House of Night, Untamed, Chapter 3:
Stark joins Zoey and pals for lunch, which goes as hilariously as you’d expect.
“I think your dog is pretty,” Jack said, leaning around Damien to get a better look at Duchess.
“I mean, she’s big, but she’s still pretty. She won’t bite, will she?”
“Not if you don’t bite her first,” Stark said.
“Oh, eew,” Jack said. “I’d get dog hair in my mouth and that’d be nasty.”
I know I’ve already mentioned how much I hate Jack, but this guy is so irritating! Of course Stark didn’t actually think you were going to bite Duchess. This is the kind of conversation you might have with a small child.
“Stark, this is Jack. He’s Damien’s boyfriend.” I decided to get the introductions and the possible Oh, no! He’s a fag! issues out of the way.
Zoey is the one having these thoughts and projecting them onto everyone around her. “Oh, I just thought I’d let you know that my friends are total fags, just so you can beat the shit out of them in the cafeteria and get it out of the way. HELLO. I don’t want them beat up, but you might. Because they’re homos and sensitive and weak and emotional.”
Zoey scrutinizes Stark’s reaction:
“Hi,” Jack said with a really sweet smile.
“Yeah, hi,” Stark said. It wasn’t a hugely warm hi, but he didn’t seem to be giving off any homophobe vibes
In a shocking turn of events, Stark reacts normally to meeting someone new, and he’s (understandably) underwhelmed by their dating status. It would have been much weirder if he’d effused, “WHY HELLO, JACK! Damien’s boyfriend you say? How splendid! I love to meet homosexual couples! They are truly delightful.”
Zoey’s gone out of her way to introduce Jack as Damien’s boyfriend rather than as one of the members of her posse just to gauge Stark’s reaction. Typical asshole Zoey. I don’t introduce two people I’m friends with as “Grant and his girlfriend Jane,” just to test someone’s reaction about the fact that Jane is a cyborg and Grant, a human, is dating her. That’s just basic manners.
The twins give Stark suggestive looks. These two are starting to creep me out. Whenever an even moderately attractive guy is in the vicinity, they act like total buffoons! Aren’t they dating some of Erik “I’VE CHANGED!!!” Night’s friends anyway?
Aphrodite gives him an intense look, which Zoey doesn’t think is flirtatious. Stark makes stupid jokes about her name.
His slightly sarcastic smile was back. “So you’re the Goddess of Love. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Aphrodite was looking at Stark with a weird intensity that didn’t seem particularly flirtatious, but when
he spoke to her, she automatically executed a truly spectacular hair flip and said, “Hi. I like it when I’m
recognized.”His smile widened and got even more sarcastic as he gave a little laugh. “It’d be hard not to recognize
you—the name’s pretty obvious.”
The Casts’ attempt to write a witty character makes me feel the same kind of ache in my chest I feel when I watch a child struggle to tie their shoes.
“You know, dogs are a lot louder than cats,” Jack said, studying Duchess like she was a science experiment.
At least they don’t even have to try with Jack. What is wrong with this guy? You’re telling me that in his whole life before coming to the House of Night he wasn’t exposed to dogs? I don’t buy it.
“It’s all that panting they do,” Erin said
“And they’re more flatulent than cats, Twin,” Shaunee said. “My mom has those ginormic standard poodles, and they are some gaseous creatures.”
So glad the twins were able to chime in and enrich this conversation. Also, does anyone else feel like we discuss farts in these books more than we discuss whatever the plot is supposed to be?
Damien and Stark go to grab food, and Aphrodite departs, leaving the twins with more room to shine:
“But on to a much more important topic,” Erin said.
“Yeah, the new hottie,” Shaunee said.
“Check out his butt,” Erin said.
“I wish he’d sag them jeans a little so I could get a better look,” Shaunee said.
“Twin, sagging is seriously lame. It’s so clichéd gang-wannabe circa 1990s. Hotties should just say no to it,” Erin said.
Casts, I’ll say this to you in a way you can understand: PLEASE, just please, with using your characters as seriously lame mouthpieces for your opinions no one cares about. HELLO. Xoxo, Gossip Girl.
“I’d still like to see his butt, Twin,” Shaunee said. Then she glanced over at me and smiled. It was a reserved version of her old, friendly grin, but at least it wasn’t the sarcastic wariness she’d been treating me with for the past couple days.
So she gave Zoey a mean grin? That wasn’t sarcastic and wary? Most confusing smile I’ve ever read.
Zoey observes that Stark is indeed attractive, but not too attractive. But it’s his intensity that makes him hot. It’s a shame Zoey doesn’t have three boyfriends anymore. It sounds like if she played her cards right she could have had four pretty soon.
He moved like everything he did was deliberate, but that the deliberateness was tinged with sarcasm. It was like he was a part of the world, and at the same time he was flipping it off.
And, yes, it was weird that I got that about him so quickly.
Weird. Beyond belief. Dumb. All the things.
Jack suddenly realizes that James Stark is the best, most amazing archer in all the land! This guy is certainly proving to be special enough to be Zoey’s next boyfriend.
“…He kicked butt in the track and field Summer Games this past year. Guys, he competed against grown vamps, actual Sons of Erebus, and he beat them all. He’s a star…”
Maybe he’s too special to be with Zoey. She’d probably feel the need to constantly remind him that she has an affinity for all the elements.
When Stark returns to the table, everyone is in awe of him, which he is so over:
Stark looked up. “Whatever. It’s just something I’ve been good at ever since I’ve been Marked.” His eyes went from Damien to me. “Speaking of famous fledglings, I see the rumor about your extra Marks is true.”
“It’s true.” I really hated these first meetings. It made me uncomfortable as hell when I met someone and all they could see about me was the uber-fledgling and not the real Zoey.
Then I got it. What I was feeling was probably a lot like what Stark was feeling.
I’m in a state of shock that Zoey actually had a moment where she realized something painfully obvious and experienced basic empathy and understanding. “He’s special…I’m special…special…OH I GET IT.”
To change the subject, Zoey smoothly transitions onto the topic of horses…which somehow leads to an argument about cats. I guess the Casts were just desperate for ways to stretch this book out without actually doing any work and creating moments of character development.
Zoey heads off to go talk to Aphrodite who wanted to talk to her privately. This is such a relief as it means a much needed break from Zoey’s relentlessly awful friends.
I found this gif that I think weirdly sums up the whole chapter:
Wow. It’s like the Casts saw this and just used it as inspiration.
“Stark, this is Jack. He’s Damien’s boyfriend.” I decided to
get the introductions and the possible Oh, no! He’s a fag! issues out of the way.out my so-called friends without their prior consent and denying the the chance to do so in a way in which they felt comfortable, because I am Zoey, friend to all the gays! As long as they are the gays that I find acceptable. Love me.YES YES YES!!! I was worried I was ranting too much or that I’d give the impression that Jack and Damien shouldn’t be open about dating. I’m pretty sure they’re out to the whole school – but still, this seemed like such a rude call on Zoey’s part for so many reasons. This being one of the.
Hahahaha ‘friend to all the gays!’ is cracking me up. I feel like that is something Zoey could definitely, genuinely, think with such pride.
Zoey is the only one in these novels who calls people by derogatory names; no one else has any problems except for her. How does she even have friends?
Also, not sure if either of you (or any other readers) participate in NaNoWriMo, but I came across this word crawl and immediately thought of this blog:
http://nanowrimo.org/forums/word-wars-prompts-sprints/threads/273271
“I decided to get the introductions and the possible Oh, no! He’s a fag! issues out of the way.”
headdesk headdesk headdesk headdesk headdesk …
“It wasn’t a hugely warm hi, but he didn’t seem to be giving off any homophobe vibes.”
oh jesus tapdancing christ …
“And they’re more flatulent than cats, Twin,” Shaunee said. “My mom has those ginormic standard poodles, and they are some gaseous creatures.”
I hate you, Shaunee. Please die. Please just die.
“He moved like everything he did was deliberate, but that the deliberateness was tinged with sarcasm.”
What … what the everloving hell … what does that even mean? How do you move sarcastically?
“It made me uncomfortable as hell when I met someone and all they could see about me was the uber-fledgling and not the real Zoey.”
How about we see you as an uber-sociopath? Would that make you feel better, you agressively-progessive homophobe?
for the love of mike, i hate this book.
Look, I’m not going to pretend I’ve been following along too closely with this series, but when has Zoey ever felt awkward about her extra marks upon introductions? In fact, has she seriously even met anyone that’s pointed them out yet?
I can’t even remember when this has actually happened. Maybe all the times she was supposedly grooming her horse?
I do have vague recollections of her mentioning this sometimes…like in the last book she bumps into this kid who is looking for the professor that got murdered, and she thinks something along the lines of other kids being in awe of her. Maybe it started around the time she took over the Dark Daughters? Can’t…remember…shitty…books…well.
This may be a dumb question, but if Zoey’s friends are all pissed at her, why are they letting her sit with them? I would have expected them to tell her to gtfo so the Casts could have her standing in the moonlight moaning about how misunderstood she is.
Also, I can’t wait for Stark and Zoey to have a who’s-more-special contest.
she sort of just sat down next to them, and they had a fight until plot happened. like every other interaction between characters in house of night.
It doesn’t make any sense. Everything Stark does (like moving) is deliberate and sarcastic. How does he move sarcastically? He is going to get lunch. Is he walking through the lunch line to make fun of all the people actually eating lunch? How can everything you do be sarcastic? How can peeing be sarcastic? How can breathing? Basically she’s saying he’s just too cool for everything and everyone so is basically living his life thinking he’s better than everyone else. I don’t The Casts don’t understand human beings.
They describe people moving in the strangest ways. When they say Stark moves sarcastically or that Aphrodite twitches into the cafeteria…I just don’t understand. With Stark maybe they meant his attitude seemed cocky but I don’t know how you end up using sarcastic in place of that.
Yes. The major difference between cats and dogs is noise and fart levels. It’s not possible to have an noisey attention needy cat or a quiet dog. And yeah, cats don’t fart at all. Just like girls.
This book makes me angry at the best of times. But the dog and cat stereotyping pisses me off somehow too!
Pingback: The Lazy Reader’s Guide: November 16-November 20, 2015 | Bad Books, Good Times
Pingback: Bad Romance Advice, Good Times: Meeting Your Partner’s Family During the Holidays | Bad Books, Good Times
I just realized my character hate list for this series has actual catagories first up kalona is first place followed by Stark for the nomination of gross evil rapists who no one cared about but got redeemed anyway without haveing to work for it becuse Zoey needs hot men to fawn over her. second catagory for obnoxious judgemental, hypocritical bullying jerks goes to Zoey Redbird followed closely by the twins it was close but Zoey ultimately clinched the nomination. And third for most hated useless twit in this whole book has got to go to Jack Twist! Honestly when i was first reading this series i liked Damien he was smart and compassionate undeveloped but that’s not a problem restricted to him, but i could not stand his boyfriend every line Jack uttered made me cringe. On top of that Jack is the most useless vampire character in YA history. Honestly Heath does more in later books and he’s just an ordinary human.