Marked

by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

“Enter the dark, magical world of The House of Night, a world very much like our own, except here vampyres have always existed. Sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird has just been Marked as a fledgling vampyre and joins the House of Night, a school where she will train to become an adult vampire. That is, if she makes it through the Change--and not all of those who are Marked do. It sucks to begin a new life, especially away from her friends, and on top of that, Zoey is no average fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx. Zoey discovers she has amazing powers, but along with her powers come bloodlust and an unfortunate ability to Imprint her human ex-boyfriend. To add to her stress, she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers: When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a little help from her new vampyre friends.” (from the publisher)

I picked up the first book in this series because my boss and I were discussing how it has become more and more popular, and with each new book in the series, more teens/people are requesting the other books in the series. I am actually a little surprised at how much I got into the series, because the book starts off a little rocky. The reader is not given any background on the current world (where vampyres have always existed) and they are not given much feel for Zoey’s family, except that Zoey does not like her stepfather or his religion and her mother never stands up against the stepfather. The only family member that Zoey loves and who loves her back is her grandmother (who is a very cool character).

The book starts off immediately with Zoey getting ‘marked’ as a vampyre and having to move into the House of Night. But before Zoey goes to the school, she tries to visit her grandmother first, who has always been her rock and comfort. But Zoey’s trip doesn’t go exactly as planned, since the sun makes her weak and she falls down and hits her head. While Zoey is unconscious, she has a vision of meeting the Goddess Nyx and being given a daunting task- because her bloodlines and her grandmother’s teachings have made Zoey ideal for what is to come. Zoey wakes up in the House of Night being treated by a High Priestess and her grandmother. While Zoey has been knocked out, her ‘mark’- which is normally an outline- has been filled in. This is unusual for a fledgling, and extremely unusual for someone’s first day in the House of Night. And thus starts Zoey’s adventure of being a fledgling vampyre, one granted with unusual gifts and burdens.

The thing I liked most about this first book is the supporting characters. I love Zoey’s roommate Shaunee- I love her twang and her country star posters. I think the Twins are absolutely hysterical. And I cannot wait to see what happens with Damien. I even think the ‘evil’ characters are cool too- Aphrodite plays the domineering clique leader very well. I am curious what Neferet’s role is going to be in the upcoming books- is she good or is she bad as well? And I hope to see more of Zoey’s grandma is each of the succeeding volumes. I am truly enjoying the series so far and cannot wait to get the second volume from my library- just a couple more days and I should have a copy.




P.S. I apologize for the length of this post- but it seems a hard book to summarize/review in a short post.