Day 146 - Hunted

Hunted

P.C. & Kristin Cast

Series or Stand Alone: House of Night series, book five

Synopsis: [from bn.com]

The good news: Zoey’s friends have her back again and Stevie Rae and the red fledglings aren’t Neferet’s secrets any longer. The bad news: Ancient evil with the face of an angel has been let loose – that and various other nasties (whose faces aren’t so angelic). Grandma Redbird is in trouble. Heath is in trouble. The House of Night is in trouble. Okay, let’s face it – Zoey’s whole world is in trouble! But when the trouble comes from a being who appears to be beauty personified, will the world believe it? Especially when only a teenager and a group of misfits are the only ones who really understand the danger he brings. Will Zoey have the strength and wisdom to reveal the truth? Especially when, in the House of Night, the truth is often hard to come by…

Review:

Hunted picks up right where Untamed leaves off with Zoey Redbird and her friends escaping the House of Night and into the tunnels beneath the streets of Tulsa. After Neferet releases Kalona back into the world - all hell seems to break loose. Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is with her in the tunnels along with the other red fledglings. The number of red fledglings actually surprised me and I really wished the they were talked about a little more. I'm sure more details will come in the upcoming books. One red fledgling does get some light though. Kramisha and her gift of poetry comes into play as everyone realizes that they are like puzzling prophecies. Some of them may even tell of a way to make Kalona flee the House of Night.

Speaking of Kalona: he does sound crazy gorgeous. But even gorgeous people can be evil. And speaking of evil: Neferet is definitely no longer the loving mentor she once was. The evil duo have come to power and are slowly making plans to fully take over the House of Night and possibly Tulsa itself. Kalona's grotesquely winged children, the raven mockers, are everywhere. Zoey finds herself wounded by one of them and must return to the House of Night. After arriving, Zoey and her friends come to realize that everyone is under Kalona's magic and are totally infatuated with him. The students, and even the faculty, cannot see the corrupted power that Kalona and Neferet possess.

Without spoiling the story further I want to discuss Zoey and her ever growing boy problems. While I sympathized with her when she was involved with Loren, I'm actually growing a tad bit annoyed that she can so easily move from each of the male characters. I can see why she likes Heath, Eric, and Stark (who does return to the story, yay!) individually. But I found myself wanting to scream at her throughout the story. They all have their good qualities, along with the bad. But she seriously needs to pick a guy and stick with him. That's how life is! You can't have them all, n0 matter how much you want them. She's only going to continue hurting herself and the guys too. I don't want to see Zoey end up alone, but I keep feeling that's where she's headed. I like them all too, but it's just not fair for her to be so indecisive. I don't want to be too hard on her though, teenage love is complicated - actually love in general is complicated!

Another point I wanted to address is Aphrodite. I've really come to like her! At least she's found someone. And even though she's human (and still bitchy at times) she doesn't let that keep her down. I found myself really loving her smart-ass comments and her personality as a whole. And I'm totally jealous of her and Darius. He actually sounds like a winner! I do wish there was more emphasis on Zoey's friends: the twins, Damien, Jack and even Erik and Heath. Sometimes the dialogue just isn't enough and while I do get a sense of their personalities from the dialogue I wanted to see a little more into who they were.

I love this series! I find it so hard to not want to continue with Zoey and her story. However, I found myself disappointed with most of the book. The ending made up for it though and I'm eagerly awaiting book six, Tempted, which comes out in October of 2009.