Tempted by P. C. Cast and Kristen Cast (House of Night Series)
Since I don't want this whole review to be a spoiler, let's talk about the plot elements that are the same. More tatoos for our heroine Zoey Redbird, her grandmother is still an awesome support, the evil Kalona is still alluring yet bent on destruction, and Zoey still has boys vying for her attention (and they are all hot, FYI).
But there is some new scariness on the horizon. Kalona and Neferet are bent on taking over the Vampire High Council and Zoey and her posse of friends and lovers are coming with her. Except Stevie Rae, who is staying behind to take care of not only her renegade red fledglings but also a little something left over from the battle which is really complicating her life.
As anyone who enjoys the series knows, we don't read these because the writing is literature by any means. All the slang and pop culture references will date these books in no time flat, the characters don't exactly "develop", and the foreshadowing lets you kinda/sorta know what's going to happen. All that said, this is yet another delicious potato chip books (tastes good going down but maybe you feel a little dirty afterward and you don't want to tell anyone that you did it). Do I feel that I've learned more about the characters? Not particularly. But I did feel like I was having a fun visit with old friends? You betcha. :-)
P. C. Cast (the Mom of the two) has her own blog (and her voice sounds a little like Stevie Rae, actually and did you know she teaches freshmen and sophomores and a public school in Oklahoma?!) where she writes about fan reactions and her author visits. It's pretty good, but the House of Night website (linked at the beginning of this entry) is SO fun to play with. Stay tuned for the next book in the series, Burned, due to come out in 2010.
