Tempted (House of Night) by P C and Kristin Cast
| Tempted (House of Night) by P C and Kristin Cast | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Loralei Haylock
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| Summary: Better than the previous instalment but not without its problems. Readers of the series know what to expect by now – Zoey having boyfriend troubles while the world falls apart. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 336 | Date: October 2009 |
| Publisher: Atom | |
| ISBN: 978-1905654802 | |
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Last time we left Zoey, she'd just banished Kalona, an ancient fallen immortal, from the Tulsa House of Night, along with evil High Priestess Neferet. Stevie Rae's Red Fledglings were regaining their humanity, but Stark, second ever Red Vampire, was badly injured. Her official boyfriend was Erik, but she's re-Imprinted with Human, Heath, and Stark had pledged a Warrior's Oath to her.
Now Zoey is determined to reclaim their home, the House of Night. But on returning, she finds Kalona's spell is still holding many of the students, and more worryingly, Zoey is still dreaming of Kalona, and he can still weave his seductive spell on her.
Aphrodite's latest vision shows that Zoey must go to Kalona if she is to stand a chance of defeating him once and for all, so together with the nerd herd Zoey must travel to Italy and the Vampyre High Council, where Kalona and Neferet are attempting to take over.
Meanwhile when Stevie Rae impulsively saves a dying Raven Mocker, she finds herself questioning the nature of good and evil in a dangerous spiral that could, in the least estrange her even further from Zoey, at worst get her killed.
Tempted is a vast improvement on the previous instalment of the House of Night series, but the book is not without its problems. While the main plot has more than enough going on, the Casts still supplement it with the usual multiple-boyfriend sub-plot. Though Erik is quickly disposed of, he's soon replaced by Kalona who attempts to trick Zoey by suggesting he doesn't have to be evil in a very transparent plot that Zoey should have been able to see right through by now.
And the worst thing is, with Stevie Rae becoming entangled with a Raven Mocker, it seems that another character is heading in the same direction. The rest of the Nerd Herd are fading into the background, with only Aphrodite getting any consistent attention and character development.
A new feature to this instalment is that the viewpoint is no longer constricted to just Zoey. Stevie Rae, Aphrodite, Stark and Heath all get an opportunity to carry the narrative for a while. Though it's in third person, it's so like Zoey's first person tone that you barely notice the transition, and there's little variation in the tone between the characters, despite two of them being polar opposites, Stevie Rae and Aphrodite.
If you are a follower of this series, you know what to expect by now, and Tempted is much the same as all that has preceded it. However, generally the content was much better, and hopefully there aren't many books left in the series, for it would be a real shame if dragging out the story ruined what has been a reasonably solid series so far.
My thanks to the publishers for sending a copy.
All the usual recommends for further reading – Rachel Caine, Lili St Crow and Kelley Armstrong.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Tempted (House of Night) by P C and Kristin Cast at Amazon.com.
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