Author: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Series: #1 - House of Night
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: September 29th, 2009
My Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0
Enter the dark, magical world of the House of Night, a world very much like our own, except here vampyres have always existed.
One minute, sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird is a normal teenager dealing with everyday high school stress: her cute boyfriend Heath, the school’s star quarterback who suddenly seems more interested in partying than playing ball; her nosy frenemy Kayla, who’s way too concerned with how things are going with Heath; her uber-tough geometry test tomorrow. The next, she’s Marked as a fledgling vampyre, forcing her to leave her ordinary life behind and join the House of Night, a boarding school where she will train to become an adult vampyre. That is, if she makes it through the Change—and not all of those who are Marked do. It sucks to begin a new life, especially away from her friends, and on top of that, Zoey is no average fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. Zoey discovers she has amazing powers, but along with her powers come bloodlust and an unfortunate ability to Imprint with Heath, who just doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer. To add to her stress, she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers: when she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny—with a little help from her new vampyre friends.
One minute, sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird is a normal teenager dealing with everyday high school stress: her cute boyfriend Heath, the school’s star quarterback who suddenly seems more interested in partying than playing ball; her nosy frenemy Kayla, who’s way too concerned with how things are going with Heath; her uber-tough geometry test tomorrow. The next, she’s Marked as a fledgling vampyre, forcing her to leave her ordinary life behind and join the House of Night, a boarding school where she will train to become an adult vampyre. That is, if she makes it through the Change—and not all of those who are Marked do. It sucks to begin a new life, especially away from her friends, and on top of that, Zoey is no average fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. Zoey discovers she has amazing powers, but along with her powers come bloodlust and an unfortunate ability to Imprint with Heath, who just doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer. To add to her stress, she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers: when she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny—with a little help from her new vampyre friends.
My Review:
So I would love to start this with the most simple, "This girl is a Ho." Zoey was one of those characters that I never really got into. There is just a personality difference in what I seek in a main character, but overall it's just not that bad. The world of the House of Night brought me and I took the hook and made this my first marathon series of the year. I thought it would be good to get into and while the series is complete on my shelf, I just couldn't resist. However, the book just didn't wow me, or impress me as much as I had thought.
Zoey Redbird is your typical teenage girl who happens to get Marked at school. Being marked means you die and wake up as a fledgling, and in the process of changing into a vampyre. On her way home her parents are devout People of the Faith (religious group), and it throws her family into the warpath. Her father hates that she's been marked, and blames her for her bad behavior as to why she's marked. Her family turns on her, and its her grandmother Zoey runs to that aids her. At her house, she passes out and has a vision of Nyx, the vampyre goddess who changes her life even further.
Now I am used to strong female character leads and frankly this just isn't one of those. Personally she acts like a pampered teenage girl who whines constantly. I find I wanted to rip her throat out to stop all the whining and complaining, than there's the nearly constant dreaming of the hot vampyres that waltz around her. Further there are so many celebrity comparisons that it was so overdone and just terrible to read. Plus her infatuation with older men as a teen and wanting to be with 35-40 year olds is rather disgusting.
Her friends Damien, Shaunee, Stevie Rae, and Erin all are just about as bad. There is the gay geeky Damine, the separated twins, Shaunee and Erin, and the country Stevie Rae and they compliment each other pretty well. I just couldn't get attached to any of them at all, because they are so over the top obnoxious that I found it nearly nauseating. I wish they were a bit more down to earth and frankly less drama focused/obnoxious. I just couldn't get into them at all.
As well, there is almost nothing to the plot. I felt it was like being on a roller coaster; yeah there are twists and turns, but you always know exactly where you're going to end up. There was almost no shock or wow factor in the novel. Pretty much you always knew where you were going throughout the book. There is one I forgot to mention the evil Aphrodite that I actually enjoyed. Aphrodite is a crazy stuck-up snob, but there is a sort of realistic nature to her that I found was done pretty well.
I said before that "This girl is a Ho." That is because she is juggling two "boyfriends" at the same time and while they both seem to know about each other, she cannot just pick one and stick with it. Okay yeah, she imprints with Heath, her old human ex-boyfriend, and she is emotionally attracted to Erik, a fellow fledgling at the House of Night. They both fight for her and it's rather sad that they both don't drop her like a rock. I found that both were just stereotypical jocks with almost no personality aside, "Must have Zoey" and thumping their chest.
While this book is rated a 3.0 I would suggest reading something else. This book just isn't written well, but it tells the story even if it is slow and boring at times. You will always know where the turns are and when they are coming, but what makes the book far worse is the obnoxious characters and the male counterparts that don't know when enough is enough and fight over a girl who can't make up her mind. I found that while Zoey isn't all that strong of a lead, but further the solutions seem to fall into her lap and she doesn't really have to work on the solutions just be present and wave her hands around. It was rather disappointing, but I found it to be somewhat enjoyable. It's not the best paranormal I've seen, but it's far from the worst.
Zoey Redbird is your typical teenage girl who happens to get Marked at school. Being marked means you die and wake up as a fledgling, and in the process of changing into a vampyre. On her way home her parents are devout People of the Faith (religious group), and it throws her family into the warpath. Her father hates that she's been marked, and blames her for her bad behavior as to why she's marked. Her family turns on her, and its her grandmother Zoey runs to that aids her. At her house, she passes out and has a vision of Nyx, the vampyre goddess who changes her life even further.
Now I am used to strong female character leads and frankly this just isn't one of those. Personally she acts like a pampered teenage girl who whines constantly. I find I wanted to rip her throat out to stop all the whining and complaining, than there's the nearly constant dreaming of the hot vampyres that waltz around her. Further there are so many celebrity comparisons that it was so overdone and just terrible to read. Plus her infatuation with older men as a teen and wanting to be with 35-40 year olds is rather disgusting.
Her friends Damien, Shaunee, Stevie Rae, and Erin all are just about as bad. There is the gay geeky Damine, the separated twins, Shaunee and Erin, and the country Stevie Rae and they compliment each other pretty well. I just couldn't get attached to any of them at all, because they are so over the top obnoxious that I found it nearly nauseating. I wish they were a bit more down to earth and frankly less drama focused/obnoxious. I just couldn't get into them at all.
As well, there is almost nothing to the plot. I felt it was like being on a roller coaster; yeah there are twists and turns, but you always know exactly where you're going to end up. There was almost no shock or wow factor in the novel. Pretty much you always knew where you were going throughout the book. There is one I forgot to mention the evil Aphrodite that I actually enjoyed. Aphrodite is a crazy stuck-up snob, but there is a sort of realistic nature to her that I found was done pretty well.
I said before that "This girl is a Ho." That is because she is juggling two "boyfriends" at the same time and while they both seem to know about each other, she cannot just pick one and stick with it. Okay yeah, she imprints with Heath, her old human ex-boyfriend, and she is emotionally attracted to Erik, a fellow fledgling at the House of Night. They both fight for her and it's rather sad that they both don't drop her like a rock. I found that both were just stereotypical jocks with almost no personality aside, "Must have Zoey" and thumping their chest.
While this book is rated a 3.0 I would suggest reading something else. This book just isn't written well, but it tells the story even if it is slow and boring at times. You will always know where the turns are and when they are coming, but what makes the book far worse is the obnoxious characters and the male counterparts that don't know when enough is enough and fight over a girl who can't make up her mind. I found that while Zoey isn't all that strong of a lead, but further the solutions seem to fall into her lap and she doesn't really have to work on the solutions just be present and wave her hands around. It was rather disappointing, but I found it to be somewhat enjoyable. It's not the best paranormal I've seen, but it's far from the worst.
