Many books in my book queue are waiting to be read, and a common theme among them is they’re all part of a series, trilogy or saga. Each Sunday, I’ll share a book from a series. You can read along with me, or add the books to your own reading list. This week, I’ll be reviewing “Awakened” the eighth book in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. The tenth book, “Hidden,” is set for release in October.
Shortly after Stark travels into the Otherworld to save Zoey from certain death, Jack, a student at the House of Night is murdered. Zoey and Stark are still hanging around at the Isle of Skye, so Stevie Rae has to step up and take charge of the chaos.
Stevie Rae believes Neferet killed Jack as a sacrifice to Darkness, but the Vampyre High Council doesn’t believe her.
In the meantime, Neferet is on a quest for immortality/war/chaos/evil/death and can shoot whip-like shadow threads from her wrists and hurt people or make them feel fear. In this book, her character has become even more evil than Kalona in the previous books. Her main focus is to kill Zoey and be the most powerful vampyre ever. She also wants to start a war between vampyres and humans, but at the same time she wants to control everything. She’s pure evil, but beyond that, she’s not all that terrifying. At the end, she has the white bull, an evil spirit, create a powerful minion for her and Nyx kind of intervenes. But I won’t ruin it for you.
The biggest part of the book is Stevie Rae trying to hold everything together. She imprints with Rephaim, one of Kalona’s sons who, if you recall, is half-raven half-human. They fall in love, which I’m sure you can see from a mile away, but it’s still a really sweet story. She spends most of the story trying to keep her relationship from the rest of the red fledglings while still trying to unite everyone.
Another major plot point is Kalona leaves a fragment of his soul in Stark in the Otherworld. The authors didn’t expound upon this part of their story, but I’m sure they will in future novels. Kalona can see Zoey through Stark’s eyes, which is kind of weird. Stark can feel Kalona in his body, but doesn’t know what’s going on yet.
Overall, the series is really draggy. Last week’s “Burned” was pretty exciting, but “Awakened” was about as invigorating as the sixth book — not very. The deaths of minor characters aren’t all that exciting, especially when they follow the death of the main character.
“Burned” was awesome because all of Zoey’s friends were trying to find a way to bring her back from death. The way some authors explore the concept of immortality and life after death can be really fascinating. It’s interesting to see what “rules” authors give to immortality. Is being immortal good or bad? Under what conditions can immortal characters die? How can they be brought back from the dead? The vampyres in the “House of Night” series live unusually long lives as it is. It’s hard to believe Neferet would want to live an even longer life.
I wish P.C. and Kristin Cast would focus more on the fascinating concepts of the book, rather than on the teenage angst and melodrama. The whole thing was, again, a bunch of teenagers running around deciding what to do to prevent the world from sinking into chaos. I’m also not happy with the suspense factor in the book. I feel like I should be surprised whenever the Neferet or Kalona does something evil. Instead, P.C. and Kristin Cast write from their perspective, so I already know what’s going to happen before it happens. The suspense is kind of ruined by then.
I’m a member on Shelfari, a place to track what you read. You can friend me on there (just search for me, Caryn Rupert) and we can chat about books you find exciting. I enjoy reading reviews of the books I review for Series Sunday, because I hear a lot of new perspectives and what people liked and disliked about a book in general. One reader compared the “House of Night” series to “True Blood.” Plenty of other readers had the same problem with the pacing of the series.
Join me next week for a review of “Destined,” the last book in the “House of Night” series for now. After that, we’re on to new and exciting adventures in the “Song of Ice and Fire” series.
If you missed the other books in the House of Night series:
Marked
Betrayed
Chosen
Untamed
Hunted
Tempted
Burned