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Marked

Book 1 in the series:House of Night

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Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast follows the story of Zoey Redbird, a teenager who gets marked to become a vampyre and is sent to the House of Night school for vampires. The book explores Zoey's journey of adapting to her new life, making friends, facing enemies, and discovering her true self amidst the supernatural world. The plot is fast-paced, engaging, and filled with teenage drama, rituals, and mysterious events. The writing style is simple, suitable for young adult readers, and incorporates elements of romance, fantasy, and suspense.

Characters:

The characters are a mix of archetypes and unique personalities, but some reviewers noted flat representations and annoying traits in the protagonist.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is straightforward and captures the teenage voice, although critics note that it sometimes feels contrived or overly simplistic.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot follows Zoey Redbird, a teenager marked to become a vampyre, as she navigates her new life at the House of Night school, where she uncovers her powers and faces challenges from peers.

Setting:

The setting combines a contemporary world with vampiric elements, creating a relatable yet fantastical environment for the characters.

Pacing:

The pacing of the narrative is fast, with engaging moments that keep readers invested in the plot despite some slower initial chapters.
Just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse I saw the dead guy standing next to my locker. Kayla was talking nonstop in her usual K-babble, and she didn’t even notice him. At first. Actually, no...

Notes:

The House of Night series features a unique take on vampires as being marked instead of bitten.
Zoey Redbird is the main character, a typical teenager who becomes marked and must attend the House of Night.
Vampires in this series are portrayed as both glamorous and problematic, striving for acceptance in human society.
The series incorporates elements of Native American culture, including spiritual aspects and the goddess Nyx.
Characters in the series often deal with typical teen issues like bullying, relationships, and self-identity.
The series has been noted for its heavy use of pop culture references and teenage slang.
Zoey's mark fills in earlier than usual, making her special among her peers.
The narrative sometimes blends themes of feminism and critiques of organized religion.
The book contains themes of friendship, loyalty, and contrasts between good and evil.
Despite mixed reviews, the series remains popular among its target demographic of young adults.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings for Marked include references to bullying, alcohol use, romantic and sexual themes, and mild profanity.

Has Romance?

The romance present in Marked is medium; it features crushes, budding relationships, and some romantic tension without being the primary focus.

From The Publisher:

The House of Night series by bestselling authors P.C Cast and Kristin Cast 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 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 average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre 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 vampyre friends.

Ratings (106)

Incredible (11)
Loved It (28)
Liked It (31)
It Was OK (18)
Did Not Like (15)
Hated It (3)

Reader Stats (175):

Read It (119)
Want To Read (31)
Did Not Finish (1)
Not Interested (24)

3 comment(s)

It Was OK
1 week

Reread this for nostalgia only. Wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did in my teens. I think I've done a reread a few years ago but forgot to document it. My plan is to finish the whole series as its one of those O wish I had for some reason. But I'll see how many books I can read before getting distracted by other newer series

 
Did Not Like
3 months

ok.. ok kind of a story... just read it.... leave it...

Nothing tingles inside you when you read it....

 
Hated It
6 months

A kind of nothing story that creates more questions than it answers. I will be fair and say that I'm a bit over the paranormal vampire trend and that could be influencing my review. But also, this was just your run of the mill paranormal vampire book. There wasn't anything special (except for how often they told Zoey how special and different she was) about it.

Zoey is an outsider to her own family when she is tracked and marked as one of the potential vampyres (and the spelling annoyed the crap out of me) destined to attend the House of Night boarding school. Her religious family are horrified and ready to contain her and convert her back (or let her die). FYI, there was a particularly strong slant against Christian/Catholic religion in this, it comes up way more than it needed to be. Anyway, she turns to the only one of her family willing to help her through - her grandma. Her grandma takes her to the school and Zoey finds new friends, new enemies and new dangers as she struggles to learn about what it means to be a vampyre.

Well. For 300+ pages I still know very little about the world Zoey finds herself in. The vampyre change is practically ignored except when necessary to dish out a tiny morsel for Zoey to stress about - oh right, bloodlust, oh right, imprinting, etc. House of Night clearly needed an introductory class for their students and I want to take that up with management. But it also annoyed me that Zoey wasn't more proactive in finding out what the hell was going on. As far as the timeline, it felt like she was only there for a week or two, so I guess she was busy. Especially with her always being on the soapbox - there was a lot of preaching about stereotyping and kindness and religion and race and lgbt+ and it felt like it missed the mark on educating versus lecturing.

But the biggest problem with this book was I just didn't care. I didn't like Zoey or her friends or her enemies. I didn't like the plot. I didn't like the numerous questions I had about the world building that just weren't answered. It was very flat and bland and I just couldn't be bothered. I won't be reading the rest of the series so I guess my questions will have to go unanswered. 1.5 stars, rounded down to 1.

 

About the Author:

P.C. Cast is an award-winning fantasy and paranormal romance author, as well as an experienced speaker and teacher. With her daughter Kristin Cast, she is the author of the House of Night novels, including Awakened, Burned and Hunted. Cast was born in the Midwest, and as a girl fell in love with mythology. After high school, she joined the U.S. Air Force, then taught high school for 15 years before retiring to write full time. Cast's novels are New York Times bestsellers and have been awarded the Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, the Prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers' Best, and the Laurel Wreath. Ms. Cast lives in Oklahoma, where she is a member of the Oklahoma Writers' Hall of Fame. She splits her time between her ranch and midtown Tulsa where she has a home just down the street from the House of Night...

Kristin Cast has won awards for her poetry and journalism. She also lives in Oklahoma, where she attends college in Tulsa.

 
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