Book Review: Awakened by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Title: Awakened (Goodreads/Awakened)
Author: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: Jan. 4 2011
Other Titles In Series:
Burned

Goodreads Summary:

At the start of Awakened, the pulse-pounding eighth installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey has returned, mostly whole, from the Otherworld to her rightful place as High Priestess at the House of Night. Her friends are just glad to have her back, but after losing her human consort, Heath, will Zoey—or her relationship with her super- hot Warrior, Stark—ever be the same? Stevie Rae is drawn even closer to Rephaim, the Raven Mocker with whom she shares a mysterious and powerful Imprint, but he is a dangerous secret that isolates her from her school, her red fledglings, and even her best friends. When the dark threat of Neferet—who is coming closer and closer to achieving her twisted goal of immortality—and Kalona returns, what will it take to keep the House of Night from being lost forever, and what will one desperate girl do to keep her heart from being irreparably broken?

My Review:

I cannot give you a concise reason why I continue to read this series. I'm so sick of it, and sometimes I feel like throwing my book across the room, because nothing new ever seems to happen. There hasn't been a new plot development since Kalona in book 4 or 5! I checked Awakened out from the library with not much of an intention in reading it (because my TBR pile is huge!) but I found myself getting sucked in anyway!

The House of Night books aren't terrible. I enjoy them, I just feel like there's so many of them that they should end sometime soon. Awakened didn't do that much for me- it was certainly entertaining and I enjoyed revisting old characters I'd loved, but it lacked an aire of mystery of intrigue in regards to the plot. I think because we get to see from every character's POV we know what they're all up to and it takes away from the mystery or suspense of what the "bad guys" are planning, since we see them plan also.

There were some sad tragic moments in this book though! But it almost seems like they were thrown in there just because nothing else was happening, so the deaths would perk the readers attention again. The death at the beginning (whose name I wouldn't mention for fear of spoilers- but I will say it was a main-ish character) seemed pointless and only thrown in there for tears sake, not to add to the plot.

There are other vampire series I'd recommend before this one... but if you like your vampire series, you should try House of Night. Start at the beginning- the first ones are a lot better. I also want to note I think these books should only be read by the more mature spectrum of YA readers, as there is frequent strong language and a lot of implied sexual content. That's one thing that's bugged me a little throughout the whole series, though I guess it doesn't bother everyone.

3 out of 5 stars

Book Review: Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast

My Rating: 3/5

Zoey Redbird is the youngest High Priestess in House of Night history and is the only person – vamp or fledgling – that can stop the evil Neferet from raising all kinds of immortal trouble. And she might just have a chance if she wasn’t so busy being dead.

Well, dead is too strong a word. Stevie Rae knows she can bring her BFF back from her unscheduled va-cay in the Otherworld. But it’s going to take a lot more than hoping to bring Zoey back. Stevie Rae will have to give up a few secrets of her own . . .

This is the seventh book in the House of Night series. I've heard there's plans for 9, but also for 12, so I guess we'll just have to see how many there will be total. Like the previous book Tempted, this one is told from multiple character POVs. It was similar to the other books though, and that's one thing I've started to get sick of with this series. There's alwasy something new in each book, but in the end, not really much has changed. They're usually not much closer to getting rid of the antagonist.The end of Tempted was a huge shock for me, but that was about the only shock provided in this series. This book was entertaining and kept me reading because it changed views and storylines, and moved quickly, even if in the end, we weren't much further from where we were 2 books ago plot wise. One thing that has stayed consistent through the series is the narration, whether told from 1st or 3rd person, is written like a voice talking. It adds a lot of character, but gets extremely annoying after a while, and sometimes I wish they could be written better. I really liked the different perspectives though, getting out Zoey's head and into other people provided a lot more stories.

The more of these books come out, the more complex the mytholgy and religion of the vampyres get. 90% of it I can track with, but there were a few times I got mixed up because there was so much going on, and there's still some questions I have that hopefully will get answered in future books, or maybe I need to reread the series because I just forgot (Such as, how can Kalona be killed, isn't he immortal...?).

Regardless of my complaints, if you liked the whole series, you'll like this one. I enjoyed reading it, and I might recommend it, depending on who you are. It was a pretty quick read for me, even though there were a lot of complex stuff. Start with Marked, read through them all in a row. No time takes place between books and it's easier to do it that way and it's a lot simpler to follow.

*content warning: A lot of strong language, some sexual content