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psocopteraI would stop reading these but I've heard the next one, number twelve, is supposed to be the last one, and, you know, the green light of closure taunts me, urging me onwards...
Anyways. Number seven, Rapture of the Deep is still the last one of these I've really liked. This one at least felt more consequential than the previous one, in that there are actual stakes for Jacky in her long-term goals and her relationships, but... bleah.
I was a huge Jacky/Jaimy shipper even as of a couple books ago, but, wow, their relationship is *so* dysfunctional, I have come to be convinced that they are really not right for each other. And in fact I'm so convinced of that that I am wondering for the first time if Jacky/Jaimy really might not be the end game, and if Meyer hasn't dragged things out for so long so that we can also all start to see the ways they just don't work together. I don't know, I mean, nothing else is really telegraphed, I thought I saw hints of Jacky/Ezra but maybe that was just my confused shipper's brain flailing around for some sort of pairing that would make some sort of sense. Ezra is nominally labeled for Amy but Amy says pretty clearly that she's not interested in relationships (with men, or at all, it is unclear) so... who even knows.
Anyways, Jacky/Jaimy and all the ick. I like the shipping in these books best when Meyer seems most sex-positive and poly-friendly, like, presenting it as actually a fun and happy thing for Jacky to get to play around with a bunch of different people. (And Jaimy gets his share of side-affairs too.) Sometimes Meyer seems to consider them "naughty", like, wrong but not *really* wrong, to be viewed with a sort of twinkling indulgence. In this book, though, Jaimy's jealousy has eaten his brain, making him deceitful and cruel - and I'm very afraid that if Jacky/Jaimy *is* the endgame pairing, then we're supposed to see this as right and proper, that True Love means being a possessive, paranoid, unforgiving asshole.
The very ickiest bit is that the climax of the book is Jaimy maneuvering himself into a position where he gets to whip Jacky (caning, I think, actually, he's using a stick), and does so saying "and this is for [this guy], and this is for [that other guy], and this (really hurting her) is for me!" Now, okay, I don't want to talk about this in a kink-shaming way. It would be very easy to be snarky about Meyer getting off on having his teen heroine tied to a whipping post and punished with all of Boston watching, but, look, Meyer, you are not being subtle, yes you did put a BDSM scene in your YA novel but it's not the first time and them as are into it can be titillated and them as aren't can roll their eyes and that's all just fine. What really bothers me is the implication by Jaimy that Jacky has wronged him and all the other dudes on the list, purely by there being a list of them, and deserves some kind of "getting back at", and so it's great for him to get to hit her and hurt her (without her even knowing it's him). Sorry, but I'd rather BDSM scenes between supposedly-loving couples be negotiated, consensual, and about giving each other something, how's that for a kink-positive critique of the whipping scene?
Anyways. Number seven, Rapture of the Deep is still the last one of these I've really liked. This one at least felt more consequential than the previous one, in that there are actual stakes for Jacky in her long-term goals and her relationships, but... bleah.
I was a huge Jacky/Jaimy shipper even as of a couple books ago, but, wow, their relationship is *so* dysfunctional, I have come to be convinced that they are really not right for each other. And in fact I'm so convinced of that that I am wondering for the first time if Jacky/Jaimy really might not be the end game, and if Meyer hasn't dragged things out for so long so that we can also all start to see the ways they just don't work together. I don't know, I mean, nothing else is really telegraphed, I thought I saw hints of Jacky/Ezra but maybe that was just my confused shipper's brain flailing around for some sort of pairing that would make some sort of sense. Ezra is nominally labeled for Amy but Amy says pretty clearly that she's not interested in relationships (with men, or at all, it is unclear) so... who even knows.
Anyways, Jacky/Jaimy and all the ick. I like the shipping in these books best when Meyer seems most sex-positive and poly-friendly, like, presenting it as actually a fun and happy thing for Jacky to get to play around with a bunch of different people. (And Jaimy gets his share of side-affairs too.) Sometimes Meyer seems to consider them "naughty", like, wrong but not *really* wrong, to be viewed with a sort of twinkling indulgence. In this book, though, Jaimy's jealousy has eaten his brain, making him deceitful and cruel - and I'm very afraid that if Jacky/Jaimy *is* the endgame pairing, then we're supposed to see this as right and proper, that True Love means being a possessive, paranoid, unforgiving asshole.
The very ickiest bit is that the climax of the book is Jaimy maneuvering himself into a position where he gets to whip Jacky (caning, I think, actually, he's using a stick), and does so saying "and this is for [this guy], and this is for [that other guy], and this (really hurting her) is for me!" Now, okay, I don't want to talk about this in a kink-shaming way. It would be very easy to be snarky about Meyer getting off on having his teen heroine tied to a whipping post and punished with all of Boston watching, but, look, Meyer, you are not being subtle, yes you did put a BDSM scene in your YA novel but it's not the first time and them as are into it can be titillated and them as aren't can roll their eyes and that's all just fine. What really bothers me is the implication by Jaimy that Jacky has wronged him and all the other dudes on the list, purely by there being a list of them, and deserves some kind of "getting back at", and so it's great for him to get to hit her and hurt her (without her even knowing it's him). Sorry, but I'd rather BDSM scenes between supposedly-loving couples be negotiated, consensual, and about giving each other something, how's that for a kink-positive critique of the whipping scene?
