Day 55 - Betrayed

Betrayed

P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Series or Stand Alone: House of Night series, Book Two

Synopsis: [amazon.com]

Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night. She’s come to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her, and is getting a handle on being the new Leader of the Dark Daughters. Best of all, Zoey finally feels like she belongs--like she really fits in. She actually has a boyfriend…or two. Then the unthinkable happens: Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night, and Zoey must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world.

Review:

This book was both good and bad for me. Let's start off with the good points, shall we: The writing style continues to flow easily and simply allowing me to breeze through it. I really like that. The fact that the plot is still engrossing me into the book helps as well. Zoey is accepting the wonderful and unique gifts bestowed on her by Nyx. But tragedy strikes on the night of the first Full Moon Ritual of the Dark Daughters. The death of Stevie Rae was extremely sad. The scene was really heartbreaking. What makes matters worse is that there are human teenagers being abducted and killed and everyone seems to want to point there fingers at the vampyres.

The concept of betrayal comes in a couple of forms. First off, Zoey is boy crazy. She's got Erik, the hot older vampyre fledgling, Heath, her ex-boyfriend that she's got a major bloodlusting problem with, and Loren, the Vampyre Poet Laureate that temporarily teaches at the school. Now I do feel for Zoey and understand personally what it feels like to care about more than one person. But no matter how hard it is to choose between people she seriously needs to get a grip. Most of her boy problems come from the fact that she wants too much. I myself, would be in a pickle too. She obviously has history with Heath and even though he can be immature (all boys usually are, no offense), he can still be sweet. Erik is not only hot but he knows what Zoey is going through with the Change. Being with him wouldn't cause others to be uncomfortable since both are vampyre fledglings. Loren is well...sighs dreamily.... He's older (not by much) and a teacher for that matter, forbidden love indeed. I understand her confusion because of his constant flirting and the fact that he writes poems for her, so sweet! I love the scenes with Loren, they give me chills. (=

But the point is, Zoey needs to choose. It's not fair to any of the guys (even though I have a feeling Loren won't be an issue forever )= ) There is an Imprinting issue with Heath and the fact that she's pretty much cheating on Erik. I know Heath cares about Zoey, not just because they are connected by the Imprint but she shouldn't be drinking his blood no matter how tempting it is. And Erik has had an attraction to Zoey since he first saw her during the *bj* scene from book one.

Another betrayal issue: Neferet (gasp). How similar is Neferet to Zoey's real mother? The mother that betrayed her daughter for her husband? Seems Neferet isn't who she portrays herself to be. There are some major twists with her character that completely turns her relationship with Zoey upside down.

And on a sidenote - I want to mention Aphrodite... she was basically a stuck up hag-slut (as the Twins would say). After the scene with her parents in Marked I, like Zoey, started feeling bad for her. But never fear, she still has her bitchy moments. However, she really acted different in this book. She didn't become an angel mind you, but she surprised me by helping Zoey out quite a few times. Could these two possibly become friends? I especially liked the scene where Aphrodite was helping Zoey, almost reluctantly, and they were reminding each other how they weren't friends. It made me smile.

So, what were the bad points? There weren't many for me. I've read a lot of reviews saying that Zoey was complaining a lot. I didn't really feel that she was. I did however feel like she was prolonging her drama - especially about her boy problems. But the big problem I had with the book was her boy problems. Most of the book was about that. And while I sympathized for her (I really did), it was just a little too repetitive for me. I just wanted to grab her and say "Stop playing around and making things worse for yourself". While the story was good and I still really like Zoey as a character, the book just wasn't as captivating as Marked. But I'll definitely be sticking with the series.

Next In Series: Chosen