Sep
7
My sister-in-law Missy was reading the House of Night series when they were up for vacation and she left me the first three to read. I just finished Marked (House of Night, Book 1) and I have to say I quite enjoyed it! It’s about a teenage girl Zoey who is marked to become a vampire, sorry, I mean vampyre and she’s sent to this boarding school for fledgling vampyres.
Unlike, that other young adult vampire series, this one was a whole lot of fun. And while the main character doubted herself, she didn’t have the same kind of self-loathing that Bella had in Twilight.
One thing that stands out a bit for me is the really well done teenage speak. The author P.C. Cast writes it with her daughter Kristin Cast, and I have a feeling that while P.C. may be the brains behind the whole thing, Kristin rewrites a lot of the dialog to make it more genuine. For example, a lot of teenage speak in other books comes out like this:
Girl #1: Holy cow! Have you seen the new preview for the Tom Cruise movie?
Girl #2: Oh yes! He is so dreamy!
Whereas the Casts write like this:
Girl# 1: Eff, have you seen Channing Tatum lately?
Girl #2: I know, right?
Girl #1: Seriously!
Girl #2: Seriously!
Okay, maybe not quite like that, but you get the idea. And while some people may absolutely loathe reading stuff like that, I think it’s totally fun. Maybe I’m just a teenage girl at heart. Anyway, the book was lots of fun, and had a good Mean Girls high school vibe going on, while still keeping the action flowing and hinting at some major storyarcs for the series as a whole which I’m interested in seeing where they go. And the best part? No twinkle vampires! If you’re looking for a light, fun read, this is definitely worth a shot!
September 7th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Kristen read these books so I asked her opinion. Umm. She didn’t love them. But she read them all.
She claims that Zoey was too stupid and her friends were annoying. So that’s from one teen girl’s perspective but that doesn’t mean much since they are obviously popular. Glad you enjoyed it.
September 7th, 2009 at 11:49 am
“Maybe I’m just a teenage girl at heart.” Aren’t we all?
September 7th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Thanks for the review. I hadn’t heard of the books before but it’s great to know about them because my students will probably be reading them. And it definitely sounds like something I’d be interested in too. Have you read the Cirque Du Freak series? I haven’t yet.
September 7th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I’m a 12-year-old boy at heart. Either that or a butch dyke, depending on the day. Anyway, I’m more about fight scenes and double entendre.
September 7th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I saw a write up on this series in Entertainment Weekly (or was it People?). So I put it on my library hold list. My inner teenager is looking forward to Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (sequel to The Hunger Games). Much better than the Twilight series. But what isn’t?
September 8th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Thanks for the review. I am horrible about following which books are currently popular. Sadly I have not even read a book in a few months.
I bit off slightly more than I could chew with my last historical fiction book. I currently have a Vonnegut craving, but after that I should try to read a current book by an author have never read before.
January 31st, 2010 at 1:41 pm
I just started reading it and I will wait after finishing it then I will write my review. It’s kinda of intresting in the beginning it’s just make you keep going.