I purchased this book.

Do not read this book without having book five ready to dive into immediately after.

By this point the series is literary crack, unputadownable (to use a phrase I hate, but it fits). Zoey Redbird is a chosen of the night goddess Nyx, which means she has powers and will someday become a vampyre. Her friends are all gifted as well, beyond just being marked to become vampyres.

Zoey's circle is still recovering from last book's plot of I'm-lying-to-you-to-protect-you, but after a vision from Aphrodite it's clear that Zoey needs to start leaning on them again, even if evil High Priestess Neferet's mind reading powers might risk them all in the process.

Newly thrown into the mix are Stark, a vampire Bullseye, who can hit his target every time, even if he doesn't know what his target is, and Zoey's Grandmother, pulled into an active role when she finally puts a name and face to the big mysterious evil they are facing. But Stark dies in Zoey's arms, much like Stevie Rae died in the second book only to be reborn as a red-marked fledgeling. Sure that the same is true of Stark, Zoe hatches a plan to intervene and steal Stark from Neferet's influence.

But something is watching her from the shadows, something that's angry and growing power and Zoe must find a way to stop it and stop Neferet while protecting her friends and family as well.

I am absolutely as hooked on this series as I was on Buffy. It's smart, snarky, dark and absolutely engaging. I made the mistake of not having book five sitting ready when I hit the end and it's a shame, since the Casts have hit a stride born of past world building and past set up launching the characters into fast, readable whirlwind adventures. The House of Night series is poised to become my favorite YA world out there. In short, I humbly await more. ( )

Zoey finaly starts to grow with her responsibilities after that desaster with her boyfriends, although that problem isn't really solved yet. The other characters, especially Neferet, Aphrodite and Stevie Rae, also developed in the story and everything is getting more exciting, more magical and the whole story is really addictive. ( )

I read this book to pass an afternoon thinking that it would be another witty but still overtly cheesy teen romance. Unfortunately only the latter part is true. This is probably one of the poorest quality published works of fiction I have read in a long time. I have two main problems with this book:

1) I hate the main character. It is not easy to sympathise or empathise with a girl who seems to have little conscience or moralisation - and likes to whine about this fact on every page. "Oh God, I'm in love with another boy. What do I do?" Boo for you, get over it and show some consistancy.

2) The "down with the kids" approach the authors seem to take to language. I have never met anyone who speaks this way - granted, I'm not an American teen, but as a nineteen year old student studying English this book grates every nerve of my being. Particularly the parts where she refuses to swear and comes out with utter drivel - "poopy" being a common favourite. Even my friends (I have 3 who are the children of vicars) let slip a nice old swear word every now and then. It's a fact of life.

I hate to sound mean, and clearly this is a popular book so kudos to you if you enjoyed it. I just needed to get that off my chest and warn ANYONE WITH A STRONG BELIEF IN THE GOODNESS OF MONOGAMY AND GRAMMAR: STEER CLEAR OF THIS BOOK.

I give it two stars only because the creativity of the story keeps me reading. That, and my wish to see Zoey Redbird (maybe?) get her comeuppance. I can hope.... ( )

This book is so lame. Zoey is ssoooo annoying (and a skank). I want to strangle her! All the characters are utterly obnoxious, including the dog. The dialouge is overly repitive "oh, woe is me, I used to have three boyfriends, but they found out what a skank I am. I'm so special because I have fancy tatoos, but I pretend to be humble about it. I want brown pop." I'm only reading this series, for however much I despise the characters and diologue, the plot is pretty good and I want to find out what happens. ( )

wonderful book ( )