michellemaas's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
* Beware of minor spoilers
First Read: 3 - ⭐⭐⭐
Second Read: 0.5 - 💫
First Installment in the House of The Night series. This Young Adult Paranormal Romance follows a ragtag group of teenagers at a vampire finishing school featuring the "chosen one" and "found family" tropes.
I read the first seven books in this series while in the sixth grade, but being hopelessly in love with the Vampire Academy series at the time, I didn't give it a fair chance at being liked. So having gotten back into reading last year, I decided that maybe I was just too young to appreciate the world-building and more complex, mostly religious, themes of the series and wanted to give it a second, unbiased shot. I was wrong. Age has nothing to do with it, this book is just terribly offensive and poorly written.
“If I died, would it get me out of my geometry test tomorrow? One could only hope.”
Marked follows Zoey Redbird who is marked to transition into a vampire. She has to go to a special vampire finishing school and attempt to adjust to all these new physical and social changes while ridding the school of the queen bee, Aphrodite.
"You are old beyond your years Zoeybird. Believe in yourself and you will find a way. But remember darkness does not always equate to evil just like light does not always bring good.”
Firstly, this was offensive. This book BASHED catholicism in a way that I'm surprised the authors got away with. There was an instance where the author described Catholics as "beady-eyed wives and their pedophile husbands" . . . If I have to explain what's wrong with that sentence, you might never understand. And I get it, with Freedom of Speech and all that, if you want to get into your dislike for religion because of some personal stuff, you're well within your rights to do so. But to degrade an ACTUAL religion that people in real life believe in is in such poor taste. People believe what they do because of their upbringing, life experiences, and the information they have, so to disregard that simply because that doesn't match up with your experiences and beliefs is not only entitled and arrogant but also incredibly insensitive. I don't even identify as Catholic, I identify as a Christian, but her portrayal of any religion that she does not consider the "right religion" is truly concerning. If you want to make the stepfather a bad person, that's fine. If you want his motivations for being a bad person to be that he believes his actions are justified as being in the name of religion, that understandable too. But saying everyone who believes in this religion (that not a made-up religion specific to this world, but rather a very common real-life religion) is terrible people is a horrible message to be spreading.
“I want you to live as you would be remembered if you would die tomorrow, because you might. Then if you do die, your spirit can rest peacefully knowing that you leave behind an honorable memory. If you do not die, then you will have set the foundation for a long life rich with integrity.”
Secondly, I didn't like the writing style. This book was published in the late 2000s and it shows. There are so many "Oh. Huh. Weird" phrases along with lots of inserts that have absolutely nothing to do with anything. I hate it when authors add random tidbits that have no relevance to the story and don't end up aging well such as opinions on trending actors and what is socially acceptable at the time of publication. It also does not make the book more relatable for the teens reading it, it just makes everyone uncomfortable, especially when someone picks up the book now and has no clue what the author is referring to half the time. Hell, I'm nearly 20 and I didn't even get all the references!
“Bask in your uniqueness, revel in your strength. We stand separate from the world because of our gifts. Never forget that, because you may be sure the world never will.”
Thirdly, Zoey as a main character was hypocritical, and just because she was a better person than Aphrodite doesn't mean she was a good person . . .and that's not in the intentionally morally gray type way. It's in a holier-than-thou, I'm so perfect that nothing can touch me kind of way. She annoyed me with her superiority complex so much that I wasn't rooting for her to come out on top in the end. Mean girls are mean but at least you know what you're getting as opposed to seemingly nice girls who only have their own interests at heart.
Even with all of this, my biggest complaint is that nothing really happened in this book. It was a lot of world-building (and not fun world-building either, since the story was set in our world with a few mythical history changes) and following Zoey around as she adapted to her new life. I will admit that it picked up quite a bit towards the end, but the last 15 pages being mediocre does not make up for the previous 330 pages being bad. I remember the series got better as the books went on, but I forgot just how boring everything was until that point.
“I've found that the way a person feels about cats-and the way they feel about him or her in return-is usually an excellent gauge by which to measure a person's character.”
Overall, I would not have recommended this if I was judging this as a standalone, but since I don't remember the rest of the series well enough to give a thorough review on the series as a whole, I'd just suggest you weigh up if you're willing to sit through a terrible first book to get to a potentially okay sequel.
First Read: 3 - ⭐⭐⭐
Second Read: 0.5 - 💫
First Installment in the House of The Night series. This Young Adult Paranormal Romance follows a ragtag group of teenagers at a vampire finishing school featuring the "chosen one" and "found family" tropes.
I read the first seven books in this series while in the sixth grade, but being hopelessly in love with the Vampire Academy series at the time, I didn't give it a fair chance at being liked. So having gotten back into reading last year, I decided that maybe I was just too young to appreciate the world-building and more complex, mostly religious, themes of the series and wanted to give it a second, unbiased shot. I was wrong. Age has nothing to do with it, this book is just terribly offensive and poorly written.
“If I died, would it get me out of my geometry test tomorrow? One could only hope.”
Marked follows Zoey Redbird who is marked to transition into a vampire. She has to go to a special vampire finishing school and attempt to adjust to all these new physical and social changes while ridding the school of the queen bee, Aphrodite.
"You are old beyond your years Zoeybird. Believe in yourself and you will find a way. But remember darkness does not always equate to evil just like light does not always bring good.”
Firstly, this was offensive. This book BASHED catholicism in a way that I'm surprised the authors got away with. There was an instance where the author described Catholics as "beady-eyed wives and their pedophile husbands" . . . If I have to explain what's wrong with that sentence, you might never understand. And I get it, with Freedom of Speech and all that, if you want to get into your dislike for religion because of some personal stuff, you're well within your rights to do so. But to degrade an ACTUAL religion that people in real life believe in is in such poor taste. People believe what they do because of their upbringing, life experiences, and the information they have, so to disregard that simply because that doesn't match up with your experiences and beliefs is not only entitled and arrogant but also incredibly insensitive. I don't even identify as Catholic, I identify as a Christian, but her portrayal of any religion that she does not consider the "right religion" is truly concerning. If you want to make the stepfather a bad person, that's fine. If you want his motivations for being a bad person to be that he believes his actions are justified as being in the name of religion, that understandable too. But saying everyone who believes in this religion (that not a made-up religion specific to this world, but rather a very common real-life religion) is terrible people is a horrible message to be spreading.
“I want you to live as you would be remembered if you would die tomorrow, because you might. Then if you do die, your spirit can rest peacefully knowing that you leave behind an honorable memory. If you do not die, then you will have set the foundation for a long life rich with integrity.”
Secondly, I didn't like the writing style. This book was published in the late 2000s and it shows. There are so many "Oh. Huh. Weird" phrases along with lots of inserts that have absolutely nothing to do with anything. I hate it when authors add random tidbits that have no relevance to the story and don't end up aging well such as opinions on trending actors and what is socially acceptable at the time of publication. It also does not make the book more relatable for the teens reading it, it just makes everyone uncomfortable, especially when someone picks up the book now and has no clue what the author is referring to half the time. Hell, I'm nearly 20 and I didn't even get all the references!
“Bask in your uniqueness, revel in your strength. We stand separate from the world because of our gifts. Never forget that, because you may be sure the world never will.”
Thirdly, Zoey as a main character was hypocritical, and just because she was a better person than Aphrodite doesn't mean she was a good person . . .and that's not in the intentionally morally gray type way. It's in a holier-than-thou, I'm so perfect that nothing can touch me kind of way. She annoyed me with her superiority complex so much that I wasn't rooting for her to come out on top in the end. Mean girls are mean but at least you know what you're getting as opposed to seemingly nice girls who only have their own interests at heart.
Even with all of this, my biggest complaint is that nothing really happened in this book. It was a lot of world-building (and not fun world-building either, since the story was set in our world with a few mythical history changes) and following Zoey around as she adapted to her new life. I will admit that it picked up quite a bit towards the end, but the last 15 pages being mediocre does not make up for the previous 330 pages being bad. I remember the series got better as the books went on, but I forgot just how boring everything was until that point.
“I've found that the way a person feels about cats-and the way they feel about him or her in return-is usually an excellent gauge by which to measure a person's character.”
Overall, I would not have recommended this if I was judging this as a standalone, but since I don't remember the rest of the series well enough to give a thorough review on the series as a whole, I'd just suggest you weigh up if you're willing to sit through a terrible first book to get to a potentially okay sequel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, and Drug use
Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual harassment
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