Bree Part 7

Let’s see, around a third of the way through and so far the protagonist has spent most of her time in a hole, much like the fans of this series must have spent the first third of their lives in order to find this remotely likable.

You’d think this would be a easy to make interesting. Fledgling vampires struggling with infighting, their newfound blood craze and a ticking clock to keep things moving. Boom, three hundred pages of story you could walk blindfolded through. A half competent writer could turn that plot into a book that’s the equivalent of popcorn. But then again, Otis isn’t even half comptent.

Unlike Alice in Chains, Bree and Diego are no longer down in a hole. They decided it’s time to step out into the sun and glitter like they’ve never glittered before. Maybe a couple of pretentious hipsters will wander by and mistake them for performance artists.

Diego grinned at me, his face beautiful with light, and suddenly, with a deep lurch in my stomach, I realized that the whole BFF thing was way off the mark. For me, anyway. It was just that fast.

Well I guess that makes a sick sort of sense. Everything about this damned novella is just that fast. Within he blink of an eye Bree has puzzled out that they’re immune to sunlight, that Riley might not be the messiah come again and that she’s in love with Diego. All within the space of a couple of hours.

Not that it feels that way. Otis has quite a gift for making something longer and more agonizing than it needs to be. If I ever write something that has too much action, like enough to start inducing heart attacks or premature labor, I know who to call. Then Diego starts touching Bree’s face.

“So pretty,” he said. He left his hand against my cheek.

Really? And she’s not creeped out by any of this? The only theory I have about Otis’s inexplicable romances is that her husband was a stalker and she grew up in one of those hippie communes that are isolated from the real world. Heck, that’d explain why she thinks people showering and doing laundry is so damn exciting. ‘People cleaning themselves and their clothes? I didn’t know you could do that!’

Again, they wonder if Riley knows about their immunity to sunlight. Gee, I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him? If he was hiding it, he’ll probably kill you because that was part of the plan. If he didn’t know, he’ll probably kill you just to keep the secret for himself. Either way I can’t lose. Or there’s always that third option of running away and not looking back.

Instead they decide to sneak around like ninjas. Yes, that comparison is made and ninjas have suddenly lost a lot of credibility. Anything else you’d like to ruin by association Otis?

They decide to track down their “family” so they flit from one shady spot to another on their way. Ok, I’ll bite Otis. Why? Why are they bothering to do this? Riley’s a dick,Victoriais barely present and everyone else is a bunch of bipolar, lead paint guzzling retards that couldn’t do a one piece puzzle. Their actions are not fitting with the characters!

They find the trail by the scent, because they’re not so much vampires as bloodhounds, and follow it to the new house. That’s when they discuss Riley, yet again. It turns out that Diego thinks of him as a sort of friend. Not a friend like Bree, one he can play tea party with, but one that he can talk about cars with and stuff. See, they aren’t sure what to tell him and Diego asks if Bree thinks Riley’s a bad guy.

Oh man, is that a toughie. On the one hand, he’s always been there to stop Raoul, who we haven’t seen yet, from killing too many fledglings. On the other hand, he’s perfectly fine with the wanton murder of innocents. I guess we’ll have to see if how his character plays out once he gets a couple of lines. Then his disposition will get a little clearer.

Does being turned into a vampire rob you of your moral compass? Everyone so far just kind of glosses over the murders like it’s no big deal. Bree murdered someone and felt the same kind of regret you would when running over a squirrel during rush hour traffic. Sure you feel bad about it but it’s that or plow into the eighteen wheeler on either side.

But killing other people is generally frowned upon. It’s a very small fraction of people that even attempt it, let alone make a habit. I’d think having to kill people to sate a hunger would screw with most people’s sensibilities. Instead Bree and Diego ignore the implications that they’re all serial killers and wonder if Riley’s a nice guy or not because he lied about the effect of sunlight on vampires. Way to make a morally complex landscape there Otis.