After reading (and loving) the Twilight series, I’ve been looking for another vampire book to enjoy. I have finally found AN ENTIRE SERIES that are just as fun to read! The House of Night series is excellent! The first book is called Marked. As I read, I was reminded of the Harry Potter books because the main Character, sixteen-year-old Zoey, has a strange mark compared to the other vampires. She has to go to the House of Night, where all new fledglings go, and she is different from the others. It looks like each book in the series covers a one month period, which is interesting. Just a word of warning for parents, this book is not as ‘clean’ as the Twilight series. There is some swearing and talk of sex (blow jobs in particular), but the main character seems to have good values even if some of the other characters don’t. I am now reading the second book in the series, Betrayed, and it is very good. Can’t put it down! Go for these books if you are looking for something good to read and are a teen/young adult/adult. Very entertaining! As of 19 May 2009, the series had been on the New York Times Bestseller List for children’s books 37 weeks. Written by mother/daughter team P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast.
They have a great website: http://www.houseofnightseries.com )
Marked: The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird’s world, vampyres 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 vampyre; that is, if she makes it through the Change. Not all of those who are Marked make the Change, and die. It’s tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. Besides being Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx, she also finds that she is the first vampyre/fledgling to ever have an affinity for all five elements (air, fire, water, earth and spirit). 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 abusing her goddess-given gift, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny- with a little help from her new vampyre fledgling friends.
Betrayed: Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night. She’s come to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her, and is getting a handle on being the new Leader of the Dark Daughters. Best of all, Zoey finally feels like she belongs—like she really fits in. She actually has a boyfriend…or two. Then the unthinkable happens: Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night, and Zoey must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world. She must look to unlikely friends, and turn away from some who aren’t what they seem in order to keep the peace between her old world and her new world.
Chosen: Dark forces are at work at the House of Night, and fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird’s adventures at the school take a mysterious turn. Those who appear to be friends are turning out to be enemies. And oddly enough, sworn enemies are also turning into friends. So begins the gripping third installment of this “highly addictive series” (Romantic Times), in which Zoey’s mettle will be tested like never before. Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead and struggling to maintain a grip on her humanity. Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help her, but she does know that anything she and Stevie Rae discover must be kept secret from everyone else at the House of Night, where trust has become a rare commodity. Speaking of rare: Zoey finds herself in the very unexpected and rare position of having three boyfriends. Mix a little blood lust into the equation and the situation has the potential to spell social, and eventually emotional disaster for Zoey and cut her off from life at the House of Night to… Hellish Life! Just when it seems things couldn’t get any tougher, vampyres start turning up dead. Really dead. It looks like the People of Faith, and Zoey’s horrid step-loser in particular, are tired of living side-by-side with vampyres. Not to mention, Zoey is having a bit of boy trouble. But, as Zoey and her friends so often find out, how things appear rarely reflects the truth…yes
Untamed: Zoey has lost all of her boyfriends, when Erik Night caught her cheating on him, Loren Blake was killed and her Imprint with Heath Luck was broken, and has also lost her friends’ trust for lying to them. Neferet is up to no good, as proven when Aphrodite receives a vision about Zoey’s grandmother writing a poem which was originally a song about dangerous creatures which have the form of ravens. Zoey grows closer to Aphrodite, but also regains her friends’ trust when she explains why she could not be truthful to them. A new character, James Stark, is introduced as well. Stark has an instant connection with Zoey. He tells her of his unique gift of never missing his target, making him dangerous with a bow and arrow. He dies in her arms when his body rejects the Change. Zoey confides in him as he is about to pass away that he may not be permanently dead, and that he may return as a new kind of fledgling. In the end, this proves to be true as Stark returns as an undead creature and follows Neferet’s command to injure Stevie Rae and causes her to bleed onto the ground, causing the earth (Stevie Rae has an affinity for earth) to bleed, thus rendering a line in the poem true. This returns the spirit that the poem spoke of back to the surface. Zoey leads her friends, including her former boyfriend Erik Night, away from the House of Night carrying the struck Stevie Rae, and plans to defeat Neferet and save the House of Night.
Hunted: What if the hottest guy in the world was hiding a nameless evil, and all he wanted was you? At the start of this heart-pounding new installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey’s friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings aren’t Neferet’s secrets any longer. But an unexpected danger has emerged. Neferet guards her powerful new consort, Kalona, and no one at the House of Night seems to understand the threat he poses. Kalona looks gorgeous, and he has the House of Night under his spell. A past life holds the key to breaking his rapidly spreading influence, but what if this past life shows Zoey secrets she doesn’t want to hear and truths she can’t face? On the run and holed up in Tulsa’s Prohibition-era tunnels, Zoey and her gang must discover a way to deal with something that might bring them all down. Meanwhile, Zoey has a few other little problems. The red fledglings have cleaned up well – they’ve even managed to make the dark, creepy tunnels feel more like home – but are they really as friendly as they seem? On the boyfriend front, Zoey has a chance to make things right with super-hot ex-boyfriend, Erik, but she can’t stop thinking about Stark, the archer who died in her arms after one unforgettable night, and she is driven to try to save him from Neferet’s sinister influence at all costs. Will anyone believe the power evil has to hide among us?
Official Fan Site A possible film adaptation of House of Night has been optioned by producers Michael Birnbaum and Jeremiah Chechik. According to the House of Night IMDb page, it is scheduled to be released in 2011… Check out Author P.C. Cast’s website as well: http://www.pccast.net/
Book 6, Tempted is set for release October 27,2009: So…you’d think after banishing an immortal being and a fallen High Priestess, saving Stark’s life, biting Heath, getting a headache from Erik, and almost dying, Zoey Redbird would catch a break. Sadly, a break is not in the House of Night school forecast for the High Priestess in training and her gang. Juggling three guys is anything but a stress reliever, especially when one of them is a sexy Warrior who is so into protecting Zoey that he can sense her emotions. Speaking of stress, the dark force lurking in the tunnels under the Tulsa Depot is spreading, and Zoey is beginning to believe Stevie Rae could be responsible for a lot more than a group of misfit red fledglings. Aphrodite’s visions warn Zoey to stay away from Kalona and his dark allure, but they also show that it is Zoey who has the power to stop the evil immortal. Soon it becomes obvious that Zoey has no choice: if she doesn’t go to Kalona he will exact a fiery vengeance on those closest to her. Will Zoey have the courage to chance losing her life, her heart, and her soul? Find out in the next spectacular installment in the House of Night Series,Tempted.
…but their souls don’t exactly get where they’re supposed to get either. Instead, they’re caught halfway between life and death, in a sort of limbo known as Everlost: a shadow of the living world, filled with all the things and places that no onger exist. It’s a magical, yet dangerous place where bands of lost children run wild and anyone who stands in the same place too long sinks to the center of the Earth.
