| UNTAMED / p.c. cast & kristin cast |
| Written by Sian Rafferty | ||
| Wednesday, 01 July 2009 13:01 | ||
Reading through the general story, one can't help but think - how are these people vampires? They don't do anything "vampire-y" like turning into bats, or even really drinking blood. Yes they control the elements like water, fire and wind, but how does that make them any different from 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch'? In fact, the kids at this school could easily be attending a school for pixies or leprechauns. But they are not. They are Vampires, or Vampyres as the Casts spell it... See where I am going with this? Furthermore, the entire concept feels like a fantasy which they have committed to paper for the benefit of all of us. A perfect land where these girls who are all both beautiful and gifted, play with magic... along with their pet cats and ponies. Each having an average of three unbelievably hot guys fighting over them, at any one time. Seriously. They even have names like Aphrodite and Persephone. Could this book be any more cliché and ridiculous? Taking this all into account, you would think this book would be aimed at the pre-teen/early teenage set. Age groups who don't yet need story development, or flawed characters. Yet, the most puzzling thing is; that it's not at all apparent exactly who this book's target audience is. The crux of the issue; is the writing style of P.C and Kristin Cast, a mother-daughter writing team. Never in my life have I read a book with so much foul language and name calling. At one point, a character says of Aphrodite (the main bully of the series); "She makes me understand why some mothers drown their babies". Now that’s just plain mean. Even if you do, dislike someone. I would never pitch this book to younger teens, there’s just too much language and sex to let your twelve year old sister read it. SO?!! Who exactly is it aimed at? My favourite part of the book, is the one-dimensionality of the characters. Like any good novel, all the characters are defined by one main personality trait. Apart from mean girl Aphrodite, there's Erin; the blonde Californian who likes cute boys and shoes, Shaunee; a total gangster who says things like "I wish he'd sag them jeans a little so I could get a better look", Erik; Zoey's ex who is described as "abnormally-gorgeous-Superman-tall"... and not much else. Rounding up the main cast; Damien, whose only personality trait is that he is gay. Don't even get me started on Zoey Redbird, the story’s main protagonist. Never in my twenty years on this earth have I come across more one-dimensional characters... and that’s hard to do because! I don't think that being one-dimensional, is even a recognised dimension. I hope you all appreciate the great sacrifice, I have made for humanity. The saddest thing being that, after I got over the really bad sentence structure, overall plot badness and really annoying characters... I started to enjoy the ride. I have also started saying things like O.M.G... and "You go girl"... and "Dang, she sooo didn't go there", in my everyday life. I have finally lost all credibility as a cool person. Yet! I am comforted by the fact that I did this all, for the greater good. |
