Book Review #2
Book: Marked (House of Night series, book 1)
Authors: PC Cast and Kristen Cast
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: (as taken from Chapters.Indigo.ca) The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird’s world, vampyres have always existed. In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire—that is, if she makes it through the Change. Not all of those who are chosen do. It’s tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. But 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 club, 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.
Days to read: 10
Rating: 2/5
My thoughts: Alright. So this book was given to me by a friend’s recommendation. At first, when she told me about it, I wasn’t too thrilled about the prospect of yet another vampire book out there—but she swore it was nothing like Twilight and the vampires were like real vampires. I couldn’t really say no to reading this, so I took the hopeful chance.
It took me a really long time to get through Marked—I don’t know if it’s because of school or the book content, but it just took me forever. I found the beginning was really slow. Maybe it’s because the main character, Zoey, was sixteen. I couldn’t connect to her on a personal level, because she’s three years younger than me. What I did enjoy about the novel, though, was the raw honesty. The mother-daughter co-authors weren’t afraid to talk about such personal and controversial topics like sex and drugs. It was refreshing to read a teenage story through a young adult’s eyes who isn’t naive about the world around her.
I think the only good part of the book was three quarters of the way in. The ending lacked any interesting punches, I found. The characters were sort of(?) entertaining to get to know — but they seemed quite cliched. They were just like any other high school novel (even if they are vampyres.)
Marked is the first book in the House of Night series. The problem with me is that once I start a series, I have to continue with it. But I highly doubt I’ll even bother with the rest of the books in this series.
