#turns out my only friend is actually really ableist and queerphobic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

houseofzoey · 2 months

Text

Overall Thoughts on the House of Night Series

By my standards, this series failed in basically every way possible - except monetary success.

The characters are poorly developed, the majority of them fulfilling shallow archetypes or offensive stereotypes with minimal nuance or meaningful exploration. This is true even of major characters, particularly Damien, Stevie Rae, Shaunee, and even Aphrodite.

Much as Aphrodite is beloved by haters and fans alike for her hardships and ability to actually tell off Zoey on occasion, she's ultimately just the lovable bitch/mean-girl-turned-best-friend trope and sees little thoughtful development. We're told that she changes, such as when she declares that she doesn't want to be like her mother and opts not to mix Xanax and wine - but then she's back to the same "substance abuse for laughs" shtick in the next book. Aphrodite's only actual, consistent change is that she stops hating Zoey and considers her a close friend. But otherwise? She's still a quintessential mean girl. She insults people for how they dress, looks down on the poor, bickers and picks fights with everyone, and - oh yeah - is racist, ableist, and queerphobic. Because it's "funny".

Personally? I think Aphrodite is one of the most despisable characters in the series, specifically because a) she has all the makings of a great character with huge potential for complexity and development, b) we're told she goes through incredible growth and change without really being shown it, and c) she's a raging bigot and that's meant to be funny/charming.

I've talked at length about how Zoey, Kalona, and Neferet are giant disappointments as characters, so I won't harp on that here. The main takeaway is that P.C. Cast doesn't know how to establish interesting, nuanced characters, and she certainly has no idea how to develop the cardboard cutouts she does introduce.

It doesn't help that this series has so many characters. A lot of them introduced once and then promptly forgotten. Remember Hannah Honeyyeager? Red? Montoya? Ant? Enyo? Sappho? Kaci Crump? Yeah, I don't blame you if you can't recall more than one detail about any of these characters - if you can even remember anything about them at all.

I can understand wanting to make the series feel well-populated, seeing as it is set in a school in a major city. But there are ways to do that without it feeling like the author just picks fifteen names out of a hat at the beginning of each book and throws them into the text at random intervals. The end result is that the HoN doesn't feel well-populated; it feels cluttered.

The overabundance of meaningless characters leads to other problems, too. Namely... well, names. One great example of this is Shaunee Cole having a thing for Cole Clifton. That's ridiculous, especially because no one ever comments on it, despite this being the exact sort of oddity that these characters would banter about for at least a page. P.C. Cast just didn’t notice she did that. There's plenty of other examples of identical or extremely similar names throughout the series, such as:

Zoey's brother Kevin and Detective Kevin Marx

Erik and Erin

Neferet the person and Nefertiti the cat

Shaylin and Shaunee

Drew (human) and Drew (fledgling)

Kaci Crump, Cassie Kramme, Casey Young, and Kacie Lockwood (from the Other World spinoff)

Even Damien and Darius are a bit close. The author mixed up their names in narration at one point, and it was never caught during the editing process.

(It's also worth noting that P.C. and Kristin have stated that, if the HoN TV show ever comes to fruition, Shaunee and Erin's names will be changed to Monique and Misty.* Monique is already the name of a Priestess working under Damien at the NYHoN in Loved.)

This is only made more absurd when you remember that every single fledgling and vampyre - all these people who got Marked as teenagers - have complete freedom to change their name to whatever they want. Why are there three fledglings named some variation of Cassie (only Casey is human)? Where are all the kids naming themselves Destiny and Ebony and Serendipity? Why aren't more kids named after their favourite celebrities or characters? You're telling me not a single teenage boy named himself Mike Hawk? Where are the kids who gave themselves four middle names because it sounds fancy, or who made their initials into an acronym?

The number of characters who did something like this is very small: Aphrodite, Jack Twist, James Stark, Venus, and Thor are the only ones I can immediately think of. Frankly, that's absurd.

I know exactly why it's Iike that, though. PC Cast isn't thinking about world-building and internal logic when she names her characters. Instead, she regularly names her characters after real people she knows. Here is a non-exhaustive list of such names:

Shaunee Cole

Erin Bates

Damien Maslin (specifically the last name)

Seoras

Cassie Kramme**

Chera Kimiko

Adam Paluka

Mr. Shaddox

Bryan "Dragon" Lankford

Anastasia Lankford

(On a somewhat related note, both P.C. and Kristin both have multiple self-inserts throughout the original and spinoff series. For P.C., it's Sgiach and Tina. For Kristin, it's Zoey and Kacie. This is mostly harmless - except Tina. Tina is literary brown face, because the white author made her self-insert indigenous, specifically Creek. Otherwise, these self-inserts just end up glorified and coddled.)

This kind of offhandedness and carelessness with world-building plagues the series. It's why historical figures are casually mentioned to be vampyres with no thought to how that would actually impact history. It's why the author says, "yeah, all the best actors and singers are vampyres" but then never considers how different media would look if all the most famous entertainers were nocturnal and allergic to the sun. It's why only a handful of countries have large vampyre populations and many of them (such as Italy and Greece) are known to be incredibly sunny and have long days and long summers, while places like Canada are far less populated despite vampyres being minimally affected by the cold. It's why there's 25 HoNs in the world, seven of which are in the US, while only three are in Asia, one is in Africa, and there are none mentioned in Russia or South America. It's why there's only one HoN in Canada despite it being an enormous country that is difficult to travel because of terrain (mountains, wetlands, tundra), weather, and sheer size.

And the thing is, I can excuse Rule of Cool world-building, or world-building that is shallow/poorly thought out. But the execution and context matter. All throughout the text, there's this very clear vibe that the author thinks she has built this incredibly rich, detailed world that is well-researched and grounded in reality while still being fantastical. In reality, the world-building is about as deep and sturdy as a list of bullet points on a wet napkin: It's not detailed, half of it is unintelligible, and it's gonna fall apart if you put even the slightest pressure on it.

I think a great demonstration of both poorly thought out world-building and poorly developed characters is Nyx. She is a loving goddess who prizes free will and thus operates under the principle of non-interference - but she spent eons gaslighting Kalona and all of vampyre society; regularly pops in to give special powers, helpful hints, or immediate solutions to specific fledglings/vampyres if she likes them enough; openly plays favourites; and gives fledglings extremely cruel, painful, or confusing gifts with no explanation as to why said gifts work the way they do. Why is Stark able to accidentally kill someone because of a metaphor he didn't intend to use? Why do visions cause Aphrodite's eyes to bleed? It's also fundamentally unclear what she wants at numerous points throughout the series.

Much of Neferet's descent into evil and success in committing horrific atrocities comes down to the fact that a) Nyx decided that this was the situation in which she wasn't going to give Zoey or anyone else clear warnings or visions about specifically what Neferet was doing, and b) she refused to rescind any of Neferet's gifts, even when she was using them to hurt people and create undead abominations, and had completely turned her back on Nyx in favour of Darkness.

(This is only compounded by the events of the Other World spinoff, wherein Nyx responds to OG Neferet's crimes by erasing her soul from existence so she can never reincarnate or be resurrected. So, I guess she can interfere where she sees fit? She also reduces Other Neferet and a bunch of her soldiers to children so they can have a second chance [horrifying], and causes a bunch of people to instantly complete the Change - including Other Lynette, who was a human. That seems like a lot of very direct interference.)

I also need to acknowledge how absolutely nonsensical the plot of this series is. Like, even just looking at the (intended) core premise of each book, it's all over the place.

Marked: Zoey is Marked and must learn to navigate her new life as a fledgling, which includes discovering she is the Chosen One and ousting mean girl Aphrodite from her position as glorified Student Council President.

Betrayed: Neferet is acting suspicious, which includes accusing Aphrodite of lying about her visions, and being connected to undead fledglings Zoey has spotted around campus.

Chosen: Zoey must heal undead Stevie Rae while also juggling three boyfriends and lying to her friends about all of it.

Untamed: Creepy ravens are all over campus. Aphrodite gets a vision that reveals these are Raven Mockers and Neferet intends to free Kalona from his earthly prison.

Hunted: Kalona and Neferet have brainwashed pretty much everyone at the Tulsa HoN. Zoey and co. need to figure out how to break the spell or get rid of them.

Tempted: After being banished from Tulsa and unable to continue their reign over the HoN, Kalona and Neferet tell the High Council that they are Erebus and Nyx incarnate, and thus Neferet should be the new High Priestess of all vampyres. Zoey goes to the High Council to say they're lying.

Burned: Zoey is shattered in the Otherworld and everyone is trying to save her.

Awakened: Neferet murders Jack so Zoey will stop frolicking on the Isle of Skye and return to Tulsa. Once Zoey returns, Neferet pretends she's a good guy and asks for her forgiveness.

Destined: Zoey's mother had been ritually sacrificed by Neferet to create a living weapon, so Zoey and co. perform a reveal ritual to show how Zoey's mother was murdered.

Hidden: After being shunned by the High Council, Neferet kidnaps Zoey's grandma as vengeance. Neferet is also working a smear campaign against the HoN on local news, which Zoey and co. counteract by doing an interview badmouthing Neferet and announcing an open house on campus.

Revealed: Neferet murders the mayor outside the gates of the HoN, so the school is on lockdown until they can prove that no one living/working there killed him. The Seer Stone is making Zoey increasingly short-tempered and violent.

Redeemed: Neferet takes over a fancy hotel and declares all the hostages her worshippers. Zoey and co. need to figure out how to use Old Magick to stop an immortal without it making Zoey go mad.

Does any of that seem like a logical progression/escalation of events? This isn't even touching on all the random boy drama, abandoned subplots, or nonsensical digressions that only serve to pad the text.

What the author seemingly intended to craft was a Chosen One coming-of-age narrative about a young girl who always felt out of place finding belonging at the HoN while navigating romantic relationships, learning to be a leader, and joining the battle against Darkness.

What we got was a spoiled, selfish brat who complains about every privilege and inconvenience that falls into her lap, who refuses to do anything hard or unpleasant to the point that she repeatedly cheats and leads on her boyfriends, who never takes initiative, and who largely has her problems solved by her subservient friends or a literal goddess.

But it shouldn't be surprising that the plot is all over the place and fails to fulfill the intended themes/messages of the series, because information about P.C. Cast's writing process for the series is also quite inconsistent. Originally, the series was only meant to be a trilogy, but got picked up for more books. However, in a Reddit AMA***, Kristin Cast claims:

We plotted out the story arch, and it naturally ended with twelve books. We also had a per book word count we had to follow, which is why our books aren't as long as other YA novels. However, I don't think anything was rushed. It was all planned from the beginning, and was executed amazingly!

But in several interviews (can only find a couple**** because they were audio/video, not text), P.C. Cast has referenced going rogue - meaning she deviated from the outline. Stark was meant to be Stevie Rae's love interest, Rephaim was supposed to die when Stevie Rae found him, etc. These represent HUGE alterations to the plot, so obviously the whole plot couldn't have been planned from the beginning, nor could everything be executed as intended.

P.C. Cast has also stated that she hates outlining, but Kristin makes her do a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline when they actually co-write. When P.C. writes solo, she knows the beginning, the end, and a bunch of pieces in the middle, and then figures it out from there (which sounds like a plantser style). Given that Kristin wasn't involved in the planning process - she didn't even look at the outlines of the original series because, as an editor, she wanted completely fresh eyes for the text - she couldn't have been the one pushing for a thorough outline of the whole series before P.C. began writing.

And that's not even getting into the fact that P.C. has stated the series was originally planned as a trilogy, which is evident from how the first three books were written. She couldn't have planned a twelve book series because she had no reason to assume she would be able to publish more than three books.

I wish I had a more satisfying conclusion to offer here, but... that's kind of the problem with talking about this series. The problems both span so wide and run so deep that it feels impossible to actually cover everything. I've made tens of thousands of posts - including in-depth analyses of plot, character, world-building, and writing - for every single book in this series, and I still feel like I haven't covered everything.

*Discussed here, around 17:00

**Google searches show this is a real person who attended the same school PC taught at

***Reddit AMA

****PC Cast interview, q&a

#house of zoey #redeemed #final thoughts

5 notes · View notes

dyketubbo · 3 years

Text

vent under the readmore bc its too much for tags and too long + triggering to just let be out in the open. its about, you guessed it, the same shit as always. qpr 3m3raldduo discourse my beloved, youve been treating me so well /s

sighs. love seeing a post that i agree with just to look at ops tags and realize theyre fucking vaguing me and taking my words out of context. not to be dramatic but i would literally prefer being fucking dead if it meant i could stop being peoples controversial talking point. i know people might see this and just go "ohh you should take a break/go outside if criticism is effecting you that much :/" but at this point its just legit people fucking insulting me and talking behind my back and bringing shit up that i just want to let die by now.

ive been taking breaks, ive gone outside 50 goddamn times just today, ive tried to read books, ive tried to be social, ive taken care of myself as best as i can but this shit legit makes me want to just fucking kill myself so i dont have to see this anymore.

in all seriousness, and im sorry to be public about this, i feel like im genuinely having one of the worst relapses of my life because of this. im starting to feel how i did when i was being abused but this time instead of an abuser its strangers on the internet talking about me and somehow that just feels worse. and this time im actually fucking trying to get better, ive taken my meds, im trying to treat myself, im trying to distract myself and im trying to take a step back and do what makes me happy but every single day since that fucking post ive seen someone talk shit about me and it all comes crashing down again. i was actually fucking happy for once, i genuinely thought itd be okay, but now im just. suicidal again.

its all fucking reset. im so tired of being hated. i hate knowing that theres people talking about me right now. theres people talking about me. theres people insulting me, theres people who hate me, who are genuinely having fucking discourse because of me. god, theyre fucking watching me. people i dont know, people i cant know, theyre watching me, talking about me, theres genuinely people who could be searching for my fucking information right now and theres nothing i can do to stop them.

and in the end im just going to look like a whiny bitch trying to guilttrip people and play the victim. i hate this, i hate myself and i hate all the people who are making me feel this way. i just want to fucking end it, man. anything to just get them to stop.

at this point i doubt even deleting or apologizing would be enough. its not like i could be genuine about it. im just, tired. my delusions are starting to come true in front of my very eyes. im right to be paranoid, im finding evidence that i was right all along to be scared, to feel unsafe. and even if i leave, there will always be people talking about me, because itll still be around. it really does just feel like suicide is the only option so i can escape this shit because real life isnt any goddamn better, my family sucks, i only turned 16 last year and covids still a thing so its not like i can drive or move out or anything, schools a fucking nightmare, i dont have any irl friends because everyone my age is racist, queerphobic, ableist, or all of the above, and i cant tell everything to my therapist because i dont want to risk upsetting the peace at home right now. at this point its just like, shit, give them something to talk about, yknow? go out in a big burst and then be nothing for the rest of existence. i dont have any plans, nor anything to do it with, so im not in any danger. i just, want to. god, i really really want to.

#negative #mask mews #suicidal ideation tw #abuse ment #discussion of harassment #yada yada #god im just. so fucking tired #i hate knowing im just going to be seen as guilttripping or manipulative for this #i just want people to leave me alone. to stop talking about me. about this #i know im just making it worse for myself and i know i brought this on myself n that its my fault and shit but #i just. theres nothing i can do at this point. n im grateful for my friends i really am but theres not much they can do either #its.. really just the only option. suicide i mean. at this point i just wish i was able to go through with it #i dont even feel like i can talk to like. a hotline or anything because shit man how the hell am i supposed to talk about this??#'oo i want to die because ppl on the internet are talking abt me and proving my paranoia right' who the hells gonna take that seriously #and its not like any of the people doing it will even give me the light of day much less much less even show sympathy for me #the only people i can talk to cant help and i cant help myself either #theres nothing. im trapped all over again. im trapped. god there really is something wrong with me #im sorry for. putting all of this on anyone who bothers to read #and im sorry for causing discourse and im sorry for the people who have to deal with seeing it on their dash #im sorry for everyone who also feels like shit because of this. m sorry for anyone who agreed with me and got shit for it #i just. want this to all be over. so i never have to deal with this again. so i stop having to see people talk about me #i feel like im about to throw up. i cant even cry because i cried so much yesterday. god #fuck this fandom man. god i feel like im 14/freshly 15 again. its even summer too. ugh #mask its summertime time for your life to get worse again!#emeto in tags #and long post under the cut #just. shit #what the hell are you supposed to do when you recover just to get shot back down again?#i dont know. i wish i did

3 notes · View notes