Review - Hunted

HUNTED by P.C. & KRISTIN CAST

Book #5: House of Night Series

Learn more about Hunted and the House of Night series at houseofnightseries.com

This novel was borrowed from a friend.
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SUMMARY:

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? 

REVIEW:

Honestly, I was eager to begin Hunted.  With the end of the last installment in the series, things were left rocky, horrible, and confusing.  So I couldn't wait to delve deeper into the next novel to find out exactly how Zoey and all the other fledglings would manage to get themselves out of this mess.

I won't lie, the first couple of chapters were a little boring to me, but I was still hooked and could not quit reading chapter after chapter.  I was very curious to see how all these fledglings would handle themselves, minus the aid of adult vampyres.  It was very interesting to find that they had seemed to create their own little town, their own world beneath and there were honestly a couple parts that had my pulse racing a little faster and my brain begging to know what was going to happen next.  I found myself really not wanting anything bad to happen to any of these characters.

I do have to say though, that some of the situations Zoey is put it are getting a little exhausting.  We're stuck getting aggravated at her and multiple male characters again as Zoey's boy trouble continue to be a problem in the world of the House of Night.  I found myself begging her to just put some of these characters out of their misery and just (freaking) move on (already).  

Another thing I wasn't very happy about is the backtrack to previous novels.  In Untamed, novel number four, it seems like most of the "immature" language and childish ways of speaking were mostly gone.  Every now and then we caught a glimpse of Zoey's kiddish words, but it wasn't overly annoying.  In this novel, Hunted, we're thrown right back into it.  With words like "bullpoopie", it seems Zoey's refusal to use cuss words is thrown back into third grade.  Even the characters in the novel constantly bring it up and terrorize her over it.  (How many times do we need to read one character telling her it's okay to cuss sometimes?).  The continuity of this gets a little tiresome.  

I also noticed that around the middle of the novel, there seemed to be quite a bit of typos and mistakes.  Numerous times Darius' name was used when the character's were referring to Damien and Darius was nowhere near them.  And there were a few punctuation errors too.  Quotation marks that were put in the middle of paragraphs where characters had clearly not stopped speaking.  I do not hold this against anyone though because I am the queen of the backspace button (I hit it four times in this sentence already).  People make mistakes and sometimes there are just ridiculous typos that noone seems to notice until it's already too late.  I go back numerous times after I have published a post to fix something that I never noticed until I threw it out there for the world to see.

All in all, there was some repition in Hunted that I did not enjoy as much, but the novel itself was really good. I enjoyed it and would read it again.  I have to repeat what I said about the last novel; the further you read into this series, the better the books get.

And I absolutely loved the ending to this novel.  I found it very touching and even went back and re-read parts of it.

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

"Remember how you said if you'd been Rose you would really never have let him go?  Okay, well, let's do a little reenactment.  I'm the gay-looking DiCaprio and you're Rose.  You have to keep your eyes open and on my face, or you'll have let me go and I'll turn into a huge gay Popsicle."

"I'm seventeen!  I can't save the world - I can't even parallel park!"

RATING:

3 1/2 MOONS

WORTH READING!

Review - Untamed

UNTAMED by P.C. & KRISTIN CAST

Book #4: House of Night series

Learn more about Untamed and the House of Night series at houseofnightseries.com

This novel was borrowed from a friend.

BUY IT

SUMMARY:

Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you.  Just ask Zoey Redbird - she's become an expert on suckiness.  In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast.  Speaking of friends, the only two Zoey has left are undead and unMarked.  And Neferet has declared war on humans, which Zoey knows in her heart is wrong.  But will anyone listen to her?  Zoey's adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested, shocking true intentions come to light, and an ancient evil is awakened.

REVIEW:

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book.  After reading the first three House of Night novels, I really liked this one because it seemed like it took the series down a more mature path.  In Untamed, it’s noticeable that the characters are growing up.  They haven’t really grown up in the getting older sense, but by the situations they have faced and the hardships they’ve gone through in a few short months.  

In another true sense of maturing and growing, this novel, as well as the last, have gotten more intense and sexual.  I’m not saying that a novel has to be sexual for me to enjoy it, but to me it makes the characters seem more realistic.  What teenager doesn’t  deal with lust, envy, and…well, sex.  The majority of today’s youth are losing their virginities while in their teenage years.  Zoey is a little bit of a goody-goody, but she shows the vulnerable sides a lot of teenage girls have to face and fight to control.  Boys.  And boy, is she vulnerable…

This novel also starts to put the series in a darker light.  With evil hidden in secrecy, death upon more death, and bloody, gruesome acts of violence, things are getting more serious…and dangerous.  It draws the reader in and makes them wonder ‘just what the hell is going to happen?’.  

All in all, this novel was definitely better than the last and even better than the one before it.  The House of Night series is one that is quick and easy to read.  My husband and I have sped through these books with an intensity like no other, and we both have come to the same conclusion.  We cannot stop reading them.  And we both agree that the more books we read, the better the series gets.  So if you’re not particularly fond of the first novel, Marked at least give the second a try.  Both of thought the first was a little shaky, but now we can’t put the books down.  

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

“We gotta keep you alive, Zoey.  Not just ‘cause we love you more than white bread, but ‘cause you have to save the world.”

“Fear and bigotry are bred from isolation and ignorance.”

RATING:

4 MOONS

REALLY GOOD!