Marked (House of the Night #1) by P.C. & Kristin Cast - Book Review

I first mentioned this series in My Top 10 Books I Have Always Wanted To Read, But Never Got Round To, and I am slowly making my way down the list. I had a copy of Marked on my Kindle, and decided it was better late than never to get into this series.

Short summary courtesy of Goodreads: The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed.

 

This book starts off as any over YA fantasy fiction, a dysfunctional family, difficult school life & a big change - Zoey was 'Marked'. This character is a little more 'popular' than the average protagonist, going out with the most popular boy in the school, but she is the same 16 year old wannabe that had me rolling my eyes.

Having said this, the concept of this book is really interesting. The first chapters felt very similar to Twilight, but it soon merged into a far more original and intriguing world. The House of the Night school defiantly feels a little like Hogwarts, with it unusual lessons and flamboyant teachers, just with vampires which is spelt Vampyers in the book. It worked really well, pulling in contemporary references of the real world, including anecdotes about  celebrities that the protagonist did and didn't like in a way that set this book as a fantasy based in the real world.  

The writing style works well, the Mother and Daughter writing team must be difficult to master, but it results in an easy to read and engaging prose that both paints an amazing picture and lets you inside the 16 year girls mind (with a series of comments in brackets adding Zoey's thoughts along the way).

The character stereotypes were a little predictable, and even although this is going to be a ten book series I can guess where it is going already. But this is part of the appeal for YA books, and I found myself wanting to whip out the Kindle at any opportunity to devour another chapter. 

My biggest grudge has to be the formatting of this eBook. I am not sure how they converted it from paperback onto the Kindle store, or if it is just my font size on the Kindle (which is smaller than the default) but someone needs to sort out the formatting! Line breaks happened at random, chapters started and finished on the same page and other major errors which at times were not just annoying but distracting from the content.

This is a great little read, and when I finished it I was almost sad to see it end, but the 10 book series does intimidate me. The £5 price tag on each of these books is a little pricey considering the size of the series, and this does put me off reading more and getting hooked! This is one to borrow from your library or a friend, and maybe not one to read on your Kindle!

Overall I give the book a generous:

7/10

Have you read this book &/or series? What did you think? Will you be checking it out?

Love Rie x

My Top 10 Books I Want To Read, But Never Quite Got Round To!

Rather than the next ten books I am going to read, this post is about some classic titles and more contemporary supernatural fiction that I have heard a lot about, but has never made it to the top of my reading pile.

They do vary quite a lot, but are all on the list because they have been recommended to me at school, in college or from friends on and offline.

Listen what I have to say about them here:

1. Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
2. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien [reading now!]
3. 1984 by George Orwell
   
4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
   
5.  Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
   
6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen [free to download on Kindle]
   
7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (3 book series) [also available for single book download here]
   [First book read]
   
8. Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith (10 book series) [also available for single book download here]
   
9.  House of the Night Series (first six) by L.C.Cast & Kristian Cast (10 book series) [also available for single book download here]
   
10. The Host by Stephanie Meyer [read]

Please comment below and let me know what you have heard a lot about and is on your reading list.

Is there something I need to add to my reading list? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for reading & watching,

Love Rie x