Series Review: House of Night by Kristen and P.C. Cast

Released: 2007
Publishers: Atom (UK)
Format: Paperback
Genre: YA, Vampyre, Romance
Rating: 4/5




Reading Order:
Marked
Betrayed
Chosen
Untamed
Hunted
Tempted
Burned
Awakened
Dragon's Oath (Novella)
Destined
Lenobia's Vow (Novella)
Hidden
Neferet's Curse (Novella)
Revealed
Kalona's Fall (Novella)
Redeemed

"So the bad news was that I'd have to move into the House of Night, a private boarding school, known by all my friends as the Vampyre finishing school, where I would spend the next four years going through bizarre and unnameable physical changes, as well as a total and permanent life shake-up. And that's only if the whole process didn't kill me.

But the good news was that I wouldn't have to take the geometry test tomorrow."

When sixteen-year-old Zoey is marked by the Tracker, she knows her old life is over. Now she has to leave her friends and family to join the House of Night school, where there's only one subject Zoey needs to study: Vampyre 101.

Of course, there's always a catch, and this one's nice and simple: if you fail, you die....

[Blurb from Marked]

******************

I first started reading this series back in 2010 when I borrowed it off a friend who said I might enjoy it. At the time only a couple of the books had been released in the UK. I loved the world of House of Night and remember finishing the first book in a day as I was hooked. I was a teen and these novels were right up my reading alley. The book releases slowed down after a while and so I left the series after Burned to wait for a few more books to come out before picking it back up again.

Cut to the end of 2018 and I was in a book slump. I remember going through my bookshelves, re-organising it actually, when I moved my House of Night (HoN) collection and it was a light bulb moment. I had been purchasing the books over the years and finally in that moment decided to pick them back up again. It was a completely different reading experience from when I first picked them up.
 I remember as a teen absolutely loving the main character, Zoey, and the plot of each story transfixed me to the page. However when I read it again I realised a lot of minor plot points were silly teen dramas that I began to get irritated by. Funny how you reflect on teen books when you're older. Don't get me wrong I still loved the series and continued to push myself to finish it. I finally finished the last book, Redeemed, this week and I was happy to have finished the sixteen book series.

The series follows Zoey as she learns to become a fledgling and hopefully later to become a vampyre. We meet her 'Nerd Herd': Stevie-Rae, Damian, Shaunee and Erin as well as a few other characters such as the love-hate Aphrodite who helps to propel the story and the situations they get themselves into. It features a huge teen trope of trying to fit in at school when you're seen as the "new kid" and how the new kid is seen as special and saves the day.

I loved Zoey's back story and the relationship with her grandmother. She comes from Cherokee ancestors and it's really cool to see these elements explained within the story. Talking of this I also love the use of locations within the series; set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the series takes a trip to far off places like Italy and the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The attention to detail really made me feel like I had been to these places, or better yet dream of going to these places. I can really see the series becoming a TV show as there is so much content to play with.

The series also features four novellas and they delve into the back story of some of the adults in the HoN world, Dragon, Lenobia, Neferet and Kalona. They are definitely worth reading before the next book in the series (as detailed above) to really put into perspective the role they'll play in the series going forward. Learning about how they came to be vampyres was interesting and brought an historical element to the series, proving how their kind has been able to adapt and change over the centuries.

There is also a spin off series that P.C. and Kristin have written called the OtherWorld series, this starts with the novel Loved, which I have yet to read. There is also a graphic novel, Legacy, and a Fledgling Handbook for fanatics of the series.

I would say this is great for a teen who loves vampyres and is looking for a good series to delve into, however anyone slightly older might find some of the plot scenarios a little too "teeny" but overall a really good read. When I came to re-read it it gave me a huge sense of nostalgia from when I read it as a teen and I certainly enjoyed the slightly different take on the vampyre genre. So although I didn't love it as much the second time round it still gets a 4 out of 5 for the memories I got back and the sense of completion when I finished it. I won't mention anything about the story but it is certainly a dark tale that grips you and one for teens older than 16.

Has anyone else read the book? If so let me know in the comment below what you thought of the series.

Enjoy x

Author's Website: Infinitely Interesting
GoodReads: Marked (House of Night Book One)