Burned: Number 7 in series (House of Night) [Paperback]

.C. Cast has gone way beyond the talent she has shown in previous books in her writing of the most recent installment of the House of Night series. The multiple perspectives, introduced in the 6th book worked masterfully in telling this book's unique story. The way that the storyline is told is both surprising as it is breathtaking. There was a point in this book where P.C. Cast tricked me and I absolutely loved it! When the realization hit, I was in awe of how well written the revelation was. And satisfyingly enough the reader will be just as challenged as the characters are while reading this book. As a friend once put it, "these books are like snacks." With that comparison, this book is not a snack the way the others are, and it isn't a full course meal either. Instead, it sits the reader down and shows them how to cook.

But lets go back to the first 6 books. Because without them, this book wouldn't be nearly as pointed. During the House of Night series, the reader feels a need and demand that the characters learn, make decisions, and grow. Books 1 through 6 hasn't really shown us the volume to which these characters can change. While we know that they have, we haven't ever been as intimate with the characters until this 7th book, where we are forced to look at these multi-dimensional characters and acknowledge the depth of them. Heath, Zoey, Aphrodite, Darius, Stevie-Rae, Rephaim, Stark and the big baddies (Neferet and Kalona) are the main focus and while fans of the Twins and Damien and Jack might be disappointed, the focus on the characters listed is key to this book. What's marvelous about that, though is not all characters are developed in the present, not all are even truly in the book, but each and every character mentioned takes on more meaning and becomes so much more clear than in previous books.

Now I'm a huge Stark fan and by the end of this book I don't see how anyone couldn't be, but that's not where I think this review should focus. What's more important is that I'm not a huge Zoey fan. I'm not a huge Heath fan. But by the end of this book I was. Zoey's character changes so much that the reader may expect whiplash yet the story is crafted so that her extraordinary progresses reads naturally. Heath's character is developed simply by reviewing the constants in his relations with everyone in the book. It does not serve to make any reader feel stupid, but rather does cause a reader to stop and think about how Heath really doesn't change so much as our understanding of him did.

Stark. Where to even begin. We learn his history, his future and glimpse into his mind in the present all at once while somehow carrying his load for him. His role in this book is so well written and so well played that this character really shines.

Those of you interested in Stevie-Rae and the inevitable dilemma of Rephaim will not be disappointed by how this story-line, so loosely and tightly mingled with Zoey's is developed and expressed.

And that firecracker Aphrodite? If you think she had a strong voice in all of the rest of the books, her voice is even stronger, if that can even be conceived, in this one. Another spin in the story line helps develop her character in remarkable ways as well.

Here are the most important themes of the book: The act of wishing vs. doing, disguise, the power of mistakes, the power that everyone has inside of us born out of the path we choose, and ultimately, the power not so much of free will but more of choice. Every choice in this book counts

Excellent read!!

This is one of the best books in the series! I absolutely adore Stevie-Rae and Rephaim's relationship as it so beautifully progresses into something that neither one of them saw coming, through adventure and 'night in shining armour' rescues their true feelings for each other are revealed:) (WONDERFUL!!). I cannot wait to see where their relationship takes them in the next book as the ending in this one gave them a decision to make.

Beside from that, zoey's soul has shattered and in the otherworld she is slowly losing herself completely unable to rest (literally) and her friends back in the real world are running out of time to save her. I love Aphrodite in this book, she really takes control and even though her tongue is still as sharp as razors (funny), we see that she really loves Zoey and inside she is hurting just as much as everyone else. Neferet is up to her elbows in evil trying to make sure that zoey cant ever return and in this book we find that Kalona really does feel something for zoey but is it really love and is it worth sacrificing himself to save her?
We are shown how dedicated Stark is to Zoey and how he would do absolutely anything for her; he is a big part in the rescue mission for zoey, but is he going to be too late?

Great book, fantastic story line loved every page! Kristin Cast you rock!!

So I battled my way through the books this far, then gave up. I hate leaving books/stories unfinished, so I kept going because I was curious to know what was going to happen, but it's just not worth it.

The premise is interesting, and the first book was OK, but there has been no real structure to the storyline over these seven books. Unlike J.K. Rowling who, whilst writing a long series, clearly had a structure in mind, it's like the authors are just making it up as they go, randomly introducing new concepts which should at least have been alluded to before to keep the story going, and constantly changing their minds about where they want it to go. (Erik? Heath? Loren? Stark? Kalona?) They keep on changing characters', well, characters, seemingly hoping their readers aren't bright enough to question it. They get bored with one boyfriend and move to another, hastily throwing in a comment about how the perfect guy actually was horrible the whole time (which isn't believable, as we'd never seen anything to indicate it until then). This series is dragging much too long. (What are we on, book 11, 12 at this point?)

I admit though that I liked the change in Aphrodite - in fiction, the snobby 'cheerleader' type often just stays that way, as they are there solely to make the protagnist's life hard. Aphrodite is my favourite character, because although she's a bit of a b****, she knows it, unlike Zoey who seems to think flowers should bloom in the dust at her feet. Actually, that's not quite true; it seems like the *authors* want you to think they should, that she's perfect despite her faults. But no amount of telling me that Zoey is special and chosen can erase the fact that she cheats on her boyfriend and then gets all mad when *he's* angry about it. Yes, she says it's hard for her when he rubs it in because she's agonised over it for ages, constantly blaming herself, but we never really saw much agonising, and telling us that she did in the face of all the evidence just makes me think she doesn't actually know what remorse is.

Zoey whines over how hard everything is and how she can't do it, while you sit there shouting 'use the elements!' And after half a book of 'oh, what can I do?' the solution is obvious and much too easy -- she just has to follow her gut/ask Nyx/invoke the elements. At the same time, the authors introduce useful stuff and then never refer to it again (Stevie Rae climbing up walls -- v. useful, and never mentioned again).

Also, what is with the horrible parents in fiction (especially unpublished) nowadays? Quite apart from coming across as the author's attack on a religion by portraying its followers as inevitably bigoted and judgemental, it's pretty unrealistic. It's as if a teenager wrote it, wanting to vent, and 'making it ok' by portraying the parents as unreasonable sadists, so it's fine to hate them.

Add the typos the editor missed (silver/sliver), and I don't know why this was published in the first place. Apologies for being so harsh but this is the standard I have come to expect from self-published works online, not ones which actually have been published.