Betrayed (House of Night #2), P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
310 pages
urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Started 8/1/12
Finished 8/7/12
2.5 STARS
Where do I begin with this mess? I wasn't altogether thrilled with the first book in the House of Night series,but I don't really believe in giving up on a whole series after only the first book. HOWEVER, after the second book, abandonment of a series is fair game, and I'm exercising my right to do so.
So, there's trouble at the House of Night when teens in the area start turning up dead and all the evidence points to vampires as the culprits. Zoey smells a rat and tries to flush it out. Which proves to be exhausting work - so much so that she needs to seek comfort and reassurance from not one, not two, but THREE different guys.
I've said it before - it's hard for me to like a book when I can't stand the main character. And, I REALLY can't stand Zoey. She is so full of herself that she can't see what's right and what's wrong. What's right: Aphrodite, friends who would do anything for you, a special gift given only to you. What's wrong: stringing three freaking guys along and messing with each of them behind the other ones' backs. And, one of them is a TEACHER! Ugh. I just can't read anything more about this chick.
And, it's a sad thing, really, because certain aspects of the plot were actually interesting. The House of Night is a pretty neat world. Zoey's and her friends' powers are really cool. And, I'd really like to know how the bad thing that happened in this book is resolved. But not even those curiosities can draw me back into a series where the main character is a narcissistic ho-bag. Sorry Cast girls - I'm moving on.
Get out while you're ahead. I'm still reading this series, which is up to book 10, I believe, because I want to see how the authors will resolve everything. It's a mess, though.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I think the world is really cool, and that's what I'd like to read more about. But no, the books go off in some really strange direction.
Zoey really gets me, too. I think you spoke about her language in your last review -- I swear the authors are trying to sound like teenyboppers with her vocabulary choices. I wish the books were told from someone else's viewpoint, maybe Aphrodite's.
Leanna, you're not the only one to advise me to pull out now while I still have hair left on my head. And, you're correct - if Zoey's bed-hopping didn't irritate me as much as it does, her excessive use of words like "poopy" and "boobie" would finish the job. And, don't even get me started on "brown pop"...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
Yeah. I forgot about brown pop!
ReplyDeleteZoey's bed hopping did bug me at first, but I read an essay by one of the authors (they did a book of essays for the series, too - Nyx in the House of Night), that changed my mind a bit. Her point was that it usually not seen as okay for women to have that kind of behavior, but for men, it's not something society cares about. And that's why they did it with Zoey, to make it "okay." But they definitely could have handled it better.