Hunted

House of Night #5

by Kristin Cast, P.C. Cast

Book Description
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?

On the run and holed up in Tulsa's Prohibition-era tunnels, Zoey and her gang must discover a way to deal with something that might bring them all down.  Meanwhile, Zoey has a few other little problems.  The red fledglings have cleaned up well--they've even managed to make the dark, creepy tunnels feel more like home--but are they really as friendly as they seem?  On the boyfriend front, Zoey has a chance to make things right with super-hot ex-, Eric, but she can't stop thinking about Stark, the archer who died in her arms after one unforgettable night, and she is driven to try to save him from Neferet's sinister influence at all costs.  Will anyone believe the power evil has to hide among us?

An Interview with P.C. Cast

Why vampyres? What was intriguing to you about them? (Also, why "y"?)

P.C. Actually, the idea for the series originated with my fabulous agent, Meredith Bernstein. We were at RWA [Romance Writers of America] Nationals in Reno several years ago and Meredith said she had an idea for a series she'd like to see me write. Then she said the three magic vampire finishing school. I instantly thought of YA because I'd been reading the Hawksong books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes--so my head was already in YA. Also, I've been teaching high school English since 1993 (I'm from a family of teachers) so I definitely knew my audience. Basically, it sounded like fun to write, so I jumped in even though I'd only written fantasy and paranormal romance up until then.

Oh, and the spelling is just my choice 'cause I like the way it looks![image]

I don't want to draw too many comparisons between your series and Twilight, because they are completely different types of stories. However, I am curious if the popularity of that series has changed the way you see your genre, or do you even see it being the same genre?

I see my genre as YA, and to me that encompasses everyone from Rowling to Laurie Halse Anderson to Janice Erlbaum. So, yes, Twilight fits in the same genre. And while I enjoy Ms. Meyer's books very much, I think the genre has been growing and changing and gaining popularity steadily over the past decade--mostly thanks to Ms. Rowling! As a high school English teacher I certainly noticed the increase in sophistication and popularity of the genre some time ago. Today's YA has an incredible range and depth, and it deals with real coming of age issues in varied and interesting ways. I'm proud to be a member of the ranks of YA authors!

Can you talk a little bit about the role that religion plays in the novels? The whole series revolves around the worship of Nyx, the Goddess of Night, and Hunted really digs into questions of faith and free will (often related to what guy Zoey will be drawn to next...very clever to make that her weakness!). At various points in the series you also have People of Faith, Catholic nuns, and Cherokee legend. How do you see all these elements working together?

Very clever of you to recognize the ramifications of Zoey's weakness!

It's easy for me to weave the different religious elements of the world together because it's not really "religion" I'm dealing with when I create the conflicts and faith foundations in the House of Night. Instead I see it as a way to illuminate coming of age issues, which often deal with conformity and obsession and trying to learn boundaries. I chose to give my heroine a belief system in which to live that is matriarchal because my purpose is to empower young women, and by allowing Zoey to join a world where women are valued as leaders and really have no glass ceiling, except the ones they create for themselves, as exemplified by Neferet, I have a springboard for a lot of girl power.

What wer...

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

336 pages, Library Binding

First published March 10, 2009

About the author

Kristin is a #1 NYT and #1 USA Today bestselling author with over 30 million books in print.

She is proudly neurodivergent (ASD + OCD) and deeply consumed by character-driven chaos, emotionally vulnerable heroes, and smart, sexy heroines who always get the last word and the hot guy. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her devouring thriller, horror, and romance novels, practicing witchcraft, and being the exact kind of unhinged that makes group chats worth opening.

Reviews

[Amber Gardiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Grief, how many boyfriends does one girl need? It's starting to get a little ludicrous.

[Desperado · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy the House of Night series but the repetitiveness is starting to get really annoying.Yes we know Jack and Damien are gay. Yes we know Shaunee and Erin are "twins",one black and the other white.Yes we know Aphrodite is a bitch and that Stevie Ray is a country girl.We DON'T need to be reminded of it every other page of every freaking book.Not to mention i fear that Zoey is turning into a giant ho cake with ho icing. And all the men she thinks she wants/loves are little ho sprinkles on top.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so the House of Night series is seriously one of the most guilty pleasure-ish young adult series I've read. Emphasis on the guilty part.

You know when you go to the airport, and you're waiting at your gate for your flight, and you look over at the little old lady sitting next to you? She might be reading a book, but she's angled it so that you can't quite see what it is. But she seems really into it, and you start to wonder what she's reading. Then maybe something happens and she readjusts herself, and the cover of her book flashes into view, and you see a shirtless Fabio-type man with long, flowy hair holding a busty woman whose corset dress is looking rather askew. It has a title like "Seduced by a Rogue Lord" or "The Virgin's Wicked Deed", and you feel a blush rising to your cheeks, and you think to yourself, Why the hell would she be reading that in public?!

Well, that's kind of how I feel about House of Night.

Let's be honest with ourselves here--House of Night is hardly a work of ground-breaking literature. It's pure and utter book candy, something you know is bad for you, but you just keep eating and eating because you can't stop. And oh, how delicious the candy is.

Which brings me to Hunted, the fifth installment of the series. I'll admit, I actually wasn't really looking forward to this book that much, just because I felt that Untamed was quite a bit of a letdown, both story-wise and writing-wise. After three completely squee-worthy books, the fourth just wasn't up to par. So, then came this one. And I'm pleased to say that Cast and Cast are finally back on their game. Well, as much as one can be on their game when writing a series with a fairly ridiculous premise, and complete Mary Sue of a main character, and cookie cutter villains.

But you know what? All of that doesn't really bother me that much. Because honestly? The books are just so entertaining to read. For the most part. Yes, Zoey is absolutely perfect. She's been blessed with these powers that nobody else has, she's destined for great things, she makes stupid mistakes and faces pretty much no consequences for them, and she's definitely got the Anita Blake factor going for her--everybody wants to sleep with her. Erik wants to sleep with her, even though he spent most of book four simultaneously hating her and trying to make her miserable. Heath wants to sleep with her even though he pretty explicitly said in book four that he never wanted to be with her again. Stark wants to sleep with her, even though they've only known each other for like, one day. Kalona wants to sleep with her because she's A-ya reincarnated. Hell, I bet Loren Blake still wants to sleep with her from beyond the grave. The only males who don't want to sleep with Zoey are the gay ones.

Speaking of gay, I don't really know why, but Cast and Cast seem to think that they have to make Damien and Jack really, really gay. I mean, so stereotypically gay that you wonder if they're going to strap a rainbow banner on their chests and start marching through the streets. As someone who knows several gay people, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that not all of them get really emotional every time something moderately frightening occurs, are obsessed with clothes and shopping, can cook really well, and basically act like they're the equivalent of a 12-year-old girl with menstrual cramps. I think pretty much everyone is familiar with homosexuals--we don't need Cast and Cast to overdo it like they are.

As for the plot, it was pretty solid. Slow at first, but definitely picked itself up. It was fairly predictable, but what else can you expect from the book equivalent of marshmallow pudding?

The only gripe I have is that it wasn't edited properly in a couple places. There were a few grammatical errors, and sometimes the authors mixed up Darius and Damien. Also, at the very end, they call Zoey's grandmother Stevie Rae's grandmother. But it wasn't too distracting.

All in all, as much as I'm embarrassed to admit it, I had fun with Hunted. I wouldn't whip it out at the airport because I'd be a bit worried about what people would think of me, but I can safely enjoy it in private.

4 out of 5 stars for really guilty entertainment but not really much else...

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers for earlier books in the series and mild spoilers for HUNTED.

HUNTED is very much a "middle" book in the House of Night Series, a bridge between the first and second halves of Zoey's story. Zoey and her friends are hiding from the reincarnated fallen angel Kalona ad his evil Raven Mockers, as well as Neferet, who has become the Queen Tsi Sgili. Zoey will need to use all her power and lean on her friends if she means to defeat Kalona. But does she want to? She's been dreaming of him...

To quote Zoey, "well, hell". For all of HUNTED, Zoey and company are between rocks and hard places, usually a wall or a creature of some sort.

The trouble that came to light in UNTAMED comes to a peak in HUNTED, although there can be no doubt that the next four books are needed to finish the story. I think it might have been possible to finish the series here, although it would have been a longer novel then. And honestly, do we want it to end? No.

I did feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of characters and plot threads and built up gunk from the past four novels, but the end of HUNTED looks as though much of that will be wiped away.

The writing is just as fresh and informed as ever, Kristin Cast's in-touch-ness with real teens showing through.

Definitely a must read for fans of House of Night or vampire fiction in general.

[Raven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Condensed, edited version taken from my blog.

Not long ago I finished reading the fifth instalment in the Cast's House of Night Series, Hunted.

This is about the point where I give a frustrated sigh. Oh my, is it a frustrated sigh.

First of, there is a story in there somewhere. An interesting story that could potentially make a good novel but it's been swallowed by chaotic, repetitive, stereotypical, shallow muck. I really hope that this novel is only the stepping stone to another part of the story because if this is setting the tone for the future of the series then it's going to get far worse.
Not that the previous novels in the series were master pieces with the repetition, stereotyping and all the other faults but it was interesting and the main story wasn't lost or marred as much by all the triviality. Plus the characters changed and you didn't always know who was bad and who was good.

The book continues on from the last quite well with Zoey recounting how they made it to their particular location. That part isn't too bad because you expect a bit of explanation about the previous novels in the series but soon you realise that doesn't stop there, it carries on but with the present novel. Through out the story, almost all the characters, have to explain everything that has happened to each other repeatedly. There's no short catch up explaining the main character just caught whoever up on the news so the reader doesn't have to read it over and over again. No, none of that.
Then there is the obsession with the gay characters. I'm bisexual, I love gay characters but that doesn't mean we have to be reminded every few lines or have the reference "gay this" and "gay that" so much.
It's fine if it's just pointed out that there's a gay couple but it's followed by more "gay" comments about them cooking, squealing etcetera with gay tacked in front of it and at some point in the previous novels I started to wonder if the writer was giving her self a pat on the back because she included homosexual characters and wanted to make sure we knew.
Just like she had to make sure we knew everything else by explaining it to us. For instance, words (damn it, write a dictionary if you want to explain words), the storyline (over and over and over and over....), how hot everyone is or at least how perfect and then there's the love triangles.
This is one of the main things that takes away from the interesting story and just turns it into being about boys and the character being a whingy, whimpy idiot. She can't seem to make up her mind about any boys that she likes and guess what? All the hot guys want a piece of her and so far there is really only one guy who isn't considered hot. So most of the story is her obsessing over all these boys and what she is going to do about them when the world as she knows it is coming to an end and everyone is in danger.

Way to get the priorities sorted.

If you knew nothing about teenagers (maybe you slept through your teen years and then have been living on Mars since) and this was your only reference to them then you'd come away thinking they were boy obsessed, daft (because the characters take a long time to figure things out), have bad memories because they repeat themselves so much, are really, really shallow and that teenage girls can go around cheating on their boyfriends, stringing boys along and eventually getting away with it because the boys will still love them.

So basically it was entertaining trash given the underlying story but really annoying at the same time. Not that I'm really annoyed with the story, it's the authors that have done my head in so I'll be reading the next one because I want to know what happens with the bigger picture and to see if this is only a transition novel.

[Nasty Lady MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

To see full review and to vote on whether or not I continue my quest to read this series click here.

Sometimes I don't even know why I bother.

I am a goal oriented person. Seriously, I have like post it notes on my desk with day goals, week goals, year goals, life goals...you get the picture. And being goal oriented is a good thing. But at this point with the House of Night books...I don't know if I can continue it guys I really don't. Not after I read Hunted.

This book...

I understand why many people have quit the series after this installment. And it's not because this book is any more offensive than the rest (though if the character Karmisha would've been highlighted any more I think it could've approached that territory). It's just that this installment...it just showcases what's wrong with this series.

I thought of reviewing this book several ways: interviewing characters from the book, writing a letter to Mrs. and Ms. Cast expressing my disdain, writing a review where I praise this book for doing what it is....essentially shitting on the written word. But all those ideas, they were too good for this book. And since this is supposed to be a drinking game feature, I just decided to list some things you could drink for. Specifically, the top ten things that offended me the most about Hunted.

10) Not so subtle My Immortal references:

Just admit your Tara Gillesbie, Kristin. The evidence is all there. Count Chocola, a main character that looks like Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, multiple characters in love with the MC, perverts on campus. Heck, there's even a scene where Zoey's running around campus naked like Ebony. And one of the love interests has red eyes like vampire. God, if you haven't read this fan fic. Read it. The grammar's atrocious (hence, why PC probably had to help write this book), but it's all there I swear. Okay, it's just my opinion and I know in reality that Kristin Cast and Tara Gilesbie are two different individuals, but I just can't help but wonder. I just can't.

9) Brand Spanking New Characters:

There were like fifteen or so new characters introduced in this installment. I really can't remember who was who and don't care. They serve no purpose just like most of those characters they forced upon us in the second season of Young Justice just to sell toys and look what happened to that show...seriously, Lagoon Boy and Blue Beetle (okay, I got Blue's role, but I never liked him. I'd rather focus on the characters we were introduced to in season one).

8) The Entire Plot (What There is of it):

The first one hundred and forty pages are a complete waste. And when they go back to the school...it doesn't even make sense. Couldn't they like get a vampyre healer? I mean, they're getting everything else brought into those tunnels. Heck, they even have running water? Is it really that hard to find some sort of medicine woman (like Dr. Quinn) to come and cure Zoey. Or better yet let Zoey die. That would've made a lot more sense than what did happen and been quasi poignant. Honestly, the plot holes are what made the plot and that's just sort of sad.

7) Bastardizing Religions/Mythologies/Cultures/History--a.k.a. being a Cast with "imagination"

You might think taking different mythologies and mixing them together would be a smart thing to do. I guess if you did it correctly, it would. But when mess up certain aspects about some of the mythology your using and have no explanation-say for the fact your using a Cherokee legend that took place thousands of years ago and try to make it take place in Oklahoma when it's historically known that a part of the Cherokee tribe only moved to Oklahoma because of Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears (while small portions of the tribe hid in the North Carolina mountains and still reside in the state today), you have one big mess. Then again, calling every celebrity and their mother sort of gives you a clue of credibility of your made up mythology.

6) Contradictions
The Casts love to contradict themselves and they love to do it through long info dumps. Honestly, at this point...anything goes and I no longer even care. But I hate having to read these convoluted explanations. And I'm like, why even bother you'll just contradict yourself whenever you find it necessary.


5) Useless Dialogue
It's not offensive, so much as annoying. But really, really, half of this book could've been edited out. That's how useless some (if not most) of the dialogue is. It just got really annoying after awhile.

4) Rape Culture:

There's an attempted rape in this book. And the way it's handled is disgusting. First of all, it was okay for the victim to be almost assaulted because the character that attempted to rape her was hot. And for that, she endures slut slamming by are sanctimonious heroine. Oh, and did I mention the attempted rapist barely got his hand slap. Nope, it's his victim who faces the consequences.

3) The Love Interests:

Seems a weird thing to be offended by. But the love interests are pathetic. All of them. And what would that be five (no six if you count dead Loren) at this point in time. Let me list them:

Heath (Sir Douche): Appears randomly, cals Zoey-Z, we're told he's a gentleman, but it's obviously he's really a douche. Oh, and he and Zoey shared or share an imprint and you know how I feel about imprinting....

Erik (Prince Eric): He's too good for Zoey. Obviously. And there's really not much to him, he's like a Disney character. Though he's always described as looking like Superman. Guess the Casts never heard that Batman is the hot DC character not Superman, but whatever.

Loren (Mr. Mary Kay Laterno): He's dead now. But he and Zoey had sex. He claimed to really love Neferet, but we all know what he was probably thinking.....

Stark (Iron Man): New kid in school who Zoey has an insta connection too. He dies comes back evil but through the power of love (hey....don't get drunk while reading this review).

Kalona (Kocoum): This fallen angel based on Native American legend who apparently thinks Zoey is Wonder Woman (well, a maiden made of clay that's close enough) or something. He's completely evil, but because he's hot Zoey thinks she likes him.

2) Zoey:

Is she supposed to be likable? I don't know what I'm supposed to get out of my main character. Honestly, the only thing Zoey talks about other than brown pop is her pathetic love life. And as you cans see from my list I drink just whenever that's talked about. So yeah, that makes her offensive in that regard. And then there's the fact that she's just so judgmental, bitchy, and just unlikeable in general. I can't believe anyone would like this bitch given some of the things she has said.

1) Stereotypes:

This is a reoccurring problem throughout the series, but it grated on my nerves a little bit more this time around. Probably because of the character Karmisha who is supposed to be the sassy African American from the ghetto stereotype. It's disgusting how the Casts portray her. And to make matters worse, they completely shove her in our faces so that we have to like her. I think that was probably my biggest issue because with Damen even though they stereotype him in the fullest (seriously, in every book we're told in some not so obvious way that he's gay), they don't spend a full twenty minutes trying to get us to instantly like him like they did with Karmisha. Plus, there was no need for the Karmisha character in this book. They already had a poet, but I guess the Casts just wanted to add more token characters in their book and token characters they have a plenty. Let's look at some of the stereotyping that goes on here, specifically concerning her:

Introduction to Karmisha:

"A black girl twitched out of the group. It was a testament to how distracted I'd been with Venus and Aphrodite and Stevie Rae that I hadn't noticed her before then. She had on a form -fitting bright yellow shirt cut low to show the top of her black lace bra and a pair of high-waisted, skintight cropped jeans that were cinched up with a wide leather belt that matched her chunky gold shoes. Her hair was cut geometrically into a short poof on her head, and half of it was dyed bright orange." (Cast and Cast 35).

Karmisha's first line:

" "Let's get it straight right now that I'm not sharin' my bed with no one,' Karmisha said, weaving her head around and looking bored and pissed off at the same time (35).

And another brilliant quote of Karmisha's:

" 'Look, he had wings. That ain't right,' Kramisha added, fragmenting my attention. 'My mma told me don't trust no white boy, even a pretty one. I'm thin' a pretty white boy with wings explodin' up form the ground in a mess of blood and ugly-ass bird things is double trouble.' " (42).

I'd like to interject at this point that the guy she's talking about is Kalona who originates from an Native American folklore and is described looking like a Native American. And as far as I know, Native Americans aren't white.


So, I want your thoughts. Should I continue or not? I really hate giving up on a goal but after reading this maybe...maybe you can understand if this is the last time I ever read about Zoey Redbird and her shitious life.

[Sophia Triad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book in which Kalona pretends to be a good guy. And he also wants Zoey.

“You know what I want, my love. I want you.”
“I am not your love.”
“Of course you are.” He moved this time, stepping so close to me that I could feel the chill that came from his unsubstantial body. “My A-ya.”

But Zoey does not want him...

Moreover, Heath is back

“We’re good at being together. We’ve had lots of practice at it.”

Erik is back

“I don’t know how much of your human boyfriend I can stand”

And Stark is back

“Stark! Don’t shoot him!”

Thankfully Zoey is about to make the correct choice:

“The House of Night is under the control of something that’s probably a demon. Neferet has turned into something that’s probably a lot worse than a demon. My friends and I are not safe. I have no idea how to do what I need to do to begin to make this mess right, and to top it all off I’m falling for a guy who’s been with a crapload of the girls on campus and used mind control on them.”
“You’re falling for me?”

And another favourite character is making a grand entrance

“Son of man, you may call me Rephaim.”

Rephaim is one of the Raven Mockers and he has already shown an interest in Stevie Rae.

“Is the Red One with you?”

One of the most beautiful love stories between Rephaim and Stevie Rae will soon begin in the next books.

[Alessandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to finish this. I really did. But when the main character of a book annoys you so much you can hardly stand turning the page, something's got to give.

I mean, COME ON. How many guys does Zoey need? It was just getting a bit ridiculous. I was happy when it seemed that Zoey was happily dating Erik (who is pretty irritating anyway, but whatever, it's not my fictional life) in this book. Then Heath pops back up again.

It's not only the fact that every single guy character in this series (apart from the painfully stereotypical gay friends) seems to fall instantly in love with Zoey that annoys me. It's the fact that she can't just pick one and be done with it. Heath's been following her around for four books now. Cut the guy a break. Tell him you're not interested, even if it's not completely true. Stop leading him on.

I can appreciate a love triangle as much as the next person, but considering Zoey's love life doesn't come close to resembling something as logical as a three-sided plane shape, Hunted was just too much for me to handle.

Definitely not continuing with the rest of this series.

[Cyna · Rating 1 out of 5]

You guys ready? Cuz here we go again.

Just a reminder that you guys should really head over to Fangs for the Fantas, my House of Night month reading buddy, for their review, which excellently covers a bunch of things that I just didn’t have the energy to analyze in mine. They’ve got a lot of good stuff on the shittiness of Erik and Zoey’s relationship, in particular, that is just A+ spot-on.

Hunted picks up right where Untamed left off – well, sort of. It actually picks up a few hours after Untamed left off, with an obnoxious dream sequence that I’m sure someone thought would serve as a good hook. We open to Zoey having a pointedly non-erotic “dream” about Timeless Pop-Culture References, when Kalona shows up, bare-assed naked, to make it erotic.

His laugh was seductive. I wanted to drown in it. I leaned forward, closing my eyes and gasping aloud as the chill of his spirit brushed against my breasts, sending shooting sensations that were painful but deliciously erotic to places in my body that made me feel out of control.

“You like the pain. It brings you pleasure.”

Wow, did not know we were going there. Uncomfortable. So while sixteen-year-old Zoey is getting her introduction to S&M by a (canonically) ancient immortal rapist, she also learns that Kalona thinks she is the reincarnation of the living sex-doll that trapped him, A-ya. For, you know, reasons. She looks like A-ya, her soul ~calls to him~, she commands the elements–

Wait, what?

“I’m not A-ya!”

“You command the elements,” his voice was a caress, awful and wonderful, compelling and terrifying.

“Gifts from my Goddess,” I said.

“Once before you commanded the elements. You were made from them. Fashioned to love me.”

I–what? Those don’t– that doesn’t– being made from something doesn’t mean you command it, otherwise everyone in this world would be a fucking bloodbender, right? And she wasn’t even really “made from elements”. I guess maybe you could say earth and water, since she was clay, but the elements weren’t really an important part of the story Zoey’s grandmother told her. It was more of a Wonder Woman/Sleeping Beauty thing, you know: speed of Mercury, Merryweather gave her the gift of song, whatever. Her makers gifted her with a fancy dress, pretty hair, pretty face, fast legs, and a nice voice. That’s it, man.

Double-checking with the last book, Zoey’s grandmother does mention that they engraved “the sacred seven” on her: north, south, east, west, above, below, and spirit” from which I guess you could infer elements(???), but still, this feels like a real stretch, Kalona. Your logic feels contrived, bro.

Anyway, Zoey’s drawn to Kalona’s world of erotic pain and pleasure, but snaps out of it Because Nyx, and we rewind back to just after the end of Untamed, where everyone freeze-frame high-fived while Stevie Rae had an arrow sticking out of her chest and was bleeding to death.

Seriously, it takes like three fucking chapters for them to get that arrow out of Stevie Rae’s chest, and in the meantime, Zoey reflects on just about everything except her mortally injured best fried. For example, another girl leads Erik – a dude she is currently not dating, remember – through the tunnels to find supplies, and Zoey loses her shit.

Okay, before I sound like an über-jealous freak let me explain: Erik Night is to-die-for hot in a Superman-Clark Kent kind of way and, to carry through with the superhero analogy, he’s also talented and honestly a good guy. Er, vampyre. Recently Changed vampyre at that. He is also my boyfriend. Er, ex-boyfriend. Recently ex-boyfriend at that. Sadly, that means I’m going to be ridiculously jealous of anyone, even one of the kinda freaky red fledglings, who might be catching too much of his interest (too much = any).

Once again, can we all just bask in the irony of Zoey being jealous because Erik is physically in the presence of another woman? Really? So acting on an attraction to three boys simultaneously is fine for Zoey, but if Erik does it? Nuh-uh! Not okay with her!

Second, “sadly that means I’m going to be jealous of anyone who speaks to him, ever”? Uh, no? It doesn’t “mean” that! I really hate the casual way Cast has Zoey expressing this incredibly entitled, selfish, hypocritical, and unreasonable overreaction. That attitude of “HE’S MINE, MINE, HE CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT ANOTHER WOMAN” is so toxic, particularly in the way it encourages women to see all other women as threats and/or competition. It’s not something that needs to be re-enforced as natural and not worth interrogating in any situation, much less this one. I mean for gods’ sakes, Erik just walked around with a girl to find supplies, and he and Zoey aren’t even dating! What the fuck??

But of course, because this is House of Night, and House of Night is The Worst, Zoey’s jealousy is completely justified by the narrative with the introduction of Venus.

Then I turned my attention back to Venus. She had an icy beauty. Venus was sleek and sexy in a pair of tight designer jeans and a simple cropped black tank that had a rhinestone skull’s head on it. Her hair was long and thick and the kind of blond that looked golden. In other words, she was definitely attractive enough to hang with Aphrodite, which was saying something, because Aphrodite is totally gorgeous. And, like Aphrodite used to be, Venus was obviously a hateful bitch, and probably had been one before she died and un-died. I narrowed my eyes at her.

Venus is essentially a copy+paste of Aphrodite in Mean Girl mode. She’s pretty, blonde, rich, after Erik Night, and she does almost nothing before Zoey just decides that she’s a “hateful bitch”. She calls her that like three fucking times in the course of three pages.

I was still trying to decide whether my negative reaction to Venus was because she was (obviously) a bitch, because she had been skulking around the tunnels with Erik, or because I had a bad feeling about the red fledglings in general when she spoke up.

[...]

So maybe my alarm system was misfiring simply because Venus was a hateful bitch, and not because she and the rest of them were evil incarnate.

[...]

“So do you want to use the facilities or not?” Venus said. I thought she sounded grumpy, or maybe “bitchy” was a better descriptive word.

YES ZOEY WE GET IT YOU THINK SHE’S AN AWFUL TERRIBLE BITCH BITCH, THANK YOU.

The swing of this portrayal is a damn shame, too, because it could have gone very differently. Venus is the former roommate and best friend of Aphrodite, who died some time before the first book. Presumably they were close, and one would think that seeing your former best friend alive and back to her old self would be something to be happy about, but the book has no tenderness to spare for them. The first thing Venus does when she appears is “meanly” reveal Aphrodite and Stevie Rae’s imprint, and then it’s all aboard the “bitch” train. There’s no “Hi, I missed you”, no “I’m so glad you’re okay”, just Aphrodite being like “Watch out for her, she’s a total bitch!”, because Aphrodite is Team Zoey now, and if you’re not Team Zoey, or even just happen to want something that Zoey might want, you’re canonically wrong.

Anyway, Zoey also takes this opportunity, mid arrow-removal, to reflect on her feelings for Stark. Because again, it’s okay for Zoey to be interested in more than one guy, but only Zoey, and don’t you forget it.

“We are lucky, indeed, that the fledgling missed his mark,” Darius said.

His words still went round and round inside my head because I knew what none of the rest of them did, that it was impossible for Stark to miss his mark. His gift from Nyx had been that his aim was always true, that he always hit whatever it was he aimed at, even if that sometimes had horrible consequences. Our Goddess had told me herself that once she gave a gift, she never took it back, so even though Stark had died and then come back as a twisted version of himself, he still would have hit her heart and killed Stevie Rae if that had been his intention. So did that mean there was more of Stark’s humanity left than there had seemed to be? He’d called my name; he’d recognized me. I’d shivered, reliving the chemistry that had sparked between us right before he died.

“Priestess? Did you not hear me?” Darius and Aphrodite had been staring at me.

“Oh, sorry. Sorry. I was distracted by…” I hadn’t wanted to explain that I was thinking about the guy who had almost killed my best friend.

HA HA HA RIGHT, because that would be douchey, to be thinking about how hot a guy was while someone is trying to explain to you that your best friend might die of blood loss.

Our heroine, ladies and gentleman.

Darius explains that Stevie Rae needs blood, and Aphrodite just happens to be standing there, so she’s volunteered. Stevie Rae bites her, and because vampire bites feel real good, it gets…kinda weird.

Then Aphrodite’s yikes turned into a disturbingly sensual moan and her eyes closed as Stevie Rae’s mouth latched on to her, breaking the skin easily and causing the hot, pulsing blood to flow as my best friend greedily sucked and swallowed like a predator.

Okay, yes. It was disturbing and nasty, but it was also weirdly erotic. I know it felt good—it had to. That’s how vampyres are made.

Wait what? Since when??? I thought the entire premise of the first book was that vampires were just spontaneously chosen by Nyx, Marked and shit, when did this happen?

And from observing what was going on with Stevie Rae and Aphrodite, it was clear that red vampyres definitely had the whole bring-your-human-pleasure phenomenon going. I mean, Aphrodite had even leaned suggestively into Darius, who wrapped an arm around her and bent to kiss her as Stevie Rae continued sucking on her wrist.

The kiss between the warrior and Aphrodite had so much sizzle to it I swear I could almost see sparks flying. […] I felt guilty watching, even though there was an undeniably sexy beauty to what was happening between them.

Is this– is this about to turn into an orgy? Wait, is this the YA version of an orgy?

Anyway, everyone barges in and Venus reveals that Stevie Rae and Aphrodite have imprinted, and oh my fucking god is this the “NO HOMO”-iest Imprint ever. Nobody can bring it up without going out of their way to assure whoever they’re talking to that Stevie Rae and Aphrodite do NOT want to fuck. Ewww, girls being romantically attracted to one another???? GROSS! Only cis white gay bffs allowed!

This is around the time we’re introduced to the Named Red Fledgelings, among whom are some of Cast’s most embarrassing racist caricatures. We get Montoya:

A short, Hispanic guy who looked seriously thuggish with his sagging pants and his multiple piercings nodded his head, sending his thick dark hair waving around his face. “Hi,” he said with just a touch of an accent and a surprisingly cute, warm smile.

Oh hey, our one and only Hispanic vampire, a “thuggish” guy of non-specific descent, with a “surprisingly cute, warm” smile and an accent. How incredibly progressive of you, Cast!

For better or worse, we never hear from Montoya again after this, to my recollection, but then there’s Kramisha:

A black girl twitched out of the group. It was a testament to how distracted I’d been with Venus and Aphrodite and Stevie Rae that I hadn’t noticed her before then. She had on a form-fitting bright yellow shirt cut low to show the top of her black lace bra and a pair of high-waisted, skintight cropped jeans that were cinched up with a wide leather belt that matched her chunky gold shoes. Her hair was cut geometrically into a short poof on her head, and half of it was dyed bright orange.

[...]

“Let’s get it straight right now that I’m not sharin’ my bed with no one,” Kramisha said, weaving her head around and looking bored and pissed off at the same time.

And I just, like, I can’t, she literally did the weaving head thing, ohmygodwhatareyoudoing, Cast?

“Aphrodite—she crazy even when she not drunk and Imprinted,” Kramisha said. “We all used to her, though.”

Oh my god.

“It ain’t your heart you wanna share,” Kramisha said.

“Don’t go hatin’ on me, baby!” Johnny B said, trying (unsuccessfully) to sound black.

Kramisha rolled her eyes at him. “You so crazy.”

You so crazy.

Kramisha stepped calmly out of the shadows. She gave Erik a long, considering look and said, “Boyyyy, you is workin’ it here in the tunnel? Damn! You got some game.”

It’s difficult to discuss Kramisha, because on the one hand, the character shouldn’t be shamed for speaking PC Cast’s mangled attempts at AAVE. On the other hand, she is one of two black characters in this entire world, the only black Red Vampire, and she as a sassy, head-weaving, you-so-crazy stereotype. It’s utterly cringe-inducing.

Kramisha is also the vessel for PC Cast’s terrible plot-device poetry a’la the prophecy we got last book. She and her powers exist solely to provide yet another source from which Zoey can get divine guidance from Nyx.

So, in case you haven’t been keeping track, we now have:

Zoey’s Irritable Bowel Goddess
Aphrodite’s visions
Kramisha’s divinely-inspired poems

to feed the fledgling unearned plot tidbits. It’s ridiculous, because we had that whole discussion last book about how Nyx “doesn’t want to interfere” with anyone’s free will, and yet she’s perfectly content to tell them what to do via coded messages and Zoey’s dowsing intestines. I mean, she even goes so far as the make Zoey and her pals physically ill around the House of Night campus so they don’t get pulled into Kalona’s thrall, so what, really, is the difference between all of these shenanigans and just telling Zoey and her people straight-up what she wants them to do?

But you know, I say that like I don’t know what the real answer is, because of course, the real answer is simply that the Casts are lazy fucking writers. They just shit out these third-grade riddles for Zoey to spend the book “decoding”, which are essentially just time-release plot capsules that dispense the magical solution once we’ve met the allotted word count, presumably because that’s easier than writing a plot in which things actually happen and characters do things for reasons that make sense.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that Zoey does a whole lot of meaningless shit before she wanders upstairs to talk to Erik, who is keeping guard at one of the tunnel entrances. Zoey’s relationship with Erik in this book is totally all over the place, because really what Hunted devotes itself to is resurrecting Zoey’s love square, now upgraded to a love pentagon.

Zoey is so territorial about Erik that she’s actually still worried about his interest in Aphrodite.

“Good night. Don’t bother us.” And she disappeared.

“Better him than me,” I heard Erik mutter as he watched the blanket swing back into place. I made no attempt to hide my smile. I was glad Erik wasn’t still interested in Aphrodite.

Aphrodite, who hasn’t been with Erik in four books. Aphrodite, who is very obviously into someone else. And yet Zoey still sees her as competition? What?

Then again, she’s also worried about Jessica fucking Alba.

“Jessica Alba in Sin City. The kid has excellent taste. She’s one hot vamp actress,” Erik said quietly so as not to wake Dallas.

I frowned at him and pulled the Elvis blanket door closed.

“What? It’s not in my bedroom,” he said.

By the way, is there a famous mid-to-late 00’s actor or actress who ISN’T a fucking vampire in this world? In their last review, Fangs made a very good point about how “you cannot be a marginalised oppressed group which is completely separated from larger society and have a COMPLETE STRANGLEHOLD on the world’s media” the way these vampires do, and Hunted only further emphasizes that bizarre contradiction with the way Neferet handled the fallout from the Raven Mocker’s attacks in the last book.

While Zoey is officially rekindling her relationship with Erik at the tunnel entrance, Heath shows up, bringing news from the outside world.

“To repeat our special report on the gang violence in midtown Tulsa last night, Tulsa P.D. reiterates that the city is safe and the problem under control. To quote the chief of police, ‘It was an initiation ritual by a new gang that calls itself Mockers. Leaders of the gang have been arrested and the streets of midtown Tulsa are, once again, safe for our citizens.’ ” […]

“There was no gang in midtown last night,” I said. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

“She fixed it. She manipulated the press and probably the public, too,” Erik said, looking grim.

Yes, Neferet somehow has the canonical power to CONTROL THE MEDIA and manipulate it to her advantage! Truly, these vampires are oppressed!

And oh god I tried to paste this whole review in Goodreads, I swear I did, but it's way too long. Read the full review + Pt. 2: Fucking Stark aka the Most Important Part + quotespam + my sweet-ass Raven Mocker photoshop at You'reKilling.Us

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by LadyJay for TeensReadToo.com

Zoey Redbird is back in the fifth installment of the HOUSE OF NIGHT series.

When last we left Zoey, all hell (literally) was breaking loose inside the vampyre school. I am sad to say that her predicament has gone from bad to worse.

Neferet, current High Priestess at the House of Night, has declared war on all human beings. To aid in her quest, Neferet has called forth an ancient evil that cannot be destroyed. Kalona, a fallen angel, has risen from the depths of the earth with Neferet's help. He is an immortal who believes that Zoey is his chosen one - the one who trapped him decades ago inside the confines of the earth.

Zoey's task is great. She and her friends will be forced to use their abilities to help rid the world of Kalona once again, and sabotage Neferet's master plan. By calling the five elements, Zoey, Shaunee, Erin, Stevie Rae, and Damien are declaring a war of their own - to stop Neferet and Kalona, no matter the cost.

The Cast duo has done it again! These ladies appear to be an unstoppable force within the world of YA literature. The energy and integrity of the first four novels has not been diminished in this fifth installment. The characters' personalities are as vibrant as ever, and the story remains engaging and original.

Teenage readers will be drawn to Zoey's everyday, angst-riddled life. Not only does she need to save the world, Zoey needs to solve some major vampyre/human boy drama. These stories are surreal, yet shockingly accurate when it comes to teenagers and their lives.

Here's to hoping for many more HOUSE OF NIGHT novels to follow!

[Lanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was worse than all the other books on my "books that pissed me off" shelf up together.

Really & truly.

Even the VERY few redeemed qualities this series had have just been destroyed under the sheer weight of how overly disgusting this shit fest of a book really is.

Spoilers ahead. Just warning you,since I'm gonna be ranting a fucking lot.

Let's start the list off with the writing.

1.Mainly the repeating of information & the dialogue. I started highlighting, but there was just to damn much here in "hunted" I had 2 give up, for the sake of my mental wellbeing. Really. About a million different times we are reminded of things that after four other books, we already know. Like that the twins aren't really twins, Damian & jack are gay, all about Zoey & her exploits, Zoey and her boy troubles, how bad the big baddie nerfret is, how hot people are, how her & stark had a connection..., the list is fucking endless. It's boring, takes up valuable page space, and is insulting to the reader. I can understand a passing mention of something here or there. But whole paragraphs, no, pages, devoted to recapping? We're being treated like we're stupid. That we can't remember what happened one or two books ago. People reread books for a new release believe it or not. & you know, despite what you thing, Casts, most people don't start series in the fifth fucking book. Most readers start at the beginning. Get that through you thick skulls.

Then there is the dialogue problem. Most of it is this pointless fucking banter that adds nothing to the plot. Nothing. It's all half assed attempts to sound like real teens, but it fails miserably. & when it's not dumb bimbos bantering about clothes & hags from hell & other dumb shit like that, it's just Zoey and her friends talking about the same things over & over, trying to figure stuff out, but nothing ever really gets done. So much could have been edited out, but no. It's not.

Also, how old is Darius supposed to be. I realize he's meant to be in his early to mid twenties, but when he speaks it's like a really bad lord of the rings imitation. :/ sad, because the guy has potential, but he's wasting it following this dumb fuck around. Just because Zoey has fancy powers, doesn't mean she should be allowed to be a leader. Never mind a religious leader.

2. Which leads me to my next issue. As always, a main character has probably the biggest effect on the story. They need to be an interesting person. A protagonist can be good or bad or neutral. They don't have to be likable. Not really. But having an unlikable lead character can be a good thing. If it's handled the right way. Anti Heroes can be tons of fun.

But it all fails when your main character is the most judgmental, shallow, stupid, hypocritical, prudish bitch in all of literature... But she is still the chosen one. The gal that's supposed to save the day. The one I am meant to be rooting for.

Well I am sorry. (Not really). I CANNOT cheer on a girl who is so damned obsessed with everyone's looks. Who is constantly mentioning how hot her 3 boyfriends are, but then calls the poor mind controlled girls who are fanning over the ones controlling them "annoying." Who thinks its "hoish" & "skanky" to have even the tiniest bit of sexual urges. Who constantly goes on about how special she is. Who gets mad at Erik for getting jealous and not trusting her after she has made it perfectly clear that she CANT be trusted. Who thinks its ok for her to string a long all these guys at once and be a cheating, lying, jerk, but God forbid stark be with more than one person. A girl who thinks that she's really in love with a boy she's know for only a couple days. A girl who handles rape so disgustingly. (More on that in a minute.)

yeah she sucks. I mean, I might fight her entertaining if she was an anti hero. But she's not. She's supposed to be a good guy. The savior of the good guys. & if Nyx is really as wonderful as they keep trying to make me believe, then there is no damned way she should have ever picked Zoey Redbird to be a chose one.

3. Token characters. Like I said, we are reminded many many times that Damian & jack are gay. To a point were it is pretty offensive. It's clear that they only really exist as token characters to show how diverse the group is or how accepting Zoey is. (Even though she totally isn't) & shaunee, of course, is the black member. We are told several times in the story that she's coffee colored. Because clearly, the people reading this must be reminded of it. Maybe the writers thing we magically forget she was jamacian in the last few pages of plot? -_- then there is Kramisha. A walking stereotype of African American teen from the inner city. Everything about her, from her mannerisms to the way she dresses screams stereotype & it really is painful to read about her. It's just so racist. How did the casts get this character through editing? I don't no, but it say a lot for the stupidity of these publishers, I'll say that.

4. Love interests. Meaning, Erik, Stark, & Heath. (& kinda Kolona) So fucking annoying! As if Zoey & her boy drama wasn't already bad enough, we throw in Stark the archer dude who can't miss & who Zoey feels this "connection " to right before he kicks the bucket. I guess Erik the "honestly a good guy " wasnt working, so they brought in Stark as a "bad boy" replacement.

See, maybe this wouldn't annoy me so much if it had been dealt with differently. But instead of just keeping the break up all uber messy because Zoey was an idiot and slept with her teacher, the casts did a one 180 with Erik, turning him from bland, boring nice guy to complete controlling jerk. & not just the appropriate jerkish reaction to catching his girlfriend in the arms of another man. He was angry then and had every right to be. She betrayed him. But it went from that to total "caveman control the woman because she be property " mindset. Again, this kind of behavior might be a justifiable on Eriks part. He cared for Zoey but she hurt him. He thought, within reason, that she was going to go outside & do it again. But this time with Heath. He KNOWS she's unfaithful & that hurt & he didn't know what else to do. Both were wrong at times in this relationship. Mostly Zoey, since Erik was just reacting to her bad choices. & really all this sudden crap from him could have been forgivable, because there was motivation behind it.

But then later in the story it is confirmed by his ex girlfriend Aphrodite (my fav character) that he tried the same sort of controlling "don't talk to other guys" behavior with her. Destroying the simple "nice guy" character description & undermining the motivation for his reactions. He didn't act that way because he had been wronged. But because he's not a nice guy. He's just a controlling dick who is really fucking good at acting.

& why is this just how coming up after four other books of him always being a "genuinely good guy".

Because of stark. Because for some insane reasons these bitch authors decided they needed a bad boy character. A shitty excuse of a tormented soul character. That's much better than the same old nice boy route, huh? Stark destroyed 4 books worth of character development, which in all honesty, could have been very interesting. In the right hands Erik & Zoey's problems could have been dealt with and used to further plots and personal growth. But no. The potential is being pushed aside for stark.

& you know, I get that teens love lives are full of drama. Mainly because teens are idiots. But there is a point where it's to much. & all the drama with strak, Erik, & even the fallen angel dude.... It all goes above and beyond to much. It just gets in the way of the basic good versus evil plot. (which at its core is a tried and true good plot, but fails in the hands of p.c & Kristen cast.)

5. Connections. These characters don't understand love at all. You can feel lust for the hot guy, sure. Maybe even like him after a big important conversation like the one Zoey and Stark shared in book 4. I'll buy that. But I can't believe all this shit they keep spewing about love and connections. & knowing how good the other is. Because they can't know. Not from just a few days of knowing each other. It's not love. It's insta love. It's sickening & unrealistic. These two are morons & Zoey has no right doing all this crap, like kissing him and sleeping in bed with stark when she's still with Erik. & really? He's saved from the dark because of Zoey making him feel? How cheesy. >:( someone put me out of my misery please! They are not in love. & what kind of dumb advice is "what you really are is how you act most of the time" (Zoey page 275) so.... I don't get it. Seriously!? What the actual fuck?! So, are you saying that Hannibal Lecter was a good guy because he acted like a good guy most of the time? I don't understand your logic. -_-

6. Rape. Stark, our love interest. Is, like I said, the tormented soul type. He's having this great inner struggle with his humanity. Much like Stevie Rae did. & see, he has to choose good over evil. But for most of the book, he's in the in between state. Like Stevie Rae was when she was eating street people. & while he's like this, he pretty much mostly bad. You know, whining about how he's a monster & stuff. & he needs blood. So since there are no humans around to feed from, he has to use fledglings. So Zoey and Darius walk up on him biting & molesting this poor girl, getting ready to freaking rape her. They save the girl, of course. But then there's no punishment. None at all. In fact, Zoey basically comforts Stark about his evilness. Then later she hops in bed with this sexual assultor to go to sleep next to him. How dumb can you get?

But the worst part is the victim blaming with Becca, the girl he attacked. Everyone, even Becca herself, dismisses it because Stark is hot. & I guess maybe because she been brainwashed & the nerd herd has bigger issues like saving the world. Idk, but it's still really fucked up. The whole issue is treated so badly, it makes me kinda ill just writing about it. Here what Erin said about poor brainwashed Becca's behavior. Even after it's been established that she's a "pod person " & that vampires have some kind of aphrodisiac in their saliva to make getting bite fun for the human.

"She panted after him like a terrier." & "talk about being used & then wadded up & thrown away like a snot rag."

Her twin, shaunee, also called Becca pathetic.

Wtf?! So.... It's not a big deal that Becca was nearly raped because she liked it against her will, because of a crazy vamp spit drug & brain washing? It's her fault then? Because she could fight a spell from a fallen angel & a psychic powered vamp?

It's also awful.... If you are planning on reading "hunted" I urged you to pay extra close attention to these scenes, because it's really beyond disgusting the way she's treated & how stark doesn't get in trouble for it, it's all just dismissed & I want to literally hold Zoey's head under water until the bubbles stop for how she reacts. This is the girl a goddess wants in charge?

Wtf?

I desperately wish I could give this zero stars. It's that bad. The 1 good thing I could say? Well, I think the raven mockers are pretty cool. Imagine the effects in a movie! They'd look really bad ass. At least like I picture them. I can never be to sure how they were meant to look in the book. The casts aren't so great at describing. I see The body of a man, totally covered in black feathers with weird red eyes, wings on their backs (like angels of maximum ride.) & a giant beak. cool, huh? The cgi would be stellar on them. For creepy monsters things, they're high on my list of cool looks. Next to orcs & dementors.

Only read if you are a fan for some odd reason, want to write s fun ranting review, or simply have the need to finish what you start. :)

[Cecilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

1,5 ⭐️

Quinta entrega de la saga y le tenía más fe, ya que los dos libros anteriores habían estado bastante entretenidos, aportando información nueva y acción.

Sin embargo, la historia se estanca en esta entrega, asumo que es una transición hacia, espero, el siguiente libro y no sea eterno hasta el último de la saga. Básicamente, la historia continúa tras los acontecimientos del anterior, los estudiantes deciden abandonar la casa de la noche, refugiandose en los tuneles, ya que ha llegado el ángel caído, quien traerá la destruccion del mundo.

Pero luego de algunos desafortunados sucesos deben volver a la casa de la noche, para luego idear una huida 🙄 nuevamente 🙄🙄. Y en eso de enfoca todo el libro 🤯.

Ahh pero se me olvidaba, faltaba mencionar los novios de nuestra protagonista, quien sigue en el dilema de con quien quedarse, si el afortunado (desafortunado) es Heath, quien toma un mínimo de relevancia en la historia, o Erik, quien es transformado del novio ideal (en los primeros tomos) al posesivo e impulsivo. Y aparece Stark, quien se ha tornado malvado tras los sucesos del anterior libro, pero que magicamente debe ser salvado por Zoey, la protagonista, y ahora se suma otro pretendiente a la extensa lista 😬😅.

Espero que el siguiente libro mejore un poco el ritmo, no pido mucho, solo que avance y ya no se quede estancada la historia.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the apocalypse starts in book four, you have to wonder where the rest of the series goes.
This series would make an excellent reverse harem. All this hee-hawing between boys, and in the end she keeps them all. Because #whychoose
Unfortunately I think this book fell a little before its time, and Zoey will have to make a decision. Le sigh. So yes, same old same old. Zoey is in love with a million boys for no reason.
Honestly, I would like to see some connection on the page between all these men she has parading around her that she can’t choose between, because currently it doesn’t make sense. I am still holding out for some weird goddess/high priestess mojo that works on her, but we’ll see.
I’m still finding this series entirely addictive, can’t believe I waited this long to finally read it.

[Chessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series is fun, if you don't look too closely. ;) It's brain candy, like a great episode of Buffy or something. But I do have several bones to pick with this one. Like why do each of the books only cover a ~48 hr time period?! It's like reading an episode of 24. It just seems impossible to cover that much ground in such a small time frame, especially since the characters are even sleeping and eating. What?

Also, there is the totally annoying revisit of the Erik-Heath-Zoey love triangle, which I was SO over with the first time it was resolved. Seriously. I know they're teenagers, but can we puh-leeze move on? Just have her end up with Stark already and let's get onto other things.

I also find some of the language annoying (i.e. Zoey tries not to swear, and so says things like "Bullpoopie" which is a word that should have never been created, ever, ever, ever.) This is especially weird since other characters like Aphrodite in the book totally drop the f-bomb, so it's not the like the authors are trying to appeal only to a younger audience. It's not that I want all swearing all the time, it's just that some of the psuedo-swears just make my stomach turn.

I guess my overall criticism of this series is that each book is like a 1 hour installment of a TV show. I'm much happier when 1 book would better translate into an entire season's worth of episodes, kwim? For instance, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse book [I:]Dead Until Dark[/I:] = Season 1 of True Blood. That's all. Fewer books, more stuff per book. But that means less money for publishers and authors, I guess. Irritating.

[Bex · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this latest book, Hunted, the main character Zoey, goes in even deeper than ever before. The intrigue, romance, adventure and spiritual awakening are more intense. Even the bad characters draw you in and make you want to believe in them and often it's difficult to find the fine lines between the good and evil. Really enjoyed this one.

[Fangs for the Fantasy · Rating 1 out of 5]

After a series of dubious events force Zoey and her people back to the House of Night after they managed to escape in the last book they are left only with a random series of poems to guide them to finally drive off Kaloma.



Yes, it’s time for another House of Night book, inflicted on me by Cyna and Mavrynthia, who will either be co-defendants in my trial for trying to annihilate humanity for no longer deserving to exist, or will be the people I blame in my defence. I intend to use this link spam in my defence argument.

Let’s start small – this book is utterly overwhelmed with stand-alone-stuffing. I’ve said before that this series treats their readers as having the intelligence of algae – every book feels the need to recap every single book that has passed before. By the time we get to book 8 it will be 10,000 pages long and only 100 pages of it will be actual plot, the rest will be endless, painful, dull recap

Which pretty much sums up well over 100 pages of this book. We have a brief introduction of the Red Fledglings, most of them who are nothing more than a name (and the one who isn’t, frankly, would probably be preferable as a name). Zoey and Erik begin their relationship do-si-do and they all do… nothing. They hide in the tunnels, safe from their enemies that hates going underground. They have no idea what to do but they’re safe unless they go outside and are attacked by their enemies.

Which Zoey promptly does. Of course she does. In a desperate, forced attempt to move this limping plot forward, Zoey abandons even her limited supply of common sense. She gets injured, they belatedly decide they simply have to return to the House of Night for REASONS so we can try and drag out a storyline

I say try. Because when they get there they do…. They do… uh… well Zoey and Stark connect and then they escape. That’s pretty much it until the very last chapter. It’s one bizarre distraction which was really all about Stark and the clumsy relationship and terrible love dodecahedron (more on that later).

The one attempt at a plot line is the prophecy of how to get rid of Kaloma the big bad, brought by Kramisha, the convenient source for more Nyx “wisdom”. Like the last book, this prophecy involves everyone scratching their head about how impossible it is – only Nyx has even less faith in her minions than I do! Rather than suffer Zoey & co struggling to figure it out, she again plays Irritable Bowel Goddess and gives Zoey her special “feelings” whenever she’s right. Honestly when deciding what special people they need to banish Kaloma they didn’t even need the prophecy – they just needed to read the phone book aloud and wait until Nyx started churning


“Aaron A Aaronson? No Nyxy feeling, not him… next!”

Of all the bafflingly awful parts of this book, I think Nyx baffles me the most. Sure it’s not the most offensive, it’s not the most vile, but it’s the part that makes the least sense.

Kaloma and Neferet take over the school and possibly plot to take over the High Council. The kill the last High Priestess and then use woo-woo to stop the rest of vampirekind from finding out…. All of which would be utterly impossible if Nyx would do something. Let’s be clear, Nyx isn’t an aloof god – she constantly gives Zoey psychic feelings, she constantly sends them visions and prophecies, she even appeared last book to have a 10 minute conversation with Zoey and Aphrodite. She’s quite a chatty goddess. But she couldn’t appear before the teachers and say “nope, naughty bad guy!”? She couldn’t send a memo to the high council or something?

And don’t give me the “free will” excuse. Refusing to send a memo while the whole school is mind controlled into being happy little drones, even accepting and welcoming a rapist among them cannot possibly be excused in the name of “free will.”

Brace yourself readers, we’re now entering the dread pit known as Zoey’s love life.

And I’m going to start by saying something almost positive (well, it’s less “positive” and more “my expectations are so utterly lowered that anything being less than completely awful is an amazing relief”). Zoey and Erik end up back together (more on that later) and Erik is much more pushy with his attentions, his kisses more sexual. Zoey, probably rightly, assumes he is now initiating sex because she is no longer a virgin and there’s that nasty idea that once a woman has had sex with one woman she is somehow now “fair game” – in the same way a woman’s sexual history is often attacked in rape trials. Zoey is quick to realise and reject the idea that because she had sex with Loren means Erik is now in a stronger position to cross that same line. Which is good


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[Izzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Story begins with a dream sequence, naturally. What a noncliche way to start it off! Kalona, the serial rapist birdman and Zoey’s boytoy #5, is there. He thinks she’s A-ya. Things get vaguely BDSM. Then she wakes up.

Zoey Redbird is one of those protagonists that makes you want to want to dabble in evil magic to find a way to materialize in her world, just to beat the absolute living fuck out of her. Her only personality traits are that she’s a super special fledgling with a filled out and added to Mark and affinity for all five elements, she doesn’t cuss, and she likes brown “pop” (nondiet, of course!). The authors continue to assume their readers are forgetful morons, and makes Zoey go out of her way to recap stuff that has recently happened, at one point calling a chain of events idiotically simple and straightforward “complex and even kinda confusing, but that seems to be typical for evil plots.”

Not gonna go into the group of shallow, bigoted stereotypes that remain Zoey’s friends, as they haven’t developed at all, and probably never will. Caramel. Twin. Gay. Queer. Yeehaw. Stevie Rae gets an arrow torn out of her body and has to suck on Aphrodite’s wrist or she’ll die. Then we get an almost orgy scene of Aphrodite moaning as Stevie Rae licks up her blood, and then she swaps saliva with Darius, who I don’t remember.

Our first vampyre of color who isn’t black is introduced as “A short, Hispanic guy who looked seriously thuggish with his sagging pants and his multiple piercings” and you think it can’t get any worse than that when Kramisha is introduced.

Dear God, Kramisha. Her first action is twitching. Her first sentence is accompanied by weaving her head around. She speaks a version of AAVE that’s the equivalent of someone pointing a gun at a racist white person and saying “WRITE DOWN WHAT A BLACK PERSON SOUNDS LIKE!” which might have actually happened, I don’t know. Her words are full of wisdom, including quotes such as “Gay white boy is weird.” "My mama told me don't trust no white boy, even a pretty one. I'm thinkin' a pretty white boy with wings explodin' up from the ground in a mess of blood and ugly-ass bird things is double trouble." and “You so crazy.”

Erik, Zoey’s boytoy #2, gets back with her for some reason. They almost do the nasty in the tunnels and talk about Dracula. He still has no personality. Heath, Zoey’s boytoy #1, shows up at some point, and he and Erik have grr grr boy tension. Of course Heath cuts himself again so Zoey can drink his blood, but this time she overcomes her bloodlust and pushes him away. Then a Raven Mocker, which look like ravens but with human arms and legs--fucking hilarious image--appears and attacks them. Blah, blah, Zoey’s fine because nothing can happen to our little priestess, she just needed a little sucky sucky on boytoy #1 again.

Kalona shows up, and he makes himself deage to look sexier to Zoey, going from 30-50 to 18-21 (note: the text says he looks ageless, and then right after gives him an age). That’s not disturbing. When I think, “Hey, maybe Zoey’s gained a brain cell during all these books, she can’t fall for this!” she interrupts me with “He’s the perfect age for me…” Stupid vapid bitch. He kisses Zoey, of course, because he is boytoy #5, and it’s sooo sexy. Later they make out again in a dream.

Stark--that’s boytoy #4--is back from the dead, and Zoey stumbles upon him attempting to rape a girl. Yeah, you read that right. He’s trying to rape a girl. He gets a little slap on the hand and everything’s okay again. Hell, Zoey even kisses him, and later the victim gets called a bimbo. And then Zoey lets a would be rapist sleep in her bed.

The story ends with Zoey using her magical mystic woo-woo gramgram to do some ancient Cherokee blessing to magically mystically banish Kalona and Neferet.

[Valerie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I reviwed the earlier books and found them to be very teen-oriented and entertaining, but this book will be the last that my girls or I will read. The main character, while protesting every page that she really is a good and virtuous girl, has managed to sleep with her teacher, hook up with an ex-boyfriend, hook up with another ex and then hook up with a guy who is half rapist, half "misunderstood." You can tell the authors are heading in the direction that becuause this story is make believe, it's okay for the main character to have a "consort" and a "mate" because she is a vampire. As a mom, I don't care if it's a fantasy world, the authors go out of their way to create realistic modern teens, and this is about the worst role modeling I've seen. There is a gay character, and the authors mention he is gay at least every page if not more. I know these books are extremely popular, and there are worse books, but the direction these are heading is straight down, which is a disappointment for a promising series.

[alittlelifeofmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike the last 4 books, I’m counting this one towards my good reads challenge because, while I listened to a lot of it, I finished it off by physically reading it. And I did that for a few books, so I’ll count 1.

I liked this book more than the previous ones. While she now has 4 boyfriends and the romance part is getting super ridiculous, I like the overall plot and story.

The writing is basic, and while way less slut-shaming is present, it still exists. They haven’t aged well and I don’t particularly recommend this series, but it’s nostalgic!

Now we’re off to uncharted territory with this series, as this was the last of my rereads!

[jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5 stars

If the entire book was written like the ending was, it would be a solid 3 stars. Unfortunately, while the ending was suspenseful, exciting, and heartwarming, the rest of the book was a snooze-fest filled with INFURIATING boy drama.

[Jiddy⁷ · Rating 1 out of 5]

My general warning: I’m just gonna bash this book (or rather Zoey) here, really, so if you don’t like negative reviews then you should probably not read this. Also my review is full of swearing, just FYI.

This book, man. I don’t have as much to say for this one as I had with the others because I’ve reached a point at which I’m done with this bullshit, honestly.

I already mentioned this at the end of my last review and my prediction became true - obviously. Loren is dead, so is Stark (kind of), Heath is gone. Booom - she’s back with Erik again. Just wanted to point that out, I’m not gonna go into detail here just because - well, take a wild bloody guess.

About two or three chapters later, Heath is back (surprise, surprise) and WHO WOULD’VE THOUGHT, Zoey is confused and isn’t sure about her feelings for Erik. You stupid fucking cow.

Just an honoring mention to the slut shaming. Special mention to this part: Zoey calls herself a „Nymphomaniac slut“ if she’d have sex with Erik. I’m just. Nah.

Oh here we go. She honestly has the nerve to say that Heath made a ‘scene’ at the restaurant when she and Aphrodite met him and that other girl. He made a scene? HE MADE A SCENE? I want to slap her. So. Hard.

Here goes the sexist bullshit again: I’m not sure if it was the general male dorms described like this or the Erebos-section but this part: “Men's leisure utensils: dumbbells, darts, pool table.” Not to me dramatic but - could it be any more sexist?

Speaking of which. The homophobic remarks. Un-fucking-believable. Not gonna mention any of those though because that shit is ridiculous.

And, last but not least: “I didn’t feel like a bitch/whore” (i’m not sure which word they used (reading it in german)) “I just feel like a girl who likes more than one boy.” And YET you slut-shaming EVERY other girl who shows this “behavior”. Wow.

That’s it, I’m done.

[Dana Al-Basha | دانة الباشا · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending of Untamed was epic, even Jenna Lamia's voice is growing on me. The prophecy is chilling and to think of Zoey as the reincarnation of her Cherokee women's elements is unbelievably genius! (ironically A-ya is a Cherokee word meaning 'me').



I just thought of that!! Zoey actually is Captain Planet:

Stevie Rae Johnson: "EARTH!"
Shaunee Cole: "FIRE!"
Damien Maslin: "WIND!"
Erin Bates: "WATER!"
Zoey Redbird: "SPIRIT!"
Her friends: "Go Priestess!"
Zoey: "By your powers combined, I am PRIESTESS ZOEY!"
Her friends:
Priestess Zoey, she's our hero
Gonna take Kalona down to zero
She's our powers magnified
And she's fighting on the planet's side
Priestess Zoey, she's our hero
Gonna take Kalona down to zero
Gonna help her put asunder
Bad vamps who like to loot and plunder

Neferet: "You'll pay for this Priestess Zoey!"
Her friends:
We're the Vampires
You can be one too

Aphrodite LaFont:
'Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!
Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Priestess Zoey has to say!

Nyx: "The Power is Yours!"



The ending of Hunted was epic as well, but I think I still like Heath the best from all Zoey's guys, Stark is cool but not sure yet. Aphrodite is my favorite in the series.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This much anticipated book in the series is finally here! YAY! This did not take me long to read at all, but I must say I am very pleased! The story starts right where it left off in the last book with Zoey and the gang in the underground tunnels with the red fledgings. What happens is not something I expected, her ex-human boyfriend shows up and that's when it gets ugly. Zoey is forced to go back to The House of Night or she will die. The one person who gets on my nerves here is her ex-human ex-imprinted imprinted again boyfriend. I thought we were rid of him last book, but alas! We are not! At the end of this book Zoey finds herself wrapped up with 3 guys again and not sure what she wants to do! I hope the next book has a little bit more story into the men in her life! Overall, wonderful!

[Victoria ✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story was alright, like 25% of the book was basically flashbacks though and I’m getting more irked by multiple boyfriend plot lines every book. Still finishing the series though bc I own up to 8

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 4 out of 5]

Είναι βιβλία που ανυπομονείς να βγουν οι συνέχειές τους και άλλα που δεν ανυπομονείς τόσο πολύ. Αν μου ζητούσαν να εντάξω σε μια από τις δύο κατηγορίες τις περιπέτειες της Ζόι και των φίλων της, τότε σίγουρα θα επέλεγα την πρώτη και αυτό γιατί, ο "Οίκος Της Νύχτας" έχει καταφέρει να με μαγέψει και όσα περισσότερα ανακαλύπτω για τον κόσμο που τον περιβάλλει αλλά και για όλα αυτά που κρύβονται μέσα του, τόσο πιο βαθιά θέλω να χαθώ στα μονοπάτια του, να μυηθώ σε έναν κόσμο που ενώ μοιάζει τόσο με τον δικό μας, είναι στην πραγματικότητα τόσο διαφορετικός, γεμάτος γοητεία και μυστήριο μα πάνω απ' όλα, δεμένος με όλα εκείνα τα στοιχεία της ανθρώπινης, φυσικής και θεϊκής ύπαρξης, τα οποία δημιουργούν ένα ιδιαίτερο κράμα σωματικής και ψυχικής σύνδεσης με κάτι ανώτερο, είτε αυτό βρίσκεται μέσα μας, είτε γύρω μας.

Ακολουθώντας τη συνήθη, και πολύ σωστή στην προκειμένη περίπτωση, τακτική τους οι Cast, μας μεταφέρουν στις υπόγειες σήραγγες όπου η Ζόι και η παρέα της κατέφυγαν προκειμένου να απομακρυνθούν από τον Καλόνα και τα Πλανερά Κοράκια του, σε μια απέλπιδα προσπάθεια να παραμείνουν ζωντανοί και ασφαλείς,έτσι ώστε να μπορέσουν να οργανωθούν και να βρουν τον σωστό τρόπο να αντεπιτεθούν. Πώς όμως μπορείς να νικήσεις ένα πλάσμα που είναι αθάνατο και κατέχει μια τόσο μεγάλη και ισχυρή δύναμη; Πώς μπορείς να παγιδέψεις κάποιον που έμεινε έγκλειστος για περισσότερο από χίλια χρόνια και που εκ των πραγμάτων, τα γεγονότα αυτά τον κατέστησαν πιο προσεκτικό και γιατί όχι, ακόμα πιο καχύποπτο; Μα το σημαντικότερο όλων, πώς μπορείς να παλέψεις, να αντισταθείς σε ένα πρόσωπο που όχι μόνο περιτριγυρίζεται από έναν ανατριχιαστικό, δυνατό στρατό, από μια ερωτοχτυπημένη, φανατική μεγάλη ιέρεια που πήγε με το μέρος του αλλά, που πάνω απ' όλα καταφέρνει να ασκεί έλξη και γοητεία σε κάθε ζωντανό πλάσμα που θα βρεθεί στο δρόμο του, ακόμα κι όταν αυτό γνωρίζει βαθιά μέσα του πως είναι κακός;

Η Ζόι και οι φίλοι της, πέραν της ευλογίας της Νύχτας και της δύναμης των στοιχείων που αυτή τους χάρισε, έχουν στο πλευρό τους την Αφροδίτη, που μπορεί με μυστήριο τρόπο να ξανάγινε άνθρωπος όμως εξακολουθεί να είναι προικισμένη με τα δώρα της θεάς της, τον Δαρείο, τον μοναδικό Γιο του Ερέβους που κατάφερε να αντισταθεί στο Καλόνα και να ακολουθήσει τον όρκο που έδωσε στην ιέρειά του να την προστατεύει, τον Έρικ, που δείχνει να έχει συγχωρήσει την Ζόι για το παραστράτημά της με τον Λόρεν, θέλοντας να είναι και πάλι μαζί, τον Χιθ, που παρά το γεγονός ότι το σφράγισμά τους έσπασε δεν μπορεί να μην τη αγαπάει και να αισθάνεται την ανάγκη να είναι κοντά της κάνοντας ότι καλύτερο μπορεί για εκείνη αλλά, και την Στίβι Ρέι καθώς και όλους τους Κόκκινους που την ακολούθησαν, οι οποίοι δεν αποτελούν απλά ένα νέο είδος στον κόσμο τους αλλά, σηματοδοτούν το ξεκίνημα μιας νέας εποχής στον κόσμο των βρικολάκων που τόσο οι μεν όσο και οι δε, πρέπει να καταβάλλουν προσπάθειες προκειμένου να συνυπάρξουν και να αποδεχτούν τις όποιες ιδιαιτερότητες του άλλου.

Το γεγονός όμως ότι η Ζόι δεν είναι μια συνηθισμένη αρχάρια την φέρνει για άλλη μια φορά αντιμέτωπη με περισσότερες ευθύνες απ' όσες ίσως να μπορεί να αντέξει. Πρέπει πρώτα απ' όλα να φροντίσει έτσι ώστε οι σχέσεις ανάμεσα στους δικούς της και τους Κόκκινους αρχάριους, να μην εξελιχθούν με άσχημο τρόπο, όχι μόνο γιατί οι ίδιοι θα κινδυνέψουν αλλά, γιατί μπορεί να καταρρεύσει όλη τους η προσπάθεια να σωθούν και μαζί να σώσουν τον κόσμο. Φυσικά αυτό δεν είναι εύκολο καθώς, οι Κόκκινοι, όσο κι αν παλεύουν να αντισταθούν στη φύση τους, βαθιά μέσα τους αισθάνονται την ανάγκη για αίμα, έστω κι αν έχουν επιλέξει να ενταχθούν με το καλό. Πέραν αυτού όμως η Ζόι έχει την έντονη αίσθηση πως μαζί τους στις σήραγγες υπάρχει και κάτι άλλο, σκοτεινό και επικίνδυνο, μια υποψία που γίνεται όλο και περισσότερο βεβαιότητα, έστω κι αν δεν έχει αρκετά στοιχεία, πόσο μάλλον χρόνο, να το επιβεβαιώσει. Και σαν να μην έφταναν όλα αυτά, η Στίβι Ρέι φαίνεται να τις κρατάει μυστικά, όσο κι αν στην πάλη με τον κακό εαυτό της καταφέρνει να βγαίνει νικήτρια.

Μια σειρά από ατυχή γεγονότα θα οδηγήσουν μια μερίδα των πρωταγωνιστώ μας πίσω στον Οίκο της Νύχτας όπου τα πράγματα είναι πολύ διαφορετικά απ' όσο τα άφησαν. Μαθητές και καθηγητές φαίνονται να είναι υπνωτισμένοι από τη δύναμη που ασκεί πάνω τους ο Καλόνα, υπηρετώντας τυφλά τις όποιες οδηγίες του και μη αμφισβητώντας το παραμικρό στοιχείο που σχετίζεται με την καταγωγή αλλά και την δράση του στον κόσμο αυτό. Η Ζόι και η παρέα της, φαίνεται να είναι οι μοναδικοί που δεν υποκύπτουν στη μαγεία του Καλόνα, με την πρώτη ωστόσο να γοητεύεται από την παρουσία του η οποία την ακολουθεί ακόμα και στα όνειρά της. Ο Καλόνα έχει βάλει στόχο να την κατακτήσει πιστεύοντας ότι είναι η Α-για, η κόρη που αγάπησε και εξαιτίας της αιχμαλωτίστηκε στα έγκατα της γης, και η Ζόι πρέπει πραγματικά να δώσει αγώνα για να μείνει μακριά του με σημαντικότερο λόγο όλων, ότι σε αντίθεση με την Α-για, εκείνη έχει ελεύθερη βούληση και μπορεί να επιλέξει την αγάπη, πολεμώντας και όχι θυσιάζοντας τον εαυτό της.

Οι εξελίξεις είναι συνεχείς και τα γεγονότα διαδέχονται το ένα το άλλο διατηρώντας μια σταθερή ροή που οδηγεί σταδιακά στην κορύφωση. Η Ζόι μπορεί να είναι η πρωταγωνίστρια της ιστορίας όμως αυτό δεν εμποδίζει τους υπόλοιπους χαρακτήρες να διεκδικήσουν τον χρόνο που τους αναλογεί στο σύνολο των εξελίξεων. Μπορεί η Ζόι να είναι η εκλεκτή της Νύχτας, μπορεί να είναι εκείνη που έχει το χάρισμα να ενώσει τα στοιχεία και να οδηγήσει στον δρόμο που κατευθύνει τους ήρωες στη λύση των προβλημάτων τους ωστόσο, ο καθένας, με τον δικό του μοναδικό τρόπο, αποτελούν ξεχωριστές οντότητες που συνθέτουν ένα ισχυρό σύνολο αποδεικνύοντας πως η ενότητα και ο κοινός στόχος είναι ότι πιο σημαντικό στην επίτευξή του. Οι όποιες διαφωνίες δεν έχουν πλέον θέση γιατί, αν θέλουν να επιτύχουν και να σώσουν τον κόσμο, πρέπει να είναι ενωμένοι σαν μια γροθιά, έτοιμοι να προβούν στις πιο ριψοκίνδυνες αποφάσεις και πάνω απ' όλα, να κατανοήσουν ποιοι πραγματικά είναι και ποια είναι η θέση τους. Ως μονάδες αποτελούν το σύνολο μιας παράταξης που πρέπει επιλέξει το καλό ή το κακό και να δράσει ανάλογα.

Οι Cast συνεχίζουν να αφηγούνται την ιστορία τους υιοθετώντας το ίδιο σκοτεινό κλίμα που επέλεξαν και στο προηγούμενο βιβλίο της σειράς με τις προθέσεις τους να είναι ξεκάθαρες. Ο κόσμος αυτός είναι ολότελα δικός τους, έχει την προσωπική τους σφραγίδα και αυτό είναι που τον κάνει να ξεχωρίζει απ' όσες βρικολακίστικες ιστορίες έχουμε διαβάσει ως σήμερα. Τα στοιχεία με τα οποία τους έχει προικίσει η Νύχτα αποτελούν τον ζωτικό άξονα της ιστορίας και πλέον αυτό είναι πιο ξεκάθαρο από ποτέ. Παντρεύοντας τις διαφορετικές θρησκείες και τις δοξασίες λαών που φτάνουν στο σήμερα ως μύθοι που γίνονται πραγματικότητα, ενώνουν τα κοινά τους στοιχεία αποδεικνύοντάς μας για μια ακόμα φορά ότι δεν έχει σημασία πως τα ερμηνεύουμε αλλά, ποια είναι στην πραγματικότητα �� ουσία τους. Η πίστη το πιο σημαντικό χαρακτηριστικό της ανθρώπινης φύσης και είναι εκείνη που τελικά μας καθοδηγεί στο να πράξουμε και να πάρουμε τις σημαντικότερες αποφάσεις όλων, εκείνες που θα επιτρέψουν στο σκότος να κυριαρχήσει ή θα το εξορίσουν, έστω κι αν αυτό είναι προσωρινό.

Φυσικά, και παρά το σκοτεινό κι επικίνδυνο πέπλο που περιβάλλει την ιστορία στο σύνολό της, δεν απουσιάζουν τα χιουμοριστικά στοιχεία, που όχι μόνο ελαφρύνουν την ατμόσφαιρα όταν χρειάζεται αλλά, προσθέτουν μια ευχάριστη νότα κάνοντας την ανάγνωση του βιβλίου αβίαστη. Η Ζόι, πέραν του Καλόνα και της στρατιάς του, έχει για μια ακόμη φορά να έρθει αντιμέτωπη με τα προσωπικά και συναισθηματικά της διλήμματα, έστω κι αν αυτά δεν βρίσκονται σε πρώτο πλάνο. Πέραν του Έρικ και του Χιθ, έχει να αντιμετωπίσει και τον Σταρκ, για τον οποίον τρέφει συναισθήματα που δεν μπορεί να προσδιορίσει που όμως, είναι εκείνα που τελικά μπορούν να τον λυτρώσουν από το σκοτάδι που τον περιβάλλει απ' όταν ξαναγεννήθηκε. Σαφέστατα πιο βίαιο και σκληρό από τα προηγούμενα βιβλία της σειράς, μια προσπάθεια κατανόησης των ηρώων για το ποιοι είναι πραγματικά και ποια είναι η θέση τους στη νέα τάξη πραγμάτων του κόσμου τους, διασκεδαστικό και ευχάριστο, διάχυτο από αισθησιασμό, η "Κυνηγημένη" είναι ένα βιβλίο που θα απολαύσετε και θα εύχεστε να είχε κι άλλο.

[Fuglsang · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll warn people of spoilers, if you really care about it.

A friend of mine who works in a bookshop once spoke to a customer who told her that the House of Night books get better from this volume on and as someone who enjoys tearing them apart out of childish malicious glee, that made me giggle in anticipation. I HAD to read it and find out if it was, indeed, better. So? Was it?

Naaaah.

We're on the fifth of the series and a book built on as rocky a foundation as this will hardly turn out great. That foundation, you see, was built on Zoey having three boyfriends at once and on her doing nothing at all to solve any of her problems. How do they build on this foundation? Throw in two new (potential) boyfriends for Zoey, make one of the old ones a jerk for no discernible reason and have Nyx do everything for her. Again.

In a perfect world, Nyx wouldn't be a generous, kind, loving goddess but would actually be closer to the Greek gods we know and love from ancient texts: a jerk. A spiteful, jealous, awful jerk. Imagine it - Zoey needs some powers to solve her problems? Nyx says - yeah, sure, but you need to work for them. Zoey is almost dying and needs her goddess to save her? Nyx goes ahead and does it but she expects like her firstborn or her best friend in exchange. Zoey would not only have to battle the evil guys who were trying to kill her and take over the world, but also the kind-of-good-and-helpful-but-not-really who had her own goals and motivations to begin with.

Really, it's not like Nyx couldn't be a good goddess either, I just need Zoey to flipping do something other than snog fifty different guys. Everybody in the story agree Zoey is amazing and powerful and they all follow her blindly - why? BECAUSE NYX THE CASTS SAID SO. That's why.
But that's the one biggest problem with the books. Even if the books weren't riddled with unfortunate implications and constantly hitting os over the head with slutshaming, racism, and homophobia - even then they wouldn't be good books. Zoey. Does. Nothing.

In this books, this happens:
- Zoey gets hurt trying to save Heath
- She and some of the other go back to the House of Night because Zoey needs it to survive (apparently? Since when is this a thing?)
- Zoey brings back Starks' humanity
- She figures out that some poems written by someone else is the solution to chasing away the bad guy.
- They flee.

How and why did Zoey do this things? In order:
- Because she's dumb. Suddenly she runs against a birdie thingie trying to kill one of the guys she's stringing along and only after she's hurt does she use her super powers. Super powers given to her by Nyx that she's never had to learn to use or anything.
- Since Zoey is freaking hurt she can't come up with all the plans - the others do this. They take her back there.
- She has these intuition bursts or something that tell her exactly what to do - that brings Stark's humanity back. Apparently.
- She sits down with a teacher who walks her through the poem and she has more intuition bursts telling her when she's right. I guess she sort of figures stuff out but it happens within the last fifty or so pages with no difficulties.
- Zoey does make a diversion of sorts, but seeing as they're immediately followed by the bad guys, I'd say it's safe to say that it didn't help much at all.

And that right there is the core of the problem. Zoey doesn't do anything. She never struggles with her powers (except shortly because she's freaking dying), never wonders what to do about something plot related, never heads to the library to do some studying or anything. The only thing we ever see her agonising over is which one of her boyfriends she should snog today.

Think about that again: She doesn't spend any kind of time trying to solve the mystery in this novel - the poem that tells her EVERYTHING SHE NEEDS TO DO - she solves it within the last fifty pages, then heads off to finally do the thing the poem tells her to do.
See, there is nothing wrong with a main character being special or the chosen one - the main character is the main one because he or she is the most interesting or different and that's as it should be. But there should also be a reason for them to be considered special. Harry Potter is special because he actively works to solve the mysteries around him and to save his friends and loved ones. Katniss Everdeen of the Hunger Games is special because she - against all odds - won the Games and inspired the entire world to rise up and do something. Frodo and Sam actively walked towards Mount Doom to throw in the damn ring.

The prophecy did not make Harry Potter special. If he had just decided to lie down and die in the first book and do nothing, he would not be more special just because of the prophecy. It doesn't work that way. And the Casts are trying to convince us that Zoey is special just because she's been chosen by Nyx.

Well, she isn't. She's whiny, annoying, self-righteous, shallow and has complete disgregard for all the guys she's stringing along at one time. She's not a good hero and so she can't make up for the woeful lack of plot.

And yet, of course, I keep reading. Is it because they're fast-paced and easy to read? Is it because the authors' passion does shine through the pile of poo they've written?
Nah, it's because I'm a horrible person with low self-esteem. When I read a good book I sit back thinking: "My own writing is so average :(" After reading these books? "My own writing is so average :D"
Call me petty and mean-spirited, but I still recommend reading these books for all the wrong reasons, the chief one being that they're an excellent 'How Not to Write' lesson for aspiring writers.

[Eevebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5⭐

Este es un libro que sigue con la saga "La Casa de la Noche" como el quinto libro y vaya caja de sorpresas que ha sido esta entrega. No me esperaba nada de lo que iba a pasar, salvo algún que otro detalle (como que odiaría a la protagonista todavía más), y eso me ha ayudado a disfrutar el doble de toda la trama y de los acontecimientos que te desvelan aquí.

La trama me ha sorprendido mucho, si os soy sincera luego de leerme el cuarto libro que fue somnífero y muy lento, en este el ritmo mejora radicalmente. Empiezan a suceder varias cosas que hacen peligrar a los personajes y aunque he odiado sobremanera a la protagonista, me ha encantado los sucesos que ocurrían con ella en todo lo que iba fuera del romance. Me he quedado muy picada de ver qué más va a suceder y a dónde va a deparar la historia, porque estoy intrigadísima.

Los personajes me tuvieron algo más intrigada en este libro, pero tampoco tanto. Creo que salvo Stark que me flipa como personaje y como idea que dejaron la autoras, el resto son un poco sin más. Algunos tienen algo más que evolución y eso lo tengo que reconocer, pero tampoco llega al punto de hacerme pensar que son alucinantes o que me tienen con ganas de descubrir más de ellos. El romance aquí es exasperante, de verdad, todo lo que envuelva esas cosas con la protagonista me tiene hasta las narices porque se enamoran de ella hasta las piedras.

La pluma de las autoras ha mejorado un poco más aquí y aunque siguen habiendo escenas un poco vergonzosas que parece que estoy leyendo a niños de siete años pelearse, me ha sorprendido que todo lo que sucede te enganche mucho más y no puedas soltar el libro. Además que los sentimientos están un poco mejor reflejados para empatizar con ellos.

Ahora os hablaré un poco de los personajes principales.

Por un lado tenemos a Zoey, nuestra protagonista femenina. Ella es una chica que después de descubrir que la alta sacerdotisa Neferet los ha traicionado y que encima tiene de consorte y aliado al gran Kalona, un ser poderoso que busca dominarlo todo, debe refugiarse junto a los pocos sobrevivientes antes de ser controlados por él. Kalona es un ser hermoso y ha podido dominar a todos los de la escuela bajo su poder y Zoey no sabe el motivo pero es incapaz de frenar el extraño deseo que le recorre el cuerpo al pensar en el o tenerle cerca. ¿Por qué siente que le conoce de una forma u otra? ¿Tendrá que ver con los recuerdos de una vida pasada que todos ellos conocen y que parece ser la única solución para frenar a Kalona? Además que ahora está más confundida que nunca, si ya antes era doloroso tener que decidir entre los tres chicos de su corazón, ahora hay de nuevo otros tres y hasta un cuarto que la seduce y confunde... ¿Cómo podrá aclarar las dudas que la invaden cada vez que piensa en el amor que siente por cada uno de ellos?

Zoey es un personaje que la he odiado de formas que no puedo llegar a explicar y es que si ya me caía mal desde el primer libro, aquí siento que ha perdido las pocas neuronas que le quedaban. Mirad, yo puedo entender que a una le bailen un poco las hormonas viendo a un chico guapo, lo entiendo vale, todos tenemos ojos y no se puede negar lo evidente. Pero es que Zoey se pasa TODA la saga viviendo entre dramas amorosos que no llegan a ninguna parte, es que ni siquiera tienen una evolución que te haga empatizar con las dudas de la protagonista. Se confunde con unos tíos con los que ha hablado en contadas ocasiones y que no aportan nada más que un drama donde ella no sabe a quién quiere y que tiene situaciones de lo más desagradables y molestas. Otro detalle a recalcar: ¿podemos hablar de lo egoísta que es en cada libro? Dios, es que los niveles de los anteriores eran altos, pero aquí no ha habido ni un solo momento en que mirase por otra persona, solo ha pensado en su propio culo y usa a los chicos que le "gustan" como si fuesen juguetes que como la quieren se lo acabarán perdonando todo. Ah, pero eso sí, como luego ellos vayan ligando con otras ahí sí que mete cizaña y empieza a llamar "zorra" y "guarra" a toda aquella que lo toque. En fin, la hipocresía muy bien en este libro la verdad.

Y por otro lado tenemos al resto de personajes que tendrán más o menos relevancia en esta quinta entrega, pero como sus evoluciones tienen spoilers, os hablaré brevemente de todos ellos.

Shaunee y Erin son hermanas gemelas y en este libro siguen sin tener demasiado protagonismo. Ellas están ahí para crear un poco de caos en sus formas de pensar y mostrar su desacuerdo ante las cosas o unir sus únicas neuronas en decir exactamente lo mismo porque no tienen la personalidad suficiente para hacer lo que a cada una le apetezca en el momento.

Damien y Jack tampoco tienen demasiado protagonismo, ellos están ahí queriéndose mucho y pasando tiempo juntos. El primero sigue siendo la voz de la razón por momentos y el otro solo entrega sus dosis de ternura y algún que otro momento de humanidad asustándose con cualquier cosa. Personalmente son la clase de pareja que si no estuvieran en el libro no notarías diferencia, sobre todo porque parece que solo están para que la protagonista dé hincapié en cada maldito libro que ellos son gais y hacen cosas de gais, como si no hubiese quedado suficientemente claro ya y que no es necesario que lo aclame a los cuatro vientos como si fuera un verdadero hallazgo extraño.

Stevie Rae no es tan protagonista como en el anterior, pero sí que me ha gustado su papel en este libro y como siguen dándole hincapié a su condición y lo importante que eso parece para los propósitos de Kalona y Neferet. Me intriga todo lo que las autoras pueden llegar a hacer con esa naturaleza de ellos y quiero que le den un boom más grandes a su personaje. Creo que es de la clase de chicas que pueden tener un transfondo muy bestia si saben hacerlo bien.

Aphrodite no tiene tanto protagonismo como en el anterior libro, pero sigue siendo ese personaje que de vez en cuando demuestra que está mejorando. No es de mis favoritos aún, en serio que siento que tiene momentos donde parece faltarle alguna que otra neurona, pero lejos de ellos me sorprende que cuando se lo toma en serio es hasta capaz de actuar con una mejor actitud que la protagonista, la cual cada vez me cae peor.

Erik es uno de los exnovios de Zoey y con el que se reconcilia y yo sigo sin verle nada interesante a este personaje. Sí, sigo pensando que no se merecía para nada lo que le hizo ella y aquí te lo intentan pintar como el "malo", pero seamos sincerxs un momento. ¿Si a ti te ponen los cuernos descaradamente, no con uno, sino con dos personas de verdad vas a confiar plenamente en esa persona y actuar de forma amable con ella? Yo creo que la protagonista vive en un mundo de yupi algo preocupante para pensar así de verdad. Pero bueno, este personaje ya lo que me da es pena, porque una vez más vuelven a verle cara de tonto, pero en fin, cosas de los libros supongo.

Heath sigue en sus trece, siendo el exnovio de Zoey y también el típico tío que no sabe rendirse y que debe tocar las narices allá donde va. De verdad que no entiendo dónde ven los personajes el respeto hacia los demás, que yo puedo entender que te gusta alguien y quieres luchar por esa persona, pero hay que saber tener un poco de cabecita y respetar a la persona que está en una relación. Sobre todo porque seguro que si eso se lo hicieran a él no le haría la menor gracia.

Stark es el mejor chico por excelencia y aunque aquí está en su versión malvada, es obvio que es a costa de lo que Kalona y Neferet han hecho en él. De verdad que me daba rabia esos momentos donde los demás lo insultaban cuando sus acciones ocurren debido al control que tienen sobre él, no porque realmente sea así. Es de los que más personalidad tiene y también el que más intriga me genera desde el inicio en que apareció en la historia.

Y por último Kalona y Neferet, de los que menos sabremos, pero que tendrán un protagonismo vital en la protagonista y en la trama que se irán revelando poco a poco, con situaciones de lo más inesperadas y que, a mí personalmente, me han flipado.

En resumen, "Atrapada" es el quinto libro de una saga que con esta entrega ha conseguido que vuelva a reconciliarme un poco más con la historia. Creo que el cuarto libro era muy lento y bastante aburrido, por eso ver la agilidad tan intensa y emocionante en este me ha hecho disfrutarlo muchísimo más de lo que me esperaba. La trama creo que con diferencia ha sido la mejor de toda la saga hasta ahora, ha tenido un crecimiento más notorio y a diferencia de en el cuarto, aquí he sentido que no paraban de suceder cosas a cada rato. Me ha mantenido en vilo constante y, además, hay un misterio que sigue sin resolverse pero que ahora con todo lo que ha pasado se saben más cosas que solo apuntan a que la saga puede tirar a algo más alto si mantienen el nivel de este libro lo mejoran. Los personajes han estado mejor que en los anteriores libros pero tampoco ha sido la gran cosa. El único que destaco, que es el que más me intriga y gusta de toda esta saga es Stark, que me fascina como personaje y la idea que han formado las autoras de su transfondo y evolución. El resto han tenido algunas evoluciones más o menos interesantes, pero o bien no han explotado todavía o no son lo bastante fuertes para mantenerme intrigada y hacerme tener cariño hacia ellos. El romance para mí es un tema tabú en esta saga, cada persona que ve a la protagonista se enamora, ya es hasta de chiste, de verdad os lo digo. La pluma de las autoras me ha sorprendido en este libro, aunque sigue habiendo situaciones un poco infantiles (eso de que la protagonista diga "jolín" o "porquería" con la edad que tiene me resulta muy poco creíble, lo siento) y otras muy desesperantes con lo del romance, pero me ha gustado mucho más. Tiene un ritmo muy viciante que solo me incitaba a seguir leyendo para descubrir los secretos que estaban ocultando entre sus páginas y que ha sido una maravilla adivinar.

[LilMisGrayBrisk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hunted was OK, but I didn't have high hopes since I was disappointed with Untamed. I was very annoyed with the dialogue in the beginning of the book. I know it's a YA book, but it seemed so juvenile to me. Do teenagers really talk this way? IMO, this was a filler book. There was not much going on through most of the story. The ending was as expected, but it was sort of a let-down. I wanted more action, I guess. I know the thing that bothers me the most is all of Zoey's boyfriends. I just wished she would focus on her craft and realize that she doesn't need a man (or boy) to be complete. I'll read the next in the series whenever it comes out though. 3.5 stars

[Meagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

To the Casts: I really enjoy this series, but this was a bit much. Too much "boy issue", we get it she always has to deal with multiple attachments. Get back into the actually intriguing mythology you have developed. This story was only about 2 days, best I can tell, and again we are left on the edge. Button it up please!

[Steph Sinclair · Rating 1 out of 5]

And this is where I gave up on this series. I just couldn't connect with the characters.