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Jessica's Reviews > Betrayed
Betrayed (House of Night, #2)
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by
Good Lord, was this terrible.
It had a great concept: a vampire finishing school. Say it to yourself a few times. Vampire. Finishing. School. I envisioned a dark mirror of Hogwarts, something that would feed my irrational* obsession with boarding schools while twisting it down new, hopefully black-humor-laden pathways.
This was not the book I got, but I'm flexible. What I got was a flat, contrived exercise in demonstrating the problems of YA writing, fantasy writing, and romance writing.
Zoey never misses a chance to remind you that she is The Most Powerful Fledgling Ever. She would rather explain to you, in laborious detail, what every event means, instead of letting you judge for yourself from the consequences of each plot turn. She will describe every other character's personality for you, because apparently you're too dumb to draw your own conclusions from their dialogue and behavior (or, rather, the authors are too lazy to give them dialogue and behavior that would limn their natures organically). She rings false as a teenager, and more frustratingly, as a person that anyone would like.
There's no magic in Betrayed. You might read it to get your vampire fix (although, truthfully, it doesn't even do that well), but it's not going to give you a reason to keep reading. It seems to assume that teenagers aren't familiar with good writing, so there's no reason to try very hard for them. I disagree. Try Stephanie Meyer. At least you get the impression that she respects you.
It had a great concept: a vampire finishing school. Say it to yourself a few times. Vampire. Finishing. School. I envisioned a dark mirror of Hogwarts, something that would feed my irrational* obsession with boarding schools while twisting it down new, hopefully black-humor-laden pathways.
This was not the book I got, but I'm flexible. What I got was a flat, contrived exercise in demonstrating the problems of YA writing, fantasy writing, and romance writing.
Zoey never misses a chance to remind you that she is The Most Powerful Fledgling Ever. She would rather explain to you, in laborious detail, what every event means, instead of letting you judge for yourself from the consequences of each plot turn. She will describe every other character's personality for you, because apparently you're too dumb to draw your own conclusions from their dialogue and behavior (or, rather, the authors are too lazy to give them dialogue and behavior that would limn their natures organically). She rings false as a teenager, and more frustratingly, as a person that anyone would like.
There's no magic in Betrayed. You might read it to get your vampire fix (although, truthfully, it doesn't even do that well), but it's not going to give you a reason to keep reading. It seems to assume that teenagers aren't familiar with good writing, so there's no reason to try very hard for them. I disagree. Try Stephanie Meyer. At least you get the impression that she respects you.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
July 30, 2008
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*wry* Golly gee whiz, I guess I've been told. And sweetie, I'm not a guy.
Deanna wrote: "Oh no you didn't!!! This book was increible!!!! I love this series and it kept me up reading!!!! Zoey hates reminding people that she is the most Powerful fledging, if you even read the book (Sarca..."I kinda figrued you were a guy if i called you one i'm sorry. i just got upset that you didn't like the book when i liked it. (LOLOLOL I can't stop laughing) Sorry if i offended you, i just a pig head and think i'm right all the time.
Deanna wrote: "Deanna wrote: "Oh no you didn't!!! This book was increible!!!! I love this series and it kept me up reading!!!! Zoey hates reminding people that she is the most Powerful fledging, if you even read ..."Hey sorry i just reviewed my spelling i put "Were" Instead of "Wern't" Sorry i ment Wern't didn't mean you were a guy. i was exacerating my voice.
I love this review, and AGREE. and I can also spell words correctly!! Yay me!!!
Yes, DEFINITELY people should try Stephenie Meyer!! She's way better than the Casts!! Her characters are much more likable, and the reader doesn't have to be interrupted every few pages by the "F bomb", or by the words "hag", "b---h", etc.....
I love this review. Pulled the words right out of my head. Though I would also add that the book should've been sold at half price, since at least half of it was spent re-capping the events of the first one. I'm from Tulsa, and I'm ashamed of this book.
P.S. Based on her comments, I think we should all be surprised Deanna can read at all, even if this book wasn't exactly Shakespeare...
I seriously hope Deanna is a troll.That said, the real question is: in what way, exactly, does Stephenie Mayer show anything remotely akin to respect for the reader, or teens in general??
Deanna wrote: "Oh no you didn't!!! This book was increible!!!! I love this series and it kept me up reading!!!! Zoey hates reminding people that she is the most Powerful fledging, if you even read the book (Sarca..."Please tell me you are not serious...
1. If Jessica want's to give Betrayed a negative review, then she has every right to. You can disagree if you want, but just because your opinion is different than hers doesn't mean she's an idiot. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion without being threatened, talked down to, or called names.
2. It's obvious you haven't read many good books.
3. Just because you put 'LOL' 17 times in a comment doesn't mean your comment is any less insulting.
4. Wern't is not a word, it's weren't.
Irene wrote: "I seriously hope Deanna is a troll.That said, the real question is: in what way, exactly, does Stephenie Mayer show anything remotely akin to respect for the reader, or teens in general??"
I believe her reference to Stephanie Meyer is that even her drivel is better than P.C. Cast's crap.
Irene (one of my favorite names, btw!):Meyer is not a good writer, and I'm happy to spend a lot of time talking about why.
She is, however, a good *storyteller.* (I'm a professional editor, and she managed to keep me turning pages even as I groaned at her dialogue, her descriptions, and her character-building.)
Here's why I say that, in comparison to Cast, she shows respect for her readers.
We can talk all day about whether her conceptions of female sexuality, healthy relationships, etc. are stupid, or harmful, or insulting. I think they're all three. I also think that critics who point out Bella's essential emptiness as a character are right, but missing the point. From a lit crit standpoint, Bella's a terribly drawn character. From a marketing standpoint, however, she's genius. Twilight isn't the story of the romance between Edward and Bella; it's the story of *the experience of being loved by Edward.* Bella's a blank, yes -- she has no concrete personality traits to get in the way of being a space into which the reader inserts herself. And that little trick clearly paid off in sales.
But in terms of telling a story, she distinguishes pretty clearly between Bella telling us how she feels about things (which happens a lot), and the narrative telling us how *we're* supposed to feel about things (which doesn't). For the most part, when developing characters, she shows rather than tells, again, allowing us to form our own conclusions based on observation rather than just telling us. She wasn't as good about it in the latter books, but for the most part, she doesn't hang Chekov's guns without using them, she pays off things she makes the reader wait for, she positions her narrator as largely reliable and doesn't do things that compromise that, etc.
All of which is to say, there are certain implicit agreements between storyteller and audience, and she is pretty good at abiding by them.
That doesn't mean that the moral of her story is an unobjectionable one, it doesn't mean that it's a good story, it doesn't mean that the characters are well-drawn or even interesting. A storyteller following the rules doesn't guarantee any of these things.
But there's a similar dynamic to what TVTropes calls the "Rule of Cool" going on in storytelling: there are agreed-upon rules, and for the most part, the audience expects the storyteller to follow them. When the storyteller violates them (say, by telling the story through the eyes of an unreliable narrator), they usually have to do additional work elsewhere to get the audience to stick with them (in the case of an unreliable narrator, by working harder to have things like other characters' dialogue cue the audience to when they shouldn't believe the narrator). So, as a storyteller, you can break the rules if you have a good reason, and if you make up for the rule-breaking in other ways, to keep the integrity of the story sound and to keep faith with the audience.
Meyer keeps pretty closely within the rules, even if there's not a lot of payoff. Cast violates a lot of the rules, AND there's no payoff. As gross as I find the worldview of the Twilight novels, that's a different issue from the structure and style of the story.
Jessica. I couldn't agree more with this review. I couldn't agree more with your opinions on both Stephenie Meyer and her writing/storytelling. I feel like we could be friends.Deanna. I would spend some t ok me here explaining all the issues with your comments...but I feel it's a lost cause. Truly.
*time on hereandroid kindle autocorrect is the WORST
Oh man, autocorrect is both the best and the worst thing about tablets/phones. I forgive it for the many times it's embarrassed me because of the hilarity it's brought to my life. And thank you! :D Every time I come to Goodreads I wish I had more time to spend here, because it seems like a great community and I feel like I would make a lot of friends here. But then I get sucked away into Tumblr-land and forget about it again for a few months.
1. It's suppose to written from a teenagers point of veiw so ya it's gona have repatition (Repeating of phrases)
2. Are you an Idoit!! Duh there's Magic in Betrayed. Zoey cast all 5 elements to her circle. If your version of magic is wands and colorful sparks, then expand your horizions.
3. The reason you keep reading is becasue Stevie Rea dies and thats a big deal!! HOw would you feel if your friend died. Wait let me tell you...
(Guy, dumd voice) Oh my best friend died so now my story is boaring and i can't tell it.
*Shakes head* You seriously don't know drama. And There are some teenagers that know execlent writing.
P.C Cast and Kristen respect you just as well as Stephanie Meyer. They are both amazing Vampire or Vampyre Novelist who know how to write a story. So before you go shooting off your big mouth about how teenagers don't care about this book, think twice Becasue when your the trouble knockn, more trouble's gona knock back. And if you fight me with Fire, i'm gona blow Water right up in your face. Pick a fight with me, and I WILL WIN!
Hot Wheels Beat that~! LOL!! (Sorry had to say that)