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Grammarchist posted:I was not prepared to live in a world where I laughed at this movie, but the wheelchair fight actually had some decent comedic timing. It seems way funnier now after doing this thread.
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Apr 12, 2021 19:00
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Oh, speaking of new threads, I spent a long time thinking about this. After Ready Player Two, I'm most likely going to do a much bigger and more recently controversial series: Harry Potter. No spoiler tags, a complete free for all, analyzing the series to determine how JK Rowling's views may appear in it, figuring out whether certain criticisms are truly accurate and to what degree, and figuring out how much of the famous foreshadowing is legitimate or just made up on the spot.
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Apr 13, 2021 22:27
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Cool, I basically learned how to read on Harry Potter so revisiting it with more critical eye is always very interesting. Especially in light of JKR's recent... statements
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Apr 14, 2021 10:46
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The last HP book certainly proved how much winging it there was over planning. A 400 page camping-trip, a second set of critical mcmuffins to find, and a very hasty conclusion. I always thought the series lost its footing after book 3 because the wordcount exploded to no real benefit. Harry never got compelling enough to shoulder the entire story from his perspective. I didnt realize the troubling politics until years later. The Bartimaues Trilogy felt like a more honest and scathing depiction of an upper-class wizard society; self-absorbed pricks who have no accountability and tend to middle with forces beyond their reckoning. I'm reading the official english release of the Legend of Galactic Heroes series. It has issues like the wrong character-name being substituted, typos, and the sixth volume is pretty grating with the sexism until a war mercifully breaks out. What I do like, in addition to the chess-game plotting and political dialogue, is that the average pagecount is less than 250 (2380 pages total). It sometimes feels like a lost art for an SFF story to actually pace itself and wrap up nicely. Not get lost in endless minutia and extraneous side-plots like GRRM.
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Apr 14, 2021 15:25
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I think it'll be a really ripe thread for discussion because I also want to try and do a more....normal criticism? Like as far as I can see, Rowling's radicalization into a TERF was rather recent, so will there even be signs of that belief in the books? And the question of the goblins and their connection to Jewish stereotypes, as my preliminary research indicated, has turned out to be much more complicated and also tie into the films' production designers. Speaking of the films, it'll also be a great opportunity to examine how they affected the books and vice versa, such as the casting of Alan Rickman as Snape and how it caused Rowling to redirect the character toward the end.
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Apr 14, 2021 19:32
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Subject matter: 7 books, 199 chapters, 1 million words 3 minor spin-off books 8 motion-picture adaptations, plus 2 from spinoff franchise 1 play-sequel I highly doubt you'll lend any credence to the author's twitter where she says that wizards just shat on the floor before indoor plumbing was a thing.
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Apr 14, 2021 20:07
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Harry Potter seems like it could be interesting. My school actually kinda pushed those books out of desperation, since kids actually seemed to like it. We did have a small satanic panic about it though. I personally never got into the series. The big bearded guy breaking into a lighthouse and turning an rear end in a top hat kid into a pig (to punish his parents) kinda turned me off the whole thing. So most of my middle-school reading was dominated by a bunch of ghost-story books from rest stops my uncle had collected from across the country.
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Apr 14, 2021 20:17
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Grammarchist posted:Harry Potter seems like it could be interesting. My school actually kinda pushed those books out of desperation, since kids actually seemed to like it. We did have a small satanic panic about it though. And for me, those books came along at a time when I was getting old enough, and becoming politically aware enough, to start going "Erm... isn't this kinda alarmingly racist? And the wizards are all hopelessly out of touch upper class British aristocrats?" Twilight is at least interesting as a look into the psyche of a repressed Mormon housewife who clearly seems to be deeply unhappy about her entire life being a Mormon housewife but has no idea how to express it even as it keeps leaking into her writing.
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Apr 15, 2021 12:58
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quote:Alice hurled out the first pitch. Emmett, too eager, took a massive swing that whistled so closely by the ball that the air pressure disrupted the straight line of the pitch. Jasper snagged the ball out of the air, then whipped it back to Alice. Yes, that's how Meyer is doing Edward's perspective of the baseball game: dry recitation of the entire game. Enjoy. quote:Emmett took Jasper’s place behind home plate while Jasper took the bat, though it was Rosalie’s turn to catch. That was irritating; surely standing within a ten-foot radius of Bella was not that enormous a burden. I was starting to wish I hadn’t pushed to get her here. I will spare you from filling up time with descriptions of how baseball works. quote:Bella was leaning up on her tiptoes, her hands covering her ears with the v visible between her brows, but she relaxed as soon as Carlisle and Jasper were on their feet again. She glanced toward me, and her smile came back. How distracted does a vampire have to be to miss a pitch? When Bella was turned, just touching her was enough to make her start precisely backflipping all over the room. quote:Alice launched the ball toward Rose again; this time Rose got a piece of it, whacking it past third. I ran in, but Alice already had it. Instead of throwing Rose out, for which there was time, Alice whirled and bolted toward home. Jasper was already halfway between third and home. He put his shoulder down as though he was planning to knock Alice off the plate the way he had Carlisle, but Alice didn’t wait for him to charge her. She executed a clever half-spin, half-slide maneuver, gliding past him and then tagging him from behind. Esme called him out, but Rosalie had made use of the distraction to get to second. Stephenie Meyer cannot gently caress off hard enough. quote:Emmett, too, was enjoying Bella’s excited amazement. He already liked her more than I’d expected, and he found this game more fun with an animated audience. And just as Rose loved admiration, Emmett loved fun. What a profound analysis. quote:Carlisle, Alice, and I ran in while Rosalie’s team took the field. Bella greeted me with huge eyes and a wide smile. See? I'm with her! quote:“I’m up,” I said to Bella. I retrieved the bat from where Emmett had tossed it, and walked to the plate. Of course, Bella didn't notice anything unusual during her version of this except that it was loud. quote:I was running full out, listening through the echoing boom to the sound of Rosalie racing through the forest. If she moved fast enough—but no, Alice could see the ball landing on the ground.  quote:I went to stand beside Bella, lacing my fingers loosely through hers. She smiled up at me, her cheeks and nose pink from the cold, but her eyes glowing with excitement. This is so boring. Let's watch the movie version again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZIk5wIq2Qw quote:I charged Emmett, who looked thrilled by my choice, but before I could even try to dance around him to the plate, Rosalie was already complaining. This is all stuff that never happened in the original. Why does it even matter? quote:Rose’s team did better this time. Both she and Jasper got around off one of Emmett’s big hits, though I was pretty sure she’d cheated. The path of the ball shifted in flight, almost as if something smaller had knocked it off course, but I was too deep in the trees to see where that projectile had come from. I had time to throw Emmett out, at least. Rosalie’s next long fly was too low; Alice was able to jump for it. Jasper got on base again, but I stopped Emmett’s line drive before it reached the forest, and Carlisle and I caught Jasper between us on his way to third. I don't know what Bella thinks of it, because the only reference to it is them "razzing" each other during the original book and Bella never having any sort of reaction to it. quote:We were in the eleventh inning—our innings never lasted more than a few minutes; we wouldn’t stop at any particular number, we’d just end when the storm did—and Carlisle was batting first. Alice could see another big hit coming, and I wished that one of us were on base. Sure enough, Emmett—taking his turn on the mound—couldn’t resist trying to throw a fast strike past Carlisle, and thus gave him all the power he needed to crush the ball so hard it sailed far past where Rosalie had any hope of stopping it. The sound reverberated off the mountains, more like an explosion than thunder. Plot is coming! quote:The images were pouring through her head in a torrent. An avalanche of new futures swirled unintelligibly, seemingly disconnected from each other. Some were blinding bright and some so dark there was nothing to see. A thousand different backgrounds, most of them unfamiliar. "Did you hear that? It sounds like vampire baseball! There can be nothing else making that noise!" quote:We were all in a tight circle at this point, Alice at our center. Carlisle leaned close, putting one hand on her arm. “What is it, Alice?” Now think about how many times it could have been relevant for Edward to hear thoughts from literal miles away. quote:“Less than five minutes,” I told him. “They’re running—they want to play.” You're not going to believe it, but later it'll turn out that "James's coven plays baseball" is the least ridiculous thing they've all learned to do in their lives as savage nomads in the forest. quote:His eyes flashed to Bella again. You have to get her away from here. “Can you make it?” "There's no way they could have hit a ball out that far!" quote:I shook my head. “No, not carrying—” So, who here noticed in the original book that none of the new vampires could identify Bella as a human despite the later books establishing it as trivially easy? quote:“How many?” Emmett demanded. Yes, Alice has seen the future all the way to Arizona. quote:I knew Carlisle’s decision was the only decision, but I felt sick to my core. How could I have allowed this to happen? "No fighter"? How many kills did she get in Eclipse? quote:“You catch, Esme,” I directed. “I’ll call it now.” There's somehow even more after this. quote:She immediately pulled the band from her ponytail and shook her hair out, letting it fall around her face. It was clear she understood the need to hide.  quote:“That won’t help,” Alice murmured. “I could smell her across the field.” Edward, you just caused a fatal arrhythmia! quote:I was vaguely aware of the others pretending to continue the game, but my mind was so focused on what was coming that I saw nothing of their façade. Victoria is a ball of anxiety, James and Laurent are desperate to play baseball. Amazing. quote:They were splitting up now, doing their due diligence before exposing themselves. Finally, I know what fanfic I need to write. quote:“I’m sorry, Bella,” I breathed just loud enough for her to hear. The strangers were too close for me to risk speaking at a greater volume. “It was stupid, irresponsible, to expose you like this. I’m so sorry.” There's just nothing in there. quote:The strangers reunited at the southwest corner of the clearing. Their movements were audible now. I shifted my position so that my body would hide hers and began tapping my foot quietly to the rhythm of her heartbeat, hoping to disguise it as long as I could by creating a plausible source for the sound. No, you didn't have a stroke. Edward is tapping his feet to the rhythm of Bella's heartbeat to drown it out. quote:Carlisle turned to face the whisper of their approaching feet, and the others followed his lead. We would not give away any of our advantages, but would pretend to have no more than our extensive vampire senses to guide us.
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Apr 16, 2021 04:20
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I'm looking forward to the HP thread. Trying to maintain enthusiasm for picking at the minutiae of the narrator swapped version of Twilight has been hard. I'm not mad at it, but the novelty of Edward's internal monologue wore off ages ago, and I can only skim for minor changes Smeyer made after the main line finale for so long before my eyes go wobbly. Again, not a slight on chitoryu12, I just very much look forward to new poo poo.
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Apr 16, 2021 06:26
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Chapter 22: The Huntquote:By the time the strangers entered the clearing, their faces were already so well known to me that it felt as though I were recognizing them rather than seeing them for the first time. "What the gently caress is this weirdo doing?" quote:For the smallest part of a second, I struggled with the feeling that something was missing in his tally, but there was too much for me to concentrate on to have time to track down that impression. Even after the films, being very careful not to imply that Laurent could be black. quote:I wonder if she’s mated? Hmm, they do seem to be even in numbers. Oh, he's just horny. quote:His eyes skipped over the rest of us, then settled on Rose again. So Victoria was established by Meyer in her Illustrated Guide as having self-preservation as her vampiric power. This apparently manifests in the form of calculating escape routes out of the tiniest threat.....except when James and Laurent are killed and she has to become the villain. Then she'll just repeatedly charge into enemy territory and narrowly escape over and over. quote:The redhead was watching the plainer male, waiting for him to run first. Her eyes danced to Emmett again, and she moved reluctantly as she followed the others closer. Two things. First, what do these characters look like? We don't know, because Meyer is still not trying to describe them. Even after having a whole film series and all of this time to refine her writing, she's still giving us completely blank villains. Second, as we already know, James is the leader. Somehow none of the three are having any sorts of thoughts that would indicate this, allowing the story to continue with the mistaken assumption that Laurent is when a mind reader is present. quote:He smiled in a friendly way, slowing his approach and then stopping as he got within a few yards of Carlisle. His gaze flickered to Rosalie, to Emmett, to me, then back to Carlisle. He speaks French natively to the degree of having an accent after centuries but his thoughts are in pure unaccented English? quote:They didn’t appear to have much in common, this urbane traveler from the continent and his two more feral followers. The female was irritated by his introduction; she was almost consumed by the need to escape. The other male, James, was a little amused at Laurent’s confidence. He was enjoying the unpredictable nature of this encounter and was keen to see how we would respond. Victoria is not just an expert at escaping, she's so insanely paranoid that she's almost incapable of being in this situation.....but still somehow becomes the villain later. quote:Vic hasn’t split yet, he was thinking. So it probably won’t come to anything. Carlisle is supernaturally friendly. quote:“I’m Carlisle,” he introduced himself. “This is my family, Emmett and Jasper; Rosalie, Esme, and Alice; Edward and Bella.” He gestured vaguely in our direction as he spoke, not drawing attention to me individually or Bella behind me. Laurent and James were reacting to the information that we were not separate tribes, but I wasn’t entirely paying attention. And there's Meyer's retcon to explain why none of the vampires noticed Bella was a human despite little attempt being made to disguise her! Not only is Edward randomly tapping his foot in time with her heartbeat, Jasper suddenly has the power to generate a boredom field. quote:I blinked hard and refocused on the strangers. They were affected by Carlisle’s charm, though they did not forget Emmett’s intimidating size or my intensity. Not only that, he's specifically excluding Edward from it! Jasper's abilities have a hyper focus that he will never display again in the canon! As this book gets closer to the finale, when things actually begin happening instead of characters just dramatically voguing at each other, Meyer really starts to let loose with her changes to known canon. quote:“Do you have room for a few more players?” Laurent was asking, just as amicable as Carlisle. The thrill of learning the Cullens' weird family rules for baseball. quote:Laurent was absorbing Carlisle’s poise and confidence. He wanted to know more about us. He wondered what subterfuge we used to disguise our eyes, and why.  quote:“The Olympic Range here, up and down the Coast Ranges on occasion,” Carlisle told him, not lying, but also not disabusing Laurent of his assumption. “We keep a permanent residence nearby. There’s another permanent settlement like ours up near Denali.” Again: the main villain of two books, falling to panicking fear at anything unexpected. quote:“Permanent?” Laurent asked, bewildered. “How do you manage that?” James was pleased that Laurent had spoken, so his curiosity could be assuaged without any effort on his part. In a way, his reluctance to draw attention to himself reminded me of Jasper’s much more effective camouflage. I wondered why James would want to play it safe this way. It didn’t seem to line up with his desire for diversion. Something that, perhaps, your mind reading could uncover? quote:“Why don’t you come back to our home with us and we can talk comfortably?” Carlisle proposed. “It’s a rather long story.” Wait, now his boredom field is so powerful that Edward can't even read Alice's mind without getting hit by it? quote:Alice was focused on the closest possible futures. It surprised me that they all ended in a standoff now. A few of the possible fights were clearer than before. This is so dumb. quote:“We’ll show you the way if you’d like to run with us,” Carlisle offered, and only Alice and I knew that it was too late for his plan to succeed. It was so close now—her visions were racing to collide with the present. “Emmett and Alice, you can go with Edward and Bella to get the Jeep.” What? No it wouldn't. Even you, someone supposedly very experienced with vampires with unusual superpowers, have been completely baffled by Bella showing pre-transformation signs of them. Why would these random nomads suddenly identify what Jasper is doing? quote:But that was only the smallest part of my awareness. Most of my faculties were overwhelmed with fury. Vampires are very cool and smart and it's totally great to turn into one. quote:The pinpoint focus of his eyes widened out, away from Bella, as he appraised me. A strange flicker of surprise wove through his mind. He was almost… incredulous that I had moved to block him. I could only guess that he was used to acting unopposed. He hesitated, wavering between prudence and desire. It would be foolish to ignore the others—this was not a contest between just the two of us. But he could barely resist my challenge. He wasn’t sure he wanted to resist. The villain. Of two books. quote:My own attention was compromised as Laurent finally reacted. One that only points to "Run away now forever." quote:Emmett was the one to respond to Laurent. I didn’t know if it was Jasper who made it feel as though the ground shook as he took one step closer to the conflict, or if it was just Emmett being Emmett. So many things Jasper could have done in the other books but didn't! quote:I read his reactions minutely, holding my defensive position against the possibility of a trick. I expected anger, frustration. I’d seen before that he was arrogant, not used to being obstructed. Having to concede to a larger force than his own would surely infuriate him. Not the word I'd use. quote:He couldn’t start here, with so many protecting her. Meyer really bit off way more than she could chew with this series. She created multiple main characters with wondrous powers that make them complete game-changers for most scenarios....and then did no planning for how those powers would actually work logically. James being the coven leader was supposed to be a surprise, but Edward obviously had to identify this when they first showed up. And he just doesn't say anything. quote:“We’ll show you the way,” Carlisle said, less like an offer and more like a command. “Jasper, Rosalie, Esme?”
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Apr 19, 2021 05:52
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chitoryu12 posted:Meyer really bit off way more than she could chew with this series. She created multiple main characters with wondrous powers that make them complete game-changers for most scenarios....and then did no planning for how those powers would actually work logically. James being the coven leader was supposed to be a surprise, but Edward obviously had to identify this when they first showed up. And he just doesn't say anything. She has no interest in letting the world she's built interfere with the story she wants to tell. Which on the one hand is fair enough, but on the other hand begs the question of why she gave all these people these stupendous powers in the first place. There has to be a more elegant way to accomplish what she wanted.
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Apr 19, 2021 13:23
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Apr 25, 2021 23:14
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quote:I had to work to keep my voice from coming out as a snarl or a shriek. “Let’s go, Bella.” Trying to give Bella a smidgen more agency has already faltered. quote:I took her elbow and pulled her in the opposite direction from where the others had just disappeared. After one staggering step, she found her footing and half ran to keep up with me. Emmett and Alice moved behind us, hiding her, just in case. Nobody in a panic talks like this! quote:Emmett and Alice didn’t comment on our pace. They were both aware that we might have an audience, though Alice couldn’t see clearly what James was doing. His path wasn’t going to cross ours here, nor in the near future. She’d only seen the strangers in the clearing in the first place because they had decided to interact with us. It wasn’t easy for her to see outsiders unless they were with a member of her family. James would be mostly invisible until he decided to accost one of us. There are entire paragraphs this book should have cut for time. It's like Birdemic. quote:I thought it would feel better, safer, when I was running, when we were racing away from the danger at an acceptable speed, but the momentum did nothing to dissolve the solid block of panic that seemed to weigh me down. I knew this was an illusion—I was flying through the trees as fast as I could go without hurting her—but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was making no progress at all. That's just how Edward normally is. quote:Alice sat by me, and without my asking, she was sprinting through all the futures we could face now. Mostly there was a dark road ahead of us, flying away under the tires, with no clear destination in mind. But there were other futures going in the wrong direction, back in Forks, inside Bella’s home and our own, though I couldn’t imagine what would turn me around. So....how fast can Edward run when carrying Bella? quote:I was vaguely aware of the sound of my own voice, snarling out half-articulated obscenities, but it felt distant from me, as though not under my control. Edward was secretly saying bad words! quote:That was the only sound besides the roar of the engine, the tires moving against the wet road, Bella’s uneven breathing in the back, and her thudding heart. With words? quote:The priority for the moment, though, was keeping her from throwing herself out of the Jeep. Nope, still annoying from this perspective. quote:“Calm down, Bella. We’ve been there before.” So we had to start over. It seemed a meaningless thing at the moment. Mostly because you haven't said anything and you're just gritting your teeth and whipping your head around in dramatic rage. quote:I gunned the engine automatically, suddenly realizing that Alice didn’t have all the context, either. For all her prescience, there were things she couldn’t see. If this were your first exposure to the series, you'd probably be really confused because Edward doesn't really explain what a tracker does. Part of this is that the power is extremely vaguely defined and doesn't work consistently for every vampire. It's only through supplementary material like the Illustrated Guide that we know anything at all. It's a supernatural ability to track a target, but for James it's just instinctual prediction of a living being's movements after he catches their scent. Demetri, on the other hand, can outright track the "essence" of a person's mind across the entire world and always go exactly to where they are as long as he's met them. Alistair is actually the most powerful of these trackers, as he can also track inanimate objects. As long as he's focused, nothing and nobody can remain hidden from him. This is only fully explained in the Illustrated Guide because Alistair showed up briefly, acted depressed, and then left without doing anything! Seriously, who here even remember Alistair before I brought him up just now? quote:“Pull over, Edward,” Alice said, as if I hadn’t spoken. Split up your large family of vampires? quote:“Let’s just look at our options for a minute,” Alice coaxed. Uh, no, I think she'd be totally fine with it. Reading back in the original book, I honestly can't tell if this was meant to be implied by the text and Meyer was just bad at it. The description of Alice's behavior and Edward's anger suggests it is, but it just comes off as Edward throwing a massive tantrum for no reason. quote:I wrenched the Jeep onto the shoulder and braked hard. We jerked to a stop. Good. quote:Of course we have to kill him, he thought, but his spoken words were milder. He was being uncharacteristically sensitive, aware of the fragile human he was confining. “That’s an option.” Emmett knows how to get poo poo done. Seriously, he's supposed to be a lunkhead that Edward is outright dismissive of but he keeps coming up with sensible plans for danger. He was even the first one in Breaking Dawn who seriously pushed just talking to the Volturi instead of going insane and making fake passports. quote:“And the female,” I reminded him. “She’s with him.” This didn’t affect Emmett at all, so I added, “If it turns into a fight, the leader will go with them, too,” though I doubted that. This is way more intense than Meyer made it in the first book. She even initially described it as a "snarl", rather than Edward just screaming in her face at the top of his lungs. quote:Alice didn’t flinch. Another Meyer retcon. We already saw how easily James was taken out when ambushed by the family. She's now having to tell us "Oh, ignore that, he'd avoid everything! It was a fluke!" quote:Well, I had no problem being vigilant for decades. I wouldn’t trade her life for an easier future. He's also right. quote:Alice considered, watching how Bella’s resolve shifted her futures. She could see that, if nothing else, the tracker would be there for the performance. Not the highest stakes in retrospect! quote:Alice worked through the immediate outcomes of this decision—a decision she was making now, seeing that I was frozen with uncertainty. There was no version that ended in a fight at Charlie’s house. The tracker would only wait and observe. So you might be thinking to yourself "Hey, vampires can pinpoint exact sounds and scents for miles and Edward can read minds from an indeterminate distance, and Alice can also see solid visions of individuals' futures with shocking clarity. Shouldn't the Cullens be completely unstoppable as a team?" And you'd be right! And that won't matter at all, because Meyer wrote this whole thing before figuring out vampire powers and she can't stop now! quote:“You’re leaving tonight, whether the tracker sees or not,” I told Bella, feeling too defeated to look up. “You tell Charlie that you can’t stand another minute in Forks. Tell him whatever story works. Pack the first things your hands touch, and then get in your truck. I don’t care what he says to you. You have fifteen minutes.” I looked in the mirror, meeting her gaze. Her expression was stoic now. “Do you hear me? Fifteen minutes from the time you cross the doorstep.” None of this does now! quote:Regardless, the next part was very clear. 
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Apr 28, 2021 02:47
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quote:Bella interrupted in a low voice. “We can’t all fit in my truck.” GERIATRIC SLOTH quote:When I didn’t respond, she whispered, “I think you should let me go alone.” No no, you're right. That is absolutely what she'll do later. quote:“Bella, please just do this my way, just this once,” I begged, though it didn’t sound like pleading when the words came through my clenched teeth. In the original text, there's no indication that Edward is constantly viewing Alice's corrections to her future vision to change his mind. quote:But what was the other option? Leave Bella? I still don't get what Emmett is getting upset about even on a re-read. quote:But Alice knew what he was really objecting to. “You’ll get a better crack at him if you stay.” They need to have someone who will be less dramatic to do the bodyguarding. quote:Bella was not done with her suggestions. Her name wouldn't be in it, either. She's underage and living in another state, and Renee is already married and has changed her name since before the events of the series. quote:“Oh?” God, I hate this boy. quote:She met my eyes in the mirror. Hers were defensive rather than afraid. “If you let anything happen to yourself—anything at all—I’m holding you personally responsible,” I said softly. “Do you understand that?” Wait, how did they miss Jasper attacking Bella in New Moon if Alice can do this so easily now? quote:I appraised Alice. The tiny exterior made her look fragile, but I knew she was a fierce opponent. The tracker or anyone else would underestimate her. That should count for something. Still, I felt uneasy picturing her having to physically protect Bella. Settle down, children. quote:For half a second, I couldn’t help but smile at Alice’s ridiculous display, and then all humor vanished again. How had it come to this? How would I let myself be separated from Bella, no matter how lethal her guardians?
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May 7, 2021 18:10
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chitoryu12 posted:Wait, how did they miss Jasper attacking Bella in New Moon if Alice can do this so easily now? I thought that Alice was supposed to see the future when someone makes a decision or something? Which would explain why she didn't see that attack, because Bella didn't intend to cut herself and Jasper's reaction was mechanical, I guess. But then why is Alice able to see that nothing will happen now?  This is such bullshit. It could be good if Cullens' overreliance on Alice's fallible power was actually a plot element, but no, Alice sees what SMeyer wants her to see and that's it. That's just sad
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May 8, 2021 10:50
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It’s just so increasingly obvious how slapped-together this series is. She tried to create a world full of unique superpowers and didn’t do a second of thought about how any of them worked until she had to. Vampires are the most powerful beings in the world, restricted only by their incredible stupidity.
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May 8, 2021 16:48
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Superheroes. That's what they are. Superheroes. Not vampires. Mormon superheroes.
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May 8, 2021 17:46
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I'm really curious what threat humanity ever posed to vampires that made subterfuge was an absolute necessity. A vampire hunter in this universe would be really fun to follow around.
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May 10, 2021 16:00
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Grammarchist posted:I'm really curious what threat humanity ever posed to vampires that made subterfuge was an absolute necessity. A vampire hunter in this universe would be really fun to follow around. I suppose the various types of werewolves, except at this point they thought the werewolves were all but extinct, didn't know about the tribe wolves in Forks, and humans are still not powerful enough to be a threat to vampires.
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May 10, 2021 17:11
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Grammarchist posted:I'm really curious what threat humanity ever posed to vampires that made subterfuge was an absolute necessity. A vampire hunter in this universe would be really fun to follow around. If anything, it’s the opposite. A single newborn is so overpowered that it could wipe out a city without supernatural intervention. The Volturi are the only thing keeping vampires from driving their food supply extinct.
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May 10, 2021 18:58
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May 15, 2021 17:24
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I didn't realize there was a Twilight Renaissance happening, but my sister is re-reading the series now I guess. I think Harry Potter stuff is getting another round as well, but I was never interested in that and completely missed that fandom. I think I might have participated in a Harry Potter birthday party for a cousin, but all I remember is that my character's costume was black and I was supposed to be dour, which was easy enough.
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May 21, 2021 20:57
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Grammarchist posted:I didn't realize there was a Twilight Renaissance happening, but my sister is re-reading the series now I guess. I think Harry Potter stuff is getting another round as well, but I was never interested in that and completely missed that fandom. As it's been 16 years since the series first released (holy poo poo), a lot of people who read them or mocked them in their youth have been rediscovering them as adults. The sudden announcement of Midnight Sun actually releasing seems to have driven quite a lot of it, as it was about as unexpected as the second coming of Jesus.
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May 26, 2021 04:20
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Chapter 23: Goodbyesquote:That was the last thing anyone said as we raced back to Forks. Of course the way would seem much shorter when I was terrified of arriving. All too soon we were pulling up to Bella’s home, the lights shining from every window, both upstairs and down. The sounds of a college basketball game drifted from the front room. I strained to hear anything not human in the vicinity, but the tracker didn’t seem to have arrived yet. And Alice still could see no future in which this stop turned into an attack. Even ignoring James being part of this, how the hell did you think "We, the coven who moves around constantly to avoid suspicion, would stand around Bella for the rest of her life" would work? ...but wait, they still have Alice with them! She would be able to predict every time James attacks someone in town if her powers worked consistently! This is a loving mess! quote:It was hard to process the strange physical sensation that accompanied this realization. I knew that an actual pit had not opened in the center of my torso, but the impression was unnervingly realistic. I wondered if it was some long-forgotten human response that I’d never felt in my immortal life because I’d never had a reason to panic quite like this. He's never even been afraid as a vampire? quote:We needed to move. Though I knew the point was to give the tracker something to follow, I still wanted to have Bella long gone before he could arrive. I feel like it's way easier to hide from vampires than we were led to believe now! quote:“Emmett.” More like corroded copper. quote:As we gained the porch, she pulled back against my forward progress. I stopped automatically, though my muscles screamed at the delay. Super intelligent vampire brains, able to count every insect on a mountain instantly. quote:“Get inside, Bella,” I urged. “We have to hurry.” Just smashing her face against a marble statue as hard as she can. quote:Red washed across her cheeks and forehead as she spun away from me. Her tears, which had slowed for our brief and incomprehensible conversation, were flowing freely. I couldn’t fathom why she was raising one leg until she kicked violently against the front door—it flew open. Edward has been hiding on the side of her house like Spider-Man the whole time! quote:Charlie’s fist hammered against her door. The doorknob rattled—she’d taken the time to lock it—and then the hammering started up again. ...why? She's going to Arizona. quote:The keys to her truck were on the dresser top. I pocketed them. How is James a threat if Edward can read his mind and Emmett can detect him from half a loving mile out? quote:Edward, Alice cautioned from her hiding place. She thought of the possibilities spinning off from my train of thought. The tracker was slippery. We would leave Bella vulnerable. Oh, he's "slippery." That explains everything! quote:“What happened? I thought you liked him,” Charlie was demanding. He was back downstairs now. Looking back at the original book, this is Meyer covering again. Alice simply drives up behind Bella and Edward without any explanation of where she's come from. quote:Emmett watched Alice for half a second, then raised his eyebrows at me. Do I help her? This is another cover, from what I can see. Emmett just suddenly leaps up onto the truck out of nowhere while they're driving. There's so many moments originally that don't even look off until you re-read them with the new text and realize how much Meyer just skipped over. quote:“I do like him,” Bella was explaining, her words muffled and breaking. She was crying freely now, and I knew that she wasn’t a good enough actress to fake these tears. The pain in her voice was palpable. The chasm in my stomach twisted in answering agony. She shouldn’t have to do this. She was paying for my mistake. My foolishness. Such a terrible actress. She'd never get away with this. quote:“That’s the problem,” she railed. “I can’t do this anymore! I can’t put down any more roots here! I don’t want to end up trapped in this stupid, boring town like Mom! I’m not going to make the same dumb mistake she did. I hate it—I can’t stay here another minute!” It's almost like he has a bunch of loving trauma over his family, you loving monster! quote:Bella’s weighed-down footsteps moved toward the front door. I climbed silently into the cab of her truck and shoved the key into place, then ducked down. Emmett was close to the front door of the house now, in the shadows. Still, the distance from the door to the truck seemed long. I concentrated on the tracker. He hadn’t moved, listening intently to the drama unfolding inside the house. Does he know you know he knows that Emmett knows? Just kill him, gently caress. It's what you do anyway! quote:“Bells, you can’t leave now,” Charlie said quietly, urgently. “It’s nighttime.” No he wouldn't! He doesn't know anything about her! quote:The door didn’t open. Wow, she actually managed to make Bella seem even worse. quote:“I’ll call you tomorrow!” she yelled back toward Charlie while she heaved the bulky bag into the bed of the truck. gently caress off! She didn't even need any prompting to pick that option! quote:Bella ran around the front of the truck. The quick, fearful glances she threw over her shoulder now were not for Charlie. She yanked the truck door open and jumped into the driver’s seat. She reached to turn the key as if knowing it would be waiting for her in the ignition. The engine’s roar shattered the silence of the night. This would be easy enough for the tracker to follow.
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May 31, 2021 05:09
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Wow. I can't get over the plot holes that exist everywhere. Please tell me that this book covers the a original series and there aren't two more sequels from Edward's POV planned.
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May 31, 2021 14:55
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Leng posted:Wow. I can't get over the plot holes that exist everywhere. Please tell me that this book covers the a original series and there aren't two more sequels from Edward's POV planned. The only book I won't be doing is the Bree Tanner novella, because I simply can't stand to do any more Stephenie Meyer. So far Meyer has not announced any plans to do more Twilight books, though she hinted at doing something with Renesmee or Jacob.
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May 31, 2021 17:01
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chitoryu12 posted:she hinted at doing something with Renesmee or Jacob. 
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May 31, 2021 17:13
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chitoryu12 posted:Meyer has not announced any plans to do more Twilight books, though she hinted at doing something with Renesmee or Jacob. how insulated from criticism is she if she hasn't gotten the memo that even un/ironic Twilight fans thought that poo poo was gross Like if she just has to inflict a new twilight novel on the world, literally any other pairing would be better. Except for the other pedo imprinting relationship i guess
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Jun 1, 2021 10:22
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E29RzEUGrs
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Jun 10, 2021 18:50
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quote:As soon as she’d reversed out of the driveway, she dropped her right hand from the wheel so that I could hold it. The truck chugged down the street at its maximum speed. Charlie didn’t leave his post at the door, but the street curved and we were quickly out of view. I moved into the passenger seat. Amazingly, this is not the silliest Meyer will get in coming up with explanations on the spot for things that were left unexplained in Twilight. First we had Edward tapping his foot exactly in time with Bella's heartbeat while Jasper projects a Boredom Field, now we have Alice stealthily pushing a jeep at road speed so she can jump in at the opportune time for Bella to see her. quote:“I can drive,” Bella insisted, but her words broke and dragged. She sounded exhausted. "It's confusing, I know, just go with it." quote:“The tracker?” she whispered. Again, think of every time in the previous books where a vampire being able to selectively pick out even a whisper from another vehicle in traffic would have been meaningful. Such as....later in this book? quote:“He heard the end of your performance,” I told her. "One of the other vehicles, absolutely!" quote:Bella turned to watch out the window, though I was sure the Jeep’s headlights would blind her to everything else. Alice was watching all the futures related to Charlie that she could perceive. A human she’d never met was not the easiest subject for her. But it didn’t look as if the hunter or his apprehensive companion had any plans to return. The gently caress are you talking about? Alice was picking out paths years down the line for Bella earlier! quote:Emmett was running in the road close behind us now. I was surprised at his intentions. I would have expected he’d be itching to catch the tracker in pursuit, to bring this ordeal to a quick and violent end. Instead, his thoughts were focused on Bella. His few moments as bodyguard seemed to have affected him deeply. Her safety was his current priority. For some reason. quote:Emmett was imagining the tracker watching; only Alice and I knew he was carefully keeping his distance, just following the sound of the truck through the darkness. He wouldn’t put himself in closer range tonight. Still, Emmett wanted to make it clear that the tracker would have to go directly through him to get to Bella. He made a running leap that propelled him over the Jeep and into the bed of the truck. I fought with the steering as the truck reacted. Smooth, Emmett. quote:“It’s okay, Bella. You’re going to be safe,” I murmured. It didn’t feel like she’d even heard me speak. The tremors continued. Her breath came quick and shallow. Oh, okay, him being a dick was intentional and not who he really was. Got it. quote:“I wasn’t being nice,” she whispered, ignoring my frivolous words and going straight to the painful part. She stared down as if ashamed to meet my gaze. “That was the same thing my mom said when she left him. You could say I was hitting below the belt.” "Okay, I'm lying, things will just get worse for him!" quote:I tried again. “Bella, it’s going to be all right.” Standing and staring at everything broodily for days? quote:I forced my face smooth and made my voice as light as I could. “We’ll be together again in a few days.” As I said the words, I willed them to be true. They still felt like a lie. Alice saw so many different futures.… “Don’t forget,” I added, “this was your idea.” Well, you're the protagonist. quote:It was a fair question, an astute question. And there were more answers than one. She deserved a full explanation. "You existed too hard." quote:My voice twisted and I hoped she could hear the black humor in it, the irony. “If you didn’t smell so appallingly luscious, he might not have bothered. But when I defended you…” I remembered his incredulity, his indignation even, that I would stand in his way. The arrogance, the ire. “Well, that made it a lot worse. He’s not used to being thwarted, no matter how insignificant the object. He thinks of himself as a hunter and nothing else. His existence is consumed with tracking, and a challenge is all he asks of life. Suddenly we’ve presented him with a beautiful challenge—a large clan of strong fighters all bent on protecting the one vulnerable element. You wouldn’t believe how euphoric he is now. It’s his favorite game, and we’ve just made it his most exciting game ever.” Wow, so we could have avoided all of this and the fight in the end will be super easy, barely an inconvenience? quote:And if we were a normal coven (though we could never be considered normal at our size), we probably would have attacked just for the insult. Boy, wait until you see what happens a few books from now! quote:I flinched at the thought, but then immediately decided that our choice was still the right one, even if it did make us weak. I could feel that. It resonated deeply in my mind, my being… or my soul, if such a thing existed. Whatever it was that drove this corporeal form. The one undigested tear, sitting in your stomach for the rest of eternity. quote:It didn’t matter now. Alice might give us some power over the future, but the past was as lost for us as it was for anyone else. We had not attacked, and now we had the more complicated version still ahead. The coming fight could not be avoided. He understands it so well that he and his wife will both kill a ton of newborns next year! quote:“How can you kill a vampire?” Bella’s voice was a whisper. I could still hear the sound of suppressed tears in it. Okay, but you just said that Victoria would have run away immediately and left Laurent and James to die if a fight broke out. Now you're telling Bella otherwise? Why, to make her feel more scared? Also, why would Victoria be so terrified of conflict that she'd immediately flee any fight by herself but then also start running around through Quileute territory and dodging the Cullens in an effort to kill Bella by herself? quote:“But James and the woman—they’ll try to kill you?” she whispered, her voice distorted by pain. Oh, you bet she'll ignore that! quote:“Yes. He won’t attack the house, though. Not tonight.” Did you really have to slip that in?
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Jun 16, 2021 16:46
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I somehow forgot about the relentless character assassinations of every human character Bella met before Edward.
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Jun 18, 2021 23:24
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I just can't believe we're finally in the part of the plot where things happen, Bella and Edward are fleeing an evil vampire who can track her anywhere forever if not violently decapitated, and Edward still has to interrupt his stream of thought to tell us how much he loving hates Mike Newton.
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Jun 19, 2021 18:40
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"Mike Newton delendus est."
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Jun 19, 2021 20:26
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quote:I turned off onto the drive, dully noting that there was no sense of relief in reaching my home. There was no space out of harm’s way while the tracker lived. Can't risk being overheard. Because vampires can hear anything from miles away. Effortlessly. Always. quote:I noticed his thoughts drifting to the edges of my hearing just as Alice chimed in. Emmett is too much of a bro to even open doors normally. quote:I could have stopped him. This wasn’t necessary. But then, was any precaution too much at this point? If I’d been more cautious, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. Rosalie doesn't deserve any of this. quote:I waited until Laurent’s eyes flickered to me. It still saddens me that Laurent ended up making a heel turn out of nowhere in New Moon. The original plan for him, in Forever Dawn, had him completely switching sides to join the Cullens and stop killing humans. This story makes it obvious that he's not a bad guy, at least as far as people-eating vampires go, and that Meyer couldn't find anything more plausible to progress the plot than him suddenly becoming evil and running back to Forks to eat Bella for fun. quote:“Come, my love,” I heard Alice whisper in Jasper’s ear. I hadn’t noticed him especially as we came in; he was still camouflaging himself. Jasper didn’t question Alice now, even in his thoughts. The two of them darted up the stairs hand in hand. Laurent didn’t bother to watch them leave, so effective was Jasper’s effort. I saw that Alice would write down the necessary information so Laurent could not overhear. It wouldn’t take her long to pack what they would need. How the hell are you making Laurent a more interesting and compelling character than the protagonists now? quote:“Can you stop him?” Carlisle pressed. Clearly, Laurent has never met the power of plot. quote:A few scattered memories of his adventures with James and Victoria ran through his head, though Victoria was always a background figure, on the fringes. James had kept Laurent’s life interesting, at least, but the sadism of these rampages had begun to bother Laurent in the last few years. By that point, there hadn’t been a safe way to disengage himself. write this story instead quote:He didn’t think the words before he spoke them aloud. “Are you sure it’s worth it?” Not until Meyer runs out of ideas for enemies! quote:I worked to calm my fury. Carlisle was right, though Laurent was certainly not our friend, either. You can't try to pull this trick on readers when 100% of the people who read Midnight Sun know how it ends. quote:Laurent thought us weak. He saw our apparent domesticity as a deficiency. I’d worried the same thing earlier, but not now. Weak was not the impression I planned to leave with James. But let Laurent believe James would win. He could hide in terror for the next century and I would not mourn his discomfort. The thing about palaces will probably confuse you if you don't know about what the Illustrated Guide gives as his history. It was mentioned earlier in the thread that Stephenie Meyer balked at any of the Cullens being cast with non-white actors, and only allowed a villainous vampire to be cast with a black man. That role went to Laurent, before Meyer wrote the guide that gave the backstory to every vampire. It, uh, mildly clashes with the film's portrayal. In the book canon, Laurent was a minor aristocrat in the court of King Louis XIV (in a minor timeline error, as he was born in the "early 1700s" but the Sun King died in 1715). He was turned by a mysterious Russian aristocrat named Boris who was staying in the palace for a time, his lust for power driving him to seek immortality as a vampire. Growing tired of life with Boris, he joined Vladimir, then hopped to the Volturi but was turned away due to his contact with the Romanians. It was through these constant travels that he eventually met James after he turned Victoria in London and became a nomad. I've already told you a way cooler story than anything Stephenie Meyer has ever written. It's stuffed in a fan guidebook. quote:He nodded once at Carlisle, and for a brief moment, I felt a strange kind of yearning from the dark-haired vampire toward my father. A sense of respect and a desire to belong. But he quashed the emotion before it could take root, and then he was racing out the door, with no intention of slowing until he was safely in the ocean, his scent untraceable. Vampires must be soaking wet all the time from constantly yeeting themselves through bodies of water as if they're not there. quote:Esme dashed across the living room to start the steel shutters rolling down the huge windows that comprised the back wall of the house. “How close?” Carlisle asked me. I'm not even going to try to keep figuring out what Edward's sensory range is. quote:He would join her on higher ground, where he could watch in which direction we ran. Just wait until next year! quote:We needed to hurry, not to give the tracker any more time than necessary before we gave him a trail to chase. But there were practicalities we needed to address before we could run. Why would anyone want to be your sister? Like, look at it from Rosalie's perspective. Her emo younger brother who's always a dickhead first uses his powers out in the open to save a random human girl who isn't even that interesting, then suddenly starts dating her despite being ravenously attracted to her blood. And by dragging her around vampire life, now they have to fight and kill another vampire to protect her and the entire rest of the family is just going along with it. She's the only sane one here! quote:“Esme?” I knew what her response would be. So in an emergency you can drive away in the cars that are slower than you, or power a generator for all the appliances and air conditioning you don't need. quote:“The Jeep, the Mercedes, and her truck, too,” I whispered after him. Yeah, gently caress her for being worried that her husband might die. What a blonde bimbo, am I right? quote:What’s my part? Carlisle wanted to know. You've known her for a few months. quote:Rosalie glared at him resentfully, but I could hear her pondering the options. If she protracted this fit, turned her back on all of us, then Carlisle would certainly stay here with Esme rather than be on the front line, keeping Emmett from dangerous excesses. Rosalie saw only the danger to Emmett. But part of her was growing nervous about my visible detachment. Yeah, Rosalie only sees the danger to Emmett! Unlike Edward and Bella, who....only care about themselves and their daughter and will attempt to drag the entire family and their friends down with them in Breaking Dawn? quote:Emmett was just coming through the front door with the large bag we kept some of our sports toys in slung over his shoulder. The bag was big enough to fit a small person. Bulky with equipment, it looked like there might already be someone inside it. So much potential for awesome new powers and tricks that we will never see. quote:Carlisle was already back with the phones. He gave Esme one, and then brushed her cheek. She looked up at him with total confidence. She was sure we were doing the right thing, and because of that, we would be successful. I wished I had her faith. Edward is now doing this with a bottle cap and Bella's socks in his pockets and a tear in his stomach. This inventory is getting weirder with every chapter. quote:Alice took the other phone from Carlisle. Shut up, loser. quote:I was at her side, my arms tight around her, pulling her off the ground. Her warmth in my arms was quicksand and I wanted to drown in it, to never pull free. I kissed her just once, worried that the plans would all crumble into chaos if I couldn’t make myself step away from her. Part of me didn’t care if every human life in Forks and La Push and Seattle were sacrificed to keep her by my side. All right, still consistent on him being an rear end in a top hat. Good. quote:I had to be stronger than that. I would end this. I would make her safe again. Meyer is trying to emphasize how strong Edward's love is, and all it comes off as is Edward having so little control over his emotions that he has to constantly force himself to not collapse weeping or leap out a window or decapitate a child at the slightest impulse. quote:Carlisle and Emmett fell into step beside me. I took the bag from Emmett. I knew what the tracker expected—that I would be too weak to let her out of my sight. I cradled the bag as though it contained something infinitely more precious than footballs and hockey sticks as I rushed down the front steps flanked by my brother and my father. This is like a bad comedy again. quote:Emmett climbed into the backseat of the Jeep and I placed the bag upright beside him, then quickly slammed the door, trying to look stealthy about it. I was in the driver’s seat in a flash, Carlisle already beside me, and then we were jolting up the drive at a pace that would have horrified Bella if she’d actually been there with us. You would put the bag upright? quote:I couldn’t think like that. I had to trust Alice and Jasper and keep my head focused on my part. Why would you take a ferry? You have super speed! quote:“Make the call,” I said, barely moving my lips, though I knew he was too far behind us to see my face.
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Jun 27, 2021 01:20
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chitoryu12 posted:It was mentioned earlier in the thread that Stephenie Meyer balked at any of the Cullens being cast with non-white actors, and only allowed a villainous vampire to be cast with a black man. Reminder that it took until the 1970s for the Mormon church to declare that black people had souls.
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Jun 27, 2021 13:01
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Jun 30, 2021 10:53
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Chapter 24: Ambushquote:The tracker chose to run behind us, unwilling to guess at our route. Every now and then I would catch the edge of his thoughts, but never more than a few words, or a view of the Jeep. He followed on higher ground, in the mountains, unconcerned when it took him miles from the road. He could still see us. They've all forgotten how humans work already? quote:Carlisle, still keeping the phone low, texted as quickly as I could speak. A euphemism for "Loud temper tantrum." quote:Emmett was mostly thinking about what he would do when he had the tracker in his grasp. His imaginings were pleasant to watch. Edward just keeps getting better and better. quote:When we had to refuel, I used one of the large gas cans Emmett had loaded into the backseat. In my pocket, Bella’s socks would leave the faintest trace of her scent in the air. I moved in a blurred rush, as if my only goal was to race away again, and I was pleased when the tracker came closer to watch. For a moment, he was no more than a mile away. I wanted to take advantage, to flip this flight into an ambush, but it was too soon. We were still too near the water. Shouldn't he have put the socks like, in the bag she's supposed to be in? quote:I didn’t try to be evasive about our route, driving in the straightest line the curving freeways allowed toward my destination. I hoped the tracker would interpret this the way I wanted him to—that I had a destination in mind, somewhere defensible, somewhere I felt safe. He knew little about us, but he knew this much: We had more physical assets available to us than the average nomad. Also, we were many. Perhaps he would imagine even more allies waiting in the forests to the north. Twilight vampires are so powerful that crossing continents isn't a big deal for them. They're just stupid. quote:I was headed toward the national parks near Calgary, more than six hundred miles from the nearest open water. Yeah, this series is pretty knowledgeable about padding. quote:I wanted to finish this quickly. Same. quote:We drove through the night, only decreasing our speed occasionally when I heard a speed trap waiting ahead. I wondered what the tracker made of that. He’d already guessed I had extra abilities. This was surely giving away more than I wanted to, but the other option was too slow. Let him see this—my giving up information about my advantages—as another sign that we were intent on some specific destination. A safe house? That would have to make him curious.[/quote Ah, 2005 texting. quote:The sun moved slowly closer to the western mountains as we neared my target. I wanted to get him close enough for me to hear him. I needed to do something to interest him. "We're literal billionaires, bro." quote:We could pretend to stop for gas again—it was nearly time—but this change of pace would have the tracker on edge. We’d have to move fast. He thought "oh ho"? quote:The tracker did not sound either upset or frightened by the sudden reversal in roles. He was still having fun. I'm happy to say we've finally entered the part of the book where the majority of the content is new. It doesn't last forever, as eventually Edward needs to reunite with Bella and we see the ending all over again, but for the entire pursuit of James we're following characters who were completely off-screen until the dance studio. And it's about to get real fuckin' crazy. quote:His path turned northward. I can say the same about this series. quote:I could barely hear Emmett’s charge through the forest. They had to be several miles back now. But I thought I could hear something ahead. The tracker moved quietly, but not silently. I was gaining on him. Vampires sprinting and leaping through the snowy Canadian wilderness, texting as fast as they can. quote:We reached the overlook of the long lake. I think after the complaints about the rest of the series, Meyer decided to try and use the climax of Midnight Sun to show off how strong the Cullens and their powers are when they're all working together. It's going to reach heights you never knew were possible. quote:I slipped out of the lake at its southernmost point. The only sounds behind me were the drops of water falling off Emmett and hitting the stony bank. Wait, it's been how long since the chapter began? quote:But as the endless night wore on, he changed direction a dozen times. He moved predominantly west, easing his way toward the Pacific, I imagined. And he kept finding ways to build his lead, to slow us. Thanks, Alice. quote:Another time he found a river. Again, we exhaustively imagined the routes we’d go searching. He stayed in the water for a very long way. We lost nearly fifteen minutes before Alice saw that Carlisle would find the tracker’s trail thirty-six miles southwest. Allowed him to attack the decoy bag and used your various superpowers to kick the poo poo out of him like you will soon? quote:He confused the trail again in another miles-long glacial lake. There were dozens just like this, all raking north to south through the Canadian valleys as if a giant hand had gouged its fingers down the center of the continent. The tracker took advantage of them often, and each time we had to imagine and decide, then wait for Alice’s C or Em or Ed, a y or an n. We got faster at the mental part, but every pause put him farther ahead. Somehow Meyer finds a way to even make a dramatic chase through the snow lame through the addition of texting. quote:The sun rose, but the clouds were thick today and the tracker didn’t slow. I wondered what he would have done if the sun was shining. We were on the west side of the mountains now, and running into human towns again. Probably he would have just quickly slaughtered any witnesses if he’d had to. Vancouver and Calgary are hundreds of miles apart as the crow flies. They've been zipping across a massive amount of space like it's nothing. quote:Honestly, he didn’t need any more stratagems. He had enough of a lead to just race flat out to the coast with no chance of us catching up.
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Jul 8, 2021 04:18
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chitoryu12 posted:“Bella needs to eat at least three times every twenty-four-hour period. And hydration is important. She should have water on hand. Ideally eight hours of sleep." She also needs to be walked four times a day. Don't feed her between meals. Vet's number is on the fridge
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Jul 8, 2021 11:31
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quote:Midmorning, Esme texted. Can you talk? This chase has lasted so long with nothing happening that it's now another day and they're still running around the woods. quote:It was midafternoon when we came to another lake, crescent-shaped and not as large as the others he’d used to slow us. Without having to discuss it, we each decided to follow our usual search routes. Quickly, Alice responded Em. Backtracking to the south, then. Absolutely none of you will guess. quote:To the south now. Yes! quote:The plane would be tiny and slow, not much faster than a car. No more than one hundred forty miles an hour, if it was in good condition. The slipshod little hangar made me think it probably wasn’t. He’d have to stop for gas frequently if he intended to go far. At some point in his centuries of life, James went and learned how to fly a plane. And I can't help but wonder just how he accomplished that. Did he take private lessons while trying to keep himself from eating the instructor in mid-air? Did he steal some books and start hijacking random Cessnas from hangars until he found one he didn't crash? Did Laurent and Victoria have to stand around bored while he did this, or did they get in on it too? quote:But he could go in any direction at all, and we had no way to follow. If only your super hearing could detect an airplane engine from miles away and you could run faster than 140 MPH.... quote:I looked at Carlisle, and his eyes were just as disappointed and hopeless as mine. Vampires can hear phone calls standing right there? Curious. quote:“Are you totally secure?” he asked. During their centuries of life, not a single one of these vampires has learned what a dance studio was set up like. quote:The good news was that Alice was seeing him independently of us now. I could only hope that with continued familiarity, she would get a better line on him. I wondered whether there was any significance to the rooms she described that would tie back to us. Maybe it meant that we would eventually hunt him down to one of those places. If Alice got a better view of the surroundings, it was a possibility. That was a comforting thought. We're lucky he hasn't flung himself across an oil drum and begun soaking himself in its contents. quote:“Oh, Edward,” she sighed. “I was so worried!” It's getting really obvious that Meyer hadn't planned this part in 2004. In the original book, it's "got on a plane." Meyer clearly wrote it as if James had just jumped onto an airline and flown down to Phoenix, and the new book is trying to half-assedly cover for it by getting into semantics about airports vs. airstrips. quote:“And you’re sure Charlie’s safe?” she demanded.
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Jul 14, 2021 10:45
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