Wednesday 8 August 2012

Series Spotlight: House of Night #3-4

House of Night by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

 

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Title: Chosen - Book #3

Author: P.C Cast & Kristin Cast

Publisher: UK - Atom | US - St. Martin's Griffin

Publication date: UK - 26/02/2009 | US - March 2008

Format: Paperback - 320 pages

Genre: Paranormal - Young Adult

 

 

Zoey's best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead - in an eww! zombie! kind of way, not in a cool vampyre kind of  way. She's struggling to retain her humanity and Zoey doesn't have a clue how to help. But she does know that anything they discover must be kept secret.


Unfortunately, trust has become a rare commodity. Sinister forces are at work at the House of Night, where the line between friend and enemy is becoming dangerously blurred.



My thoughts:


If you haven't checked out my review for the second book in the series yet please do because basically I had exactly the same problems for both of these books. 


To recap, Zoey gets marked as a soon-to-be vampyre. She has to attend the House of Night in order to make the transition into a full vampyre or she dies. Essentially the House of Night is just like a high school for vampyre's so loads of high school drama ensues. Things happen that I won't spoil for everybody and that brings us right back to the third book in the House of Night series. So…when Chosen starts Zoey has already been at the House of Night for a little while, developed new relationships with a brilliant group of friends and for some reason feels the need to have three boyfriends. Her new powers and difficult leadership responsibilities make things even more challenging to Zoey and soon tests her to the limits. 


The plot has definitely started to thicken with this book. I really do love how the authors are taking their time with revealing what the series as a whole is going to be about. So far we know Zoey is chosen to do something apart from becoming High Priestess one day but so far we don't know what. I'm really intrigued. 


I've mentioned before that I hate it when characters behave totally unrealistically such as Zoey with her love life. I'm sorry but nobody has three boyfriends - especially for no apparent reason. I had this same problem in Chosen. Thankfully though Zoey did kind of get what was coming to her in this book so that did make me feel a little better. I don't really feel bad about that either - I thought it was great that she learnt from her mistakes and is paying the price for them even if they were stupid mistakes in the first place.


I still loved the characters most of all in this read. There's such a great variety of characters and personalities that there's always somebody you look forward to coming up in the story whether they're good or bad.


Overall I enjoyed reading this one - it was a little more heavy on the plot side of things so I can't wait to find out what happens next!


My rating: 7/10



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Title: Untamed - Book #4

Author: P.C Cast & Kristin Cast

Publisher: UK - Atom | US - St. Martin's Griffin

Publication date: UK - 04/06/2009 | US - September 2008

Format: Paperback - 411 pages

Genre: Paranormal - Young Adult

 

 

A week ago Zoey had a group of special friends, three boyfriends and a (kinda) clear conscience. Now she has none of the above. Luckily, ice-queen Aphrodite is showing signs of melting and ex-roomie Stevie Rae isn't as dead as she'd though. Though Stevie Rae's now hanging out in the tunnels with freaks - totally gross.


Assuming she can get them to listen, Zoey will need all her friends as events take a frightening turn at the House of Night school for vampyres. Shocking true intentions are about to come to light, loyalties will be tested and an ancient evil is about to rise again.


Some days being special just doesn't seem all that . . .



My thoughts:


This is a difficult one for me just because there was the same number of things that I liked and didn't like with this book. I'm trying to decide which list of things are more important, in my opinion, to get right in any book.

 

I still stand by my other reviews in that I love the characters in this series even if some of them, namely Zoey, make stupid and sometimes unrealistic mistakes. I really like how varied and how they work so great together generally. 

 

The plot is starting to unravel quite a bit more in Untamed. I really like the way it's heading so far and I think the plot has a lot of potential now that this book reveals quite a bit more story wise. 

 

A new character is introduced in this book who I have to say is my new favourite. Stark is a new student at the House of Night after transferring from the House of Night in Chicago. He's doesn't appear that much in the story compared to other characters but I'm so excited to read more of him in the next books!

 

As for what I didn't like about this book - I found it a little too cliche at parts. It wasn't events in the plot but little things such as things that some characters say - sometimes they were entirely too used. 

 

Overall though this was a nice read albeit not my favourite so far in the series. I like the turn in the story and the direction the plot is heading in. I really hope it lives up to the potential it has but there's only one way to find that out!

 

My rating: 6/10

 

P.C. and Kristin Cast:

P.C. - Goodreads - Kristin | Website | Blog | Facebook

 

Books in the series:

  1. Marked
  2. Betrayed
  3. Chosen
  4. Untamed
  5. Hunted
  6. Tempted
  7. Burned
  8. Awakened
  9. Destined
  10. Hidden

House of Night by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

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