This series just keeps getting better and better. The Casts are fearless about adding new dimensions to their beloved characters. I admire the creativity of their world--it's extremely well thought out and cohesive while blazing new paths in the vampirie realm. I really can't praise this series enough.
The drama was way more engaging, the characters more interesting. I feel like more things were explained, & things are starting to take shape. Personally, my favorite part is that Zoey, the main character, messes up completely while in a love triangle... Well it's more of a square... anyway she messes up, and she realizes that she's gullible and a bit stupid. Finally a dumb character who admits to it.
Zoey’s hormones get pulled every which way with:
a) Human imprinted partner, Heath (who she intends breaking up with but instead has a hot ‘n’ heavy make-out session with)
b) Erik, her handsome fledgling boyfriend (who she wants to come clean with about her roaming eye but instead ends up having hot ‘n’ heavy make-out sessions with)
c) Loren Blake, temporary teacher (who she wants to break up with but as he apparently makes her "feel like a woman", she inevitably ends up...yep...you got it...having hot 'n' heavy make-out sessions with) who she thought loved her but he was just using her to find out what she knows. I just find it sickening that Zoey is supposed to be this strong, smart, independent young woman, yet, she's not intelligent enough to not have sex with a grown man!
So in the midst of all this mind-numbing drama, Zoey is also trying to find a way to restore some semblance of normality into the life of her friend Stevie Rae, who died and changed into a snarling, undead creature. Along the way she has to keep secrets from her nerd-herd and rely on the reluctant assistance of foe-turned-friend, Aphrodite.
-Tanya
Seems like a very interesting book, although I would probably never make it past the first few chapters. I hate love triangles/square/shapes. They just seem very childish and almost always ruin everything. I hate how so many new books seem to have to have some sort of lovey dovey going on, most of it just to keep the reader engaged I guess. The only book that I've read with an actually interesting love triangle was the Hunger games because Katniss needed to pretend like she was in love to get out of the games alive. Whether or not she actually loved his is debatable.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I really enjoyed your post! It was well put together, gave a good idea of what the authors were trying to accomplish, gave an insight into the main character as well as her interactions with some of the other characters in the book and ended with the the overall story and a little bit of a hook with the introduction of Aphrodite, her "foe-turned-friend". Very interesting name choice, as Aphrodite is supposedly the Greek God of love, something Zoey seems to have trouble with.
Another interesting thing you mentioned is the "dumb character who admits it". It's very interesting to see some introspection from the character who is supposedly dumb. All in all, very good post! It would be interesting and very beneficial to have some more of the plot detailed into your post for future readers, but good job! The use of italics was well done!
Well there's certainly a lot going on here with the whole love square thing. It's interesting how characters get into that type of situation when they seem smarter than that. I mean is it really that tempting to go after multiple people when it's most likely going to bite you in the ass later. But I'm not the kind of person who enjoys these types of stories anyway so my opinion is a bit more biased. Either way though it's great that you seem to be enjoying the book. The fantasy element of having mythical creatures is interesting to me since, it opens avenues for more interesting characters and interactions. Having creatures that carry more open qualities for the author to use gives a great chance to write a character that makes the story that much better. But of course this can be ruined if not implemented properly since not everyone has the ability to write a character that they don't fully understand what they can do. Anyone can make a character a vampire, werewolf, or elf. But it takes a bit more to make them authentic to their races and give them a personality that plays on this.
ReplyDeleteNow you mention how the main character realizes her stupidly, and I agree that it's nice to have a character posses a bit of introspection. There plenty of characters that ignore their own stupid decisions that cause a conflict and wonder why this conflict happened. I notice a lot in antagonist in books since it gives the villain a insane madman angle to them.When I read through Off to be the Wizard the antagonist did just that when he decided to try to turn everyone into dwarfs, elves, ogres, and other fantasy creatures. He saw no issue with it and wondered why every was so against it. It bothered me how dense his character was but that's the point at the end. Well either way great post, good summary of the book, and nice highlight of what you felt was important.
Great job, Tanya! I love how you described the two authors as “fearless” with their writing. It reminds me of something Ms. Romano would say. I also thought you captured the essence of their series very well when you said that “it's extremely well thought out and cohesive while blazing new paths in the vampire realm.” Just from writing our flash fiction pieces this week, it is sometimes difficult to create a made-up place in your mind and put it on paper in a way that your reader will understand it.
ReplyDeleteZoey does seem like a valuable character. It is okay to make mistakes as long as you are able to recognize them and try to not repeat them. I also appreciate the list you made regarding Zoey’s affairs, because I love lists. It also perfectly summed up Zoey’s love-square that clearly has her tied up in knots. But like you mentioned earlier, she admits it. This, however, does not seem to do much for her case because she is already in so deep.
Overall, I think you did an excellent job with this blog post. You seem to be really enjoying this series and have really fleshed out the character Zoey. I can’t wait to hear about how (or if) she ends up getting out of this uber-messy situation.