#insert disappointed carlisle meme directed @ himself

[panlight]

Now that you've read at least some of MS, what's your initial thoughts? Favorite part? Least favorite part? Has Edward's PoV changed your opinions on any of the characters? Favorite change from Twilight?

**** Spoilers ****

Edward’s the same Edward from the draft, and while SM clearly wants us to be like “oh how this poor boy suffers!” I still just mostly find it kind of funny how over-the-top dramatic he is about everything. It makes it hard for me to take him totally seriously. 

He’s still miserable to Rosalie but they do have a few heart-to-heart type conversations near the end that were nice. 

So nice to see sweet, lovely, gentle, happy Jacob again, if only briefly! He was such a ray of sunshine in the early books before SM completely changed his character. 

Jasper’s power has always confused me and I am even more confused now. I still don’t think there’s support for “he feels other people’s thirsts and that why he struggles,” though (he’s also just more interesting if he’s just Bad at this, imo). But it’s much less subtle and more more mind-controll-y than I thought and I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. 

I loved more insight into Cullen backstories even though it torpedoed some of my own headcanons. 

I really didn’t like the car chase scene. Mostly the protagonist-centered morality of it all. Creating a 27 car pile up, in which people are injured (although Alice didn’t foresee any fatalities! So I guess it’s fine??) just so they can save Bella, ugh. And the thing is, it’s totally unnecessary?! I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve never been like “gee I wonder how the Cullens got to the ballet studio?” It’s an answer to a question no one asked and it makes the Cullens look terrible. She wants us to LIKE these characters, right?! And this time Carlisle is all up in it. I know he has his flaws and I don’t need or want him to be perfect, but he’s supposed to be the conscience. “The kind of guy who would never sedate an innocent stranger and steal their car” is a really LOW BAR and SM has ruined THAT for me. Thanks, I hate it! He’s the one of them who is actually supposed to care about humans; later on in this same book Edward talks about how hard it is for Carlisle to sit still in a hospital where there are suffering humans he could be helping and I’m like how many are there because of the ginormous car accident Emmett caused so you guys could steal another car and get away?? Are the Cullens paying those medical bills? 

My one consolation is the implication that Jasper is manipulating everyone to act cohesively and stay focused and stick to the plan. So Carlisle could be just totally wrapped up in what Jasper’s projecting and doesn’t realize the consequences at the time? But then we’re getting into mind-control and lack of free will which I ALSO hate so . . . it’s just a big NOPE! from me all around! The morality of the sketchy stuff they have to do to live as vampires and keep their secrets are interesting . . .  but only if they are given any weight and this is just 'cool badass car chase’ like it’s from a totally different series. 

Why couldn’t SM have just been like “idk it was weirdly cloudy in Phoenix that day” or “it was night time!” or “Alice foresaw they’d need a car and had a rental waiting” or “Jasper mood-controlled the police into letting them go/letting them borrow their car” or literally anything else. She’s clearly trying to make this an exciting action sequence but it’s WAY over the top (27 cars?!?!) and all I got from it are “the Cullens are being terrible again.” Why is Bella more important than all the people who were injured in the pile-up? We’re supposed to think “wow look at the lengths they will go to to save Bella <3″ but all I can see is the collateral damage that none of them seem to care about at all. Is it just me?!

(Also it’s boring I just don’t care at all about cars or anything related to them sorry.)