Jessica's books

The One and Only Ivan
Pollyanna
Revolutionary War on Wednesday
Leprechaun in Late Winter
Ella Enchanted
The Courage of Sarah Noble
Plain Murder
Gone-Away Lake
Circling the Sun
Maggie and Max
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl
The Night Sister
Tuck Everlasting
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Bedknob and Broomstick
Mister Monday
Alice Through the Looking Glass
The Birchbark House
The Hobbit
The Witch's Daughter


Jessica's favorite books »

Friday, May 27, 2011

Book Review: Awakened by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Awakened (House of Night, #8)

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  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?

My Thoughts:  I have enjoyed the House of Night series but I'm thinking it's time to add something new to the plot.  This book was okay...it certainly wasn't WOW! 

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

So, here is what I didn't like about Awakened...
Neferet is still evil and the High Council is still a bunch of dumb vamps.  I mean seriously, don't you think they would have caught on by now?  Everything about Neferet is evil and fake. 

Zoey's wasn't really "a queen in training" for the Isle of Skye.  At least, not in my opinion.  She got some great advice but in no way did the book show how she was being trained.  In fact, I knew that she wasn't going to stay in Skye and the book excerpt kinda made it sound like that was an option.

I really got tired of all the romance.  Jack and Damien were really too mushy for me, as were Zoey and Stark.  And for once, Aphrodite and Darius were not!  I was disappointed in the fact that Zoey is still mourning over Heath one minute and then hops in bed with Stark the next and there is no more on Heath.  All of the sudden she is in love with Stark.  Just a little fast for me.

There was this big deal at the beginning of the book about the rogue red fledglings and so I thought we would be seeing some more of them but I was disappointed. There was one small mention of them and that was it. The same thing with Zoey's grandma, whom I love. She was mentioned in one small part of the book and then we heard no more from her.

The whole book just seemed a little off to me.  The big climax was not at all big, the big fight between good and evil wasn't really that big.  In fact, at the end of the book I was left thinking "that's it?". 

Things I liked about it were...

Stevie Rae and Rephaim's relationship finally got settled, for the most part.  I also liked the relationship change with Kalona and Rephaim.  And I enjoyed how Kalona stood up to Neferet but I wish there would have been some more into that.  Maybe in the next book?

Heath is back!  I like how he is going to play into the next book.  That alone has me wanting to read the next in the series. 

While I didn't like Zoey's mom, I really didn't think she deserved to die.  But, it adds something new to the story so I guess I will add this to the "like" list. 

So, that's about it.  I am not sure how the authors are going to drag out 4 more books in this series.  I'm thinking it's time to wrap things up at the House of Night.  At least, with Zoey, Neferet, etc. -Oh, another good thing about this book...it was fairly short.  I finished it within 2 days and I think that if it had gone on much longer I wouldn't have been able to finish it. 

Like I said, it wasn't bad but it wasn't great.  If you have been reading House of Night books and are loyal then you should read it.  If you don't really care...you may want to pass on it!





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