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 “Destined” the ninth book in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. The tenth book, “Hidden,” is set for release in October.
I have to say, while I love a good book series, I was uniformly disappointed by this one. The final book in the House of Night series for now was a great disappointment.
The series continues with Rephaim being allowed into the House of Night to take vampyre classes, but the student body does not accept him. Neferet brings in some more evil red fledglings (not to be confused with the group of good red fledglings Stevie Rae leads) and they cause trouble among the students.
Neferet also has a new minion, Aurox, whose soul the goddess Nyx replaced with Heath’s soul. So we get to see Heath again, if only the spirit of him. I was so tired of his annoying character, so when he died, I was kind of glad he was out of the way.Zoey deals with the loss of her mother, who was murdered on Sylvia Redbird’s lavender farm in the last book. Thanatos, a member of the Vampyre High Council, arrives to watch over the school and suggests Zoey and her friends travel to the farm to perform a ritual and discover how Zoey’s mom died.
Everyone discovers that Neferet was behind the death of Zoey’s mother and they’re all outraged. Aurox and Dragon (the weapons master) attempt to disrupt the ritual, unsuccessfully.
Again, in this book, as in the others, I was not surprised at all with how the plot played out. Close to the end, about two-thirds of the way through the book, Aphrodite had a vision about Rephaim dying. Unfortunately, when she reveals what her vision is about, it kind of ruins the suspense.
P.C. and Kristin Cast also make a bad habit of writing from the points of view of the evil characters. Here’s some advice: Let the characters be evil and mysterious, so it’s a big surprise when they do something crazy. It would certainly make for a more enjoyable read.
I’m also baffled at the juvenile dialogue amongst the characters. They’re old enough to move away from home into a vampyre school, take care of themselves and have, ahem, intimate relations with one another, but they’re not old enough to have those mature decisions translate into the tone of their dialogue. In one scene after Aphrodite has a vision, some of the characters discuss how she doesn’t look good:
“She got flats on and her hair’s in a ponytail. That girl never wears flats and her hair usually looks like Barbie,” Kramisha said. “I mean regular Barbie and not none of those weird dolls like Tennis Barbie or Go to the Gym Barbie.”
And later:
“She doesn’t even have any lip gloss on. Bad sign,” Erin said.
“If she doesn’t have on any eye makeup, Hell has officially frozen over,” Shaunee said…
This insipid exchange goes on for about a page and a half, never advancing the plot or offering anything constructive to the scene whatsoever.
Next week I’ll be reviewing “Game of Thrones,” the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. At the time I wrote this review, I was pretty well into “Game of Thrones,” which clocks in at a staggering 720 pages. The second and third books are even longer tomes. Overall, it’s worlds better than these silly vampire novels. The narrative is an absolute breath of fresh air. So drop what you’re reading and go pick up “Game of Thrones.” It’s going to be epic.
If you missed the other books in the House of Night series:
Marked
Betrayed
Chosen
Untamed
Hunted
Tempted
Burned
Awakened