AWAKENED - House of Night #8, by P.C. & Kristen Cast
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
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?
Review:
Book #8 in the House of Night series was a big disappointment for me. The first few books in the series were entertaining - what with the House of Night being a finishing school of sorts, for vampires. But I now find that I'm growing tired of the plot and the series has started to drag - book 8 (keep in mind, all books are around 275 pages in length), and the MC Zoey, is still somewhere around her junior year of high school (I think? it's hard to keep track, since the concept of the school has fallen off from the plot)...the books started with her in her sophomore year, so you can see, she's not progressed far in time. With that being said - SO much has happened to her in this fictional "year" - enough that it could've spanned her entire time in high school.
As well, in many places it seems the authors are trying too hard to make sure they incorporate brand names, real public figures, and trendy topics - and while I believe in peppering in some of this throughout the book, I don't need to know that she's using her iPhone, every time she makes a call (maybe they're getting a kick back for mentioning? Who knows.). And it might be nit-picking, but it was things like that - along with some of the same references that are made throughout the entire series - by now, I think it's been said well over 30 times, that when Zoey cries, she get's all "snotty" - nice visual eh? Yeah, but it's repeated every. single. time. she. cries.
Anyhow. Net/net: I will say the ending did pick up in this one, so I may buy the next release when it comes out sometime around November - but probably more so, because I feel so committed...what having now gotten to book #8 in the series.