On This Page
Description
The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampires 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 show more average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampire 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 vampire friends. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
PandorasRequiem Same flavor *grin* as these books in this series. If you like this series, you will also most likely "Blue Bloods" by Melissa De La Cruz.
Private "Vampire Finishing School": narrated by the outcast who has problems fitting into her new surroundings, her new attraction to blood and the Changes in her body. But, she has good friends who stand by her and attracts the eye of a quite fetching young man. Good read, same type of genre. :)
Also recommended by Kerian
60
kassyavon You will Love this book if you like The House of night series.
85
Member Reviews
Ugh, what a paint-by-numbers attempt at teen vampire romance. A cardboard version of Bella Swan is sent to a Wiccan Vampire Hogwarts, where she learns she has more magical goddess gifts than anyone but a Mary Sue has rights to. What's off-putting about this book? The flat-toned writing. The way the character becomes a dithering idiot in the presence of any attractive male. The juxtaposition of contemporary American slut-shaming ("you nasty ho bag") and a premise that sanctifies femininity, sensuality, bloodlust, and desire. The hodge-podge of mythological, native, and spiritual motifs (also the ways that "our vampires are different!) muddy the world's "flavour" so much that it's just an unsavoury pile of mis-matched references. show more
Paranormalcy (Kiersten White) was better. And that's saying a lot. show less
Paranormalcy (Kiersten White) was better. And that's saying a lot. show less
Like I said, the basic idea behind this book isn't original. "Special schools for special people" can be found all throughout young adult and children's literature. The world the authors have created is interesting, although I'm not sure how well it would hold up if more details were given. What I mean is, human beings are frightened of vampyres. However, vampyres are so insanely popular in the arts that all the really well-known people in any area (painting, acting, etc.) tend to be vampyres. Vampyres like Aphrodite help prevent major disasters (Aphrodite tries to hide her visions, but, when she can't, the information from her visions helps prevent things like plane crashes and more). I'm sure there are vampyres with other abilities show more that the world at large finds useful. There are rules against vampyres feeding willy nilly from humans. And yet, despite all of the good things vampyres do for people, their popularity, and all the rules they have protecting human beings, they're still feared. It works from afar, but I'm not sure how cohesive it would all be if the Casts tried to create a fuller picture of the outside world. However, it looks kind of like they're going to keep the focus on the House of Night and vampyres, so maybe that won't ever be a problem for them.
While I liked the book as a whole, it kind of bothered me how neatly everything came together for Zoey, especially since she seemed to have such bad taste in friends and boyfriends in her human life. As a human, her best friend was an airhead who was trying to steal her almost-boyfriend (Zoey always calls him that, as though to distance herself from him, but it really just makes her seem wishy washy - it's obvious Heath isn't going to change, and you already think he's lacking in brain cells, so just dump him already, Zoey!). Her almost-boyfriend cheated or almost-cheated on her with her best friend and was slowly killing all his brain cells with alcohol and drugs. After she's Marked, Zoey instantly ends up with a crew of nice, trustworthy friends who don't act the slightest bit jealous that she's obviously meant for great things and has Erik Night, the hottest guy at the school, chasing after her. The only remaining sign of her previously iffy taste in people (other than that Heath continues to be a problem) is her decision to be with Erik Night despite the little things that prick her attention - that he was with Aphrodite for so long despite her obvious meanness and selfishness and that he didn't seem to have any problems with Aphrodite drugging a human guard.
Near the end of the book, when Neferet makes Zoey the new leader of the Dark Daughters, Zoey finds herself wondering why she ever felt she couldn't tell Neferet everything. My theory, which Aphrodite's final words seem to support, is that Neferet and other mature vampyres are involved in whatever it is that makes fledgling vampyres that appeared to die in the Change turn into something red-eyed and evil. Zoey didn't see the first third former die, but she did see the second - she sees Neferet give him something to drink, something that supposedly makes his death less painful, and she's told that Neferet is always there for the fledglings who die.
At the time, all of these things seem like the activities of someone who's trying to help fledglings with inevitable death, but what if the stuff she gave them to drink turned them into something else? What if Neferet is always with those who reject the Change just so that she can help them become true monsters? There have been several times when Neferet has gone cold and scary, and Zoey always brushes those moments off, but what if there's something more to them? After years of being sexually abused by her father, Neferet may not have many reasons to like humans, so maybe she's working against them while appearing to try to help vampyres and humans live in harmony.
Unrelated to all of that, I wonder: what's with the popularity of facial tattoos lately? Pretty facial tattoos also came up in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, and I'm sure they've come up in other books I've read recently. I suppose that when/if all of these things are made into movies, the facial tattoos will make for some lovely visuals.
Again, unrelated to all of that: I wonder if church groups have been slamming this series? The only organized religion (other than all the Nyx worship) that comes up in this book is the People of Faith, who make me think of the people who make their kids burn Harry Potter books and Pokemon stuff.
(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less
While I liked the book as a whole, it kind of bothered me how neatly everything came together for Zoey, especially since she seemed to have such bad taste in friends and boyfriends in her human life. As a human, her best friend was an airhead who was trying to steal her almost-boyfriend (Zoey always calls him that, as though to distance herself from him, but it really just makes her seem wishy washy - it's obvious Heath isn't going to change, and you already think he's lacking in brain cells, so just dump him already, Zoey!). Her almost-boyfriend cheated or almost-cheated on her with her best friend and was slowly killing all his brain cells with alcohol and drugs. After she's Marked, Zoey instantly ends up with a crew of nice, trustworthy friends who don't act the slightest bit jealous that she's obviously meant for great things and has Erik Night, the hottest guy at the school, chasing after her. The only remaining sign of her previously iffy taste in people (other than that Heath continues to be a problem) is her decision to be with Erik Night despite the little things that prick her attention - that he was with Aphrodite for so long despite her obvious meanness and selfishness and that he didn't seem to have any problems with Aphrodite drugging a human guard.
Near the end of the book, when Neferet makes Zoey the new leader of the Dark Daughters, Zoey finds herself wondering why she ever felt she couldn't tell Neferet everything. My theory, which Aphrodite's final words seem to support, is that Neferet and other mature vampyres are involved in whatever it is that makes fledgling vampyres that appeared to die in the Change turn into something red-eyed and evil. Zoey didn't see the first third former die, but she did see the second - she sees Neferet give him something to drink, something that supposedly makes his death less painful, and she's told that Neferet is always there for the fledglings who die.
At the time, all of these things seem like the activities of someone who's trying to help fledglings with inevitable death, but what if the stuff she gave them to drink turned them into something else? What if Neferet is always with those who reject the Change just so that she can help them become true monsters? There have been several times when Neferet has gone cold and scary, and Zoey always brushes those moments off, but what if there's something more to them? After years of being sexually abused by her father, Neferet may not have many reasons to like humans, so maybe she's working against them while appearing to try to help vampyres and humans live in harmony.
Unrelated to all of that, I wonder: what's with the popularity of facial tattoos lately? Pretty facial tattoos also came up in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, and I'm sure they've come up in other books I've read recently. I suppose that when/if all of these things are made into movies, the facial tattoos will make for some lovely visuals.
Again, unrelated to all of that: I wonder if church groups have been slamming this series? The only organized religion (other than all the Nyx worship) that comes up in this book is the People of Faith, who make me think of the people who make their kids burn Harry Potter books and Pokemon stuff.
(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less
Zoey’s normal life has been derailed by her being marked by a Vampyre Tracker. She is now a Vampyre, chosen by the goddess Nyx and entering the private school and vampire compound known as the House of Night
But in the House she finds that the leader of the Elite Group, the Dark Daughters, is pretty much terrible and she finds she needs to replace her. Thankfully she has been granted the greatest and rarest power, never seen before, compared to any other vampyre in history.
I try, I really do, in every review to say something positive about a book. There is usually something, some gem, some nugget, some facet somewhere I can seize on and say “hey, despite all the other problems, this is pretty decent.”
I tried with this book. I show more really did. But, honestly, I can’t think of one tiny, redeeming feature. It’s a a book that manages to be terrible on just about every level. With many other books I would have thrown it away, deleted it from my tablet and DNFed it after vigorously expressing my contempt. But not only am I now committed to reading this series due to the diabolical machinations of Cyna and Mavrynthia and especially Merriska I am now doomed to read this series – but also this book was so bad, so unutterably, shamefully awful that I felt the need to keep going. It was a combination of watching a terrible trainwreck and you know you should look away but are somehow drawn back to the horror, watching someone about to do something epicly ridiculous and watching them to see if they’re really going to go through with it and just reading in a vague, desperate hope that at some point the author would yell “ha! Fooled you, this is a parody!”
It was not a parody. If it were a parody it would be a bad parody because good parodies are more subtle than this.
So, since there’s absolutely nothing right with this book, let’s tackle the wrong. The oh-so-very wrong.
I will begin with the marginalised characters – on team good guy we have one gay man, Damien, and one Black woman, Shaunee, playing sassy sidekicks to the protagonist (along with two white woman, one of which, Erin shares exactly the same personality as Shaunee because characterisation is hard. We also get the joy of these two characters calling each other twin. The other is just a kicked puppy dog following Zoey around with utter devotion she developed within 10 second of meeting her because characterisation is hard).
Damien is gay, we know this because it is mentioned all the time. Even when mentioning things completely irrelevant to his sexuality – like how smart he is – he is the “gay genius.” We’ve seen this trope before and labelled it the Lesbian Shark. It definitely applies. Like all of Zoey’s “friends” Damien exists for the greater glory of Zoey, being slavishly loyal and obedient pretty much from the first meeting. As a bonus he’s used to excuse using the slur f@ggot. We also have such joys as Damien not counting as a guy because he’s the, direct quote “token gay”. He also takes on the rule as the expert of all things “peniled” because while having no relationship himself, it is the duty of all good GBFs to play advisor and counsel to straight ladies. To top this off we have derision of gay men who are “swishy girly-guys”. And all Lesbians are some kind of like minded cult who spend their whole time in the temple because Matriarchal Goddess = Lesbian devotion.
Frankly, it’s almost insulting when the author has a terribad awful caricature call Damien a “f@g” so Zoey can have a PSDA on how homophobia is wrong – you don’t get to inflict this utterly dreadful portrayal on us and then throw in a paragraph PSA and call it good. Throwing in a “homophobia is bad, ‘kay” speech in the middle of a grossly stereotyped and homophobic portrayal is almost comic.
In the few times Shaunee is mentioned (which is usually so she can speak in the most over the top caricature of a sassy Black friend), or any other Black person, the words “mocha” “cappuccino” or “chocolate” will appear. I think the author may have copy and pasted her Starbucks order every time she described this woman. She’s Like Damien, this dubious racial fetishising is justified by Shaunee herself remarking “thank you for appreciating my blackness.” And comparing her to a beverage, apparently. Just because you have your marginalised characters agree with your poor word choice doesn’t make it ok. Shaunee also has “good hair” by which she means “long, straight hair” which is racially problematic to begin with. It’s further compounded by her deciding a Black woman in the enemy camp with “good hair” is definitely “wearing a weave.” Because she’s subtle like that.
Then we get to the portrayal of women – and before we do that we need to look at the caricatures who are Zoey’s enemies. And I say caricatures for a reason because of her friends are one dimensional sycophants (hilariously, this is how she refers to people who follow the big bad Mean Girl Aphrodite but, really, it’s a perfect description of Shaunee, Erin, Stevie Rae and Damien) then her enemies are such over-the-top terrible people that they may as well have twirly moustaches and black hats and spend their weekends tying women to train tracks. And this is relevant because, except for two (her ex-boyfriend who is a drunken, drug using, inept fool and her father who is a cookie-cutter religious patriarch, neither of whom are that influential in the story) all of these villains are women. This means this book is positively brimming with girl-hate – Zoey (and her minions) hate these terribad women and constantly refer to them in the most misogynist terms – slut, hag, ho, bitch, cow, constantly over and over. With an added bonus of Aphrodite’s top minions being the most blatant Straw Feminists you ever did see (they hate all men and want them to die! Because feminism!)
Aphrodite herself is so unbelievably awful that her special magical power, the one that actually gives her the leadership of the Dark Daughters (a special Mean Girls Clique and super influential), is one she actively suppresses and hides. Why? Because it gives her the power to foretell disasters and stop them. Because she is terribad evil she hides it because she doesn’t want to. No, really. She is that awful that she actually goes to great effort to NOT help people.
This book also has a very simple way to designate evil women as evil – they are even slightly sexual. Sexual women are the worst and this book contains completely unnecessary and ridiculous screeds against blow jobs (because oral sex is evil), Aphrodite is repeatedly attacked for being a “ho” and a “slut” (and she was first established as evil because she was trying to give said blow job therefore making her a slutjezebelhussy and therefore evil). I can’t stress enough how Aphrodite being sexual – from her clothes, from her dancing and, again, to the very first time we saw her being giving oral sex to a man saying no, is shown as evidence of her evil. And this could be a comment on consent, but since that man, the oh-so-over-the-top-dreamy-Eric (who smells like - so apparently Zoey has a thing for decomposing wet leaves) is actually Zoey’s love interest it’s more a comment on how much better than Aphrodite Eric and Zoey are because they are not sex crazy sluthussyjezebels like Aphrodite. Or Zoey's sister - when arguing with her mother, Zoey decides to tell her that her older sister has "slept with half the football team". Classy Zoey.
Read More show less
But in the House she finds that the leader of the Elite Group, the Dark Daughters, is pretty much terrible and she finds she needs to replace her. Thankfully she has been granted the greatest and rarest power, never seen before, compared to any other vampyre in history.
I try, I really do, in every review to say something positive about a book. There is usually something, some gem, some nugget, some facet somewhere I can seize on and say “hey, despite all the other problems, this is pretty decent.”
I tried with this book. I show more really did. But, honestly, I can’t think of one tiny, redeeming feature. It’s a a book that manages to be terrible on just about every level. With many other books I would have thrown it away, deleted it from my tablet and DNFed it after vigorously expressing my contempt. But not only am I now committed to reading this series due to the diabolical machinations of Cyna and Mavrynthia and especially Merriska I am now doomed to read this series – but also this book was so bad, so unutterably, shamefully awful that I felt the need to keep going. It was a combination of watching a terrible trainwreck and you know you should look away but are somehow drawn back to the horror, watching someone about to do something epicly ridiculous and watching them to see if they’re really going to go through with it and just reading in a vague, desperate hope that at some point the author would yell “ha! Fooled you, this is a parody!”
It was not a parody. If it were a parody it would be a bad parody because good parodies are more subtle than this.
So, since there’s absolutely nothing right with this book, let’s tackle the wrong. The oh-so-very wrong.
I will begin with the marginalised characters – on team good guy we have one gay man, Damien, and one Black woman, Shaunee, playing sassy sidekicks to the protagonist (along with two white woman, one of which, Erin shares exactly the same personality as Shaunee because characterisation is hard. We also get the joy of these two characters calling each other twin. The other is just a kicked puppy dog following Zoey around with utter devotion she developed within 10 second of meeting her because characterisation is hard).
Damien is gay, we know this because it is mentioned all the time. Even when mentioning things completely irrelevant to his sexuality – like how smart he is – he is the “gay genius.” We’ve seen this trope before and labelled it the Lesbian Shark. It definitely applies. Like all of Zoey’s “friends” Damien exists for the greater glory of Zoey, being slavishly loyal and obedient pretty much from the first meeting. As a bonus he’s used to excuse using the slur f@ggot. We also have such joys as Damien not counting as a guy because he’s the, direct quote “token gay”. He also takes on the rule as the expert of all things “peniled” because while having no relationship himself, it is the duty of all good GBFs to play advisor and counsel to straight ladies. To top this off we have derision of gay men who are “swishy girly-guys”. And all Lesbians are some kind of like minded cult who spend their whole time in the temple because Matriarchal Goddess = Lesbian devotion.
Frankly, it’s almost insulting when the author has a terribad awful caricature call Damien a “f@g” so Zoey can have a PSDA on how homophobia is wrong – you don’t get to inflict this utterly dreadful portrayal on us and then throw in a paragraph PSA and call it good. Throwing in a “homophobia is bad, ‘kay” speech in the middle of a grossly stereotyped and homophobic portrayal is almost comic.
In the few times Shaunee is mentioned (which is usually so she can speak in the most over the top caricature of a sassy Black friend), or any other Black person, the words “mocha” “cappuccino” or “chocolate” will appear. I think the author may have copy and pasted her Starbucks order every time she described this woman. She’s Like Damien, this dubious racial fetishising is justified by Shaunee herself remarking “thank you for appreciating my blackness.” And comparing her to a beverage, apparently. Just because you have your marginalised characters agree with your poor word choice doesn’t make it ok. Shaunee also has “good hair” by which she means “long, straight hair” which is racially problematic to begin with. It’s further compounded by her deciding a Black woman in the enemy camp with “good hair” is definitely “wearing a weave.” Because she’s subtle like that.
Then we get to the portrayal of women – and before we do that we need to look at the caricatures who are Zoey’s enemies. And I say caricatures for a reason because of her friends are one dimensional sycophants (hilariously, this is how she refers to people who follow the big bad Mean Girl Aphrodite but, really, it’s a perfect description of Shaunee, Erin, Stevie Rae and Damien) then her enemies are such over-the-top terrible people that they may as well have twirly moustaches and black hats and spend their weekends tying women to train tracks. And this is relevant because, except for two (her ex-boyfriend who is a drunken, drug using, inept fool and her father who is a cookie-cutter religious patriarch, neither of whom are that influential in the story) all of these villains are women. This means this book is positively brimming with girl-hate – Zoey (and her minions) hate these terribad women and constantly refer to them in the most misogynist terms – slut, hag, ho, bitch, cow, constantly over and over. With an added bonus of Aphrodite’s top minions being the most blatant Straw Feminists you ever did see (they hate all men and want them to die! Because feminism!)
Aphrodite herself is so unbelievably awful that her special magical power, the one that actually gives her the leadership of the Dark Daughters (a special Mean Girls Clique and super influential), is one she actively suppresses and hides. Why? Because it gives her the power to foretell disasters and stop them. Because she is terribad evil she hides it because she doesn’t want to. No, really. She is that awful that she actually goes to great effort to NOT help people.
This book also has a very simple way to designate evil women as evil – they are even slightly sexual. Sexual women are the worst and this book contains completely unnecessary and ridiculous screeds against blow jobs (because oral sex is evil), Aphrodite is repeatedly attacked for being a “ho” and a “slut” (and she was first established as evil because she was trying to give said blow job therefore making her a slutjezebelhussy and therefore evil). I can’t stress enough how Aphrodite being sexual – from her clothes, from her dancing and, again, to the very first time we saw her being giving oral sex to a man saying no, is shown as evidence of her evil. And this could be a comment on consent, but since that man, the oh-so-over-the-top-dreamy-Eric (who smells like - so apparently Zoey has a thing for decomposing wet leaves) is actually Zoey’s love interest it’s more a comment on how much better than Aphrodite Eric and Zoey are because they are not sex crazy sluthussyjezebels like Aphrodite. Or Zoey's sister - when arguing with her mother, Zoey decides to tell her that her older sister has "slept with half the football team". Classy Zoey.
Read More show less
Do you remember when the absolute WORST thing a girl in a book could do is be a FUGLY SLUT? When it was criminal to be a hot blonde, and an absolute goddamn SIN to be a hot FAKE blonde? When making fun of Paris Hilton and the anorexics was the height of feminism?
House of Night is here to take you back to the dark. era: early 2000s YA fiction. I'm sure they weren't all this...obvious. But it's got that PC Cast brand of chatty, completely un-self-aware narration that really...really puts you in the mindset of a sixteen year old girl who doesn't know how hard this book would get her cancelled in ten years. [wipes tear from my eye] damn was the r-word really still this chill to say back then
(It mentioned flip phones, Nicole Richie, and show more Emos. This book is a time capsule.)
But okay. I'll be real. I liked the whole cute idea of a vampire finishing school even if it didn't make much sense besides just separating the vamps from the mortals. None of it made sense. But it was fun. I also liked the evil witchy squad of bad girls, summoning evil ghosts and all that. It was fun.
I'm not touching this series again though beliiieeeeve me. This is relevant in PC Cast's Goddess Summoning series too, so I guess this is just how she writes, which is fine but...confusing: the narration is so so so young ("poopie," that's all) but the content is far more mature (a boy vomits blood to death, big yikes; first time the love interest appears he's one downed zipper away from getting a blowjob; talk about "clit piercings"). It's the series for middle school kids who are interested in this Adult Stuff but still giggle at the word "boob."
Rereading this, I kind of wondered how it didn't manage to coast on Meyer's drag as well as PC & Kirsten probably hoped. It's got a trillion times more personality than Twilight, a much more fun cast, and a fairly neat magic/religious system. Also ghosts and creepy things. I want to read more of this messy, awful awful era's books out of curiosity about the trends, which is how I know I have a masochistic streak.
So for the sake of that, here is a list of nonsense it pulled that I think is a product of the time/market:
-Zoey is part Cherokee and there's a lot of weird ~ Cherokee Magicks ~ that I didn't remember. It doesn't really...make any sense with the overall Greek theme we have going on, so maybe that was copped from Meyer too?
-antagonist is SUCH a Slutty McSlutface
-nice focus on her new squad of best friends, with the love interest as a side-plot (a wholly underdeveloped and half-assed side-plot, but anyways)
-Zoey fears being a slut after kissing the boy she likes, who also likes her, because have you EVER heard of something sluttier? i sure haven't
-token gay bff
-blood is necessary but also wanting blood isn't cool but also u need blood but also it's inhumane but also
-"hee hee"
-"boobies"
-hates her bff at the beginning, because she's chatty...AND a slut
-seriously omg SO MANY SLUTS!!! CAN U BELIEVE!!
-male love interest just liked the slut for physical reasons but no he loves u for MORE...because ur not a slut
-do we hate the antagonist because she's a slut or because she apparently bullies people into giving blood for her parties OR because...she's a MEGA SLUT
Anyways. I can freely donate this book now. show less
House of Night is here to take you back to the dark. era: early 2000s YA fiction. I'm sure they weren't all this...obvious. But it's got that PC Cast brand of chatty, completely un-self-aware narration that really...really puts you in the mindset of a sixteen year old girl who doesn't know how hard this book would get her cancelled in ten years. [wipes tear from my eye] damn was the r-word really still this chill to say back then
(It mentioned flip phones, Nicole Richie, and show more Emos. This book is a time capsule.)
But okay. I'll be real. I liked the whole cute idea of a vampire finishing school even if it didn't make much sense besides just separating the vamps from the mortals. None of it made sense. But it was fun. I also liked the evil witchy squad of bad girls, summoning evil ghosts and all that. It was fun.
I'm not touching this series again though beliiieeeeve me. This is relevant in PC Cast's Goddess Summoning series too, so I guess this is just how she writes, which is fine but...confusing: the narration is so so so young ("poopie," that's all) but the content is far more mature (a boy vomits blood to death, big yikes; first time the love interest appears he's one downed zipper away from getting a blowjob; talk about "clit piercings"). It's the series for middle school kids who are interested in this Adult Stuff but still giggle at the word "boob."
Rereading this, I kind of wondered how it didn't manage to coast on Meyer's drag as well as PC & Kirsten probably hoped. It's got a trillion times more personality than Twilight, a much more fun cast, and a fairly neat magic/religious system. Also ghosts and creepy things. I want to read more of this messy, awful awful era's books out of curiosity about the trends, which is how I know I have a masochistic streak.
So for the sake of that, here is a list of nonsense it pulled that I think is a product of the time/market:
-Zoey is part Cherokee and there's a lot of weird ~ Cherokee Magicks ~ that I didn't remember. It doesn't really...make any sense with the overall Greek theme we have going on, so maybe that was copped from Meyer too?
-antagonist is SUCH a Slutty McSlutface
-nice focus on her new squad of best friends, with the love interest as a side-plot (a wholly underdeveloped and half-assed side-plot, but anyways)
-Zoey fears being a slut after kissing the boy she likes, who also likes her, because have you EVER heard of something sluttier? i sure haven't
-token gay bff
-blood is necessary but also wanting blood isn't cool but also u need blood but also it's inhumane but also
-"hee hee"
-"boobies"
-hates her bff at the beginning, because she's chatty...AND a slut
-seriously omg SO MANY SLUTS!!! CAN U BELIEVE!!
-male love interest just liked the slut for physical reasons but no he loves u for MORE...because ur not a slut
-do we hate the antagonist because she's a slut or because she apparently bullies people into giving blood for her parties OR because...she's a MEGA SLUT
Anyways. I can freely donate this book now. show less
Once upon a time, I gave this book a five-star rating. After doing a re-read this past week, I'm wondering why I ever gave it such a high rating. It definitely doesn't deserve it. Maybe I was just so enamored by vampire novels at that point that I thought anything with a little fang or a little blood was awesome. Obviously, I was wrong.
As is typical with the young adult vampire novel, the heroine considers herself to be a freak and lives in some sort of broken home/recently remarried type situation. As is also typical, said heroine is having boy troubles. Apparently, vampire novel heroines are always having some kind of heartache/heart-break issue. Maybe it's actually heartburn and they need some kind of acid reliever. Honestly, that show more would make more sense in a lot of cases within this genre.
I was intrigued that the story dealt with segregation. Once teenagers find out that they are vampyres, as they spell it in this book, they have to give up their old life and move into a special boarding school for other people who have been marked. I know that might sound a lot like Harry Potter, but instead of being just a tradition, this is something that seems to be legally required of newly marked. It is also apparent that this is different from the HP books in that the outside world knows about vampyres existing and they treat them as being lesser creatures because they are no longer human. (To be fair, the vampyres call humans 'refrigerators', so there really is no love lost.)
Zoey Redbird, this novel's heroine and narrator, is a bit of a queen of exaggeration and immaturity. She says that she has limited math skills, but makes fun of her best friend's worse one when the friend exaggerates a number. It makes Zoey seem very haughty. It was the kind of attitude that you might see someone display right before someone punched them in the face. And she really has no right to be so, since, like I said, she's got some problems with immaturity. She uses words like "boobie" and "poopie" regularly. And she gets distracted whenever she thinks about those words. It's very annoying. She's also a hypocrite. She will ridicule someone else in one paragraph for a particular behavior and then turn around and do the exact same behavior just a few paragraphs later.
Zoey and her friends like to partake in the hobby of slut-shaming. There was honestly more slut-shaming in this book than I was ever exposed to in high school. It was very alarming to see two female writers propagating the idea that girls who have sex or who enjoy being sexual in any way deserve to be treated with less respect and with continued ridicule. What does that teach the readers of these novels to think about sex and sexuality?
Zoey also uses other ways of insulting people through slurs and stereotypes. Negative remarks that she makes about others often relate to the person's sex life or their body shape and size. And do not get me started on how Damien is described. Zoey actually mentions something about not hearing a lisp. And the story goes out of the way to make him seem like he's different from every other gay guy in the world. Instead of making the story seem more inclusive by having a gay character, it actually feels more like they're being even more ignorant and anti-LGBTQ. She calls another character a "retard" and makes fun of friends of her stepfather as being "beady-eyed pedophile husbands". Both of these things disgusted me. There is even racist wording used to describe a fellow student's hair.
I know that Zoey cannot and shouldn't be a perfect character. Flaws are what make characters great, but there's a point when it becomes obvious that it's more than just a flawed character--it's a flawed book. The writing quality of the book is poor. Before Zoey goes to the House of Night, there's a scene where her mother and stepfather are talking...and they seem to only talk in cliches. The mother actually makes a comment about "what will the neighbors say." It was ridiculous. Throughout the book, it felt like the writers are trying really hard to be young and fresh. That was disconcerting to me because one of the authors is young enough that she shouldn't have had to try very hard to sound young. And, as I think I've pointed out by now, the book is filled with ignorance and bigotry. Instead of being an interesting story, it just comes across as disgusting. show less
As is typical with the young adult vampire novel, the heroine considers herself to be a freak and lives in some sort of broken home/recently remarried type situation. As is also typical, said heroine is having boy troubles. Apparently, vampire novel heroines are always having some kind of heartache/heart-break issue. Maybe it's actually heartburn and they need some kind of acid reliever. Honestly, that show more would make more sense in a lot of cases within this genre.
I was intrigued that the story dealt with segregation. Once teenagers find out that they are vampyres, as they spell it in this book, they have to give up their old life and move into a special boarding school for other people who have been marked. I know that might sound a lot like Harry Potter, but instead of being just a tradition, this is something that seems to be legally required of newly marked. It is also apparent that this is different from the HP books in that the outside world knows about vampyres existing and they treat them as being lesser creatures because they are no longer human. (To be fair, the vampyres call humans 'refrigerators', so there really is no love lost.)
Zoey Redbird, this novel's heroine and narrator, is a bit of a queen of exaggeration and immaturity. She says that she has limited math skills, but makes fun of her best friend's worse one when the friend exaggerates a number. It makes Zoey seem very haughty. It was the kind of attitude that you might see someone display right before someone punched them in the face. And she really has no right to be so, since, like I said, she's got some problems with immaturity. She uses words like "boobie" and "poopie" regularly. And she gets distracted whenever she thinks about those words. It's very annoying. She's also a hypocrite. She will ridicule someone else in one paragraph for a particular behavior and then turn around and do the exact same behavior just a few paragraphs later.
Zoey and her friends like to partake in the hobby of slut-shaming. There was honestly more slut-shaming in this book than I was ever exposed to in high school. It was very alarming to see two female writers propagating the idea that girls who have sex or who enjoy being sexual in any way deserve to be treated with less respect and with continued ridicule. What does that teach the readers of these novels to think about sex and sexuality?
Zoey also uses other ways of insulting people through slurs and stereotypes. Negative remarks that she makes about others often relate to the person's sex life or their body shape and size. And do not get me started on how Damien is described. Zoey actually mentions something about not hearing a lisp. And the story goes out of the way to make him seem like he's different from every other gay guy in the world. Instead of making the story seem more inclusive by having a gay character, it actually feels more like they're being even more ignorant and anti-LGBTQ. She calls another character a "retard" and makes fun of friends of her stepfather as being "beady-eyed pedophile husbands". Both of these things disgusted me. There is even racist wording used to describe a fellow student's hair.
I know that Zoey cannot and shouldn't be a perfect character. Flaws are what make characters great, but there's a point when it becomes obvious that it's more than just a flawed character--it's a flawed book. The writing quality of the book is poor. Before Zoey goes to the House of Night, there's a scene where her mother and stepfather are talking...and they seem to only talk in cliches. The mother actually makes a comment about "what will the neighbors say." It was ridiculous. Throughout the book, it felt like the writers are trying really hard to be young and fresh. That was disconcerting to me because one of the authors is young enough that she shouldn't have had to try very hard to sound young. And, as I think I've pointed out by now, the book is filled with ignorance and bigotry. Instead of being an interesting story, it just comes across as disgusting. show less
Marked, the first book in the House of Night series by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast, is the story of Zoey Redbird, a sixteen year old girl who has been marked as a fledgling vampyre. It’s not an easy time, new life, new school, new people all while going through a major physical change, and the posibility of not surviving it. Zoey also has to deal with the fact that she is incredibly unique, she was blessed by the goddess Nyx herself leaving her with a different mark than the other fledglings, a bloodlust that’s set in a few years early and of course you other average high school boy and sworn enemy drama.
Well, I actually got really into it. I busted through it in just a few hours. Part of that I’m sure is my mad skill, but mostly show more it’s just an easy read. I found myself getting annoyed with the drama (I went to high school, I graduated, I’m over it), but I suppose it is part of what makes the book seem real, for lack of a better term.
The big winner for me in this book is the mythology behind it. Not only was the vampire mythology quite interesting, but there was also a lot about the Cherokee indians in it (Zoey is a descendent of the Cherokee who was educated in their ways by her grandmother, and it takes place in Oklahoma – both of which I have roots in).
I really liked Zoey and her friends – the new ones. As far as the people from her old life, I wasn’t in love with them with the exception of her puppy dog ex Heath. I didn’t hate him, but the groveling could get annoying.
Though this shows some similarities between other vampire series, all in all it was well thought out. It’s similar to the Sookie Stackhouse novels in that the vamps are ‘out of the coffin’, and like the Midnight Breed series they have natural markings that they grow into – only difference being that it seems they are earned in the House of Night series. As far as teen vampire series go, I still find Vampire Academy to be my favorite, but I would still recommend Marked as an easy and interesting read. show less
Well, I actually got really into it. I busted through it in just a few hours. Part of that I’m sure is my mad skill, but mostly show more it’s just an easy read. I found myself getting annoyed with the drama (I went to high school, I graduated, I’m over it), but I suppose it is part of what makes the book seem real, for lack of a better term.
The big winner for me in this book is the mythology behind it. Not only was the vampire mythology quite interesting, but there was also a lot about the Cherokee indians in it (Zoey is a descendent of the Cherokee who was educated in their ways by her grandmother, and it takes place in Oklahoma – both of which I have roots in).
I really liked Zoey and her friends – the new ones. As far as the people from her old life, I wasn’t in love with them with the exception of her puppy dog ex Heath. I didn’t hate him, but the groveling could get annoying.
Though this shows some similarities between other vampire series, all in all it was well thought out. It’s similar to the Sookie Stackhouse novels in that the vamps are ‘out of the coffin’, and like the Midnight Breed series they have natural markings that they grow into – only difference being that it seems they are earned in the House of Night series. As far as teen vampire series go, I still find Vampire Academy to be my favorite, but I would still recommend Marked as an easy and interesting read. show less
I read with a theme during the April Read-a-Thon, and vampire young adult series was that theme. One would think that the vampire story would get old after a while, but each author I pick up has a unique twist to it. P.C. and Kristin Cast are no different in that they present the idea of a vampire finishing school. While it might seem like a silly idea, it really is fun and ultimately compelling. Even better, unlike other novels where the vampires are not evil incarnate, Marked hints at a society that is not as friendly, even dangerous. It is a welcome approach to the mythology that makes it fresh.
Zoey Redbird is exceedingly likeable. A reader cannot help but support someone with such a common sense approach to life, someone who does show more not have a privileged background. Zoey is just a not-so-average teen struggling to fit in to her new school. We have all been there at some point in our lives and can definitely relate to her "new-kid-in-the-school" angst.
I found the idea of tattoos on vampires appealing. There is still a bit of a taboo regarding tattoos, especially facial ones, that renders the entire idea of facial tattoos on vampires as a sign of danger. In addition, while traditionally vampires are difficult to find because they tend to look like normal humans, the Casts' versions are blatantly marked. This causes them to lose some of the mystery but I think the visual cues makes them even more menacing. At the same time, the idea of a delicate pattern woven around the eyes and cheeks is breathtakingly beautiful. It is an interesting conundrum and speaks to the very charm of vampires no matter what the myth.
From the moment the Tracker appears, there is an undercurrent of stress that builds within the reader. I attribute this to the threat of the final change and the fact that some fledglings will not live through the change. The fact that it happens without any warning contributes greatly to the tension built by the Casts as we follow Zoey's initial transition to the House of Night and her status as a fledgling vampyre. One turns each page with anticipation and dread that something awful will occur to Zoey or any of her new friends. It is a trick few writers can achieve page after page, yet the Casts have managed to perfect it.
Out of all the vampire books I read in the April Read-a-Thon (of which there were three), Marked was my absolute favorite. I felt the characters were more believable, the danger more apparent, the story more appealing. I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series. show less
Zoey Redbird is exceedingly likeable. A reader cannot help but support someone with such a common sense approach to life, someone who does show more not have a privileged background. Zoey is just a not-so-average teen struggling to fit in to her new school. We have all been there at some point in our lives and can definitely relate to her "new-kid-in-the-school" angst.
I found the idea of tattoos on vampires appealing. There is still a bit of a taboo regarding tattoos, especially facial ones, that renders the entire idea of facial tattoos on vampires as a sign of danger. In addition, while traditionally vampires are difficult to find because they tend to look like normal humans, the Casts' versions are blatantly marked. This causes them to lose some of the mystery but I think the visual cues makes them even more menacing. At the same time, the idea of a delicate pattern woven around the eyes and cheeks is breathtakingly beautiful. It is an interesting conundrum and speaks to the very charm of vampires no matter what the myth.
From the moment the Tracker appears, there is an undercurrent of stress that builds within the reader. I attribute this to the threat of the final change and the fact that some fledglings will not live through the change. The fact that it happens without any warning contributes greatly to the tension built by the Casts as we follow Zoey's initial transition to the House of Night and her status as a fledgling vampyre. One turns each page with anticipation and dread that something awful will occur to Zoey or any of her new friends. It is a trick few writers can achieve page after page, yet the Casts have managed to perfect it.
Out of all the vampire books I read in the April Read-a-Thon (of which there were three), Marked was my absolute favorite. I felt the characters were more believable, the danger more apparent, the story more appealing. I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series. show less
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
NPRs your favorites: 100 Best Ever Teen Novels
237 works; 49 members
The Best Vampires, Werebeasts, Witches Books
192 works; 12 members
Bloody Good Vampire Books
394 works; 28 members
Best Fantasy Novels
821 works; 357 members
Best Urban Fantasy
632 works; 78 members
Genre Benders: Dark Fantasy
52 works; 4 members
Best BRUTAL of Urban Fantasy
244 works; 1 member
al.vick-series
381 works; 2 members
Florida
366 works; 3 members
TDCD BOOK LIST
62 works; 1 member
Author Information
103+ Works 89,242 Members
P.C. Cast was born in Watseka, Illinois in 1960. After graduating from high school, she joined the U.S. Air Force. After her tour of duty, she taught English in high school for 15 years before becoming a full-time author. She has written numerous books including the Goddess Summoning series, the Partholon series, and the Divine series. She show more co-writes the young adult House of Night novels with her daughter Kristin. She has received several awards including the Oklahoma Book Award, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, the Prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, and the Laurel Wreath. Moon Chosen, the first title in Cast's new series, Tales of a New World, became a New York Time bestseller in 2016. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
70+ Works 77,801 Members
Kristin Cast was born on November 4, 1986. She co-writes the popular young adult, fantasy/horror House of Night series with her mother, P.C. Cast. She began contributing to the series at age 19. She has stand-alone stories in several anthologies as well as editorial credits. (Bowker Author Biography)
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Marked
- Original title
- Marked
- Original publication date
- 2007-04-12
- People/Characters
- Zoey Redbird; Stevie Rae Johnson; Erin Bates; Damien Maslin; Shaunee Cole; Aphrodite LaFont (show all 11); Neferet; Erik Night; Sylvia Redbird; Linda Heffer; Heath Luck
- Important places
- Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, USA; Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA; House Of Night School, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Epigraph
- From Hesiod's poem to Nyx, the Greek personification of night:
"There also stands the gloomy house of Night;
ghastly clouds shroud it in darkness.
Before it Atlas stands erect and on his head
and unwearying... (show all) arms firmly supports the broad sky,
where Night and Day cross a bronze threshold
and then come close and greet each other."
(Hesiod, Theogony, 744 ᶠᶠ∙) - Dedication
- For our wonderful agent, Meredith Bernstein, who said the three magic words: vampyre finishing school. We heart you!
- First words
- Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse I saw the dead guy standing next to my locker.
- Quotations
- I've found that the way a person feels about cats - and the way they feel about him or her in return - is usually an excellent gauge by which to measure a person's character.
Cats chose us; we don't own them.
(pg. 43)
Beautiful, see the cloud, the cloud appear.
Beautiful, see the rain, the rain draw near...
(pg. 43)
Who spoke?
The little corn ear,
High on top of the stalk...
(pg. 102)
1st hour-Vampyre Sociology 101. Rm. 215. Prof. Neferet
2nd hour-Drama 101. Performing Arts Center. Prof. Nolan
or
Sketching 101. Rm. 312. Prof. Doner
or
Intro to Music. Rm. 314. P... (show all)rof. Vento
3rd hour-Lit 101. Rm. 214. Prof. Penthesilea
4th hour-Fencing. Gymnasium. Prof. D. Lankford
LUNCH
5th hour-Spanish 101. Rm. 216. Prof. Garmy
6th hour-Intro to Equestrian Studies. Field House. Prof. Lenobia
(pg. 113)
She loved me for the dangers I had passed,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
(pg. 143)
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies...
(pg. 143)
And all that's best of dark and bright
Mee in her aspect and her eyes...
(pg. 143)
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
(pg. 161)
O winds of storm, in Nyx's name I do call thee forth,
cast thy blessing, I do ask,
upon the magic which shall be worked here!
(pg. 162)
O fire of lighting, in Nyx's name I do call thee forth,
bringer of storms and power of magic,
I ask your aid in the spell I do here work!
(pg. 162)
O torrents of rain, in Nyx's name I do call thee forth.
Join me with your drowning strength, in performing this
most powerful of rituals!
(pg. 162)
O earth, deep and damp, in Nyx's name I do call thee forth,
that I may feel the earth herself move in the roar of the storm of power
which doth come when you aid me in this rite!
(pg. 163)
O spirit, wild and free, in Nyx's name I do call thee to me!
Answer me! Stay with me during this mighty ritual
and grant me thy Goddess's power!
(pg. 247)
Great Goddess of Night, whose voice I hear in the wind, who breathes the breath of life to Her children. Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
(pg. 247)
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset that comes before the beauty of your night. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice... (show all). Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught your people.
(pg. 247)
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes toward me. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping ... (show all)others. Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
(pg. 247)
I seek strength, not to be greater than others, but to fight my greatest enemy, the doubts within myself.
(pg. 248)
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Surrounded by my friends, we all went home.
- Blurbers
- Showalter, Gena
- Original language
- English US
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 11,306
- Popularity
- 801
- Reviews
- 396
- Rating
- (3.67)
- Languages
- 21 — Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Russian, Croatian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Portuguese (Portugal)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 94
- ASINs
- 32