Riddle me this: can something that is meant to be confusing be criticized for being confusing?
This chapter focuses on the nameless Blue we saw be "inserted" into a human's body. I'm going to call her Bob for now.
The human woman is also not given a name this chapter. I'm calling her Regan so I don't have to keep saying "the host's body" and "the human woman."
We open with Bob, who is waiting for her new body to wake up.
Wait a minute. Last chapter we were told that it's impossible to communicate with a Blue in their Medusa-head form, and that Bob would have volunteered if she could. How was she warned?
Did she read ahead in the book?
The sedation starts to wear off and Bob prepares herself for Regan's final memories. She says she was warned that human emotions are much stronger than the emotions of any other host body she's had. Again, how was she warned? I don't even care if the answer is dumb. Be consistent, darn it!
Bob gets caught up in the memories of Regan's death, and starts having trouble distinguishing the memories from reality.
Bob gets confused by Regan's sense of smell. Considering humans have a relatively weak sense of smell, I'm surprised that none of Bob's previous hosts have had a sense of smell.
Outside the memory, the Seekers try to comfort Bob, but she barely even notices. Bob hears a "high, shrill keening" but doesn't know what it is.
I froze in shock, and the sound broke off abruptly.
That was not a memory.
My body - she was thinking! Speaking to me!
So Regan is apparently aware of being infested and able to speak to Bob. Which means that either humans have souls, or that they are soulless sentient beings. Either way, they're capable of objecting to a Blue being inserted into their body without permission. Which means that Bob is unknowingly robbing someone of their free will. I don't think there's a Hallmark card for that.
Bob doesn't believe that a host could talk back, but she's still too disoriented by the memories to focus on Regan's "voice."
Back in the memory, Regan is running and reaches a deadend with an elevator shaft. She jumps into it, apparently deciding that death is a better option than being caught by whoever or whatever is pursuing her. (Wouldn't it be funny if she was fleeing the Blues who wanted to make the "soulless human" into a host?)
We are told that Bob's last host had "faceless serpentine tentacles," and because of this she has as much trouble telling humans apart as humans would have telling members of that species apart. I wonder if the form she had without a host was the shape of her last host (both have tentacles) or if that's a coincidence.
This is significant because Regan's final memory is of a face. Whether this face is someone she knew, a supernatural being, or someone who stood over her as she died isn't made clear.
In spite of not being able to tell humans apart, Bob says that she would know this face anywhere.
Sounds like a love interest.
Regan then speaks to Bob again.
Mine, I rebuked her, the power and authority that belonged to me alone flowing through the word. Everything is mine.
So why am I talking back to her? I wondered as the voices interrupted my thoughts.
Yeah! How dare Regan want control of her own body! Oh, wait ...
In spite of my joking, Bob doesn't come across very badly in this. She wasn't really consulted before being inserted into Regan. She's too confused and frightened by memories of dying to think clearly. Or to really register that Regan is talking to her. She also doesn't come across as actively malicious. Insensitive and maybe a bit dumb, but not malicious.
This chapter gives us an idea of what the insertion is like from the perspective of a Blue. Like I mentioned before, this is a bit confusing, but it seems to be that way intentionally. It's meant to show how overwhelmed Bob is by the whole experience.
The premise still has me curious about the world it takes place in, and the inevitable conflict between Bob and Regan has the potential to be interesting. The prose is a bit weak, but it's not horrible. I've certainly read much worse.
Random note: This
is my mental image of what the Blues looks like. I am such a nerd. ^_^;
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