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A review by rachaelarsenault
Lost by Kristin Cast, P.C. Cast
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
It’s hard to say if “Lost” had more of a central plot than “Loved” or less of one. There definitely was a common conflict threaded through the book, but there were also conflicts that got unceremoniously dropped from the story.
First, let’s look at the core plot: Kevin is using Old Magick. Why? Because he did it once accidentally (no, I’m not sure how that works), and now he’s using it for everything. This is the central conflict, and it clearly builds to the idea that recklessly using Old Magick like this is going to cost him dearly sooner rather than later. And there is a steep price paid for the use of Old Magick! But not by Kevin. It’s paid by another character, who never once invokes Old Magick in this book. By all accounts, this is pretty stupid – the character who makes the bad choices is the one who should pay the consequences.
Also, the conflict around Kevin using Old Magick doesn’t even make sense in the first place. Half the stuff he uses it for are problems he could easily resolve by using his affinity for the five elements, which he knows he has because Zoey showed him with a very important circle casting near the end of “Loved”. By the end of this book, he uses his affinity multiple times without issue, so it’s not that he doesn’t understand how to invoke and control the elements. The authors just have him forget about it for 200+ pages so there’s an excuse for the Old Magick conflict.
There were also other conflicts and plot points introduced throughout the story. Kevin finds modern weapons, such as grenade launchers, in the basement under the Field House of the Other House of Night. Does this factor into the plot of the book? Nope! He sends a message to the Resistance and moves on with his day. Nothing is ever done about this, nor does Neferet ever actually turn to using these weapons.
Another conflict is Zoey having a falling out with Stark because he thinks her plan to go to the Other World isn’t just about helping Kevin, but also motivated by her desire to see Heath again. They have a big, dramatic fight about this and it’s a source of anxiety and heartache for Zoey while she’s in the Other World. Do they have a meaningful conversation when she gets back where they make up with each other? Or does the book end with them still in a tremulous place in their relationship, with Stark having deeply hurt her by revealing his inability to trust her? Nope! Stark pitched a tent to wait for her to come back and immediately showers her with love and affection the second she returns. In fact, she didn’t even have cause to worry if he was upset with her while she was gone – he showed up right when she was finishing the ritual to enter the Other World to remind her that he still loved her. So this was an immediately pointless conflict as well.
The world-building was also a complete mess in this book. First, the biggest, most obnoxious, most over-emphasized part: Cherokee people and other Native Americans have ~*ancient blood*~ that makes them inherently magical and connected with the earth. This is why Zoey, Kevin, and even Grandma Redbird can call on the sprites of Old Magick.
I may or may not have touched on this in past reviews, but here’s a quick rundown: There is a long history of regarding Native Americans as “one with the earth” and using that image of them to a) present them as backward and barbaric, b) present them as irrational and motivated by mysticism and superstition, and c) dehumanize and discredit them. Native Americans are not spiritually destined to be environmentalists. Native Americans are not uniquely in tune with the heartbeat of the earth. Native Americans are not closer to nature. They lived off the land pre-colonization, yes, but literally every part of the planet can trace human history back to the point of subsisting on the land.
So presenting the book’s Cherokee characters as specially connected to the earth and its power because of their Cherokee heritage is deeply racist. Positive racism is still racism! And saying that they carry Cherokee magic and wisdom in their blood is even more offensive. Racially charged stereotypes don’t make for good world-building.
But there’s more than that. This book opens readers up to a new world – literally. This is the first time we directly see the Other World, instead of having characters tell us about it. What we know of the Other World from “Loved” is that it’s a war-torn, zombie-infested hellscape ruled by Neferet, who subjugates humans and uses her Red and Blue Armies to conquer more and more territory and amass increasing power. The way this is actually shown is… confused.
First of all, we don’t see a single zombie. Not one. They are nowhere to be seen. Nor do we ever see the red fledglings or vampyres roaming the streets, looking for fresh prey. Instead, we quickly learn that humans are not universally in danger. If they provide goods or services that Neferet and other vampyres enjoy, then they’re safe. The butcher downtown is safe. Grandma Redbird is safe (of course). The entire OSU and OU football teams are safe, including the players, cheerleaders, coaches, AND FANS. Tens of thousands of people are safe from Neferet’s tyranny because… she likes college football.
Yeah, it sounds like it would be pretty easy to slip under her radar and keep yourself safe. Just buy a football jersey from a local team, maybe a giant foam finger or two.
There’s also some really weird stuff with Nyx, like the fact that she makes Aphrodite’s eyes bleed from visions only after she’s proved herself to be a good person. WHY?!?!? What kind of loving goddess rewards her prophetess for choosing the path of Light by making her visions more traumatizing and agonizing and – oh yeah – HARDER TO HIDE FROM NEFERET?
And some quick spoilers for this next paragraph, because there’s some real bullshit we need to unpack about the ending.
[SPOILER] Why does restoring humanity to the red fledglings and vampyres kill Other Aphrodite? Nyx says it’s because she was too lonely to withstand the loss of her humanity. Okay, first of all, restoring humanity to the red fledglings in “Chosen” didn’t cost Aphrodite her own humanity. In “Untamed”, Nyx said it was the strength of Aphrodite’s humanity that saved them and burned away her Mark. Second, how is Other Aphrodite any more lonely than Aphrodite from “Chosen”? She still wasn’t in with the Nerd Herd at that point. She was begrudgingly helping Zoey with Stevie Rae because they knew it was key to stopping Neferet’s plans, though they didn’t know what those were at the time. At that point, even she and Stevie Rae weren’t friends yet. So how does a reluctant and tense alliance with Zoey make her less lonely than Other Aphrodite, who found love with Kevin (we’ll get to the that) and was showered with love and support from Zoey, Stevie Rae, Rephaim, and Grandma during the short time that she knew them? She had boundless reasons to hope and persevere. It makes absolutely no sense for her to die, and it isn’t a satisfying end to her character. It comes off like the authors knew there needed to be some kind of consequence for reckless use of Old Magick, but they didn’t want Kevin or Zoey to actually pay for it. [SPOILER]
The romance subplot in this book was, uh, uncomfortable. I think the authors forgot what a huge age difference 16 and 21 is. Like, yeah, a 26-year-old dating a 31-year-old isn’t that weird – but they’re at more equal stages in life. It’s wildly different from an eleventh grader dating a fourth-year university student. I know Kevin says he’s been through a lot and is mature for his age, but that doesn’t really work here? If someone survived childhood trauma, for example, that would deeply impact them and could make them seem older than they are – but that doesn’t mean it’s not creepy for a 21-year-old to date them when they’re still only 16. If anything, the 21-year-old comes off as predatory.
It doesn’t help that their flirting is skin-crawlingly uncomfortable. I do not want to read about 21-year-old Aphrodite asking 16-year-old Kevin if he’s had sex yet, nor do I want to read about Kevin asking Aphrodite if she wants him to like the thought of drinking her bath water. (Yes, these are real exchanges that happen in the book.)
God, I’m still not even done. There’s so, so much more wrong with this book.
Okay. Neferet. Other Neferet is evil and this is the first time we actually see Other Neferet. Well, she’s not really any different from the old Neferet – same story, different book (which is kind of the summary for the entire HoNOW series). So, there shouldn’t be anything remarkable to talk about with her, right? Ha ha. I wish.
The authors double down HARD on sex shaming Neferet. It is a literal plot point that Neferet uses her beauty and sexuality to control her armies, because she sleeps with all the officers and her nipples show through her top while she deliveries speeches to her all-male troops. Her smile is described as “part-honey, part-whore”. I don’t even know how to do the ridiculousness of the whole scene justice. Just… Hang on – here’s a quote:
“Neferet spread out her arms dramatically, causing her perfect breasts to press against the silk of her gown and her nipples to be fully outlined and visible.
Aphrodite thought that move was an excellent touch as it had every male eye in the room traveling to her boobs, and every male mind in the room clouding as blood rushed from their brains to the organ that actually controlled them.”
That right there? Slut shaming to the point that having visible nipples must be an evil plot to control men, combined with rampant heteronormativity (a room FULL OF MEN and not a single one of them is gay?), and dehumanizing men by portraying them as one monolithic entity that is aroused by the same things and is mindlessly motivated by lust.
The editing is pretty terrible, too. At the end, Kevin is described as having sapphire tattoos despite being a red vampyre. Anastasia is called Aphrodite at one point. There are several sections where the formatting goes completely to hell (at least in my ebook copy). The phrase “that’d he’d” appears at one point. There are punctuation errors scattered throughout the book, and the authors and editors forgot that “the Bug” is capitalized when referring to Zoey’s car.
There’s probably more I could get into, but… I mean, it’s all more of the same bullshit. Gay men love interior design and that’s a fact. Other Heath is dating a cheerleader so obviously she’s a slut, but at least she’s black so he’s “getting some black-girl magic” (because the authors still don’t understand that term). Heath, a white man, leads the football teams in taking a knee in protest like he’s Colin Kaepernick. Other Aphrodite outing Other Erin as a lesbian and then laughing at her and making a vulgar joke about it. Kevin and Zoey being “properly” Cherokee because they have brown skin, whereas their mother and sister Barbie are white-passing and therefore bad Cherokee. Rephaim getting a grace period in his very minimal punishment for centuries of rape and murder, so while he’s in the Other World he doesn’t turn into a bird at sunrise and he and Stevie Rae can have sex… which they’ve done plenty before at night.
I wish I had a more succinct way to close out this review but, like this book, it’s just kind of a disconnected mess. I’ve written 2000 words about what’s wrong with it and I still haven’t covered everything.
First, let’s look at the core plot: Kevin is using Old Magick. Why? Because he did it once accidentally (no, I’m not sure how that works), and now he’s using it for everything. This is the central conflict, and it clearly builds to the idea that recklessly using Old Magick like this is going to cost him dearly sooner rather than later. And there is a steep price paid for the use of Old Magick! But not by Kevin. It’s paid by another character, who never once invokes Old Magick in this book. By all accounts, this is pretty stupid – the character who makes the bad choices is the one who should pay the consequences.
Also, the conflict around Kevin using Old Magick doesn’t even make sense in the first place. Half the stuff he uses it for are problems he could easily resolve by using his affinity for the five elements, which he knows he has because Zoey showed him with a very important circle casting near the end of “Loved”. By the end of this book, he uses his affinity multiple times without issue, so it’s not that he doesn’t understand how to invoke and control the elements. The authors just have him forget about it for 200+ pages so there’s an excuse for the Old Magick conflict.
There were also other conflicts and plot points introduced throughout the story. Kevin finds modern weapons, such as grenade launchers, in the basement under the Field House of the Other House of Night. Does this factor into the plot of the book? Nope! He sends a message to the Resistance and moves on with his day. Nothing is ever done about this, nor does Neferet ever actually turn to using these weapons.
Another conflict is Zoey having a falling out with Stark because he thinks her plan to go to the Other World isn’t just about helping Kevin, but also motivated by her desire to see Heath again. They have a big, dramatic fight about this and it’s a source of anxiety and heartache for Zoey while she’s in the Other World. Do they have a meaningful conversation when she gets back where they make up with each other? Or does the book end with them still in a tremulous place in their relationship, with Stark having deeply hurt her by revealing his inability to trust her? Nope! Stark pitched a tent to wait for her to come back and immediately showers her with love and affection the second she returns. In fact, she didn’t even have cause to worry if he was upset with her while she was gone – he showed up right when she was finishing the ritual to enter the Other World to remind her that he still loved her. So this was an immediately pointless conflict as well.
The world-building was also a complete mess in this book. First, the biggest, most obnoxious, most over-emphasized part: Cherokee people and other Native Americans have ~*ancient blood*~ that makes them inherently magical and connected with the earth. This is why Zoey, Kevin, and even Grandma Redbird can call on the sprites of Old Magick.
I may or may not have touched on this in past reviews, but here’s a quick rundown: There is a long history of regarding Native Americans as “one with the earth” and using that image of them to a) present them as backward and barbaric, b) present them as irrational and motivated by mysticism and superstition, and c) dehumanize and discredit them. Native Americans are not spiritually destined to be environmentalists. Native Americans are not uniquely in tune with the heartbeat of the earth. Native Americans are not closer to nature. They lived off the land pre-colonization, yes, but literally every part of the planet can trace human history back to the point of subsisting on the land.
So presenting the book’s Cherokee characters as specially connected to the earth and its power because of their Cherokee heritage is deeply racist. Positive racism is still racism! And saying that they carry Cherokee magic and wisdom in their blood is even more offensive. Racially charged stereotypes don’t make for good world-building.
But there’s more than that. This book opens readers up to a new world – literally. This is the first time we directly see the Other World, instead of having characters tell us about it. What we know of the Other World from “Loved” is that it’s a war-torn, zombie-infested hellscape ruled by Neferet, who subjugates humans and uses her Red and Blue Armies to conquer more and more territory and amass increasing power. The way this is actually shown is… confused.
First of all, we don’t see a single zombie. Not one. They are nowhere to be seen. Nor do we ever see the red fledglings or vampyres roaming the streets, looking for fresh prey. Instead, we quickly learn that humans are not universally in danger. If they provide goods or services that Neferet and other vampyres enjoy, then they’re safe. The butcher downtown is safe. Grandma Redbird is safe (of course). The entire OSU and OU football teams are safe, including the players, cheerleaders, coaches, AND FANS. Tens of thousands of people are safe from Neferet’s tyranny because… she likes college football.
Yeah, it sounds like it would be pretty easy to slip under her radar and keep yourself safe. Just buy a football jersey from a local team, maybe a giant foam finger or two.
There’s also some really weird stuff with Nyx, like the fact that she makes Aphrodite’s eyes bleed from visions only after she’s proved herself to be a good person. WHY?!?!? What kind of loving goddess rewards her prophetess for choosing the path of Light by making her visions more traumatizing and agonizing and – oh yeah – HARDER TO HIDE FROM NEFERET?
And some quick spoilers for this next paragraph, because there’s some real bullshit we need to unpack about the ending.
[SPOILER] Why does restoring humanity to the red fledglings and vampyres kill Other Aphrodite? Nyx says it’s because she was too lonely to withstand the loss of her humanity. Okay, first of all, restoring humanity to the red fledglings in “Chosen” didn’t cost Aphrodite her own humanity. In “Untamed”, Nyx said it was the strength of Aphrodite’s humanity that saved them and burned away her Mark. Second, how is Other Aphrodite any more lonely than Aphrodite from “Chosen”? She still wasn’t in with the Nerd Herd at that point. She was begrudgingly helping Zoey with Stevie Rae because they knew it was key to stopping Neferet’s plans, though they didn’t know what those were at the time. At that point, even she and Stevie Rae weren’t friends yet. So how does a reluctant and tense alliance with Zoey make her less lonely than Other Aphrodite, who found love with Kevin (we’ll get to the that) and was showered with love and support from Zoey, Stevie Rae, Rephaim, and Grandma during the short time that she knew them? She had boundless reasons to hope and persevere. It makes absolutely no sense for her to die, and it isn’t a satisfying end to her character. It comes off like the authors knew there needed to be some kind of consequence for reckless use of Old Magick, but they didn’t want Kevin or Zoey to actually pay for it. [SPOILER]
The romance subplot in this book was, uh, uncomfortable. I think the authors forgot what a huge age difference 16 and 21 is. Like, yeah, a 26-year-old dating a 31-year-old isn’t that weird – but they’re at more equal stages in life. It’s wildly different from an eleventh grader dating a fourth-year university student. I know Kevin says he’s been through a lot and is mature for his age, but that doesn’t really work here? If someone survived childhood trauma, for example, that would deeply impact them and could make them seem older than they are – but that doesn’t mean it’s not creepy for a 21-year-old to date them when they’re still only 16. If anything, the 21-year-old comes off as predatory.
It doesn’t help that their flirting is skin-crawlingly uncomfortable. I do not want to read about 21-year-old Aphrodite asking 16-year-old Kevin if he’s had sex yet, nor do I want to read about Kevin asking Aphrodite if she wants him to like the thought of drinking her bath water. (Yes, these are real exchanges that happen in the book.)
God, I’m still not even done. There’s so, so much more wrong with this book.
Okay. Neferet. Other Neferet is evil and this is the first time we actually see Other Neferet. Well, she’s not really any different from the old Neferet – same story, different book (which is kind of the summary for the entire HoNOW series). So, there shouldn’t be anything remarkable to talk about with her, right? Ha ha. I wish.
The authors double down HARD on sex shaming Neferet. It is a literal plot point that Neferet uses her beauty and sexuality to control her armies, because she sleeps with all the officers and her nipples show through her top while she deliveries speeches to her all-male troops. Her smile is described as “part-honey, part-whore”. I don’t even know how to do the ridiculousness of the whole scene justice. Just… Hang on – here’s a quote:
“Neferet spread out her arms dramatically, causing her perfect breasts to press against the silk of her gown and her nipples to be fully outlined and visible.
Aphrodite thought that move was an excellent touch as it had every male eye in the room traveling to her boobs, and every male mind in the room clouding as blood rushed from their brains to the organ that actually controlled them.”
That right there? Slut shaming to the point that having visible nipples must be an evil plot to control men, combined with rampant heteronormativity (a room FULL OF MEN and not a single one of them is gay?), and dehumanizing men by portraying them as one monolithic entity that is aroused by the same things and is mindlessly motivated by lust.
The editing is pretty terrible, too. At the end, Kevin is described as having sapphire tattoos despite being a red vampyre. Anastasia is called Aphrodite at one point. There are several sections where the formatting goes completely to hell (at least in my ebook copy). The phrase “that’d he’d” appears at one point. There are punctuation errors scattered throughout the book, and the authors and editors forgot that “the Bug” is capitalized when referring to Zoey’s car.
There’s probably more I could get into, but… I mean, it’s all more of the same bullshit. Gay men love interior design and that’s a fact. Other Heath is dating a cheerleader so obviously she’s a slut, but at least she’s black so he’s “getting some black-girl magic” (because the authors still don’t understand that term). Heath, a white man, leads the football teams in taking a knee in protest like he’s Colin Kaepernick. Other Aphrodite outing Other Erin as a lesbian and then laughing at her and making a vulgar joke about it. Kevin and Zoey being “properly” Cherokee because they have brown skin, whereas their mother and sister Barbie are white-passing and therefore bad Cherokee. Rephaim getting a grace period in his very minimal punishment for centuries of rape and murder, so while he’s in the Other World he doesn’t turn into a bird at sunrise and he and Stevie Rae can have sex… which they’ve done plenty before at night.
I wish I had a more succinct way to close out this review but, like this book, it’s just kind of a disconnected mess. I’ve written 2000 words about what’s wrong with it and I still haven’t covered everything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Misogyny, and Suicide
Sex shaming