REVIEW - Marked by P.C. and Kristen Cast (Rant Edition)

Book Information

Series: House of Night | Book No.: 1 | Source: Library (THANK GOD!) | Pages: 306 | Publisher: St. Martin's Griff 

Summary

 The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed.  In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire--that is, if she makes it through the Change.  Not all of those who are chosen do.  It’s tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling.  She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.  But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers.  When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.



Review

I cannot believe I actually considered picking up this book. With all the hype from this book, I imagined that this novel (and I'm being nice by calling this a novel) would have at least SOME form of substance. How horribly wrong I was.

Let's start with the horrible, horrible character development. There are four types of characters in this book:

1. Zoey

2. People that are not Zoey (followers, etc.)

3. The evil people that hate Zoey

4. The evil people that pose no threat that just flat-out hate Zoey

I would have to fall into the 3. If I possessed the power to leap into a book and manifest myself into one of the characters, I would do so, and I would find a way to snap Zoey's neck and every other character that has a cardboard personality's neck. Unfortunately, then there would be no need for a sequel due to the fact that everyone will be perished.

Back on track with the horrible excuse for character development. Let's see. Where to start? You have Zoey, a shallow, horrible excuse for a "vampyre". She is attractive, "intelligent", (I find it hard to believe that due to the stupidity she displays in many scenes of the book) and all the boys in school are lusting over her, yet she keeps the whiny "I hate my life" persona. Get a life, Zoey. Oh wait. She did get a life. She became the most powerful "vampyre" at the House of Night because she displays powerful from the goddess, Nyx.

Then you have a homosexual, Damien, and "twins", (they're called that because they think alike, even though one's black and one's white) whose names escape me, but really, what more do they add to the book instead for pity attempts at humor and the occassional "assistence" with Zoey and kicking bad-booty butt? Really? These characters are cookie-cutter cutouts that seriously are, dare I say, stupid, pathetic morons.

You then have the "foe" called a "ho", Aphrodite. Oh great. More Greek mythology puns. You're already worshiping the the goddess of night, which the Casts fail to realize that if you put a Greek goddess in your book, there has to be something other Greek related in there. OH! I KNOW! LET'S NAME A GIRL APHRODITE! That'll distract everyone from the disconnections of the mythology. Well, let's say Aphrodite is the stereotypical ho with no depth or anything. Ugh, there had to be at least something good about this book, eh?

Let's talk about the mixtures of mythology and the horrible (I really need a new adjective to describe the severity of suckiness this book shows.) try to draw me in. First, you have the goddess of night, Nyx, which is clearly Greek mythology, the witchcraft properties of all the different elements, (fire, air, earth, water, and spirit) and the Cherokee Indian spirits and stuff. Yes. Stuff. I said it. I suck at naming specifics. And then you have the BASHING of Christians, which I found disgusting and immature. This book makes the stereotype that all Christians are Bible-thumpers, shove-it-down-your-throat types of people.

The plot. Ready? One word. Just one! Poopy. (If you read it, you'd get it.)

All in all, just to reiterate and summarize, I hated this book for many reasons: characters, plot, everything.

Sorry for the rant, but I had to fuel at this horrible excuse for a book. Oh, and it only gets worse. Trust me.

Love from a reader that cares about your time and hopes you don't waste it reading this garbage,

Brianna