History Headscratchers / TheHouseofNight

*** Not to mention that she is obviously a shallow, hateful, hypocritical, judgemental, racist, homophobic, misogynistic DesignatedHero, with abosolutly ZERO redeeming qualities, yet all of the "good" characters (with the exception of Aphrodite and maybe Darius) and some of the bad characters constantly bow down to her to praise her and her uber specialness, no less than 5 guys have thrown themselves at her feet wanting to tap her SUPER SPESHUL SNOWFLAKE ASS, and she has to do ABSOLUTLY NOTHING to be a hero because Nyx literally holds her hand and does everything for her. Notice also how anyone that Zoey truly likes and deeply cares about (Stevie Rae, Heath, Stark) NEVER stays dead because OH NO WE CAN'T HAVE ZOEY SUE HAVE TO DEAL WITH HER FRIENDS DYING CUZ SHE'LL BE SAD! She is one of the worst Canon Sues I have ever seen, even wors than Bella Swan which says a LOT.

* The fact that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen so many potential plot points]] are just left hanging to make room for the RomanticPlotTumor (though I think at this point, it's safe to assume that it's now Romantic Plot Cancer... the terminal kind. Okay, I'll stop.), most notably: The subplot about the relationship between Zoey and her mother after the whole HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster and subsequent "Accept me mom or I won't talk to you" conversations (yeah, I know it was mostly used for AuthorFilibuster with the whole "Religion Extremists Are Evil", but it seemed that Zoey genuinely cared about her mom and hated the way she changed), and Neferet's past and her motivations (from hints in the earlier books, it seemed like Neferet was almost like Zoey in that upon being discovered, humans who supposedly loved and cared about her pulled a BurnTheWitch, or something like that. Which would explain why she became a High Priestess- to have power and prove to the humans that wronged her that she could do amazing things; subsequently, she got tempted by the Dark Side at some point. I mean, it sounds cliche, but it gives her some CharacterDevelopment, kinda makes her sympathetic, and it's still better than the Casts' explanation of "Because she's Evil. Why? Just because. So yeah. EVIL~!"). It just feels like the Casts had a plan for all of this, and somewhere along the way someone screwed up and thought, "''Well, who cares about stuff like "characters", "plot development", "well-rounded personalities", and "motivations"? What the people want to really know is WHAT SEXY SUPERNATURAL BOY ZOEY'S GONNA END UP WITH BY THE END OF THE SERIES!''" [[SarcasmMode Yeah, that's what I want to read]]; never mind the whole TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt plot, all teenage girls care about are boys, regardless of whether or not they're all-powerful messiahs with the fate of the world in their hands!

** The readers are shown when Zoey loses her virginity to Loren Blake and when she has sex with Stark for the first time on Skye. The readers are also shown that Zoey and Stark are now having sex regularly. The readers are even shown sex scenes involving Neferet. The entire book of Awakened has Neferet running around naked and sleeping around with Kalona and various Sons of Erebus Warriors [[BestialityIsdepraved AND A GIANT WHITE BULL]]. But when it comes to Rephaim and Stevie Rae, especially after them having to go through all different kinds of drama for them to be together, the reader is shown... Nothing. The whole thing is glossed over. [[WhatTheHellHero What the hell Writers!?]] It's especially bad as it would have been Stevie Rae's first time as well.

* This goes hand in hand with the "no family loyalties" headscratcher above. It's stated in book one that Zoey had siblings, but she hates them for really petty reasons. Apparently her little brother plays violent video games and her sisters a cheerleader. Err, okay Zoey, since those are absolutely horrible things that no nice person would do, you have every right to hate them. Since they aren't mentioned for, like, six more books, I could accept that Zoey was retconned into being an only child, but no, they're mentioned again in Awakened. Why are the mentioned? So Zoeys mom can say that she loves Zoey more than them. What. Then in the next book they're completely forgotten once again. Do you know what that means? Zoey's mom dies and they're locked completely out of the loop. They have no clue what really happened to their mom, their grandmother is too busy cleansing her lavender farm to bother to think of her grand kids who aren't named Zoey, their father hasn't been in contact with them in years. Who is taking care of them during this time? The Steploser, who has shown that he does not give a shit about them? Does Zoey even think about telling her siblings what happened? Did she even think about contacting them after changing into a vampyre? I have siblings myself and even if I don't get along with them all the time, I wouldn't completely forget about them if I changed into a vampyre!
* Why does everyone conveniently forget that Kalona is a serial rapist, in the fandom and in the book. DO they think that, since he's so hot, he couldn't have possibly raped anyone? Unfortunate Implications much?

** The readers are shown when Zoey loses her virginity to Loren Blake and when she has sex with Stark for the first time on Skye. The readers are also shown that Zoey and Stark are now having sex regularly. The readers are even shown sex scenes involving Neferet. The entire book of Awakened has Neferet running around naked and sleeping around with Kalona and various Sons of Erebus Warriors [[ButYouScrewOneGoat AND A GIANT WHITE BULL]]. But when it comes to Rephaim and Stevie Rae, especially after them having to go through all different kinds of drama for them to be together, the reader is shown... Nothing. The whole thing is glossed over. [[WhatTheHellHero What the hell Writers!?]] It's especially bad as it would have been Stevie Rae's first time as well.

** She deamands a blowjob from someone who clearly does not want it. that spells ho to me. also her clothes, and some of her actions.

* Where did Shaunee's daddy problems come from? They were never even hinted at in other books so the whole revelation came out of nowhere. Of course, at this point I don't expect good writing from P.C and daughter, but it's ass pulls like this that have me convinced that they're just making up the story as the go along.

** I've only read book one, but i don't see any signs of sue-ness.

* Why doesn't anyone care that Aphrodite was basically ''raping'' Erik? They call her a slut for trying to give him a blowjob, even though she was basically forcing him into it. Do they ''ever'' make this connection?
* The love interests in this series ARE ALL TERRIBLE. I don't care how hot they're supposed to be, in many ways, these guys are worse that Edward Cullen when it comes to creepiness.

** Kalona: He's a serial rapist, enough said. Unfortunately, Draco in Leather Pants kicks affects him in and out of universe. Zoey seemed to realize that he was not a good person, but as of Destined, she's backsliding.

* I usually don't make opinions of the story until reading it to the end, but this seriously bugs me. I just finished the very first chapter and some of the second in the first book...Why in holy hell did Zoey get marked by a Vampyre? Did I miss anything? Did I skipped a book? It just came out of nowhere and something...happened.

* This goes hand in hand with the "no family loyalties" headscratcher above. It's stated in book one that Zoey had siblings, but she hates them for really petty reasons. Apparently her little brother plays violent video games and her sisters a cheerleader. Err, okay Zoey, since those are absolutely horrible things that no nice person would do, you have every right to hate them. Since they aren't mentioned for, like, six more books, I could accept that Zoey was retconned into being an only child, but no, they're mentioned again in Awakened. Why are the mentioned? So Zoeys mom can say that she loves Zoey more than them. What. Then in the next book they're completely forgotten once again. Do you know what that means? Zoey's mom [[Spoiler: dies]] and they're locked completely out of the loop. They have no clue what really happened to their mom, their grandmother is too busy cleansing her lavender farm to bother to think of her grand kids who aren't named Zoey, their father hasn't been in contact with them in years. Who is taking care of them during this time? The Steploser, who has shown that he does not give a shit about them? Does Zoey even think about telling her siblings what happened? Did she even think about contacting them after changing into a vampyre? I have siblings myself and even if I don't get along with them all the time, I wouldn't completely forget about them if I changed into a vampyre!

* The love interests in this series ARE ALL TERRIBLE. I don't care how hot they're supposed to be, in many ways, these guys are worse that Edward Cullen when it comes to creepiness.
** Heath: He takes advantage of Zoey's blood lust, essentially giving her a date rape drug and justifying it to himself by saying that "she wanted it". He's essentially a rapist, despite how much he "loves" Zoey. And she believes that bullshit.
** Eric: He was actually fairly decent until Derailing Love Interests kicked in and he turned into a possessive jerk. Despite knowing that Neferit is evil, he refuses to side with Zoey because she's "a freak". Luckily, he will probably never re-emerge as a love interest.
** Loren: He's one of those creepy high school teachers who get arrested for statutory rape, enough said. Fortunately, he's dead and he'll never come back.
** Stark: Zoey has no reason to be in love with him. All he does is force himself on multiple girls, kill his mentor in an archery contest, and whine about his own evilness. And yet Zoey seems to fall for him for no reason. Stark proclaims he loves her for saving him from his own douchbagness, but tends to treat her as a sex object most of the time.
** Kalona: He's a serial rapist, enough said. Unfortunately, Draco in Leather Pants kicks affects him in and out of universe. Zoey seemed to realize that he was not a good person, but as of Destined, she's backsliding.

** In the book Marked, Damian is a thrid former, just like Zoey and Stevie Rae, while Shaunee and Erin are fourth formers. It's why Zoey and Damian and Stevie Rae have the majority of their classes together. Now, the total possible time-span from Untamed (which specifically end on New Years Eve) to Destined is three months. The evidence to support this is that in the Northern hemisphere the season of winter spans from December to Feburary. In Destined, while they don't outright state the name of the current month, it's mentioned that Winter is passing and it's now Spring, which means it's now March. So, how did Damian graduate a year in the span of three months? Did he apply to be boosted up a year because he's so smart?

** She deamands a blowjob from someone who clearly does not want it. that spells ho to me. also her clothes, and some of her actions.

** It's...erm casually mentioned that they most likely survived and were taken to the hospital down the road on time, so Zoey assumes they were alright. Possibly. Still is never resolved. [[SarcasmMode No matter though,]] [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality she got away with making with Heath.]]

** The readers are shown when Zoey loses her virginity to Loren Blake and when she has sex with Stark for the first time on Skye. The readers are also shown that Zoey and Stark are now having sex regularly. The readers are even shown sex scenes involving Neferet. The entire book of Awakened has Neferet running around naked and sleeping around with Kalona and various Sons of Erebus Warriors. But when it comes to Rephaim and Stevie Rae, especially after them having to go through all different kinds of drama for them to be together, the reader is shown... Nothing. The whole thing is glossed over. [[WhatTheHellHero What the hell Writers!?]] It's especially bad as it would have been Stevie Rae's first time as well.

** In the book Marked, Damian is a thrid former, just like Zoey and Stevie Rae, while Shaunee and Erin are fourth formers. It's why Zoey and Damian and Stevie Rae have the majority of their classes together. Now, the total possible time-span from Untamed (which specifically end on New Years Eve) to Destined is three months. The evidence to support this is that in the Northern hemisphere is that the season of winter spans from December to Feburary. In Destined, while they don't outright state the name of the current month, it's mentioned that Winter is passing and it's now Spring, which means it's now March. So, how did Damian graduate a year in the span of three months? Did he apply to be boosted up a year because he's so smart?

** Why did Kalona have to reclaim Rephaim as his son to heal him? Why didn't Stevie Rae just summon her element Earth and healed him like she did in Burned? Why were they all just standing around and talking?

* Just... just the way the world is set up in this place. It's like vampyres and the normal world have just been mashed together. The author doesn't seem to think that, hey, if we'd known about vampyres, the world would be a different place. Come on, there's even {{Buffy}}. It's exactly the same, right down to the people living in the world. Maybe they haven't been integrated into human society for very long, but this is a world with a vampire Shakespeare.
* The vamp powers are inconsistent as hell. Sometimes they have night vision, sometimes it's "too dark" to see. The whole increased speed/strength thing seems to be vamp specific (mostly males), but also varies between the Blue and Red to no established degree. Especially considering that they still eat and drink regular things (even after they Change and start craving blood), it all really feels like vamps are just super-pretty/smart/talented/long-lived-humans, with no added weaknesses (other than the Reds). It's like a whole race of Mary-Sues! (Not that Twilight hasn't established that for vamps already).
* To add yet another character derailing hair-puller here, Heath, earlier in the books, was a jerk. Not just a "drunk jock," jerk, I mean the equivalent of "roofie-raper" jerk. Before he and Erik switched places in terms of character, Heath would REPEATEDLY exploit Zoey's lack of control over her bloodlust to force her to feed from him, an act that's tantamount in every way to sex (and usually leads to it). He even does this after Zoey acknowledges it's a problem, and promising to be on his best behavior, after just leading her away from her boyfriend-at-the-time. But apparently it's all okay because Zoey realizes he's her soulmate (one of them anyway) after all so whatever he did to try and force her into getting back with him was fine. UGH.

* This is probably going to come off as sounding pretty stupid, but what really annoys the crap out of me is Zoey's repeated usage of GoshDangitToHeck. I guess it was kinda funny at first, perhaps just a little bit endearing, but I swear if I read one more line of Zoey saying "bullpoopie", I'm going to scream. I understand that it wouldn't make Zoey seem mature and dignified if she swore every other sentence, but to quote Aphrodite here: "You're not going to melt if you say 'fuck' once in a while"! Especially with the way that [[DarkerAndEdgier the books and the situations have been going]], it just makes Zoey seem so childish for her to be saying "poopie" when there's a freaking fallen angel possessing all of your classmates around you!
** I agree. She doesn't even have to use the words "shit" or "fuck", I don't see why she can't even use "crap"." Though, I've known some people, albeit very few, who absolutely won't use curse words in any situation, so it's not ''completely'' unrealistic.
*** She did say crap in the first book, oddly. I remember a bit where she was doing the ritual for the first time and she says "Holy crap!" Then adds that it's [[LampshadeHanging not very dignified for a priestess to say things like that.]]
** I have a feeling the fact that Kristin Cast was writing this with her mom and the fact that Zoey is Kristin's self-insert had something to do with it. Didn't want to get her mom mad?
** It just comes off as jarring to me when other characters say all the curse words including the occasional, proper use of "fuck," but then she's yelling "bullpoopie!" to the Big Bad during the climax. Way to break immersions, Ms. Casts.
** What bugs this viewer is that Zoey spends the first few chapters saying "hell" and "crap" both internally and externally, and then randomly takes up saying "poopie" for absolutely no reason at all before going back to saying "crap" again. It almost gives the feeling that the Casts only put the GoshDarnItToHeck bit just to make Zoey seem quirky and charming.

** Actually, I'm more bothered by the authors' sincere but hamfisted attempts to ''not'' make Zoey into a MarySue. They obviously are aware of the danger of making Zoey into a character who can do no wrong and hence show her making mistakes and having glaring flaws. The true problem is that these efforts are sloppily done: Zoey's flaws and bad blunders don't seem natural or organic to the character we were shown in the first book, but tacked on for the sake of making her imperfect without any real attempt at exploring or even improving them (so much CharacterDevelopment potential wasted...). The end result is not a believably flawed-but-still-likeable character that the authors were clearly aiming for, but an AntiSue who isn't allowed to develop as a character at all because the authors are scared of making her too flawless. It's as if they realized that Zoey was in danger of becoming a Mary Sue after they had finished the first book but had no idea how to avoid that fate without [[CharacterDerailment completely rewriting her character]] in later books.
* I just hate the spelling of "vampyres." This isn't Andrew from BTVS here.

* The "all organized religion is evil and all Christians are intolerant assholes" attitude that was so pervasive in at least the earlier books. Yes, some religious people are like that, but it's possible to believe in God and not be an intolerant Fundamentalist homophobe who abandons their children the instant they stop conforming to their parents' beliefs!
** I agree. That bothered me more than anything else about the books. Zoey's Sue-tendencies I can handle, the constant pop-culture references I can handle, but the anti-Christian agenda I found incredibly insulting.
** Hence the introduction of Sister Mary Angela and the Benedict Nuns. Sister Mary Angela represents what religion is supposed to do, bring people together through unity of faith (reguardless of deity) and encourage peace and good-will towards man. The People of Faith are just one off shoot of Religion who abuse their positions in their churches and in their commuinities to encourage bigotry and ignorance.
** And yet the Casts apparently couldn't be bothered to add one or two sentences in the first book that explained that. A character would just roll their eyes and say "Oh yeah, those People of Faith folks are nuts. My church back at home wants nothing to do with them" and the intent would be made more clear. It's not like the Cast ladies were shying away from being {{Anvilicious}}.
* Whenever a famous, successful or talented person is mentioned they're a Vampyre. The audience, and presumably the in-universe humans, are constanly being told that Vampyres are prettier, cleverer, more talented and generally a higher form of life than humans. But then the humans are presented as prejudiced and close-minded when they don't fawn all over the Vampyres. Seriously? Predjudice against a group of holier-than-thou magic people who possess super special awesome talents because they are super special but who could also ''kill you and drain your body of blood'' is not a good metaphor.
** This troper was particularly pissed by the books trying to pass off humans demonizing blood drinking as a result of them being closed-minded and bigoted. Apparently it's mean-spirited to be frightened by something latching onto your neck with its teeth and drinking the juice you need to survive.
* Damien's character. I hate the fact that his entire identity seems to revolve around his sexual orientation. He seems to exist for the sole purpose of giving Zoey an opportunity to show how open-minded she is and how much better she is than those nasty, intolerant, hateful, hypocritical Christian folks. He's such a stereotype that it came off as more insulting than anything.
* Not just the fact that Erik's [[CharacterDerailment personality was changed]] from a sweet, kind, loving boyfriend who was very supportive of Zoey and intelligent into [[DerailingLoveInterests a possessive, hormonally rage-induced]] JerkAss Scary Stu so the authors could force-feed us why [[ShipSinking Zoey was better off with Heath or Stark]] ([[SarcasmMode or hell, why not both since Zoey loves them so damn much?]]), but also the fact that this happened: in a chapter of ''Tempted'', he calls Zoey out on her shit after she ''EXPLICITLY'' told him that she screwed up big time in ''Chosen'', and that the Imprint with Heath was over and that she'd try, '''try''', '''TRY''' to pick up the pieces of her and Erik's fallen relationship... and then in ''Haunted'', she not only [[IdiotPlot immediately agrees to and drinks Heath's blood so she could heal after being attacked by Random Coincidental Raven Mocker]] (thereby not only rekindling their Imprint, but also making it '''10 TIMES AS POTENT AS BEFORE'''; to be fair though, Heath WAS trying to sacrifice part of himself because he felt it was his fault that she was wounded in the first place), but also converts Stark over from the Dark Side into being her Guardian (yet ANOTHER RELATIONSHIP THAT ACTS LIKE/ IS STRONG AS A MARRIAGE according to these books). Erik basically tells her all of this to her face with good reason and basically says what the audience has been thinking about Zoey for the past four or so books... [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong and yet no one agrees with Erik]] and calls him a "jerk", "butthead/ poopyhead" "jealous jerkface" (and so forth) while simultaneously giving a big Pity Me Party for Zoey. Zoey, who, though she vowed to remain loyal to Erik got into a hot and heavy Imprinting relationship with her human Ex-Boyfriend (TWICE), lost her virginity to a hot male teacher who was conspiring with the BigBad, has a Guardian Soul-Bond with a reformed vampire warrior whom she knew for 5 MINUTES before he kicked the bucket, and also now has a Fallen Angel chasing after her because [[MarySue she's a reincarnation of an avatar of the Goddess Nyx]] (and don't get me started on how '''THAT''' particular plot twist just pisses me off...). ...Am I the only one who sees the COMPLETELY BROKEN MORALS HERE?!
** I second that. Erik is one of the characters here I actually, sincerely feel sorry for , yet he doesn't get to have any say in canon.
** YouAreNotAlone; I'm the troper who put this series as an example on the DerailingLoveInterests page, in fact. What makes it even worse is that the infidelity thing initially seemed to be setting up for some ''actual'' CharacterDevelopment, to show how Zoey wasn't perfect and how she needed to grow as a character to have a fulfilling relationship. The "three romances at once" thing [[RomanticPlotTumor could have been handled better]], but ''Untamed'' seemed to be redirecting the series down the right path and giving the impression that Zoey had learned her lesson and that there definitely would ''not'' be a repeat of the three-way romance fiasco (she acted like a bigger slut than Aphrodite after she ''explicitly told Erik that she'' '''''wasn't''''' ''going to be like Aphrodite with him'', for crying out loud!). Aaaaand then ''Hunted'' goes, "Screw this. Let's hand Zoey her UnwantedHarem back on a silver platter and show how Erik is a JerkAss who doesn't deserve her or know what he's talking about. Let's not have Zoey learn ''anything'' about this experience because she ''obviously'' couldn't have done anything wrong as the perfect goddess avatar she is!" And then the series went downhill from there and Zoey right into Suedom.

* Zoe's friends in general annoy me but particularly the stereotypical characters of Damien and Jack who have no character development. Jack Twist is an obvious Shout Out to Brokeback Mountain which supports the theory films are pretty much the only experience the authors have had of gay culture. That and the fact he seems unable to stand up for himself and does very little for the series makes him appear stereotypically weak and overly emotional. Its quite shameful to the film. Damien however just irritates me as the writers wasted several storylines with him. His issues with his parents he barely mentions despite it should be a huge part of him as there only his family. That and he and Zoe's parents both are in the same evil religious group! Surely that's a chance for the two to bond over as they're both been ostracized by their family mainly because of this group. They have a massive connection which is NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN. Yeah. Also does anyone else get the feeling that her friends are mainly there to show that she has friends as Loners Are Freaks rather provide much substance? The twins for example. All I really remember about them is that they are from different nationalities and are extremely annoying. Jack is thrown in to keep Damien company and is handed a few traits when the plot needs them and even Stevie Ray starts off as so stereotypically Southern to the point of pain. Stevie to be fair becomes a more important character but in general they are all so flat and 2D they just serve to annoy.
* Is this troper the only one who is constantly infuriated by the endless messages that humans are nasty bigots who spread scary myths and rumors about the vampires for no reason?
** I know, especially because it's so inconsistent with the fact that vampires have been around for thousands of years and are basically the only ones who've ever done anything worth doing.