Monday, May 24, 2010

Review of Burned

Burned (House of Night #7) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Pages: 336
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pub. Date: April 27, 2010
My Rating: 2.5/5 stars


*This review contains spoilers!

Goodreads says, "Y’all need to get yourselves together. Here’s a newsflash from the only High Priestess you have left at this dang school: Zoey isn’t dead. And believe me, I know dead. I’ve been there, done that and got the fricken tee-shirt.  Zoey Redbird is the youngest High Priestess in House of Night history and is the only person – vamp or fledgling – that can stop the evil Neferet from raising all kinds of immortal trouble. And she might just have a chance if she wasn’t so busy being dead.  Well, dead is too strong a word. Stevie Rae knows she can bring her BFF back from her unscheduled va-cay in the Otherworld. But it’s going to take a lot more than hoping to bring Zoey back. Stevie Rae will have to give up a few secrets of her own . . "


Zoey Redbird's soul has been shattered now that Heath was killed by Kalona right in front of her eyes.  She is now stuck in the underworld with Heath and her friends are extremely distraught.  Stark, Aphrodite, and the rest of the clan devise a plan to get Zoey back.  Stark is going travel to the underworld to bring Zoey home and convince Heath to move on so that in turn, Zoey can, too.  Meanwhile, Stevie Rae has a dangerous secret relationship brewing with Rephaim, the Raven Mocker, who is also Kalona's son.  All of this turmoil and drama ensues in P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast's seventh installment of the House of Night series.  Unlike Marked and Chosen, the first two books in the series, Burned is anti-climatic and capable of so much more.

The Cast women use the varying point of view again, just like in their last book, Tempted.  However, I had a hard time with the varying point of view, mostly because Stevie Rae is the main person we are following.  See, here's the problem:  I can't stand that character and her overdone Oakie accent.  So, needless to say, I had a hard time with this book.  Keep in mind, I am a huge fan of Stark/Zoey/Heath, but there wasn't enough of their relationships to make me enjoy this book.  Stevie Rae and Rephaim's relationship took center stage and while I found their relationship to be interesting, it's just didn't captivate me like Zoey/Stark/Heath. There wasn't even that much of Aphrodite or Darius, which I also found to be disappointing. I must say that towards the end of the novel, when the focus was on Zoey, I did find myself enjoying it more and the novel definitely picked up the pace.

As you know, this series is famous for their teen-speak. I've blogged about this before and how I am simply not a fan.  "Bull-poopie" and "big ol' pile of poo"....comon'.   If the synopsis from Goodreads above doesn't bother you, then you will be fine with the teen speak; however, if you read it and it bothers you as much as someone taking their nails to a chalkboard, then I think you will agree with me.  They overuse the teen speak.  Something else I was disappointed with was the amount of cursing. Now don't get me wrong, a little cursing here and there can be effective and realistic, but this was every other line. I can't even put this book in my classroom library.....that's how much cursing there is!   This book, in comparison to the others in the series, unfortunately seemed darker and more mature.  And in combination with the constant F-BOMB dropping, I felt disgusted.  Maybe I'm just getting old and the target audience may enjoy it more.

Well, I'm going to continue to be honest. I am a fan of Marked and Chosen, but as the series has progressed, I felt it hasn't really lived up to all the hype.  I will not be buying the next book; perhaps, I will borrow it from the library or maybe skip out on it, especially if the point of view is focusing on Stevie Rae again.  I hear there will be ten to twelve books in this series. Wow! That's a tad nuts in my opinion and no wonder the Cast women have to vary the points of view, otherwise they would run out of ideas.  Don't take my word on this book; if you are a fan of Stevie Rae, you won't be disappointed as she is the main focus. Decide for yourself and read the first chapter.  


Watch the Burned book trailer:

4 comments:

  1. I wasn't sure if I should read your review because of the spoiler warning so I just read the last paragraph. It really doesn't sound like it is worth paying for this book in hardback. The series is going progressively downhill. It is hard to draw a line and stop reading them though. At this point I fell kind of committed. Hmmm...but 12 books leaves still a long way to go.

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  2. I bought and read the first five HoN books, but I never really got into the series as much as most people. Sometimes I can read a book/series and realize that it will find massive appeal in its target audience, but as someone not in that group, it doesn't affect me the same way. I don't know if I'll continue with HoN, although I find the Stevie Rae PoV appealing. Oh yeah, and the so-called "teen speak" is completely unnecessary. As is the excessive cursing. Sigh.

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  3. Thanks for the comments, guys!
    Becky- I agree. It's going progressively downhill....sad to say.
    Kris- yeah, I am definitely not into the series like some others. I used to be, but then lost some of my momentum. I'm a bigger fan of the Vampire Academy.

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