Came out: January 4, 2011
Pages: 290
Publisher: Atom
Format: e-Book
Source: Kindle Store
Age Group: Young Adult
At the start of Awakened, the pulse-pounding eighth installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey has returned, mostly whole, from the Otherworld to her rightful place as High Priestess at the House of Night. Her friends are just glad to have her back, but after losing her human consort, Heath, will Zoey—or her relationship with her super- hot Warrior, Stark—ever be the same? Stevie Rae is drawn even closer to Rephaim, the Raven Mocker with whom she shares a mysterious and powerful Imprint, but he is a dangerous secret that isolates her from her school, her red fledglings, and even her best friends. When the dark threat of Neferet—who is coming closer and closer to achieving her twisted goal of immortality—and Kalona returns, what will it take to keep the House of Night from being lost forever, and what will one desperate girl do to keep her heart from being irreparably broken?
I first read Marked in (fifth?) grade and loved it. Yep, fifth grade. I really liked it (well, loved it) and loved them all up until the sixth. Hunted is by far my favorite. And then I was just ready for it to end. There are only a few books where you can have more than five books in a series for. Some books like that, the author is just dragging the plot out.
That’s what I felt like P.C. and Kristin Cast were doing in Awakened. I was really bummed about it because it had such great potential, but after the fifth book, the series started to fizzle out. My friends and I are so upset about that! Neferet and Kalona have been the antagonists from the fourth book! Before that, it was the red fledglings and Aphrodite. They keep changing around the characters. With Aphrodite, it was fine that she was good because you could tell from the end of the first book that she’d play a major role. But then Neferet is the bad guy? And Kalona? And then later we find out that Kalona has good intentions and is basically Neferet’s slave.
Don’t get me wrong, I love it when authors show complexity in the bad guy, but I don’t like it when they keep changing them around! And how many love interests did Zoey have? Let’s see, there was/is Heath, Erik, Loren, Stark, and Kalona? How does that make sense? She goes from one guy to five in less than a year.
Though, I do love Zoey. She’s sweet and loyal and willing to do everything for her friends. I love the influence of Cherokee in the books and I love Zoey’s grandmother.
Now for the plot. It was okay. I still feel as though they are just doing in-between books, waiting until they hit about ten. I can’t decide whether I am going to read the next one or not. In my opinion, the Morganville Vampires was the only vampire series that could pull off that many books. Short and sweet. Although, yet again, there are just a few twists that make this book different from the others. I can’t decide whether I like this book or not.
Recommended for anybody who loves: The Summoning; The Awakening; The Reckoning; Morganville Vampire series; Cherokee stories, etc,.
Possible book club questions:
Why do you think that Zoey makes the choices that she does?
Neferet’s power is changing. Do you think that your powers are linked to your soul? What power would you have?
Do you think that Heath made the right choice?
John preaches about the Ten Commandments. Do you think that his behavior at the end of the book is ironic?
Why do you think that Linda got a visit from Nyx?
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