Betrayed: Chapter 2
ZeldaQueen: In case you are all wondering, yes it only gets sillier
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
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Chapter 2
Zoey runs out into the courtyard, and we get a random mention of how it’s a little past midnight. Apparently that’s when the parent visitation times are held, so the parents can get used to the Change thing. Or, you know, it means that a lot of parents have a much harder time visiting their kids because not everyone can up and go out at midnight. I mean, my dad gets up at four in the morning for work, and my mom gets up around five. Going out at midnight for open house wouldn’t go over so well in cases like that. Ah well, I digress.
As Zoey walks, she starts drooling over Erik, specifically how hot he is. Yes, that’s all she really talks about with him. Really
“Erik was the hottest guy at our school. Hell, Erik Night might be the hottest guy at any school. He was tall, dark, and handsome -like an old-time movie star (without the latent homosexual tendencies). He was also incredibly talented. Someday soon he was going to join the rank of other vamp movie stars like Matthew McConaughey, James Franco, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Hugh Jackman (who is totally gorgeous for an old guy). Plus, Erik was truly a nice guy- which only added to his hotness”
ZeldaQueen: Okay, so she gives one mention to how nice he is, but still tied it back to his looks. How nice. And yes, it still pisses me off that all talented and good-looking people are apparently supernatural, because regular people can’t be beautiful or talented, dur! So yeah, Erik’s not here, and I’m even more PO’d because dammit, he’s the only guy in this series who’s halfway likable and he’s not even here! And he won’t be here for most of it! I’m serious, he left on Monday, apparently it’s now Thursday (try to keep this straight folks, the timeline is still really screwy) and he won’t be back until Sunday. If this book goes at the rate Marked did, it’ll be over before Saturday.
So she’s going along having some daydream where Erik is Tristan and she’s Isolde only with them having a happy ending, which really misses the point of the story being a tragedy when all of a sudden she hears a man’s voice snap “You are one disappointment after another, Aphrodite!” As luck would have it, Aphrodite is being berated by her parents in the courtyard and Zoey has walked in on it. Zoey comments on how she ought to leave because even though Aphrodite is the worst bit of muck to walk the land since Lilith, it’s wrong to listen in on her being yelled at by her parents. So Zoey promptly ducks behind some bushes which will let her hear everything and get a good view. Oh what a wonderful protagonist this is, especially after she went on about how embarrassing it was that everyone saw her own parents being so horrid.
The first thing Zoey notices about these people is, of course, that they‘re gorgeous. Really, it seems like that’s all Zoey ever thinks about in this series. Although to the Cast ladies’ credits, the info dump on how they look does give us a little insight into who they are - they’re both dressed really nicely and the mother has some nice jewelry on and they’re both pissed because they apparently pulled strings to get Aphrodite into Chatham Hall and her being Marked fucked that up. So clearly they’re upper crust and, of course, evil as Satan. And not a sentence later, we find out that Aphrodite’s father is, in fact, the mayor of Tulsa.
So, in the usual these-people-are-evil way that characters in this series act, Aphrodite‘s mother keeps going on and on about how it just looks so bad that their daughter is here instead of a school on the east coast and how their only consolation was that she was the leader of the Dark Daughters and headed for money and power and fame, all of which has been fucked up royally by her. Aphrodite snipes back at them and her mother hits her. She then gives her daughter a lecture on how she mustn‘t cry because crying is a sign of weakness. The Cast ladies really have covered all of their Evil Parent clichés, haven‘t they?
So apparently the parents really want Aphrodite to be the leader of the Dark Daughters again and she‘s clearly upset and scared of them and trying to explain that there‘s a snowball‘s chance of that happening. Also, it seems that there are other vampire schools in other countries and Aphrodite was going to be sent to one of them until her parents talked Neferet out of it. Really? They can just up and ship a kid off without telling the parents? Not to mention, this just raises all sorts of questions about how big the vampire world is and how other countries are dealing with it and how the status of “High Priestess“ stands and what-all. Oy. I also must add that Aphrodite’s parents are pissed at the idea of her being sent to some “nondescript foreign House of Night” which makes me scratch my head because granted we don’t know exactly where these other schools are, but it seems to me that saying “My daughter went to a private boarding school in London” would, to the general public, sound more impressive than “My daughter went to a private boarding school in Tulsa”. I mean, I’m not insulting Tulsa, but these people sound like they’re really into how things sound and look and not what actually is best.
Aphrodite tries to get it through her parents’ heads that there’s no chance of her being made leader of the Dark Daughters, because Zoey is the new leader and she has stronger powers. Even if Neferet forgives Aphrodite, she still won’t make her the head of the group again. Aphrodite then drops this one on us - “The other girl is a better leader than I am. I realized that on Samhain. She deserves to be head of the Dark Daughters. I don't”.
Cast ladies? Bull. Fucking. Shit. You point to me one place where Zoey actually is a good leader? I mean, yes Zoey is better in the sense that she isn‘t raising demons and whatnot, but I have seen her do nothing in Marked that would convince Aphrodite that Zoey is, indeed, a better leader than her.
Aphrodite‘s parents don‘t take too well to this and tell her that she is their daughter which makes her the best (BATB video link) and doesn‘t she deserve the best? They tell her to start trying to sabotage Zoey, and the Cast ladies check yet another box on their Evil Parents Checklist. The father also suggests that Aphrodite be more forthcoming about her visions and we find out that it was her parents who got her to not tell people about them in the first place. You all remember from Marked, how that was the entire reason that Zoey decided that Aphrodite was Evil and thus deserved to be booted from power, even though that still wouldn‘t stop her from hiding her visions? If you don’t, that’s okay because the plot is put on hold to recap that bit. Well, it turns out that her parents have been the reason she did that. And no, Zoey doesn‘t actually reflect on this or give any indication that this has changed her opinions that Aphrodite is the evulz. Instead, she goes right back to spying and we hear that the reason Aphrodite was encouraged to keep her visions hidden was because knowledge is power and all. Or something. Really, I don‘t even. Anyway, Aphrodite‘s parents force her to take them back into the main room to mingle, even though she‘s clearly upset and wants to be alone for a bit.
Zoey heads back to the dorm, finally reflecting on all of this. And this actually is a rather nice bit, where she empathizes with Aphrodite, realizing that she (Zoey) got off better because even though her mom ultimately married her Evil Stepfather and abandoned her, she always had her grandmother and did have her mother‘s love for the first thirteen years of her life. Except that a few thinks kind of ruin it.
First of all, the implication in Zoey‘s reflections is that Aphrodite is only letting her parents boss her around because she never learned to grow a backbone. That‘s right, abuse victims are just wusses who never learned to stand up for themselves! Fantastic empathy there, Cast ladies!
Second of all, this entire thing is more or less forgotten. As we see in the next few chapters, Zoey‘s friends pretty much convince her that Aphrodite is Pure Evil and emotional abuse is no excuse nor a reason for her to be pitied. Because people like her are Bad and thus Irredeemably Evil. God, I love the morals of this series!
And with that, the chapter ends. Good riddance!
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Onward to: Chapter 3
Back to: Chapter 1
Back to: Table of Contents
Projection Room Voices: Starting Media in 3...2...1...
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Chapter 2
Zoey runs out into the courtyard, and we get a random mention of how it’s a little past midnight. Apparently that’s when the parent visitation times are held, so the parents can get used to the Change thing. Or, you know, it means that a lot of parents have a much harder time visiting their kids because not everyone can up and go out at midnight. I mean, my dad gets up at four in the morning for work, and my mom gets up around five. Going out at midnight for open house wouldn’t go over so well in cases like that. Ah well, I digress.
As Zoey walks, she starts drooling over Erik, specifically how hot he is. Yes, that’s all she really talks about with him. Really
“Erik was the hottest guy at our school. Hell, Erik Night might be the hottest guy at any school. He was tall, dark, and handsome -like an old-time movie star (without the latent homosexual tendencies). He was also incredibly talented. Someday soon he was going to join the rank of other vamp movie stars like Matthew McConaughey, James Franco, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Hugh Jackman (who is totally gorgeous for an old guy). Plus, Erik was truly a nice guy- which only added to his hotness”
ZeldaQueen: Okay, so she gives one mention to how nice he is, but still tied it back to his looks. How nice. And yes, it still pisses me off that all talented and good-looking people are apparently supernatural, because regular people can’t be beautiful or talented, dur! So yeah, Erik’s not here, and I’m even more PO’d because dammit, he’s the only guy in this series who’s halfway likable and he’s not even here! And he won’t be here for most of it! I’m serious, he left on Monday, apparently it’s now Thursday (try to keep this straight folks, the timeline is still really screwy) and he won’t be back until Sunday. If this book goes at the rate Marked did, it’ll be over before Saturday.
So she’s going along having some daydream where Erik is Tristan and she’s Isolde only with them having a happy ending, which really misses the point of the story being a tragedy when all of a sudden she hears a man’s voice snap “You are one disappointment after another, Aphrodite!” As luck would have it, Aphrodite is being berated by her parents in the courtyard and Zoey has walked in on it. Zoey comments on how she ought to leave because even though Aphrodite is the worst bit of muck to walk the land since Lilith, it’s wrong to listen in on her being yelled at by her parents. So Zoey promptly ducks behind some bushes which will let her hear everything and get a good view. Oh what a wonderful protagonist this is, especially after she went on about how embarrassing it was that everyone saw her own parents being so horrid.
The first thing Zoey notices about these people is, of course, that they‘re gorgeous. Really, it seems like that’s all Zoey ever thinks about in this series. Although to the Cast ladies’ credits, the info dump on how they look does give us a little insight into who they are - they’re both dressed really nicely and the mother has some nice jewelry on and they’re both pissed because they apparently pulled strings to get Aphrodite into Chatham Hall and her being Marked fucked that up. So clearly they’re upper crust and, of course, evil as Satan. And not a sentence later, we find out that Aphrodite’s father is, in fact, the mayor of Tulsa.
So, in the usual these-people-are-evil way that characters in this series act, Aphrodite‘s mother keeps going on and on about how it just looks so bad that their daughter is here instead of a school on the east coast and how their only consolation was that she was the leader of the Dark Daughters and headed for money and power and fame, all of which has been fucked up royally by her. Aphrodite snipes back at them and her mother hits her. She then gives her daughter a lecture on how she mustn‘t cry because crying is a sign of weakness. The Cast ladies really have covered all of their Evil Parent clichés, haven‘t they?
So apparently the parents really want Aphrodite to be the leader of the Dark Daughters again and she‘s clearly upset and scared of them and trying to explain that there‘s a snowball‘s chance of that happening. Also, it seems that there are other vampire schools in other countries and Aphrodite was going to be sent to one of them until her parents talked Neferet out of it. Really? They can just up and ship a kid off without telling the parents? Not to mention, this just raises all sorts of questions about how big the vampire world is and how other countries are dealing with it and how the status of “High Priestess“ stands and what-all. Oy. I also must add that Aphrodite’s parents are pissed at the idea of her being sent to some “nondescript foreign House of Night” which makes me scratch my head because granted we don’t know exactly where these other schools are, but it seems to me that saying “My daughter went to a private boarding school in London” would, to the general public, sound more impressive than “My daughter went to a private boarding school in Tulsa”. I mean, I’m not insulting Tulsa, but these people sound like they’re really into how things sound and look and not what actually is best.
Aphrodite tries to get it through her parents’ heads that there’s no chance of her being made leader of the Dark Daughters, because Zoey is the new leader and she has stronger powers. Even if Neferet forgives Aphrodite, she still won’t make her the head of the group again. Aphrodite then drops this one on us - “The other girl is a better leader than I am. I realized that on Samhain. She deserves to be head of the Dark Daughters. I don't”.
Cast ladies? Bull. Fucking. Shit. You point to me one place where Zoey actually is a good leader? I mean, yes Zoey is better in the sense that she isn‘t raising demons and whatnot, but I have seen her do nothing in Marked that would convince Aphrodite that Zoey is, indeed, a better leader than her.
Aphrodite‘s parents don‘t take too well to this and tell her that she is their daughter which makes her the best (BATB video link) and doesn‘t she deserve the best? They tell her to start trying to sabotage Zoey, and the Cast ladies check yet another box on their Evil Parents Checklist. The father also suggests that Aphrodite be more forthcoming about her visions and we find out that it was her parents who got her to not tell people about them in the first place. You all remember from Marked, how that was the entire reason that Zoey decided that Aphrodite was Evil and thus deserved to be booted from power, even though that still wouldn‘t stop her from hiding her visions? If you don’t, that’s okay because the plot is put on hold to recap that bit. Well, it turns out that her parents have been the reason she did that. And no, Zoey doesn‘t actually reflect on this or give any indication that this has changed her opinions that Aphrodite is the evulz. Instead, she goes right back to spying and we hear that the reason Aphrodite was encouraged to keep her visions hidden was because knowledge is power and all. Or something. Really, I don‘t even. Anyway, Aphrodite‘s parents force her to take them back into the main room to mingle, even though she‘s clearly upset and wants to be alone for a bit.
Zoey heads back to the dorm, finally reflecting on all of this. And this actually is a rather nice bit, where she empathizes with Aphrodite, realizing that she (Zoey) got off better because even though her mom ultimately married her Evil Stepfather and abandoned her, she always had her grandmother and did have her mother‘s love for the first thirteen years of her life. Except that a few thinks kind of ruin it.
First of all, the implication in Zoey‘s reflections is that Aphrodite is only letting her parents boss her around because she never learned to grow a backbone. That‘s right, abuse victims are just wusses who never learned to stand up for themselves! Fantastic empathy there, Cast ladies!
Second of all, this entire thing is more or less forgotten. As we see in the next few chapters, Zoey‘s friends pretty much convince her that Aphrodite is Pure Evil and emotional abuse is no excuse nor a reason for her to be pitied. Because people like her are Bad and thus Irredeemably Evil. God, I love the morals of this series!
And with that, the chapter ends. Good riddance!
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Onward to: Chapter 3
Back to: Chapter 1
Back to: Table of Contents