Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!, 11 Feb 2008
I didn't expect much from this book - I picked it up when I really needed something to read. I have tried to read some of P.C. Cast's goddesses series and hated them (her prose just didn't work for me). But this book is different: I haven't finished the last 100 pages yet (I've had an essay to do today!) and I have already ordered the next book Betrayed.
The book starts out very 'Meg Cabot': "Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse I saw the dead guy standing next to my locker." But it quickly develops a style of its own. Zoey's world really starts to develop once she gets to the academy. N.B. Do not buy this book for you 13 year old cousin - there is some adult content (and I'm not talking about blood sucking). There's romance, mystery, action and theory.
I have enjoyed this book alot - I think P.C. Cast and her daughter make a brilliant team and I would buy any future book they write together! The storyline is interesting and new. My taste runs: Meg Cabot, Elizabeth Chandler, L J Smith, R J Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurell K Hamilton etc. So if you've read any of these authors - they are my judging standard! This is meant to be a book for adult teenagers, Zoey is only 16 in the book, but I'm 19 and really enjoyed it. There were Harry Potter undertones, but only in the classroom settings - the context the Casts place the characters in is completely different - which would be hard to avoid. This book is fresh and new, and the prose invite you to empathize with Zoey. I loved this book, if I hadn't this review would be alot shorter.
Anyway - this is my recommendation: buy this book and read at least the first 100 pages before you judge it (as it is slow to develop into its true shinning potential!). The only reason that this book hasn't received more than 4 stars was it's slow beginning: I predict that all further books in the series will be 5 stars! Hope this review was helpful!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Harry Potter + Twilight?, 8 Jun 2009
There seemed to be some big deal about these books so I tried them out. I could sense from the first page that this was going to be a gripping story.
This was proved when I read about half of the book in one sitting. But I had to stop, not becuase I had to, but because I got so frustrated with it! I couldn't help but notice how there were so many things that seemed oh-so-familiar...
A special mark on the forehead? A hateful family that won't accept her? Going to a special boarding school to learn about their 'kind'? Making friends with the 'unaccepted' people? Plotting against someone evil? The main character being someone very special to their kind?
Any of these things remind you of something? Harry Potter, perhaps?
And then there's the vampire aspect to it. There's even an unlikely romance from the most handsome boy who shouldn't even notice the main character and a special power that comes with being a vampire that only special people have.
Again is seems familiar. Twilight, maybe? The most obvious copy from the Twilight series in the book - which made me shout out loud in shock when I read it - was Imprinting. In this book there is a shameless copy of the very same process named the same thing in Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.
It seems the writers have noticed how popular these two series' have become and decided to try incorporating them both together and maybe get the most amazing series ever. It hasn't worked.
Throughout the whole book, I couldn't stop noticing all these slight references to these bestselling series'. Fair to the book, it was interesting, hooking and a good read, but I can't help feeling that these writers have just copied other people's work and put it together...
I think it would have been better if I'd just read Harry Potter or Twilight again.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, 2 May 2007
"Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, I saw the dead guy standing next to my locker."
The opening sentence hooks the reader; they will devour the whole book quickly and ask for more.
Zoey's life is about to change forever. She woke up one morning normal and by the end of the day she's been marked. Being marked indicates that she will turn into a vampire. She needs to leave her family and friends behind and start a new life with other marked teens at the House of Night. Zoey's never completely fit in, but now she might have a chance.
After a fight with her mother and stepfather, Zoey goes to her grandmother's house for advice. Before seeing her grandmother, Zoey has a vision of the Goddess Nyx, who states that she is special and names Zoey her personal eyes and ears in the world. Zoey faints, but not before the Goddess replaces her mark with a blue crescent, which is extremely rare.
When Zoey arrives at the House of Night, she finds herself the object of attention because of her crescent. Her roommate and her new acquaintances quickly find their way into Zoey's heart. She finds herself surrounded with friends for the first time, but she also encounters a powerful enemy. As her entire lifestyle changes, Zoey finds peace within herself as she accepts her destiny and steps up to challenge her enemy's misguided judgement.
If you like vampires and enjoy supernatural tales, you don't want to miss this first book in a great new series.
Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel
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