vampire Poet Laureate in two hundred years and is only twenty-something in human years to boot.
At this point he starts to sing Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" while Neferet does some dance and then the ceremony starts. Hoooo boy.
There's a bunch of fussing around with a goblet and a candle, before they all have to turn to the four different directions and invoke the four elements. First, they all turn to east for the element of air. Neferet shouts "From the east I summon air and ask that you carry to this circle the gift of knowledge that our ritual will be filled with learning". Zoey starts to get all tingly at this point because, WOW SHE CAN FEEL A SLIGHT WIND, HOW ODD!
Next, they turn south for fire. "From the south I summon fire and ask that you light in this circle the gift of strength of will, so that our ritual will be binding and powerful". And YOWZERS, ZOEY HAS STARTED TO BECOME SLIGHTLY SWEATY AND WARM, BUT NO ONE ELSE SEEMS TO BE! HOW STRANGE!
They then turn west for water, "From the west I summon water and ask that you wash this circle in compassion, that the light of the full moon can be used to bestow healing to our group as well as understanding". AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT, ZOEY CAN HEAR WAVES, WHAT A COINCIDENCE!
Finally, it's north for earth and Zoey acts like it's so clever of her to figure this out. "From the north I summon earth and ask that you grow within this circle the gift of manifestation, that the wishes and prayers from tonight will come to fruition" And OH LOOK, ZOEY CAN FEEL EARTH BENEATH HER FEET AND SHE FEELS SO HAPPY AND AT PEACE, WHAT'S UP WITH THAT I WONDER?
Lastly, Neferet summons spirit and then starts going on a sermon about Nyx and the moon and to send a secret desire for Nyx. This is all the most standard, cliched tripe I've ever read, but Zoey just keeps going on about how amazing it is, how interesting, how spellbinding, etc. She also wonders if there could be magic in the world - LADY, YOU MET A GODDESS! SHOW SOME SENSE! Everyone then has a drink from a goblet, and all I can think of is that one scene from Sherlock Holmes. It all ends with Neferet telling everyone to spend at least a moment or two in the full moon, before everyone leaves.
Everyone heads off in anticipation of dinner, except for Zoey who is going to join the Dark Daughters' ritual. All of her friends groan and are sorry for her and it isn't too bad for a bit, until we get this
"'Want me to save you a plate of something?' Damien asked sweetly.
'No. Aphrodite said they're going to feed me.'
'Probably raw meat,' Shaunee said.
'Yeah, from some poor kid she caught in her nasty spider web,' Erin said.
'By that she means the one between her legs,' Shaunee explained"
ZeldaQueen: I hate those two.
And with that, we are done with this chapter. DONE, I say!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onward to: Chapter 16
Back to: Chapter 14
Back to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 15
ZeldaQueen: As they head off for the Full Moon Ritual, Zoey notices that Stevie Rae seems upset and asks her what's wrong. She says that a student just dropped over dead in her Tae Kwan Do class and she feels guilty because she heard the girl hacking up her lungs (a sign that the Change is being rejected) and tried to just ignore it. She says "Elizabeth was so nice" and thus we find out that the girl who died was Elizabeth No Last Name, who we saw once in Drama class. Oh no, and I had so much emotional investment in her!
Zoey is shocked by this because Elizabeth was just fine in Drama class and Stevie Rae says that's how it is - someone will seem perfectly healthy and then just start coughing and die, with nothing that can be done about it. Zoey then asks why everyone is going around like normal since someone died, remembering how her old high school brought in guidance councilors and canceled athletic events when two students died in a car accident. Stevie Rae says that that's how things always work at the House of Night - the fledgling deaths are ignored and only Elizabeth's roommate and best friends will show any signs of grief. Everyone else is just expected to get over it. She then says something very interesting
"Truthfully, I don't think the vamps think of any of us as real until we actually Change"
ZeldaQueen: Now that right there? That has the potential for a really interesting and frightening vampire world. Not only is there the threat of dropping dead at any moment, but these kids all have to deal with the knowledge that the fully-mature vampires don't actually care about them. It would explain why everyone is so scared of being Marked and why parents get all upset when their kids are Marked - they have to be sent off to a strange place and go into the care of strange people who don't care if they live or die or consider them "real". Going further, it would be an excellent way to show the good side to humanity as well as introduce a bit more conflict into the book regarding the vampire world. After all, if the adult vampires don't care and the human parents aren't there, the fledglings would turn to each other for guidance and support, which would also explain why girls like Aphrodite are able to get followers. It's a matter of getting people to have a feeling of acceptance and caring.
All of that though, all that stuff I wrote up there? None of it happens. None. Nothing. It in no way impacts the plot of this book. I guess there's the possibility it might influence later books but dude, it's just bad writing to save all of the foreshadowing for sequels!
Instead, we get Zoey noting that Neferet doesn't seem to see her as temporary, but doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to sound like a teacher's pet. You know, if anything that seriously backs up Stevie Rae's claim, given that (A) Zoey is the one showing signs of becoming a mature vampire via her filled-in Mark, (B) We'll later see that Neferet is apparently fine with letting the Dark Daughters run around and abuse other fledglings who show no speshulness or potential... (C) until Miss I've-Been-Blessed-By-Nyx gets her involved.
*rubs head* And we aren't even at the most infuriating parts yet.
And then...they're suddenly at the temple of Nyx and Shaunee is bitching at them for taking all day. Well. They all go in and tell Zoey that they'll all have pentagrams traced on their foreheads and be told "blessed be" and all they have to do is repeat "blessed be" back. And then...what the holy fuck?
"'Wait.' I grabbed Stevie Rae's sleeve. 'I don't want to sound stupid, but isn't a pentagram a sign of evil or something like that?'
'That's what I thought, too, until I got here. But all that evil stuff is bull that the People of Faith want you to believe so that…Heck," she said with a shrug, "I'm not even sure why they're so set on people-well, humans that is- believing that it's an evil sign. The truth is that for like a zillion years the pentagram has stood for wisdom, protection, perfection. Good stuff like that. It's just a fivepointed star. Four of the points stand for the elements. The fifth, the one that points up, stands for the spirit. That's all it is. No boogieman there.'
'Control.' I muttered, glad we had a reason to quit talking about Elizabeth and death.
'Huh?'
'The People of Faith want to control everything, and part of that control is that everyone has to always believe exactly the same. That's why they want people to think the pentagram is bad.'"
ZeldaQueen: Let's have a list!
First of all, really? Are the Casts seriously going that route, the way that a spillion people have gone before, including Dan Brown? Yes, Ms and Ms Cast, we are well aware by now that the pentagram is just as misunderstood as the swastika. You aren't clever or unique for that.
Second of all, what was the point of the exchange? Was it supposed to be some clumsy attempt at showing how misunderstood the vampires are? How EVILLLLL that fucking People of Faith group is? How "tolerant" and "insightful" Zoey is for picking it up so quickly? Because it doesn't do any of that. All of the points it could possibly have made were already made (or attempted to be made), and were done just as clumsily and ham-fistedly. Cast ladies, you suck at symbolism. Stop it. Which leads us to point three...
The use the pentagram serves in this book? It's the way it's used for Wiccan and Neopaganism beliefs, not ancient Greek. The ancient Greeks used it as a sign of mathematical perfection. Here, it is used like some a prop in a roleplaying session. And yes, I know that real-life Wiccans and Neopagans probably don't dance around the pentagram, trying to summon Nyx, but the book treats it like representing all the same things (the four elements and spirit, Mother Earth, etc)
Fourth of all, wasn't the pentagram begun to be associated with Satanism in the eighties? They're treating the People of Faith like they're the only ones to spread the "pentagram is evil" thing around. Exactly how old and how much influence does this group have?
Fifth of all, Christians also used the pentagram as a positive symbol, you bungholes. It was used as a symbol of, among other things, the five senses, the five fingers on a hand, the five wounds of Christ, the five joys Mary had of Jesus, and, in Arthurian literature, the five virtues of knighthood that Sir Gawain hoped to embody. In fact, the pentagram was the symbol of Sir Gawain's shield. Yeah.
I am very cross now.
They go inside and see a lady vampire who gets a description worthy of My Immortal. Black clothes, hair the color of wheat, blah, blah, blah. So this is Anastasia, wife of the Dragon and teacher of the Spells and Rituals class. She will have absolutely no part in this story, after this scene.
They all get pentagramed and blessed and head on in, and there's SUBTLE FORESHADOWING about how it used to be a People of Faith's church but now it was all awesomesauce and they all join the circle and it starts. And instantly, my already bad mood goes worse, because THIS IS THAT STUPID SUMMONING RITUAL FROM CHILD OF GRACE!!!
Ohhh, you don't believe me? Well, strap in and let's see!
So four figures walk to the center of the room, and one is a male vampire who apparently is hot (of course), six feet tall, and "looked like he belonged on the big screen". Apparently he is Loren Blake, the "Vamp Poet Laureate" and Shaunee and Erin promptly start drooling over him. Stevie Rae explains that it's so amazing that he's the first male Vampire Poet Laureate in two hundred years and is only twenty-something in human years to boot.
At this point he starts to sing Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" while Neferet does some dance and then the ceremony starts. Hoooo boy.
There's a bunch of fussing around with a goblet and a candle, before they all have to turn to the four different directions and invoke the four elements. First, they all turn to east for the element of air. Neferet shouts "From the east I summon air and ask that you carry to this circle the gift of knowledge that our ritual will be filled with learning". Zoey starts to get all tingly at this point because, WOW SHE CAN FEEL A SLIGHT WIND, HOW ODD!
Next, they turn south for fire. "From the south I summon fire and ask that you light in this circle the gift of strength of will, so that our ritual will be binding and powerful". And YOWZERS, ZOEY HAS STARTED TO BECOME SLIGHTLY SWEATY AND WARM, BUT NO ONE ELSE SEEMS TO BE! HOW STRANGE!
They then turn west for water, "From the west I summon water and ask that you wash this circle in compassion, that the light of the full moon can be used to bestow healing to our group as well as understanding". AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT, ZOEY CAN HEAR WAVES, WHAT A COINCIDENCE!
Finally, it's north for earth and Zoey acts like it's so clever of her to figure this out. "From the north I summon earth and ask that you grow within this circle the gift of manifestation, that the wishes and prayers from tonight will come to fruition" And OH LOOK, ZOEY CAN FEEL EARTH BENEATH HER FEET AND SHE FEELS SO HAPPY AND AT PEACE, WHAT'S UP WITH THAT I WONDER?
Lastly, Neferet summons spirit and then starts going on a sermon about Nyx and the moon and to send a secret desire for Nyx. This is all the most standard, cliched tripe I've ever read, but Zoey just keeps going on about how amazing it is, how interesting, how spellbinding, etc. She also wonders if there could be magic in the world - LADY, YOU MET A GODDESS! SHOW SOME SENSE! Everyone then has a drink from a goblet, and all I can think of is that one scene from Sherlock Holmes. It all ends with Neferet telling everyone to spend at least a moment or two in the full moon, before everyone leaves.
Everyone heads off in anticipation of dinner, except for Zoey who is going to join the Dark Daughters' ritual. All of her friends groan and are sorry for her and it isn't too bad for a bit, until we get this
"'Want me to save you a plate of something?' Damien asked sweetly.
'No. Aphrodite said they're going to feed me.'
'Probably raw meat,' Shaunee said.
'Yeah, from some poor kid she caught in her nasty spider web,' Erin said.
'By that she means the one between her legs,' Shaunee explained"
ZeldaQueen: I hate those two.
And with that, we are done with this chapter. DONE, I say!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Onward to: Chapter 16
Back to: Chapter 14
Back to: Table of Contents