Marked- P.C & Kristin Cast - House of Night # 1

· Pages: 348

· Published: January 15th 2009 by ATOM (first published May 1st 2007)

· Genre: Paranormal/ Y.A

· Date Finished: 22^nd December 2011

· Rating/ Recommendation: 3 Stars ***

Synopsis:

After a Vampire Tracker Marks her with a crescent moon on her forehead, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx and has affinities 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 mis-using her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampyre friends (or Nerd Herd, as Aphrodite calls them)

Review:

I always wonder whether my mood affects a book when I am reading it, because I started out this book with less than high hopes and I was pleasantly surprised that I was enjoying the first 30 pages or so, and then from there it went downhill; which really pissed me off.

Before some haters come along, I want it to be clear that I didn’t expect Marked to be anything amazing and it did have its pro’s. It is obvious that the authors have done some research and are passionate about mythology, but I am sure I am not alone when I say that it read like similar to a lot of novels to begin with and just took far too long to get to the freaking point.

To be honest I am really anti-religious smothering and her parents annoyed the living shit out of me, so I was on her side from the start, but for me while I was reading it the story became more about everyone else and there was way too much inner dialogue about pointless things that were just obvious. It just lacked that buzz, the need to keep reading to find out what’s going to happen to Zoey, her friends and her enemies.

Call me a stickler, but even though I do enjoy a good vampire novel, I am tired of the old hackney selfish, childish, weak female protagonists. And their top notch hoe bags enemies. Give me something new. Because once I passed the first 40 pages I just didn’t give a crap about the main character all too much. That was until the last hundred pages, when the plot picked up and the story got to the point. I found it addictive reading and it started warming towards characters Zoey included [ Even though her choice of cursing really started to get on my nerves- who says poopie?] and I am keen to read more about her in future novels, something I must admit I was adamant I wasn’t going to do until third way through.

Scarily enough I actually started respecting Zoey, she proved herself to be not only a likable character, but one that I could resonate with and she really stood her ground and didn’t take shit from anyone, which is hard in the human world. I cannot imagine how hard it would be when you’re not only going through DNA change, but realizing that you are not just a vampire, but something so much more than that. And that’s what excited me the most about this novel.

I know a lot of people, me included wanted to give up on this novel, but I am glad I didn’t. I would say for those curious about the series, give it a try. It does take a while to get to the point, but I think for the unique plot twists it is worth it for an easy read.

Will I continue with the series? Yes I think I will, but not straight away.