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Title: Marked (you can Buy on Amazon here)
Author: P.C and Kristen Cast
Published: 1st May 2007
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 306
Format: E-Book
Rating: **** (4/5 Stars)
About: When sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird gets Marked as a fledgling vampire she must join the House of Night school where she will train to become an adult vampire. That is if she makes it through the Change. But Zoe is no ordinary fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the Goddess Nyx and discovers her amazing new power to conjure the elements: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.
When Zoey discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look within herself to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampire friends.
Review: This book is a new and original take on the whole vampire story – I mean, it was when it first came out.
I kind of see this book as my guilty pleasure because I did really enjoy it, but at the same time, I only JUST gave it four stars. It’s received so much negativity and I can see why in some cases. I mean it’s just all over the place.
There’s no logical structure to the timing of it all. It might be because I’m a Harry Potter fan and at least with those books, one book equals a year. That’s great. It makes the book feel real. But with this book I never know what’s really happening.
Then there’s all this teen drama and it’s great that the book address issues such as drinking, drugs, anorexia, sex, homosexuality, bullying etc. But it felt like it was trying too hard to please everyone.
However, like I said, this book is one of my guilty pleasures (mainly because I’ve read all the books in the series). It’s not actually a bad book if you read it without thinking too much.
There’s a nice little story line, with Zoey making friends, enemies, getting romantically involved. It’s the typical school story, just with vampires added in.
It’s quirky, very easy to read and it’s a little bit different to other vampire books if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
The idea of having a vampire tracker and Goddess was actually awesome. Nyx, as a character was brilliant, although it did at times feel as though she was being unnecessarily unhelpful – but I think that was needed to give the book a bit of a boost to make it a bit longer.
But let’s not forget Grandma Redbird – I love her! She’s so sweet and even though she’s old, she’s not afraid of anything and she is always up for her helping her granddaughter, particularly when her step-dad and mum are idiots (well mainly the step-dad, but I want to call him something much worse than an idiot, because he is absolutely vile).
This book is good for young adults, probably not adults though because I think you’ll just be rolling your eyes at every scene.
CastlesandTurrets 