Marked / Betrayed / Chosen / Untamed / Hunted

House of Night #1-5

by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast

The House of Night is a thrilling, New York Times bestselling book series that follows 16-year-old Zoey Redbird as she is "Marked" by a vampyre tracker and begins to undergo the "Change" into an actual vampyre. She has to leave her family in Broken Arrow, OK, and move into the House of Night, a boarding school for other fledgling vampyres like her. It's tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. Although Zoey has awesome new powers, it's hard to fit in when everyone knows you're "special." As Zoey tries to make new friends and maybe find a hot boyfriend (or two), she comes up against all kinds of evil, from the perfect-looking, super-popular girl with not-so-faultless plans, to the mysterious deaths happening at the House of Night and all over Tulsa. Things at the House of Night are not always what they seem. Can Zoey find the courage deep within herself to find the truth and embrace her destiny?

Genres: Vampires, Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy

Hardcover

First published September 29, 2009

About the author

PC was born in the Midwest, and grew up being shuttled back-and-forth between Illinois and Oklahoma, which is where she fell in love with Quarter Horses and mythology (at about the same time). After high school, she joined the United States Air Force and began public speaking and writing. After her tour in the USAF, she taught high school for 15 years before retiring to write full time. PC is a #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today Best-Selling author and a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. Her novels have been awarded the prestigious: Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers’ Best, and the Laurel Wreath. PC is an experienced teacher and talented speaker. Ms. Cast lives in Oregon near her fabulous daughter, her adorable pack of dogs, her eccentric Maine Coon, and a bunch of horses. House of Night Other World, book 4, FOUND, releases July 7th, 2020. More info to come soon about the HoN TV series!

Reviews

[Sita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why do I continue torturing myself? Yep, that is how I’m going to start this review. Now most people will probably have already read a lot of other reviews before mine. If you haven’t now is your chance.

Waiting...waiting...waiting...

Ah, I see you have returned. Or did you never leave...? Oh well. Continuing: I decided to review this because I was cleaning my room. Yes. I cleaned my room. It’s shocking isn’t it? I was going through my cupboard (or my mum was, she was looking for my sisters phone. She thought I took it. And just so you know I didn’t. That was a one time thing. And she got her phone back. So don’t be looking at me all funny-like). So back to the cupboard. Someone was going through my cupboard when I found a stack of these books (the 8 house of night books to be precise) and I wonder.

Why are these not in my bookshelf? Then I remember they were shockingly awful. And you know what? I can’t even remember why. Yet, I read the whole series and all I can remember is a base plot line.

I have no idea why I did. I mean I liked the first one, but the rest just went downhill. I remember I ended up skipping through most of the book and for the later books. Only reading the parts Zoey and Stark were in (hopefully together).

My advice. Don’t bother. I know people are saying all this stuff about the books. Top 3 things I gathered from reviews.
1. Zoey is a ho. We have a love pentagon going on here.
2. The book is wonderfully written, very teenager like.
3. The plot and story behind the story is just so fascinating.
I disagree with all of this. Except the first. So Sita’s Advice is DON’T BOTHER! You are wasting your time!

[Yvonne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh...Why did I read all of these? Because I kept on thinking they would get better. I was encouraged to read them by one of my teenage friends who LOVES them, so I kept on going, all the way through number 8. The problem(s)? The authors constantly review things that happened in previous books, I guess assuming that you haven't read them. The banter between the teenagers was ridiculous. I am around teenagers a lot, and they don't talk like that (well, at least not in California). Typos in the books (where was their editor?). And what is their obsession with brown pop? They dropped name brands constantly, as well as other pop culture terms, but at least 20 times in each book Zoe has to drink a brown pop! Just say Coke or Pepsi, doggone it! I guess they are hedging their bets for product placement if they get a movie deal :) I must say that the story line was imaginative, and these could have been pretty good if they had been written by someone who had a clue how to write. I guess I kept on reading them because I wanted to see how it all turned out.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this series to fill some vampire lit void left open by the twilight series, then by the Sookie Stackhouse series and even the Vampire Diaries series. So there you have it. I'm a vampire loony-toon. Having said that, yes, I've read 7 of these books, but felt sort of dirty the whole time- its kind of a neat concept, but it was absolutely written for teenagers, which is why I should have known better. The way the heroine talks though, I would be annoyed by someone talking like that even if I were a teenager. The author tries too hard, IMO, to reach the teenage population with her writing. Yet I keep reading!

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried so hard to enjoy this series. I looked past some of the poor writing and character choices, including less than favorable dissing of stereotypes, including a gay character who "is not like those feminine gays". Seriously?

But the plot itself had no pacing over four books. And then to find out it continues for TWELVE books? I couldn't do it. Not anymore.

Unless you're feeling particularly nostalgic for being thirteen/fourteen during the peak of Twilight popularity and looking for a book about vampires with no social awareness at all, don't bother.

[Kaitlynn]

I have just started the first book. I'm thrilled with the ever-exciting vampire stories. Though these vampires rules are different from those of Twilight. It's shocked me how people actually become vampires. And how they must be trained within a matter of time. Or else there done for. I also find the mark givin to them is very interesting. It sounds pretty... but horribly noticable. And once its noticed your an outcast forever.

[Kira Simion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, one by one I have them different stars but, when I read them altogether, they improved tremendously.

4.5/5 (rounded up)

[Jennifer Layne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I was way outside of the YA age group when I read this I loved it! This is a GREAT set of 5 books in a new series of books that pack a punch and come out swinging!! Not that this isn't true from the start but sh!t really got real in these books!

The world was SO well created and the characters jump off the page. It is easy to fall in love or hate with them. You just want to comfort some and throttle or even stake a few others!

Each book seems to get better as you grow to know the characters, there dynamics and the conflicts in their world! Plenty of action and drama to keep you hooked and wishing for more!

This has a great few books to read so far; amazing characters and stories to follow! On to the next book!

[Ess Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as a teen in high-school. Compelling story, kept the pages turning the whole way through and couldn't wait to eat up the next book every time I finished one. Perfect amount of steamy romance and tension to keep the excitement levels high and the butterflies in my stomach at the time. Would recommend for the younger reader. Would be curious to read the novels I missed - as an adult, would it still be as good as I remember?

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of my fave reads as a teen!

[Desiree Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read the entire series twice and it will NOT be my last time.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another series i read in high school that i remember loving and even crying over. I definitely have to reread this series to get a better review but yeah :)

[Booklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great YA books

[Rhydian · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are many problems with the House of Night series. Many, many problems. The first of which I would attack would be Zoe's own shallow personality; her struggles with deeper matters always feel trite and melodramatic, like watching a badly-reheased play; and her love life is ridiculous to an extent I have never before encountered. She finds excuses for the worst of decisions, usually using her status as a vampire or a Priestess to explain things. Her grandmother's support would be endearing if it weren't for the fact that the issues Zoe brings up with her are always ones that present Zoe as being either the only responsible adult around her or a victim in a nearly helpless situation, and very rarely require any criticism on Zoe's own actions.
Zoe's friends are all quite two-dimensional as well, and serve only to fill the places of stereotypes (DON'T get me started on Stevie-Rae, or the obligatory gay characters) while the villains of the story also have petty and shallow motivations. While the friendship group is labelled spitefully/fondly by Aphrodite as the "Nerd Herd" the group as a whole is very inconsistent in any nerdy/geeky traits, only appearing where the authors thought necessary in order to establish sympathy from the audience with the characters. Any drama Zoe's friends experience is either directly related to her problems, or presented as a new opportunity for her to angst. Only occasionally does it serve the purpose of giving more depth to the secondary characters, but it always has a pretty stale feel to it, not genuine at all.
The writing style also has a lot to be ashamed of. It really feels like some badly-written biography of Zoe's, with few techniques successfully used, or any sort of consistence in language use and grammar. Larger words will be thrown in to make it seem as if it's a 'smart' book, while the rest of the time it reads like it was all written on the spot with no planning or hindsight used to improve any single part of it, with the same sort of run-on sentences and interruptions and bad/non-existent editing that Twilight experienced. Somehow worse, though, with Zoe's narrative voice being even more babbling, uncoordinated and insecure than anything else.
The plot itself drags on abruptly, with no sign of when it's going to end, despite the fact that everyone knows who's really going to win (because someone as evil as Neferet could never be allowed to have her horrible ways!!!11one!111!!!!) I continued to read only because there was nothing else and it provided a certain amount of amusement, but there's not even any sort of challenge in tearing the series apart. It tears itself apart on its own.
I would not recommend this series to my worst enemy. Someone needs to teach the Cast women to remember to plan a series before writing it, or at least edit it in a legible way. And maybe tell them what a Mary Sue is and why they ought to be avoiding them.

[Raeanne Parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the impending release of the “House of Night” finale, I’ve decided to revisit the series and do a big summary review of it. I remember going out and seeing the series at the front of Walmart like it was a big deal. And it was back then. Now, not so much.
“House of Night” started off like a booming empire built with a fiery fan base. Now it seems to be more of a thriving civilization in the background built upon a sturdy fan base that are determined to see this thing to the end. Honestly, I would’ve forgotten about this series long ago if it weren’t for the fact that I “became a fan” of it on Facebook eons ago. Now I’m constantly seeing it on my timeline and I can’t avoid it, so I inevitably buy the next book when it comes out because I’m so dedicated to seeing series through to the end.
I loved this series at first. I thought that the author(s) could do no wrong and this thing was going to end up the next major motion picture and trump “Twilight”, which now I realize probably wouldn’t be too hard to do. Then they lost me. I forget when or where seeing as how I’ve been forcing myself to continue reading lately, but there was a time where they should’ve stopped writing and the series would’ve been gold. I think it was around the time of “Tempted”.

This is just a sample. Full review on my website. See comment below.

[Katie Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series starts off strong with a great introduction of the main character, Zoey. The introductions of the school and other characters are pretty great, too. There is one character that starts off really nice, but by the second book, third at the latest, it exposes a different side of her.

I like the beginning of Marked, I was hooked before I finished the first paragraph of the first page. Also, I like how the characters are introduced, it flows so smoothly. The authors are great at making the reader feel the emotions and the tension. I usually try to connect to the main character and create the story in my head, but with these I barely had to try. I would start reading and there it was. I like the names they chose for these books as well, they are accurate for the story line.

There is nothing in this book series that I have not liked so far.

I would recommend this book series to anyone who likes drama, action, suspense, and vampyres. Some people may not like this book series if they are against the supernatural or do not want anything to do with vampyres.

Overall, there are many strong points in the writing of these books, as well as the story line. It's a really good series to read.

[Daisy M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remember I started reading these books when I was 14-16 ish, I'm 18 now so it's not like it was too long ago. I own most of the books, up until awakened but I don't think I even read burned because it was seriously getting painful to read. Not a good painful like feels painful, but painful as in agonizing and tedious. They just get really, really bad after a certain point. Go read Vampire Academy instead it's way better. This story has been dragged out too long, it should have stopped a few books ago. I know it's supposed to be a teen series, a fantasy teen series but it shouldn't be as if a teen literally wrote it. It's so back and forth and even for a fantasy series too unbelievable and dumb. I remember i did like how it used real places that's about it. It sounds like it was written by a 14 year old, and at 14 I wrote better stuff. Just do yourself a service and don't bother. The characters just seemed too unrealistic and extreme at 15 I couldn't really stand keeping on reading these books it just hurt, but I'm that type of person that HAS to read the whole series but at one point I just had enough. I'm even mad I contributed to the sales of these books.

Don't make my mistake.

[Zahra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most recent series I have read, I actually still am, I just thought I needed to spread the word and allow other people (well people who share the same interest) to discover the treasure that is the House of Night series. Can you sense how much I liked reading the series?

I got hooked on the story because it delves into my kind of genre - dark, wiccan, otherworldly, elemental. In their world, humans are well aware of the existence of vampires, and a human only becomes a vampire when chosen and marked by a tracker. Once marked, the human-fledgling must enter the House of Night to assume residence and pursue his academics together with other fledglings. Add to that, the fact that once marked, a fledgling needs to be close to adult vampires or else he dies.

So far, I haven't been able to put the book down. I like the way it's written (even the swearing, I admit). Imprinting, being oath bound, debt of a life, the other world, goddesses and their consorts, legends and prophesies - these are amongst the things that made it interesting, at least for me. I'm even grinning while typing this.

[Siobhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

My teenage self was a sucker (no pun intended) for torture when it came to vampire books. I worked through far too many of these books before I allowed myself to give up, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever forgive myself for that.

I think my biggest annoyance with the books is the slang. The teenage version of myself found it endearing in the first book, but even my teenage self grew annoyed with it. You know something is bad when teenage you is annoyed by it.

Then there is the fact that the stories get so repetitive. It’s a rehashing of the same things over and over again, and you can only take this for so long before you start ripping your hair out.

I guess I stuck around out of teenage stupidity. I found the different take on vampires interesting, and being in that vampire phase I wanted to know more about this vampire world. However, by the time I reached book six (I lasted longer in my teenage years than I would now) I knew I couldn’t carry on as I’d grown to hate both the characters and the storyline far too much to feign interest in how things ended.

[Shreela Sen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read just one of the series. Hunted.
"Hunted" seems to be a very popular book title.
There are so MANY books that name.
This particular Hunted is Vampire romance.
My 1st dose of vampire romance.
Not appetizing.
I am beginning to think I was lucky that I missed the whole Twilight thing due to being busy. I've read that it glorifies bestiality & necrophilia.
Well, this book, in tone & spirit, compares "being sucked blood off" to sex, & at least I feel, justifies the parasitic relationship, like in real life Gay people are fighting for their rights. (I SUPPORT homosexual rights, I am unable to imagine myself supporting vampire rights, or rites)
It was really in bad taste for me.
Literary quality is medium. In fact, much better writers never get their deserved place in the Sun ...
& I was so totally disappointed by the reference to Dracula.
P. C. Cast?
Your vamp chicks think "Dracula" is vamp-chick-lit?
:,(

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

gaaaarrrrrrrr! The entire SERIES was tedious, badly written and the main character was one of few that I wanted to pummel out of existence.
The basic plot was clever & quite fresh. The variety of characters was good and quite interesting. ...but that's it.
The main character personalities were irritating, painfully repetitive. ..and if I ever read "bullpoopy" again, I will have to start a homicidal spree!
The refusal of the Zoey character to speak in a manner befitting a teenage girl is beyond idiocy: in fact the more I think about it, that particular character (along with the atrocious repetition, "impossible" beauty, the constant unnecessary sexual flippancy....oh, what else...nope that's pretty much the whole book/s) is so beyond redemption as a believable, likeable character that I could not bring myself to read the last 2 books....!

[Ekatee · Rating 4 out of 5]

the house of night series is for a young audience (teenagers to young adults) and is a perfect book to tell you that no matter the situation, no matter the country, color, religion, etc, teenage problems are always there and pretty much the same! it's a good light read with a great emphasis on friendship (which, i personally, value a lot) and much appreciated research on mythology (thank you Cast family!!)! the characters are well distributed as "categories" (Aphrodity being thebitchy one, Stevie Rae the logical and let's-think-about-this-first one, etc etc) and their diversity is pretty much always leading to a good laugh! it's a good keep-you-at-the-edge-of-your-seat series, fun to read and well thought (most of the time)! also love the art-work!

[Lauren]

Marked (House of Night, #1) - 1 star
16-year-old Zoey Redbird is marked and her whole entire life as she knows it gets turned upside down. Now she has to go to the school, House of Night, where she will train to become an adult vampire, that is if she survives the Change.

I pretty much never not continue on with a series (yeah I know how that sounds) but this one was just horrendous. I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t find the plot interesting, and I was overly annoyed by how the characters speak. I love vampires but there is not much (or anything I can think of) that is redeeming about this series. I am not going to continue on, it would be too painful, and I am not going to recommend this to anyone, even my worst enemy, in the future.

Not finishing series

[Sian · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first three books were okay, badly written, but with just enough of a plot to let me finish. Then it seemed PC Cast ran out of ideas, and began throwing in extra bad guys just for the hell of it, it was extremely dragged out. Zoey is a slut, excuse the language. The whole way through I felt tempted to slap her. It is all very Mary-Sueish, P.C Cast giving some characters a southern accent and a love of horses (read the Goddess of Partholon series, you will understand).
Basically, don't waste your time. Go pick up Divergent or A song of ice and fire.

[Victoria Dimmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the House of Night series! You get to see this new world where vampires are known by all and you get to see these kids go through the process of learning what their new life of being a vampire is all about. There are a lot of twist and turns in this book and is what I would consider a definite page turner.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this series, so that I would know what my daughter was reading. I admit that I got hooked. For a teen series, it is entertaining, but it is definitely a teen series. If you're thinking about letting your younger teen or tween read the series, just be aware that there is a fair amount of sexual content.

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable book (mark...hahaha...get it?). With an incredible set of characters and a story that is far fetched when compared to those of your average vampire books, this book is definitely odd. Though not boring, with excitement from the very first page, to the very last, it almost certainly keeps you glued to the pages.

[Sydney Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best but not the worst. For all the reviewers who are saying these series are "terrible" and "horrible" maybe it's cause your older that 20. These books are for a young audience like teen age. I'm 17 and I happen to like these books, not saying they are fabulous, yes they have some plot issues and I don't like how it switches POV but I still consider these books good.

[Jessica Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this series. It is well written and you find yourself trying to relate with the characters. I read a lot of Paranormal books and this set is by far one of my favorites, next to True Blood..Of course ;) This one is a little more for a younger genre, then True Blood, but I love them both.

[Megan Harwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! The storyline is interesting. But the writing style sucks. I literally feel like my brain cells are dying as I read it. Yet, I keep reading them thinking it's finally the end. Lo an behold they are still going. I am not sure I will have any brain cells left if I keep going. Why oh why could they not learn how to write better?

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This incredible series was a fantastic twist on the idea of Vampires. I finshed the first 7 books in two weeks and I am awaiting the 8th with baited breath.
The authors use of Native beliefs and Wiccan rituals was eye opening.