Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Review - Destined: A House of Night Novel

Destined
House of Night
By: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pub. Date: April 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0312387983
Pages: 336

Review: 

Before the eleventh book from the popular House of Night series is released this fall, get caught up on all the drama with the today's paperback release of book nine, Destined. St. Martin's Griffin was nice enough to send me a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Despite being the ninth installment, Destined flows more like a stand-alone spin-off, where Aurox and Neferet are summoned by the white bull, but Neferet come up with a plan for Aurox to kill the white bull, so she can become the one and only Goddess of Vampyres.

The heroine, seventeen-year-old Zoey Redbird, is struggling with the possible death of her mother, while at the same time she stumbles upon Neferet's plan to take control of the Houses, who has returned to the House despite her previous evil actions. Neferet awkwardly accepts Rephaim (who has been granted the gift of humanity, so he can be with the love of his life, Stevie Rae) at the House of Night. Aurox isn't too far behind, causing chaos in the Houses. Zoey and her friends have their hands full as they try to stop Neferet's evil plans.

I have to admit that I haven't read every book in the series and the ones I have read have been out-or-order, but I always understood the basic plots of the Vampyre school. There is a lot going on Destined with many characters seeming to be out-of-character at times, especially with Kalona. Yet again, Zoey has a lot to deal with as she learns of her mother's death and, along wither grandmother, tries to uncover how her mother died, so she can finally prove to the Vampyre High Council that Neferet is pure evil. Rephaim has a bigger part (note: I'm comparing this to the few House of Night books I have actually read), but I found his story to be a distraction as well as the authors' overuse of eleven different narrations. I do like the fresh spin of the vampire (Vampyre) genre, but Destined's subplots seem to be too forced at times. Overall, Destined isn't my favorite out of the series, but it is still entertaining.






 
About the Authors:

 #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author P.C. CAST is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance writer, as well as an experienced speaker and teacher. Her novels have been awarded YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and have received the prestigious Oklahoma Book Award, as well as the PRISM, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers Best, Holt Medallion, Beacon, Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice, and Affaire de Coeur awards. She lives in Oklahoma with lots of dogs, cats, horses, and a burro. KRISTIN CAST is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who teams up with her mother to write the House of Night series. She has stories in several anthologies, as well as editorial credits. Currently Kristin is working on her first stand-alone novel, a dark, mysterious fairy tale.

Visit http://www.houseofnightseries.com/ for more info on the book series. 

2 comments:

  1. I loved this series when I first started reading it, and now, I'm actually falling behind a little. I think that sometimes, when a series lasts for a long time, everything becomes a little forced. Especially when I think about the time the story spans over, it becomes harder to believe in the characters and their resilience.
    Great review :)

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  2. Nice review! I've read every book except the last (which I have but haven't gotten to yet) and they are all fantastic. However, I've noticed the downhill slope they are starting to head toward (maybe I'm afraid of that and that's why I haven't got to the last one yet, IDK) but she's still a great read. Thanks for the review!

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