Untamed

House of Night #4

by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast

Zoey Redbird's adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested and shocking true intentions come to light, in this spellbinding fourth novel in the House of Night series.

Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Fiction, Supernatural

338 pages, Paperback

First published September 23, 2008

About the author

PC was born in the Midwest, and grew up being shuttled back-and-forth between Illinois and Oklahoma, which is where she fell in love with Quarter Horses and mythology (at about the same time). After high school, she joined the United States Air Force and began public speaking and writing. After her tour in the USAF, she taught high school for 15 years before retiring to write full time. PC is a #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today Best-Selling author and a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. Her novels have been awarded the prestigious: 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. PC is an experienced teacher and talented speaker. Ms. Cast lives in Oregon near her fabulous daughter, her adorable pack of dogs, her crazy Maine Coon, and a bunch of horses. House of Night Other World, book 4, FOUND, releases July 7th, 2020. More info to come soon about the HoN TV series!

Reviews

[Rhiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the general story line and the characters, but the redundant writing is getting a little old. Constant vocabulary lessons from Damien, the author describes everyone over and over again, everything from their personalities to their day to day clothing choices. Everytime the Grandmother speaks she calls Zoey the Cherokee word for daughter and every single time the author explains that the word makes her feel safe. There is a whole lot of explaining and back story and description and really not a whole lot of story, plot, character development or emotion. It's a good story idea, but not very well executed. Also, has anyone ever noticed that Zoey falls in love/lust with any cute single guy that walks into her path?
These authors definitely need to take that writing instruction that everyone learned in grade school..."Show, don't tell."

[Josu Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Esto es lo que quería!

Desde el principio supe que La Casa de la Noche tenía mucho potencial, y creo que en Indómita comenzamos a vislumbrar el conjunto completo de lo que las autores tienen que ofrecer. Es como si la historia hubiera estallado, habiéndose estado preparando para algunos de los sucesos que pasan en esta cuarta entrega.

Una de las cosas que más me ha gustado de este libro es la exploración de la mitología cheroqui. ¡MITOLOGÍA CHEROQUI! ¿Me escucháis? Los rituales, las historias y mitos, los dioses... Me resulta todo tan interesante y desconocido que agradezco mucho su representación. Es fresco, novedoso, distinto. Y, además, se consigue entrelazar perfectamente con las historias cristianas y con la mitología propia de la saga. Es un 10/10, ¡una maravilla!



El personaje de Zoey Redbird, la protagonista, ha conseguido no sacarme tanto de quicio como quizá lo hacía en las anteriores novelas. Es más sensata, y aunque sigue siendo un poco una Mary Sue, con todo el tema de la mitología cheroqui creo que se justifican ciertos momentos de los libros. Creo que también es un personaje cuyo arco va a extenderse durante toda la saga, y como son tantos libros, será un avance lento. Aunque, como digo, ahora ya vamos pudiendo ver una nueva versión de Zoey que sinceramente... me gusta mucho.

Todo el tema del salseo, los novios, las traiciones y tal, o sea, el más puro mamarracheo, se han dejado un poco de lado en esta entrega. ¡Sé que es algo que me encanta, pero no me ha molestado que este libro sea más serio! Y no lo ha hecho porque creo que ha estado mucho mejor llevado: el desenlace no es cerrado y explota tras haber estado toda la novela descubriendo información, los capítulos apenas tienen saltos temporales y da la sensación de que todo pasa muy rápido aunque haya muchas descripciones, etc. Siento que el estilo de las Cast ha estado mucho más pulido en Indómita que en el resto de libros.

Respecto a tramas que podemos recuperar de los tres primeros, me gusta cómo Steven Rae ya tuvo su momento de protagonismo y ahora es una más del grupo, cómo Neferet se convierte en alguien a quien odiar y una villana por excelencia, en la buena inclusión que se hace de los Hijos de Érebo dentro del esquema de la Casa de la Noche, el descubrir nuevos detalles de la organización del mundo vampírico, así como nuevos personajes que pueden ser determinantes en las siguientes entregas (y que espero que lo sean).



¡Y no podemos olvidarnos de Aphrodite! Alguien me dijo el otro día en un comentario de YouTube que realmente ella es la protagonista de la saga, y la verdad es que puedo llegar a estar cien por cien de acuerdo. Zoey es, obviamente, la mega super elegida increíble. ¡Pero Aphrodite aporta muchísimo! Ha pasado de ser la odiosa sin escrúpulos a mi personaje favorito, con sus claros y oscuros, sus poderes y sus tramas con relevancia. LOVE HER!

Otro detalle que me ha gustado es que aparte de todo el tema de la cultura nativo-estadounidense, se incluya un nuevo personaje tan fantástico como es UNA MALDITA MONJA. Mary Angela me parece todo un acierto, no solo por lo que representa dentro del universo de La Casa de la Noche (con todo el tema del odio a los vampiros por culpa de la Gente de Fe), sino por lo que significa fuera, en nuestro mundo. Introducir a una monja súper tolerante y que cree en espiritualidades que no son propias del catolicismo me parece, además de una crítica, una muy buena baza a explotar en siguientes libros. ¡Así que espero que continúe apareciendo y dé buenos momentos!



En definitiva, Indómita se convierte en mi favorito de los cuatro que he leído, superando al primero. Me ha dado esperanzas en que se pueda convertir en una saga increíble más allá de los detalles mamarrachos que pueda tener, y que espero que siga aportando ese toque de cliché tras cliché con nuevas aventuras, culturas, dioses y poderes sobrenaturales. Porque, siendo honestos, las Cast lo hacen increíblemente bien.

[Sunsontops · Rating 1 out of 5]

I TOTALLY NEED TO VENT AT THE STUPIDITY/IDIOCY/AND OBVIOUS MENTAL ISSUES OF THE MAIN CHARACTER.

OK, honestly, what type of reaction would you expect from someone who used to be your boyfriend and CAUGHT you in the action of not only making out with someone, but down right naked in a freakin room at school doing the freak nasty to a teacher. LIKE REALLY, HAVE YOU NO SHAME OR BRAINS. THUS, THIS STUPID PARAGRAPH GETS ON MY NERVES.


'Erik looked at me. His blue eyes were absolutely expressionless, which felt completely wrong. Those same eyes had shown me happiness and passion and warmth and even the beginnings of love. Then they'd shown me hurt and anger. And now they showed me nothing at all? How could that even be possible?'

Um Zoey, its possible ur a ____.

And thus for now, at this part, im rating this book a solid 1.

AND this book will strike all time lows if Eric somehow forgives her and gets back with Zoey again. Cause that is utterly unrealistic and impossible. Eriks cruel attitude toward Zoey better keep up since this makes me actually like him as a character in this lame book for as before i was wondering and tbh still wondering why he's in this book at all.

UPDATE: THIS GIRL TAKES BEING A ** TO A WHOLE NOTHER LEVEL. Tell me how she cheats and makes out with her ex-boyfriend, while in a relationship with another boy, and despite that manages to have sex with a teacher all in the same 2 month time span. THEN, IF THAT WASNT THE WORST OF IT. 2 days after her lover teacher died, she didnt hesitate and give herself time to recover. She lays a big one on a random boy who was in the process of DYING. WTH. this book is steadily getting on my last nerves.

[Cyna · Rating 1 out of 5]

So when we last left Zoey, Erik had mercilessly slut-shamed Zoey until her friends abandoned her, Loren had died, and Neferet was evilly declaring war against humans for those murders that she totally didn’t do. Untamed picks up like a day or two later, with Zoey sulking because her friends are angry at her for not telling them things I can’t be fucked to remember. I think it was about Stevie Rae? Also possibly Loren? Anyway, the vital part is that Zoey’s adrift with only Aphrodite as an ally, which makes her more vulnerable than usual, because of reasons. Luckily this lasts all of two seconds before Aphrodite bullies Zoey’s friends into not being mad at her anymore, because god forbid things have consequences.

SPOILERS ABOUND YO

Meanwhile, Shekinah, High Priestess and Only Other Black Vampire in the World Besides Shaunee, visits the campus, to put the kibosh on Neferet’s holy war, and insist that the human police be allowed to investigate those murders that she totally didn’t commit. Zoey suggests that cop she worked with like two books ago that nobody remembers, and the matter is settled. Neferet is real pissed, and she stomps all around the place like a spoiled child, making it even more mystifying that anyone would believe she doesn’t have her own fucking agenda. But nah, nothing suspicious going on here, nope.

Meanwhile meanwhile, Zoey spends one night volunteering at at cat shelter run by some weirdly open-minded nuns. Ostensibly she's working with this nun-run charity to “better integrate with the community” and get an opportunity to talk to Stevie Rae off school grounds, but mostly it’s so that Zoey can know these characters’ names when she summons and imposes her needs on them like two days later.

Seriously she’s met this particular nun, Mary Angela, once for like an hour before she fucking summons her to the hospital after her grandmother is injured in a car accident. Zoey doesn’t feel comfortable leaving her grandmother alone, so she calls this woman to babysit her unconscious body, and of course the nun does it, with a smile on her face, because Zoey is Zoey, and everyone loves, believes, and trusts Zoey implicitly, unless they’re the bad guys.

Meanwhile meanwhile meanwhile James fucking Stark, aka motivator number two for continuing with this re-read, rolls into town. Stark is another speshul snowflake set up to join Zoey’s harem of complete tools, and since Cast has run out of elements, he gets the Goddess-given gift of infinite Patriot Arrows.

It’s the doinkiest fucking thing you guys, he can literally fire an arrow into the sky and it will Looney Toons its way right into whatever he’s thinking about, even if what he’s thinking about isn’t literally what he’s thinking about. Like, he tells this story about how he tried to hit “the heart of a tree”, meaning right in the dead center I guess, but instead he hits an owl, which according to some rando folklore he cites, was the true “heart of the tree”. It’s the most gloriously absurd fucking thing.

Stark comes complete with his own dark and tragic Falcon Story, which he spills to Zoey after knowing her for approximately twenty seconds. Thanks to his terrible, terrible curse of shooting really accurately, he accidentally killed his best friend/mentor in the Vampire Olympics, and now he refuses to ever participate in competitive archery ever again!

But! There’s a catch! THAT'S RIGHT, he gets archery BLUE BALLS, you guys. Unf, if he can’t shoot it off, it just hurts him SO BAD! And he’s such a tragic, tormented figure, he can’t stand the pain of not shooting his arrows off, so he does it anyway, even though he feels real bad about it after.

In case you guys didn’t get it, he’s a real mysterious, tortured bad boy. Anyway, Stark spends approximately ten minutes confessing his Sady McSadface backstory to Zoey, before promptly dying in one of the most appallingly awful scenes in the series so far, in that, while it's happening, Stark makes it entirely about how ~sad~ he is, not that he's dying, but because it means he can't get to know Zoey better.

How fucking horrifyingly narcissistic is this, to have this character come, meet the heroine briefly, and then spend his dying moments lamenting not getting to know her better? How horrifying is it to make this character’s last moments about how amazing the protagonist is? This fucking Zoey-centric world is a thing of nightmares. I imagine that Zoey is some sort of Haruhi Suzumiya god-like character who warps reality to suit her needs, and so this guy she thinks is hot spends his last moments on earth praising her beauty, while inside he’s screaming like “WHY AM I SAYING THESE THINGS? I DON’T KNOW YOU, I’M FUCKING DYING, PLEASE GET HELP!”

But nope, he dies, in the way that hot people that Zoey likes die, which is to say, he’ll come back soon enough. But in the meantime, Zoey spends the book mentally lamenting his loss, and that connection they TOTALLY ESTABLISHED ten minutes before he died.

Sure, you might think it’s shitty writing that they only knew each other for ten minutes, but you know what? That’s YOUR FAULT for having ridiculous social expectations about relationships, like that people take TIME to get to know one another before they decide that they’re SOUL MATES. Which Zoey decides they are, by the way. She literally says that they might be soul mates.

This is the darkest fucking timeline for this world, you guys.

She spends the rest of the book eagerly anticipating his resurrection as a red fledgling, and his inevitable position as the fourth point on her Love Square, which has collapsed for the moment, but is back on the rise.

Speaking of vertices, Erik is back as a teacher in this installment, and in the one class that Zoey actually attends, they have a wildly inappropriate moment in which he literally gets hard choking Zoey, she’s super into it, and they make out in front of the entire class that he’s teaching.

We have to fucking talk about Zoey and her guys, because I just cannot stand the way this book handles that. So look, polyamory can be a thing, and I would almost be willing to- well, not praise, I could never praise House of Night, that’s just not a thing I can physically do- but I could give it a modicum of credit for giving Zoey the agency to sustain multiple romantic relationships at once.

EXCEPT for two things. A) oh jesus fucking Christ the double-standard slut-shaming, like how can you even justify that? No.

And B) Zoey pursues all of these guys simultaneously without being honest with them. She does it in this very book! She thinks about Stark constantly, before, during, and after his death. She thinks about how much she wants to date him, can’t wait to maybe pursue a thing between the two of them when he rises from the grave. But then she pursues Erik at the same time. Erik, who she KNOWS isn’t interested in sharing her with another guy, who broke up with her for that very reason. But she just cannot fucking stand the idea that Erik might exist on the campus without being in love with her, so she goes out of her way to try and patch things up, get him back into her and on her side, while also tapping her foot, looking at her watch, waiting for Stark to revive.

And you know what, I could even fucking deal with that if she and the book would just acknowledge how selfish she’s being. But it’s like when she’s thinking of one, the other doesn’t exist. NEVER THE TWO THOUGHTS SHALL MEET, NOPE.

I just really can’t handle Zoey’s love life, I can’t. I vaguely recall the later books going into some shit about how she, as a High Priestess, has multiple boy slots that she can fill, so they might all have the Talk at some point, I don’t remember. But she needs to do some goddamn self-reflection like ASAP, this shit is getting old.

Meanwhile^4, Aphrodite, human now but still psychic, has a vision about 100 pages from the end of the book that slaps down a new slab of plot that we’ve never even heard of before.

Yes, our foreshadowing prophecy, revealed, again, 100 pages before the end of the book. Aphrodite transcribes it from her vision in Zoey’s grandmother’s handwriting, so naturally Zoey calls for a consult, and Cast proceeds to exploit the characters’ Cherokee heritage for that sweet, sweet Native American mysticism. Zoey’s grandmother exposits the (from what I can tell), completely made-up-for-House-of-Night tale of Kalona, a fallen angel rapist and father of the Raven Mockers, actual creatures from Cherokee legend, who are half-bird, half-man in exactly the way you don’t want.

It’s around this time that Untamed shoots for its most unexpected target – feminism. I almost shudder typing that word in this context, because it’s so fucking laughable. I mean jesus, do you guys remember the man-hating straw feminists following Aphrodite around in the first book? Remember how Zoey calls like every single woman in this book some variation of slut, whore, or skank, especially if they disagree with her? Remember how this book others, exotifies, or tokenizes every single one of it’s women of color? Remember how there was one line about goddess-worshipping lesbians and that’s it? Remember the fucking ridiculously rigid women-priestesses, men-warriors gender roles? And yet House of Night wants to play the “girl power” card by making its “villain” a rapist defeated by a group of Cherokee medicine women, and shooting off cheeky little lines about how Kalona will be shocked to find that “today’s women are not so easy to subdue”.

I mean first, fuck you hard for that bit of casual victim blaming apparently applicable to the entirety of history/anyone else who was “easy to subdue”. Even typing that, my blood fucking boils. I cannot handle how offhandedly cruel and insidious that statement is.

Second, just, like, no, man. It’s too late. We’re four books in, and this one hasn’t dispensed with any of its ugly misogyny, racism, homophobia, general hatefulness, or shitty world-building. You cannot salvage this story into one that’s woman-positive. It’s not fucking feminist if only one type of woman is deemed acceptable, and all others are shamed or erased. You can piss right fucking off with that shit.

Ugh, anyway, Kalona and the terrible prophecy: they don’t get it. Even with the help of Zoey’s grandmother and Damian-My-Other-Character-Trait-Is-That-I’m-Smart, they just can’t suss it out.

So the group attempts to interpret the prophecy to no avail, but hey, when all else fails, you know what’s there to move the plot along? The Irritable Bowel Goddess.

That’s right, Zoe’s Irritable Bowel Goddess (term coined by Fangs) is in full force, kicking in whenever Zoey has a stray thought that’s relevant to the plot Neferet has orchestrated.

It all culminates in an embarrassing mess of a climax that a baby could have seen coming. Love Square Vertice #4 (Stark) is resurrected from the dead to do the one thing that we’ve been told he can do: shoot shit. That’s literally the reason Neferet poached him from a rival House of Night. It’s not even a very difficult shot to pull off, I guess like nobody else could be trusted to hit the broad side of a barn. He shoots Stevie Rae, because that fulfills the prophecy by making the representative of the (element) earth bleed, which none of Zoey’s fucking walnuts managed to put together. Kalona rises, and Neferet instantly converts an entire campus full of goddess worshipers to hot-winged-rapist worshipers. She also kills the High Priestess of All Vampires without anyone noticing, bringing the number of black vampires in the world back down to one.

Despite being fucking stared at the entire time, Zoey manages to disappear from the fray via the use of elements, which I like to picture as Neferet fixing her eyes on Zoey, and then suddenly there’s a Zoey-shaped cloud of fog there instead, and Neferet’s like “FUCK, WHERE DID SHE GO?”

The Raven Mockers wreak havoc on the city, and Zoey guides a group of more than a dozen teenagers with stupid tattoos on their faces through downtown Tulsa on New Year’s Eve without being noticed, not because of plot convenience, but because Nyx goddamn willed it, thank you very much.

They hole up with Stevie Rae’s Red Fledglings, do a team cheer, and Zoey levels up. And that’s it. The end.

So obviously there’s a lot going on here. I guess you could say that Untamed is technically one of the better House of Night books purely by virtue of the fact that something relevant actually happens in it. Untamed moves the series plot forward in one giant, awkward lurch, making it one of like four House of Night books you actually have to read to keep abreast with what’s going on.

At the same time, this installment feels very transitional, and not much like a complete story in itself. There’s a lot of abrupt set-up for things that are meant to occur later, particularly in the next book, Hunted. The introductions of Stark, the Benedictine nuns, and the prophecy are clumsy and clunky, and feel like last-minute additions that should have been set up books ago in order to pay off the way the Untamed wanted them to. I am actually genuinely curious to know how much of the series Cast had planned out in advance, because right now, this whole book feels like a last-minute swerve.

But even with plot-related happenings, this is still a House of Night book, and it is still garbage. It’s hateful, it’s terribly written, lazily plotted, and the characters are all monstrous in ways the narrative refuses to acknowledge.

I go through like a complete emotional cycle every time I read one of these things: first it’s so bad it’s painful, then you get used to the pain, and it’s kind of enjoyably awful. But by the halfway mark you’re wallowing in mind-numbing despair at how many fucking brain cells you’re losing with every word you read, and once you finally make it to the end, you’ve been begging for death for pages, just wanting it to be over.

Then you look up and realize that the end isn’t even close.

Read full review with gifs/quotes/more snark at You'reKilling.Us

[Bex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right off the bat, this is my favorite book of The House of Night series. Yes, it's only book 4, but it is fantastic. This book doesn't deal with Zoey's love life as much as the others have. I'm all for the ooey-gooey bits, but this one does well without her having a boy (or man) in her life. It focuses on Zoey coming into her own and she is beginning to portray the high priestess that she really is.

A new character, Stark, is introduced, but his part is just too short in this book, so I'm hoping there will be more to come of him in the future books. Neferet has truly gone evil and Aphrodite is, gasp, nice! I finally like Aphrodite and am happy to read about her snobby self without wanting to smack her. Zoey's Grandma comes to stay at The House of Night and it is easy to feel the love all of the fledglings feel towards this woman. The Cast's did a wonderful job of weaving Cherokee stories into the book for both background purposes and featuring the tales up front and center.

The novel is a quick read because it's just so hard to put it down. The book comes to a close in the midst of the action and you are left unaware of what's happened to some of the characters outside of the main group of friends. It is the biggest cliffhanger of the series thus far, leaving us waiting to find out how Zoey will save the world.

[Sophia Triad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very important book of the series because two really significant characters are making a grand entrance:

1. James Stark, the new boy in school, the dog lover, the archery genius who has never missed a target and who will make all the Zoey’s pursuers (dead and alive) fade away.

Stark was cute. He was medium tall, not quarterback tall like my human ex-boyfriend, Heath, or abnormally gorgeous Superman tall like my fledgling-turned-vampyre ex-boyfriend, Erik. But he wasn’t short, either. Actually, he was about Damien’s height. He was kinda on the thin side, but I could see muscles through his old T-shirt, and his arms were definitely yummy. He had cute, messy guy hair, that sandy color between blond and brown. His face was okay, too, with a strong chin, straight nose, big brown eyes, and nice lips. So, dissected into separate parts, Stark was an okay-looking kid. As I watched him, I realized that what took him from meh to hot was his intensity and his confidence. He moved like everything he did was deliberate, but that the deliberateness was tinged with sarcasm. It was like he was a part of the world, and at the same time he was flipping it off.

2. Kalona, the winged Cherokee demon, the fallen angel, the father of the Raven Mockers, the ultimate bad guy

He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. His skin was smooth and completely unmarred, and was gilded with what looked like the kiss of the sun’s loving rays. His hair was as black as his wings, and fell loose and thick around his shoulders, making him look like an ancient warrior. His face—how can I ever fully describe his beautiful face? It was like a sculpture come to life, and it made even the most handsome mortal, be he human or vampyre, look like a sickly, unsuccessful attempt at imitation of his glory. His eyes were the color of amber, so perfect, they were almost golden. I found myself wanting to get lost in them. Those eyes called to me ... he called to me ...

Interesting cliff-hanger and the story becomes more complicated.

[Arinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

take beside the fact that Zoey is definitely a (sorry) ho, P.C Cast had created a great book. I love that the story has something to do with legends and myths, really i found the idea with Kalona really impressing.
And maybe because i am a teenager i just adore the easy-going writing style.
Those are some plus points.

Even if i gave the book 5 star rating that doesnt mean the book was flawless. I am 15 years old and i had a boyfriend, i know how it felt like to be between handsome men, but still i doubt Zoey is normal.
My first impression:
1. Zoey is a TOO nice girl
2. Zoey is freakishly shallow
3. Zoey is over hyperactive aggressive and has no women's pride
4. Zoey has issue/hyper sex/whatever

Why cant she just break up the imprint with Heath? Why couldn't she think clearly before fooling around with Heath? Why Heath why? (I never like Heath)
Obviously, i was very glad that Zoey may had something with Stark.

Maybe the reason i gave untamed 5 star is because there were less love thingie, not like in Chosen (i thought i would puke because Zoey was definitely shallow).
This book was totally focused on the real issue and i found it very pleasant. This is the best book of the other four.

And please, please, Zoey must not be so perfect. Its too cliche. Zoey is the wrong hero. I like Aphrodite more, even the names too cheesy.
Throw Zoey, and all her boyfriend to the trash bin then i would give untamed 7-star.

sorry for stupid grammar and spelling mistakes, i am still learning.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuarta entrega de la saga y me ha gustado bastante; manteniendome intrigada la mayor parte del tiempo.

Si bien, al inicio, nuestra protagonista vuelve a replantearse sus conflictos amorosos, sin saber por quien decidirse: Heath o Erik, aunque ambos terminaron la relación con ella; lo que sí sabe es que fue engañada por Loren y esto aún le pesa. Pero, aparece un nuevo personaje James Stark, quien con un solo diálogo cautiva a Zoey 🙄😅.

Sin embargo, en esta entrega la trama ha estado mejor elaborada, ya que por fin sabemos como planea Neferet, alta sacedotisa y mentora de Zoey, comenzar la guerra contra los humanos en venganza por las muertes que ocurrieron en la anterior entrega, y de pasada hacerse con el control de los iniciados y del colegio. Desatando el caos, asumo que en el mundo 😬, y desterrando a las alcantarillas tanto a Zoey como a sus amigos, algunos iniciados, vampiros, guerreros y una nueva especie vampírica; juntos comenzaran a trazar un plan para vencer a Neferet y recuperar el control del colegio.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so I really hated the last book and I told myself I wasn't going to read anymore of this series, but I came across a cheap electronic version and I couldn't help myself. I am glad I did. This book was so much better than the previous ones, my only two complaints are: 1. too short!! and 2. I know this is targeted towards a young audience, but come on, does Zoe really need multiple love interests in every book!!!? And to make it worse, does she really have to fall "head over heels" for EVERY guy that shows even remote interest? Ugh, it drives me crazy when a strong and otherwise independent heroine seems to need male attention 24/7 to feel worthwhile. Once again, I am not some feminist-nazi-men-hater, I love romance. I think it's great, but when it seems that it is only thrown in to keep readers interested and appeased, it really kills it for me. If not for complaint number two, I probably would have given it one more star.
I enjoyed the way Zoe and friends learned the importance of forgiveness. I especially enjoyed seeing the "geek squad" learn to be a little less self-centered and realize that the world does not revolve around them (trust me, I was well into my twenties when that idea finally started to dawn on me. Not that I have mastered it yet, either). They finally understood why Zoe had to do things the way she did and they even felt a bit ashamed for their selfish reaction and unwillingness to see things from her perspective.
I also loved the way this book brought in beliefs and traditions from different cultures and faiths. I also enjoyed seeing Zoe realize that there is bad and good in all groups (not all Christians are bad, not all vampyres are loyal to their goddess, etc.)

[Alisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

What seems to bother me about this series is that as preoccupied with calling every other girl around her a "slut" or "ho" for the smallest things, Zoey sure does seem to be quite a bit of one herself. I mean seriously, she lost her virginity on the floor of the recreation hall in her school for God sake! To a grown man! And she cheated with him two other boyfriends! She is in no position to judge anyone.

What makes me even more annoyed is that she continues to call people "hos" and "sluts" even after that whole incident. It's ridiculous!

Not only did that happen, but she also has:
-3 boyfriends, as I said before.
-She makes out and practically humps Heath not only in the passenger seat of a car, but in the middle of a public park.

Does anybody else find this character just a tad bit, oh I don't know... hypacritical ?!

[Jacey · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a good thing these teen vampire dramas take only a couple of hours to read. I've read the first four of this series and each one made me vomit in my mouth just a little more. Seriously. I know, you're asking why I have read 4 if the first one made me throw up even just a little. Well, it's a funny thing, I'd rather stick a book out on the off chance that the ending makes the whole thing worth it, than never know if the ending made the whole thing worth it. Now mind you, the ending-making-a-crappy-book-worth-it thing very rarely happens. I know it's happened to me before, but I just can't remember when. It's a good think I'm not in a terrible marriage, right, I'd be here till the end waiting to see if it got better.

It's usually not such a bad thing -- I'm a fast reader. Even if the book produces much mouth vomit, I only have to spit and rinse for a few days. However, these series books, man alive, they're a bit of a problem. Thankfully, there's only one more book in the House of Night series, and I know the chances are slim that it's going to make make it all worth it, but I've gotta try.

To be honest, it's not the storyline, or characters, that turn my stomach, it's the condescending tone and the judgemental stereotypes. It's like a PSA in Utah or the 1950s. I know your writing a teen book (mostly for girls) so you might think it's a good time to give a few lessons on how to be an upstanding, moral teen, but it's not -- your teenage vampire book is not the right platform to tell us only losers smoke pot or drink, druggies are losers (always), only desperate girls give blowjobs, girls that give blowjobs are being used, only a slut would kiss her boyfriend out in the open like that, goths smell bad and don't bathe enough. And if you can't help but pass on these nuggets of wisdom, don't hit us on the head with them, give us some layers, lady!

Seriously, I'm not sure who reads and enjoys these books considering that the authors succeed in alienating every 'type' of teenager except the most middle-mundane-average-boring one, which might cover, like two actual kids in the world. Geez.

Aside from all of that, well, I don't know, it was hard to get past all of that. I keep waiting for something to happen, maybe it's all about the denouncement?!

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, even though I haven't been a teen for a couple of years (uhm, make that over a decade), I'm a HUGE fan of the House of Night series. (Rather obvious, considering I bought it on the date of its release) Marked, Betrayed and Chosen were superb! That said, I really enjoyed Untamed, but if I had to order the books according to preference - it'd be fourth on my list.

I eagerly await Hunted. And the twists and turns I anticipate (and can't even imagine) will result from the events in Untamed. (Nope, no spoilers from me).

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I enjoyed this book like the others, but I had a couple of issues with it:

1. Yes, Zoey is beating herself up for falling for Loren's crap in book 3. Honestly, I don't really fault her for falling for it—anyone would be susceptible to flattery and romance, especially a teenage girl. What I do blame her for is not immediately distancing herself from Loren as soon as it became clear his intentions were inappropriate! I mean, he's a teacher, for one, but for Pete's sake, Zoey had a boyfriend! A boyfriend she was already semi-cheating on with Heath, though that was almost a compulsion and at least she'd been fairly up front with Erik that Something Was Going On in that department. But the Loren thing... she never seems to understand that her error wasn't in falling for the deceit, but in participating in the relationship AT ALL. I hated that all through book 3 she kept referring to Erik, Heath and Loren as her "three boyfriends." Auuugh.

Then she has the nerve, when finally talking to Erik about things, to act like he should be apologizing to her because he reacted without having the whole story (Loren's true reasons for seducing her, etc.).... yes, he reacted strongly, no, he probably shouldn't have basically called her a slut in front of all her friends, but.... YOU SLEPT WITH ERIK'S MENTOR, WHILE YOU WERE STILL SUPPOSEDLY DATING ERIK, NOT TO MENTION WHILE ALSO MESSING AROUND WITH YOUR PREVIOUS BOYFRIEND. I cannot honestly fault Erik for his behavior, jerky as it might have been. Erik has a lot to forgive, and sure I'm glad they seem to have resolved it enough to be talking and on the same side again, but Zoey just never seems to "get" what was wrong about the whole situation, and that really irked me. And then she goes and starts thinking Stark is her soul mate after talking to him for ten minutes. COME ON, ZOEY. You don't have to fall in lurrrrv/lust with every male who looks your direction, really. It's not necessary to the plot (well, it's possible a reason will be provided for the Stark think in book 5, but... still. Kinda ridiculous...).

2. I cannot believe I am saying this, but I almost think the ending would have been better if Stevie Rae had turned out to have more involvement in the Kalona resurrection than as target practice for Stark. I am weirded out that she said "he's taken my blood but not my life," and will be looking for a bit more of an explanation of that... plus with all the heavy hinting about Stevie Rae not being as back to normal as Zoey tries to pretend, I was sort of expecting her to ... I dunno. Be more evil.

Normally I'm really a happy ending kind of girl, so I'm not sure why I would WANT Stevie Rae to be evil... I like her and I'm glad she didn't die, but... it just seemed like the story would have been stronger that way. *shrug* Oh well, we'll see what book 5 has in store.

[Fuglsang · Rating 1 out of 5]

The covers of the House of Night series promises a world of mystery, romance and ancient conspiracies and neglect to mention that it's really more of a world of informed abilities, double standards and lame, predictable plots. This fourth book in the series is no exception and, if anything, is worse than the earlier books.
Before I go on, I'd just like to warn that there are spoilers ahead, so if you actually think that these books can be spoiled (*snort*) beware. Here we go...

In this book, we rejoin Zoey "I'm so speschul it's a curse I just want to be normal" Redbird right after she lost three boyfriends and all her friends turned their back on her. Don't feel too bad for Zoey, though, because in fifty pages she'll have her friends back (because of someone else's help and not through any kind of sacrifise or work on her part) and by the end of the book, at least two of her boyfriends will have forgiven her for no reason and a third one might be in the making. Hallelujah, praise Nyx. You know what - writing that physically hurt.

What I find most astounding about this seris is the fact that there's been four books in the series and they only span a period of about two-three months. In this time, Zoey has (and this is major spoiler territory):
- Gained four best friends, lost their trust and gotten it back again
- Broken up with her human boyfriend, gotten together with him again because they bonded over his blood, lost his trust when she slept with someone else and magically regained his trust for no reason
- Gotten a super hot vampyre boyfriend who liked her for no reason, lost him when he caught her sleeping with a teacher, and regained his trust for no reason
- Started flirting with a teacher and sleeping with him, thus losing the two other boyfriends plus the teacher who was almost immediately killed after they slept together
- Found out that her mentor, whom she otherwise considered a mentor and mother figure, was evil for no obvious reason and has been bringing dead fledgling vampyres back from the dead for... some reason
- Lost her best friend because she died, gotten her back when she came back as an undead creepy thing, and gotten her back once again when her humanity was restored
- Overtaken all the power, influence, and boyfriend that another girl possessed and has since become friends with said girl for no apparent reason
- Gotten a gazillion superpowers and so many weird tattoos all over her body that even most zebras would just kind of snort because guuuuurl, dat's too much
- Almost lost her grandmother twice

And I could go on. It's like there is some kind of action, some kind of plot crammed into every single flipping sentence. You don't have time to breathe. Not even at chapter breaks. Sometimes there's a chapter break even though the scene just goes on in the next chapter. It's a steaming mess, is what it is. As much as I like action packed books, this just feels like too much. It's nice to get a breather every once in a while, some description, some atmosphere. The book just flies by at a million miles an hour and because something happens all the damn time, I have no sense of how the school looks or feels. I know they try and cram description down my throat to try and force me to find it beautiful, but it doesn't work.
Even if they did slow down, where are all the other characters? The side characters? The dinner lady? The janitor? The other students? The teachers that aren't relevant to the plot? I don't care about any damn thing about this school because I don't know anything about it. The side characters are hardly ever named, if they are it's only to praise Zoey or to let us know that she doesn't like them. That does not a great setting make - it's bland and forgettable.

But it's not like I care about the main characters either, because fact is they're dull, one-dimensional and, in cases where they try to introduce some character development (HELLO APHRODITE) they are clumsily executed. Aphrodite is the most blatant case of a ridiculously poorly written character. I don't know what on Earth is going on, but by god, they messed up her character. Zoey and all her kindhearted friends are quick to tell us how much of a bitch and slut Aphrodite is, and while she certainly hasn't been rosy and kind and generous, was there really ever a time where she was that bad? Even if the bitch part is true, the slut part... kind of doesn't ring true. Aphrodite has had a total of one boyfriend so far and she has cheated on zero of them. All her other interaction with the opposite sex consists of flirting with guys... which is apparently so disgusting. Anyway, Aphrodite tells us herself that she's so nasty to her boyfriends, so it has to be true... right?
'Show, Don't Tell' has never been this thoroughly bludgeoned to death and left in an alley to bleed out.
Her becoming Zoey's friend is contrived and handled in such a hamfisted manner, she pretty much overshadowed much of the book with how over the top she is.

I can't even remember all the things that made me want to laugh out loud while throwing the book at a wall because it happened so many times. One of my favourite things had to be Zoey's sudden connection with a guy she's known for a grand total of one day, whom she then proceeds to snog while he is dying and gushing blood out of every orifice in what is probably the least romantic scene I've read since Fifty Shades of Whyyyyy Do I Do This to Myself. Another hall of fame moment has to be the clumsiest bit of exposition I have ever read - rather than relaying everything that happened in the third book through ordinary narration, Zoey says it all out loud. All of it. It is so gloriously bad, so delightfully clumsy, it made me want to travel back in time, pat Louise the 15 year old writer of some of the worst texts in existence on the head and say 'You know, kiddo, all things considered, you weren't so bad'.

All of this amounts to basically the worst book I've read of the series, and yet... I'm afraid my brain deceives me. Near the end, when the climax of the book was coming, I realised I'd forgotten just how bland and predictable the books truly are. I actually read it and thought 'Oh, yeah, I know they're foreshadowing this but they're totally going to do this other thing'.... which they didn't. At all. They went with their trite, even more predictable ending that they had already foreshadowed to death. And when I say foreshadowed I mean that they pretty much just stated what was going to happen and then it happened. Like reading a scientific paper, except more predictable.

All this said, do I not recommend reading this or the other books of the series? If you know me, you already know what the answer is: Go read it. Really, I recommend this trainwreck with all my heart. It's like the horribly deformed offspring of a Mary Sue litmus test and a list of what not to do when you're writing. It's like That Novel you wrote when you were fifteen (you know which one I mean!) only published and read by a wide audience. It's like something out of a legend. It is glorious.
I recommend the entirety of the series to everyone. Go out there and read horrible books and learn, broaden your horizon, read and read critically so that when you're presented with crap like this by publishers, you don't just take it in without question - go forth and read the horrible books for they will make the world a better place, one informed ability at a time.

[Nikoleta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Αυτό το βιβλίο μου άρεσε περισσότερο από τα προηγούμενα, καθώς οι χαρακτήρες μου φάνηκαν αρκετά πιο ώριμοι. Ειδικά όσον αφορά την πρωταγωνίστρια Ζόι, νομίζω ότι έγινε άλμα στις μεταξύ μας σχέσεις, εφόσον σταμάτησε να φλερτάρει με 452 άντρες ταυτόχρονα, για να ασχοληθεί με πιο σοβαρά θέματα, οπότε σταμάτησα να θέλω να περάσω από πάνω της με φορτηγο.
Ένα θέμα είχα μόνο, το βιβλίο είναι γεμάτο πολλές, περιττές συζητήσεις, που τραβάνε πολύ και νιώθω ότι δεν θα τελειώσουν ποτέ, άλλωστε αυτός είναι και ο λόγος που δεν του βάζω πάνω από τρία αστεράκια.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is such a guilty pleasure of mine. This is a big improvement on the last entry in the series as there was considerably less hypocritical slut-shaming and less relationship drama. Plus given the ending, it seems the series may finally stop spinning its wheels and get to the point.

[Laura (Booksforbreakfast) · Rating 1 out of 5]

There isn't much to say about this novel other than it made me not want to finish the series. Zoe is such an annoying little putz that I just have the desire to slap some sense into her!

I felt like so much of the book was what happened in the previous novels that I was bored to tears. The book should've only been 200 or so pages without the BS. I don't have a desire to read more of this series so I'll leave it at that.

Also...all the love interests are laughable.

[Victoria ✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books really aren’t half bad, might even give this one a 3.5! The story is interesting at the minute and I’m kinda a fan, it’s pretty creative.

My only proper gripe is the repetitiveness of the writing. It’s always “_____ said” over and over! Think I’m noticing it more bc I’m borrowing the audiobooks from my library but it’s a bit annoying. Also the fact every book has to explain basic things you know if you read the other ones...other than that I’ll probably keep reading this series

[Christophe · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK. So this book is horribly written. It seems a 12 yo wrote it. I think the other books in this series are pretty good and I was so excited when I ordered it from my local bookstore. I read the first 3 pages and almost throw up. I really don't want to finish the book at all. I understand that the authors of this book are not the best but they could have done a much better job writing this book.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 "Well, this is getting old" stars...

So much potential...

Things have gotten bad for Zoey Redbird in Untamed, book 4 of the House of Night series. In one week she has gone from having 3 boyfriends to none and from having a trusted group of friends to being an outcast.

From the cover:

"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."

My thoughts...

Meh. Same ol', same ol' dragging the story out, and polluting it with the unnecessary overuse of the 'f' word so prevalent in these books. I'm not a prude by any stretch, but I feet like the author is targeting a very specific audience and trying to show how cool and grown up her characters are because they pepper their vocab with the 'f' bomb.

Like I said; So much potential, but just falls short.

2.5 stars

[jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

alright, this book was a VAST improvement from the last one. to get the negatives out of the way, the outdated language, constant repetition, and problematic language was still prevalent in this book. HOWEVER, it was easy to get through. it was entertaining. hoping the series continues to improve, but i think that’s just wishful thinking.

[Allison ☾ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, I did a nostalgia re-read. Yes, it was a mistake.

Reasons why this series missed the mark for me:

1. Heroine is self-righteous and hypocritical. Would like her more if she was less judgmental and owned up to her mistakes.

2. No consequences… for anything. Our heroine does terrible things and people just forgive her after a few chapters and always take her word for everything.

3. Juvenile dialogue. Slurs.

[James Tullos · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've always wanted to read a book series where the villain isn't even mentioned until book 4.

[alittlelifeofmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is by no means a good series. The writing isn’t good and has a lot of really iffy offensive things about it. I genuinely hadn’t heard or remembered the word “skank” since I was a teenager.

The nostalgia has gotten me this far, and book 5 becomes the first one I can’t remember if I’ve read or not. I think I have, but If I have it’s the last one. I don’t love where the series has gone, but I’m eager to see where it goes.

[Marlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

How many more times can Zoey say "Jack and Damien are gay and it's okay" while simultaneously sounding super homophobic at the same time?

[Gary Reads (garysbooksnthings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is fantastic

[Gracie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has the author/s never heard of ‘show don’t tell’???

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The House of Night series is unlike any other vampire series I’ve read. I really enjoy the series and it’s interpretation of vampires. I’m especialy looking forward to reading the next novel.

I was disappointed in Untamed. After reading all of the previous novels and immensely enjoying them, Untamed fell short of the standard that had been set. Most of the novel was spent on explaining what happened in the previous three novels, and while I understand how that can be necessary, it took up valuable room in this novel that could have been used for things much more exciting. Like Zoey making out with Erik....

Despite its rough spots and flaws, I still was unable to put this book down! The combo writing team of P.C. and Kristin remained true to their signature style! Drama, suspense and humor, all present and accounted for! There were a few grammatical errors that I was surprised to find, but I think that shouldn’t have precedent over enjoying the novel.

I was also surprised with the direction the authors have taken with the character Aphrodite, and I can’t wait to see what happens to her! And while there were a lot of questions answered within the novel, there were also slews of unanswered questions introduced. If you’re a fan of the series, you won’t want to miss this one.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Auch im August geht es weiter mit der House of Night Reihe, daher habe ich auch diesen Monat wieder zu einem Teil gegriffen. Durch die lockere Sprache und die große Schrift komme ich in den Büchern immer recht schnell voran.

Der Sprachstil zieht sich wohl durch die gesamte Reihe und ist eher jugendlich gehalten. Die Welt um Zoey und das House of Night ist inzwischen gut bekannt und wir spinnen die Geschichte rund um den roten Faden weiter. Teil 4 knüpft wieder direkt an den Vorgänger an. Die Machenschaften im Hintergrund werden weitergesponnen und vertieft und auch im persönlichen Bereich von Zoey tun sich wiedermal einige Dinge. Zoey war in diesem Band nicht mehr ganz so kopflos und unbedacht, dennoch hat sie bis Teil 4 noch keine große Veränderung durchgemacht, wie ich finde.

Die Autorinnen haben es wieder geschafft das Buch nach Schema F aufzubauen. Erstaunlicherweise haben wir wieder einmal eine gefühlsverwirrte Zoey, die sehr wechselnde Gefühle gegenüber Männern hegt und sich hin und her gerissen fühlt… Wir haben eine dunkle Bedrohung, die aber am Ende durch seichte Element-Beschwörungen besiegt werden kann. Und natürlich den bedrohlichen roten Faden, der wohl noch eine Weile verfolgt werden wird.. Die Story war wieder sehr seicht und angenehm zu lesen, die perfekte Lektüre für zwischendurch.

[Cym & Her Books 🍉 · Rating 4 out of 5]

probably ish where my huge desire for tattoos came from! 😍