Teen Titans, Volume 4: Light and Dark

Teen Titans (2011) #4

by Scott Lobdell (Writer), Eddy Barrows (Illustrator)

The Teen Titans face off against one of their quintesential rivals for the first time in The New 52: the extradimensional demon lord Trigon!

The demon Trigon triumphs over the Teen Titans, turning one of their own against the team! As he begins to turn Manhattan into a staging ground for a demonic takeover of the planet, the Titans must mend the cracks formed between them if they stand any chance against the demonic villains and his corrupted children.

Collecting: Teen Titans 18-23

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2014

About the author

Scott Lobdell (born 1960) is an American comic book writer.

He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

(B-) 68% | Satisfactory
Notes: Ketchup stains on the bright shirt of clarity: sloppy, lackadaisical and needlessly nonsensical. It’s simply inexplicable.

[Gavin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a "Horror"ible book; by the "Evil" Scott Lobdell, featuring "RED" Robin...a Trifecta for the Shallow Buddy Reads!

The less said about this the better.

Tim Drake has a heart to heart with the ghost of Damian Wayne, and Damian is crying along with him? NO. NOPE. NOT GONNA DO IT.
Alfred comes to comfort Tim, Alfred rules, even Lobdell cannot ruin Sir Pennyworth.

Buncha random shit, Trigon? Some demonic Satan-like figure who rules the 5 realms? (Sounds like Surtur from Asgard and the 9...but whateves.)

He's evil, and is also father to Raven, who, along with Beast Boy, kinda get introduced and teamed up with the TTs. (yes Lono, it is pronounced just how you think, but they're teens, so you might go to jail).
There's more in-fighting here than a JL-War. No one trusts anyone, and Tim Drake is kinda a gigantic asshole, ordering everyone around and looking very oddly drawn...right after crying about poor dead Damian Wayne and his dislike of the dead Robin (The Next Generation, because there's lots of dead Robins).

Anyhoo, Baddie attacks, there's a fight, yawn boring, Superboy (who is now less attractive, and also short, wants to get with Wonder Girl still, shocker, and they team forgive him for trying to kill them last time around???) Wonder Girl (dumb as a brick, but at least consistently angry, and violent, so there's that...her father is some mystery figure? I'm going to guess he's actually Lennox, the dead half-brother of Diana from the Wonder Woman books...just from the brief flashback panel we see...) Kid Flash, yawn, Red Robin, lame, trying too hard to be Batman Junior. and the rejects like Gay Mexican boy and blue girl who used to be human.

Oh and Raven is good, then bad, then good, then bad, then...who fucking cares?
Beast Boy, it was nice to see, but he just shows up and does stuff...but that's OK right?

Book ends with people from the future trying to get Kid Flash, who can't remember whatever horrible thing he did back/ahead in the future...?
I think that's the topic for book 5.

There's also some stupid Suicide Squad fight against the TTs, and in reality, they'd have killed them all except maybe Superboy. Dumb.

I knew what I'd get with Lobdell, but this was particularly bad. Oh and the art was all over the place. Too dark, too silly, too no thanks.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

New 52, new Teen Titans, fourth book. The lineup is Red Robin (Tim Drake), Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Superboy (Kon El), Kid Flash (Bart Allen), Solstice, Bunker, Beast Boy and Raven.

This takes Marv Wolfman's Trigon saga from the 80s and retells it poorly, omitting most of the extra-dimensional stuff and doing a thorough character assassination of Raven. I assume the story is going to redeem her eventually, but the whole point of Raven is that she's forever teetering on edge of her demonic inheritance while having the strength of will to overcome it.

This writer doesn't understand the characters, the Titans or coherent story-telling. I'm very close to bailing on this whole era.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigh. Trigon is one of the Teen Titans' most iconic foes, and this storyline makes absolutely no sense, so that's hardly a fitting way to bring him into the New 52. Plot points are dropped and created mid-story, random dialogue makes the characters sound robotic and daft, and the fact that the Titans celebrate their victory when Trigon basically got bored and left them alone just makes me facepalm. Raven's introduction to the team is forced and her manipulation of Beast Boy is dropped like a stone between panels because it suddenly becomes inconvenient. The only reason this doesn't get 1 star is because the artwork isn't bad, especially the issues that Eddy Barrows manages to pencil himself without fill-ins, and because the final issue isn't quite as bad as the rest of the Trigon story. Thank god there's only one volume of this stuff left.

[John Yelverton · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first Teen Titans story featuring Trigon was an absolute masterpiece that still resonates today. This pile of garbage was a let down on every, possible, conceivable level.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gah! Stop with making teen heroes behave like the plot of [insert bad YA movie] here. I've been there, and teens in _small_ groups can be weird. But as the group gets this large and this talented, things tend to average out.

[Kyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, Solstice, we get it!!! You kissed a boy! Now can we please get back to saving the world from some lame, six-eyed demon.

And what is up with Raven's outfit? Why? Why does she have feathers covering her eyes?? Why?!!!

Wow. This was beyond any kind of low point I could have ever fathomed for the New 52. Just awful, awful stuff.
1/5

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you were to ask a Teen Titans fan what’s probably one of, if not the, most over-used plot lines in the franchise many would say “Raven dealing with her evil father Trigon” (or probably say “A Titan being a traitor” which also includes the Raven-Trigon problem). Really this has been one of Raven’s biggest problems: writers always wanting to drag her father back in or at least have her go evil again. However, I’d give it a pass being done again here given the New 52 is a 95% reboot of the DCU and only a few characters are lucky enough to have their origins intact. Yet, like most New 52 revisions the Titans vs Trigon and Raven thing is a dark, hard to read mess. Where do I begin? An ultimately pointless run in with the Suicide Squad for starters and the inclusion of the new Psimon who is just there to be another thorn for the Titans to deal with while fighting Trigon. Superboy seems to know who Raven is even though this is the first time he’s ever seen her, another New 52 continuity flub there. Beast Boy is oddly suppostive of her even though he just met her through Raven manipulating him as a puppet to fight the Titans for her father. How would he know she's really good? This is like some really empty fanservice for the Gar/Rae fans which the ship being forced on her character for fanservice and written horribly is another problem Raven’s had. Raven’s hard to read throughout this book in more ways than one. When she first appeared in the New 52 she wasn’t evil and wanted to escape her father which has been hinted here. But ultimately by the end of this volume we learn she’s merely infiltrating the Titans for her father. Which ultimately goes no where and is dropped once Lobdell leaves the book and regardless we mostly see Raven pretty okay with trying to kill the Titans. And really what’s this interest Trigon has with Tim Drake and the Titans? Again never fully explained.

Speaking of Tim and Trigon, one of the grossest parts about this book is how it handles Tim’s previous actions. We learn he was influenced by Trigon to make-out with his female teammates: Implied sex with Wonder Girl and kissing Solstice even though she’s with Bart (and she’s okay with that). First, the Titans treats Tim as if it is his fault he was possessed to sleep with people. Second, there’s a BS explanation from Wonder Girl about how being possessed let’s a person do what they want to do so it’s ok she and Tim were basically raped by a demon….which makes no sense and is just shoved in there so Lobdell can fling away the rape issues. Doesn’t help Lobdell himself recently was revealed to be responsible of sexual harassment at a con some time ago… Then the volume concludes with an issue that gives some much needed down time but you can tell it was meant to fling the characters into their next storyline in the future exploring Kid Flash until someone thought it be better if the Titans show up in the Forever Evil event to be smacked around and sent to the future via confusing methods by the Crime Syndicate.

And again, why does Raven have such a weird, unrecognizable costume now? Can't they at least swap the helm thing for her traditional hood?

[J. Griff · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stand corrected, the previous volume is the peak for this series. I honestly thought Lobdell was a much better writer than this. Am wondering what the target audience for this book is? The art is about as bad, I had to Healy look to tell a difference between Robin & Bunker when not in costume. It’s sloppy art. The characters in this series are nothing like they should be. At some point Beast Boy & Raven just showed up with no real explanation. Raven goes from being bad to good, back to bad & now I’m not sure I care. “Red” Robin starts the volume crying about the death of Damien & ends the volume by being a total dick about “I’m the leader. My way or the highway”. Wonder Girl is a self-absorbed bitch who’s only liking is to hit things.

After the amount of New 52 titles I’ve read I can see why DC wanted to do another reboot. I’m appreciative of having only one more Teen Titans volume left & I’ve got such low expectations for it that as long as it has words & art in it.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good comic. Nice to see Trigon since that meant we finally get to see Raven and Beast Boy too. Not sure what I think of Raven's new costume.

I had watched the Teen Titans show before on Cartoon Network. Liked it a lot. The old one, NOT Teen Titans Go!.

[Althea · Rating 2 out of 5]

They put Trigon on a pony. A PONY!!!!

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never been a fan of demon/alien/supermoster storylines. They are always contrived, convoluted and seemingly driven not by plot but by page/issue-count.

[Martin Maenza · Rating 2 out of 5]

After two volumes featuring crossover events, we're now back to a block of issues just focusing on the team itself. I like the idea of that - allowing us to get more understanding of the primary cast without a lot of guest-stars and other storylines getting in the way.

The story arc in this volume centers mostly on Trigon and his kids (plural). Yes, now he has three sons as well as daughter Raven. Not sure how I feel about that. We also get the return of Beast Boy from the first arc, thus adding to the cast more - without giving us a ton on those we had here before. Heck, we even got Raven's origin before the full story on some of the others. Weird.

The group still remains dysfunctional and untrusting of one another despite almost two years' worth of stories into the run. I don't like that. I miss a Titans team that was more solid, more together. This one just is not cutting it for me.

[Jadyn❀ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where did Raven and Beast Boy even come from? Surprise, Raven is more unlikable than she’s ever been (a trademark of this team I see), and Beast Boy isn’t, but he’s still red, and I still can’t figure out who thought that was a good idea.
Add this to the list of lackluster origins of the name “Conner”.
And yeah, I’m still mad about Tim kissing both Kiran and Cassie. How convenient that Tim gets a supernatural out to absolve him of blame, but the girls just have to suffer at the hands of poor writing. Neither of them showed particular interest in Tim before so why would they start so randomly? The chemistry always seemed to be greater between Cassie and Conner, for obvious historic reasons. And Kiran and Bart have their thing.
So much of what I don’t like about this volume can just be summed up with “where did that come from”.

[Christopher (Donut) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did Scott Lobdell burn himself out writing, what, four books a month for the New 52?

I am not writing as someone who had fond memories of Teen Titans vs Trigon in earlier days, but I did like the first three volumes of this series. The Teen Titans, more than ever, were a sort of DC X-Men.

Everything falls flat here, though.



Maybe I'm the one getting burned out.

[Michael Church · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so bad it actually made me angry as I read it.

The "plot" (if you can even call it that) is so disjointed and absurd that it's nigh incomprehensible. Add to that dialogue that is wordy, awkward, and complete nonsense for teenagers, and you get a book that is truly revolting to read. There are so many ideas that have been planted that you can't track them all, but at the same time none of them are getting enough attention. Raven was introduced not too long ago, but is already being moved into a central conflict. But her appearance now (apart from her physical appearance - which is ludicrous) completely conflicts with how she was initially presented. There's no buildup to anything, it's just a hint and then suddenly CONFLICT!!!!

Lobdell is completely rushing through this book. Whether that is from editorial pressures or his own lack of talent is hard to say, but I have little respect for a company that publishes something with the wrong use of "there" in a final product. The Trigon saga was one of the most iconic stories from the heyday of the Teen Titans (and the excellent tv show), but here it has been condensed into a nonsensical mashup of backstory and "action" and "character development" that just makes me miss the characters that I used to love so much.

It MIGHT have been tolerable if the visuals were enjoyable, but Eddy Barrows' art is uninspired, sloppy, unrealistic, and inconsistent. Not inconsistent in quality, but in actual character designs. The look of Trigon's sons changed from the final panel of one issue to the first panels of the next. It's just another testament to how this title has been poorly planned and executed from the outset. Not to mention I still hate the team's costumes. Where Marvel's Thunderbolts also have red in everyone's costumes, it's done as an accent that ties the team together, but for the Titans it is overwhelming. The book is ugly and terrible in every way I can think of.

DC and the creative team on this book should be ashamed of the disservice they are doing to these characters. I'm done trying with this book and regretting holding out so long for it to get better.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eh, a 3.5. I like the battles, and I'm psyched about the introduction of Beast Boy and Raven. But I found a lot of things confusing. How does Superboy know Raven's name when she first appears? The Titans seem to know Beast Boy, too, which . . . I guess they saved him from Harvest? I don't remember that, but maybe I'll go back and check. I feel like there's a volume I missed or something.

A little annoyed that, when Raven's chilling after the big battle, the first thing she does is put on a midriff-baring top. As does Cassie. But see, I'd come to expect it from Cassie. I see Raven as a less-sexualized, more-serious character, and I'd have liked to see her dressed more practically.

Also, the book earns a star just for Harley Quinn riffing that she doesn't think they're holding any kidnapped girls, but she'll check the fridge.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice art, and I enjoyed the interplay and team-building stuff well enough, but the whole "Pan-dimensional Warlord Trashing Times Square" confrontation was way over the top...and then basically repeated when he sent his three sons to finish the job. I'm not still sold on the character of Raven, either, and Psimon seemed particularly wasted.

On the upside, though, Beastboy! Though it looks like with his and Raven's arrivals there was one Titan too many, and pobreBunker has to pay the price and irse.

[Viridian5 · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Trigon arc in the original Teen Titans was epic, while this version is a confusing mess. The art is as sloppy and inconsistent as the story and characterizations. This book really makes me miss the pre-New 52 versions of the characters.

Also, Raven's costume is absolutely ridiculous.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's only one more left after this... I'm kinda sad Beast Boy disappeared so fast- He was one of my favorites in the show (Early 2000's version) and the 50's/60's comics.
Raven's new look is really cool, and they have kept a part of her attitude as well, and her back story. I'm glad they are keeping Trigon, as he was a huge villain in the past.
The art is really good as well.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished it, which is about the best thing I can say. Trigon or whoever the villain is has a dumb plan. No idea what is going on. Best part was the cliched ending with everyone coupling up. Wanted to like the New 52 Teen Titans, but failed. Might see if Grant Morrison's run was any better.

[Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lobdell's run has really been derailed since the culling. It is difficult to stay excited about anything in this volume. Beast Boy shows up...that's cool I guess.

[Ben Truong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teen Titans: Light and Dark picks up where the previous trade paperback left off, collecting the next six issues (18–23) of the 2011 on-going series.

The trade paperback opens with the Requiem tie-in. It is written by Scott Labdell and penciled by Eddy Barrows for the most part and Rodney Buchemi for the last few pages. It was a tad jarring, had I haven’t known that Damian Wayne died and how he died (Batman, Inc. (Vol. 2) #8), his death would have been a total surprise. While Damian Wayne and Tim Drake never had what I would call a cordial relationship, I don't doubt for one minute that Tim Drake didn't want Damian Wayne dead.

The rest of the trade paperback focused on Trigon, his daughter Raven, and her brothers: Belial, Ruskoff, and Suge. The battle was fast paced and rather drawn out, but they were beautifully rendered. It was nice to see Raven and Beast Boy again – although I'm not too sure about their designs with Raven's face covered in feathers and Beast Boy being red.

Scott Lobdell was the main writer for the series and the storyline (if there is one) is much to be desired. The plot (you'll miss it if you blink) is rather disjointed and bizarre. The dialogue seemed rather wordy, awkward and felt too much like an adult trying to write a teenager or what a supposed teenager sounds like. I don't like the fact that the Suicide Squad problem was solve rather quickly and the transpatial initiative team seemed too much like Deus ex machina to save the Teen Titans and fallout from Trigon.

The main penciler was Eddy Barrows with some help from Rodney Buchemi, Patrick Zircher, and Jesus Merino and the last issue was penciled by Robson Rocha. For the most part the art was done rather well and was consistent throughout the trade paperback. Although, as mentioned earlier, I'm not too thrill with the new designs of Raven and Beast Boy, but they were penciled rather well.

All in all, Teen Titans: Light and Dark was in short a convoluted mess and a somewhat good continuation of the on-going series. It looks like the storyline would focus on Kid Flash and what he may have done in the future that he has forgotten.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Młodzi Tytani w czwartym tomie nie są jeszcze do końca drużyną, już nie mówiąc o jakimkolwiek doświadczeniu, bowiem sami sobie tworzą więcej problemów niż mają, chociażby przez krycie swoich sekretów przed przyjaciółmi. Tak mamy chociażby z Red Robinem, który wykorzystuje grupę do bezcelowego ataku na Belle Reve, po to chyba tylko aby urozmaicić tom przed głównym, dość "pikantnym" daniem jakim będzie sam Trigon wraz ze swoim pomiotem...

Niemniej zanim do tego dojdzie, atmosfera w młodej drużynie nieco się zagęści. Czwarty tom jest też dość niekonsekwentny, bowiem trzeci kończy się tak, że wszystko wskazywałoby na opętanie Drake'a, ale nie. Ten wątek został praktycznie porzucony, a wytłumaczenie znajduje się bodajże w jednym dymku... Za to podobny zabieg zastosowano do kilku innych bohaterów, tak nagle, jakby wyciągnięto królika z kapelusza.

Drużyna Tytanów na przestrzeni tego tomu nieco się zmieni, bowiem do zespołu dołączy Beast Boy i Raven(wreszcie...), aczkolwiek ta ostatnia miała tutaj do spełnienia dziwną rolę. Denerwowały mnie też pewne rozterki bohaterów. Zwłaszcza Solstice, która miała mały kłopot z pewnym pocałunkiem, tak jakby zdążył się już z Robinem przespać. I cała ta intryga piekielnego władcy. Naprawdę by sobie nie poradził z całą grupą od razu? Niby jest ta motywacja córki, która ma widzimisię przekabacić na swoją całą stronę zespół Tytanów, ale... Serio? I jest jeszcze całkowicie zbędny wątek tego złoczyńcy, który za pomocą słów: "Dead drop" anihiluje grupę jakichś uzbrojonych ludzi... Po co? Za dużo tu zamieszania i niekonsekwencji. Innymi słowy: Lobdell za bardzo przekombinował, aby uczynić Tytanów fajnymi.

Końcówka to już żałość nad żałościami. Beast Boy pływa sobie jako delfin w goglach... Cassie okazuje się osobą nieco rozwiązłą obyczajowo... niezbyt wiarygodna sprawa z Bunkrem, no i wątek próby porwania Kid Flasha, który z pewnością będzie dalej kontynuowany, ale nie ma w sobie nic interesującego. Ot, dał drużynie szansę na takie grupowe pociągnięcie za rzepę...

Cała seria ma jedną zaletę, bowiem wygląda bardzo dobrze, dając nam szansę na kilka ciekawych interakcji, ale to w zasadzie wszystko. A szkoda, bo początek Teen Titans był naprawdę niezły.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, the Teen Titans provided a solid read. I didn't enjoy this one as much, personally, because I'm not as big a fan of the more supernatural villains. And also, I didn't love the way Raven was portrayed in this one. I've not read/watched a lot of Teen Titans before this, but she didn't come across as the Raven I've always known. She isn't one of my favorite characters, but she was definitely unique. And in this story... she was wearing a bikini at one point. And that doesn't quite gel with my previous impressions of her character.
The best part of this graphic novel was definitely the very beginning: Red Robin's reaction to Robin's death. I didn't know that was in this volume...and I was not prepared. Man, that was a sad few pages. But, still, it was very well done. I actually think I might have liked that reaction better than Nightwing's (though, to be fair, I wasn't feeling my best when I read that particular graphic novel). Tim's reaction was simple and heartfelt. Nightwing's almost felt like it was trying to be sad rather than just being sad.
Outside of that, I'm also excited to see what happens next with Kid Flash. They've been building up his forgotten past (from the future) since the beginning, so I can't wait to see what's in store. I'm a little bummed that Bunker left though... but I'm hoping it won't be for long. This particular version of the Teen Titans just wouldn't feel whole without him.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

Take a great storyline with Raven and her father, Trigon....and just throw it out the window.

Make sense? Don't need to!
Excite readers? Who cares?

(24 issues and still nobody has walked out on Red Robin for being so tight lipped about his real identity)
----------------
The Teen Titans have been acting weird. They own a yacht and use it as the team base. (No, that isn't the weird part). Superboy just randomly comes back after dealing with his own issues in his series. INSTANT TEAMMATE! Trigon stomps around looking mad. INSTANT VILLAIN! Raven hits on an unconscious Beast Boy and mind controls him. INSTANT BOYFRIEND! Raven apologizes and does some extra dimensional mumbo jumbo to protect the team from Trigon. INSTANT TEAM LEADER!

It's all just too contrived and half assed. Even the art starts to look bland by the end of the collection. Characters start losing their distinction partway through (facial characteristics get muddled, ethnicity becomes questionable) and people turn into 'generic super #2'

We end with the potential abduction of Bart Allen...real name Bar Torr?? Looks like we'll figure out why Bart Allen isn't Bart Allen in the next volume.

Bonus: The lame inclusion of Psimon. Need a villain? We haven't brought this guy in yet...
Bonus Bonus: Beast Boy just pops back up after not having been seen or mentioned since Volume 2?

[Owen Spindler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen, I'd definitely read it again, but it wasn't my favorite. That being said, Tim is a badass, and Miguel is still my favorite. Trigon sucks ass, and I hate him. I do want someone to flipping give Gar a damn hug though. Also I had really high hopes for Raven, and than it turns out she's still working for her father, which seriously, fuck Trigon. I was sad, but also not surprised about that, cause I mean, its DC. And also, breaking away from shitty parents is not a clean break. Also I'm very happy for Miguel, he deserves good things, and honestly the team is gonna be lost without him. But also, I'm happy Gabe woke up. Miguel deserves good things. Also all that shit with Bar Torr. Its an actual shit show. But the foreshadowing is on point, gotta say.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was awful as the terrible Titans run of the New 52 continues. If not for the wonderful Eddy Barrows art this would have been a one star. The story is just so tremendously bad that it seemed as if the writers didn't know what was going to happen panel to panel and then forget what did happen on the previous page. Trigon has a huge connection and history with the Titans and this was an embarrassment! Editorial didn't seem to care as they seem to misspell character names in each chapter. Overall, a complete disappointment.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

That Trigon guy sure is sneaky. He'd rather discredit the Teen Titans that just outright kill them. Always seems strange to me that these "world threatening" entities show up and none of the adult heroes are around to save the world. I mean I get that, it would kind of ruin things, but there's definitely some suspension of disbelief going on here to enjoy this kind of story.

Also, no more Bunker? He was the coolest one! I loved his powers.

[Alan D.D. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crap. Crap. Crap.
I don't understand what the hell this is supposed to be. There are just too many things happening at the very same time, even at no logical order, that this is confusing and doesn't create any impact. I'm sure that was the purpose: to confuse the reader and make them feel like an idiot. This it plain boring and with absolutely no character development. None. Nada.