Revealed

 

 

Revealed P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast is the latest installment in the House of Night series.  It chronicles the most recent adventures of the fledgling vampyre High Priestess, Zoey Redbird and her rag tag group of friends against the now immortal, ex-High Priestess of Nyx, Neferet.  In this book, the reader gets a chance to see a darker side of Zoey---as well as a deeper look at Neferet.

Though Neferet has been defeated, her spirit remains and struggles to manifest in corporeal form, taking lives in the process and adding names to her already tragically long list.  The reader catches a glimpse of Neferet's past.  We get to see how destroyed she truly is inside, how warped and dark her soul.  And we get to watch her as she embarks on her journey to eventually become the immortal Queen Tsi-Sgili. 

Meanwhile, Zoey is having a hard time controlling her own dark side---along with her own heart.  With death and old magick swirling all around her, Zoey's seer stone comes to life and begins to take over.  All the while, Heath's presence within Aurox is becoming increasingly more pronounced, which in turn, vexes Zoey to no end and infuriates Stark. 

I have mixed feelings where the House of Night stories are concerned.  While I will admit that the books are addicting, I cant' actually figure out why.

I think it may be the dialogue.  it's like they try too hard to make the characters sound like teenagers that they instead end up sounding completely unbelievable.  They don't want Zoey to cuss so they have her say words like "bull poopie."  Who says that?  And Stevie Rae's character...that girl just sounds ridiculous.  Even Shaunee and Damien sound forced and all the kids in the "Nerd Herd" repeat their words and over explain everything.  Which I found to be extremely annoying.

The thing is, the Casts are actually decent writers.  Their choice of dialogue just doesn't let them show it.  They've head-jumped a lot since Burned and whenever the narration follows Aphrodite, Neferet, Kalona or even Stark, I found myself absorbed in the writing instead of being put off.  Those characters are believable, they hold and maintain their status, don't use exclamation points after every phrase and they actually sound like human beings (you know, with supernatural powers and near immortal lives.)  I think, maybe if they didn't try so hard, the book would actually reach its full potential. 

My rating: 5 out of 10