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atrkula's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death
Minor: Body shaming
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: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Blood, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
nyctxnthus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Blood, and Religious bigotry
doomluz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia and Religious bigotry
Minor: Child abuse
rachaelarsenault's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
I read this book a while back but never got around to adding a review. I figure it's better late than never. "Marked" is one of those frustrating books where I see promise in the premise but the execution is absolutely abysmal.
What I wanted: A book about a teen girl pulled between two lives - her old life as a human and her new life as a fledgling - who is gifted with great powers and a mysterious burden by a goddess, who struggles to fit in and fights for the underdog, whose friends are diverse and quirky.
What I got: A spoiled, elitist brat who insults anyone who doesn't fit her definition of cool or attractive, who praises herself for being open-minded while simultaneously being deeply prejudiced, who constantly looks down on others, and who settles into a position of power and importance with little effort or difficulty.
Zoey is insufferable. She claims to be a nerd and laments not fitting in, but attracts attention of the hottest guys in school as a human and a fledgling, instantly has a faithful entourage of friends, and really only gets flak from a small section of the school populace. Given that the people who give her a hard time are the designated Mean Girls of the story, that's hardly remarkable: They're mean to everyone. Moreover, Zoey doesn't seem to like anyone. She insults chess players, redheads, people with eating disorders, gay men (we'll get to that), black people (we'll also get to this), people struggling in school, poor people, etc. ad nauseum. Honestly, belittling other people is her defining character trait.
While Zoey does have a token gay friend, that doesn't excuse her from bigotry. She praises Damien by saying he "isn't a swishy girly-guy". In other words, he's not "too gay". She and her friends also make a point to emphasize that Damien's sexuality means he isn't really a guy, which is an incredibly offensive notion. Zoey also has a token black friend named Shaunee, but that doesn't stop her from having narrow-minded views of black people. For example, when meeting another black girl, Zoey is quick to dismiss the girl's long hair as being a weave, playing into a racist notion that black people can't possibly have naturally long hair. There's also the fact that Damien and Shaunee's characters are almost entirely defined by their tokenism: Damien is sassy, sensitive, and artistic; Shaunee is angry, sassy, and sensual.
Zoey is also horrible toward other girls, which is truly distressing in a story aimed at young teens and praised as progressive and empowering for said audience. At every turn, Zoey is hating on other women for any variety of reasons: They flirt with a boy she likes, they flirt with a boy she used to like but is dead-set against actually dating, they flirt with their own boyfriend, they wear clothing she doesn't like, they engage in sexual acts she doesn't like - in fact, a lot of Zoey's hatred toward other girls revolves around slut shaming. The antagonist of this book, Aphrodite, is hated on primarily because she is sexually confident and expressive. Her actual villainy is mostly dismissed - even though it includes refusing to report psychic visions that could save dozens of lives. Moreover, the way Zoey attacks her for her sexuality is nonsensical. An example of this is found early on in the book when Zoey stumbles across Aphrodite giving a blowjob to her boyfriend. The fact that the blowjob was against the boy's will and performed in the middle of a hallway is barely given a second thought; instead, what matters is that she was giving a blowjob. Apparently, only hateful, brain-dead sluts give blowjobs. For a series that's all about girl power, this is a deeply troubling view to espouse.
This isn't even touching on the writing, which is incredibly poor. There are numerous asides that interrupt the narrative, often killing the tension and serving no real purpose. The writing frequently shows instead of telling. Plus, Zoey can't maintain a consistent narrative voice. Sometimes she sounds like she's twelve, using words like "gihugic", "poopie", and giggling when she comments on "boobies" or calls something "gay". But then she'll suddenly start narrating poetically, describing moonlight as "spilled mercury" or saying that "raw fear engulfed [her] like a bitter wind." It makes it difficult to stay immersed in the story or get a clear idea of what Zoey's personality and maturity is actually supposed to be.
Even from a less technical standpoint, the narrative is pretty awful. The pacing is terrible - for example, at the beginning of the story Zoey needs to get to the House of Night so she can be around adult vampyres and avoid dying from Rejecting the Change. That sounds like it should be urgent, but the first four chapters are basically her going from one drawn out argument to the next. When characters stand around talking about how important and urgent something is for five pages instead of actually doing anything, it feels like maybe the stakes aren't so high. And it never gets better: A third of the book is spent following Zoey around for her first day of classes. A few important things happen, but not enough to warrant consuming so much time in the narrative. It isn't until page 160 that we have any sense of what the actual goal or conflict is in this book - and then, when we get to the climax, a completely out-of-nowhere antagonist appears and is almost immediately dismissed without any real struggle on the part of the protagonists.
The world-building is shoddy, too. It's essentially a patchwork of randomly capitalized words to signal they're important, dismissing actual folkloric ideas about vampirism, and picking random celebrities or historical figures and going, "Hey, this person is actually a vampyre!" Then throw in a matriarchal power structure that is still somehow deeply misogynistic and call it a day. If you take more than a few seconds to question how things work, the whole world starts to fall apart pretty quickly.
Overall, this is a terribly written, deeply offensive, and incredibly disappointing book. I've continued reading the series out of a purely academic interest - there is no true enjoyment to be gained from it.
What I wanted: A book about a teen girl pulled between two lives - her old life as a human and her new life as a fledgling - who is gifted with great powers and a mysterious burden by a goddess, who struggles to fit in and fights for the underdog, whose friends are diverse and quirky.
What I got: A spoiled, elitist brat who insults anyone who doesn't fit her definition of cool or attractive, who praises herself for being open-minded while simultaneously being deeply prejudiced, who constantly looks down on others, and who settles into a position of power and importance with little effort or difficulty.
Zoey is insufferable. She claims to be a nerd and laments not fitting in, but attracts attention of the hottest guys in school as a human and a fledgling, instantly has a faithful entourage of friends, and really only gets flak from a small section of the school populace. Given that the people who give her a hard time are the designated Mean Girls of the story, that's hardly remarkable: They're mean to everyone. Moreover, Zoey doesn't seem to like anyone. She insults chess players, redheads, people with eating disorders, gay men (we'll get to that), black people (we'll also get to this), people struggling in school, poor people, etc. ad nauseum. Honestly, belittling other people is her defining character trait.
While Zoey does have a token gay friend, that doesn't excuse her from bigotry. She praises Damien by saying he "isn't a swishy girly-guy". In other words, he's not "too gay". She and her friends also make a point to emphasize that Damien's sexuality means he isn't really a guy, which is an incredibly offensive notion. Zoey also has a token black friend named Shaunee, but that doesn't stop her from having narrow-minded views of black people. For example, when meeting another black girl, Zoey is quick to dismiss the girl's long hair as being a weave, playing into a racist notion that black people can't possibly have naturally long hair. There's also the fact that Damien and Shaunee's characters are almost entirely defined by their tokenism: Damien is sassy, sensitive, and artistic; Shaunee is angry, sassy, and sensual.
Zoey is also horrible toward other girls, which is truly distressing in a story aimed at young teens and praised as progressive and empowering for said audience. At every turn, Zoey is hating on other women for any variety of reasons: They flirt with a boy she likes, they flirt with a boy she used to like but is dead-set against actually dating, they flirt with their own boyfriend, they wear clothing she doesn't like, they engage in sexual acts she doesn't like - in fact, a lot of Zoey's hatred toward other girls revolves around slut shaming. The antagonist of this book, Aphrodite, is hated on primarily because she is sexually confident and expressive. Her actual villainy is mostly dismissed - even though it includes refusing to report psychic visions that could save dozens of lives. Moreover, the way Zoey attacks her for her sexuality is nonsensical. An example of this is found early on in the book when Zoey stumbles across Aphrodite giving a blowjob to her boyfriend. The fact that the blowjob was against the boy's will and performed in the middle of a hallway is barely given a second thought; instead, what matters is that she was giving a blowjob. Apparently, only hateful, brain-dead sluts give blowjobs. For a series that's all about girl power, this is a deeply troubling view to espouse.
This isn't even touching on the writing, which is incredibly poor. There are numerous asides that interrupt the narrative, often killing the tension and serving no real purpose. The writing frequently shows instead of telling. Plus, Zoey can't maintain a consistent narrative voice. Sometimes she sounds like she's twelve, using words like "gihugic", "poopie", and giggling when she comments on "boobies" or calls something "gay". But then she'll suddenly start narrating poetically, describing moonlight as "spilled mercury" or saying that "raw fear engulfed [her] like a bitter wind." It makes it difficult to stay immersed in the story or get a clear idea of what Zoey's personality and maturity is actually supposed to be.
Even from a less technical standpoint, the narrative is pretty awful. The pacing is terrible - for example, at the beginning of the story Zoey needs to get to the House of Night so she can be around adult vampyres and avoid dying from Rejecting the Change. That sounds like it should be urgent, but the first four chapters are basically her going from one drawn out argument to the next. When characters stand around talking about how important and urgent something is for five pages instead of actually doing anything, it feels like maybe the stakes aren't so high. And it never gets better: A third of the book is spent following Zoey around for her first day of classes. A few important things happen, but not enough to warrant consuming so much time in the narrative. It isn't until page 160 that we have any sense of what the actual goal or conflict is in this book - and then, when we get to the climax, a completely out-of-nowhere antagonist appears and is almost immediately dismissed without any real struggle on the part of the protagonists.
The world-building is shoddy, too. It's essentially a patchwork of randomly capitalized words to signal they're important, dismissing actual folkloric ideas about vampirism, and picking random celebrities or historical figures and going, "Hey, this person is actually a vampyre!" Then throw in a matriarchal power structure that is still somehow deeply misogynistic and call it a day. If you take more than a few seconds to question how things work, the whole world starts to fall apart pretty quickly.
Overall, this is a terribly written, deeply offensive, and incredibly disappointing book. I've continued reading the series out of a purely academic interest - there is no true enjoyment to be gained from it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder
Sex shaming
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