T.02.19 Race

In Which We Race To Volterrabithia.

Want to know what happens in this chapter? They go to Volterra, Italy.

That's it.

Oh, there's a plane ride and a car theft and a lot of driving, but our protagonist has nothing to do with any of it. Bella sits and worries while they wait for the plane. She sits and worries when they transfer planes. She sits and worries while Alice races across Italy in a stolen Porsche. Alice: our new protagonist. Alice even reveals that she's in love with Jasper when she assures him that she'll be fine, the reveals that she's lying. Wow. Jasper... was he the one staying with Alice and Bella during the Hunt? Where was the love then? Dunno. Why add characterization here? Guess it's Alice's time to shine. You know what I'd like to see? A book about this, a character who does things, who solves problems, who tells her boyfriend lies because she loves him and worries about the danger. A character who ISN'T BELLA DUMMY SWAN and her endless list of things that to suffer through.

I know, this sounds like a SumUp, but there's nothing to report. They try to get to Volterra and they do. Edward tried to get the Volturi to kill him outright and they refused because they know he has a clock and a square in his near future. Actually, it's because they like Carlisle too much to kill his mopey, dumb adopted son. Alice reveals some of the inner workings of the Volturi, which is nice, but since we already know that Edward isn't going to die until Bella gets close enough to yell at him, this is all pointless. Plus almost nothing revealed about the secret Vampire upper class is surprising or shocking in the least. They are essentially what you'd expect them to be and little else.

SumUp F

This would have been a reasonably exciting chapter, even knowing Edward was going to survive thanks to his love-of-her-life status, but it isn't. We've already read this chapter when it was called the prologue. Bella is once again luggage and Alice's powers are once again plot-specific. It's a perfunctory bit of travelogue that only existed because "They go to Volterra, Italy" wouldn't fill out a whole chapter.