House of Night Seven

Burned: A House of Night Novel

Written by: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Released: April 27, 2010 by St. Martin’s Griffin


Summary: 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 . . .




So this is a series that I have read since the New Year up until this latest book. I have to admit that while the first fourish books or so really engulfed me while reading, this latest book and the one before just didn’t cut it. I mean, this was ok, but really only that. I had to force myself to read it over three weeks, which is a long time for me to be reading any book, but I wanted to finish it just to keep up with everything. Really, I was just waiting for the end and I honestly think that I could have read the first few chapters, a few in the middle, and the last few and been fine not reading all the others.

I think that what I really don’t like about this book is the fact that it’s so Stevie Rae centric, and her character has always annoyed me. Besides, this series isn’t supposed to be about her anyways so why should she have a novel almost entirely dedicated to her? Granted, this book would be the best one to have her centered in since Zoey is catatonic with her soul-shattering and that plot line wouldn’t have stood to be an entire book on its own.

One thing that I really did like about this book compared to the others was the fact that it didn’t repeat the annoying factioids about the main characters. By the third book, readers should have been aware already about the Twins and Damon’s passion for all-things gay. These really weren’t things that needed to have pages devoted to them in all the previous books. Thankfully this one skipped over it. I would have liked a reminder on who the High Council vampires were though…

Like I said above, I am not a Stevie Rae fan, thus I wasn’t a huge fan of the plot in this book. I understand that it was more like a bridge-book linking the beginning saga with the final instalments that are to come. Yes, it needed to be done, but did it have to be done this way? At least the ending wasn’t as horribly agonising as the last book and I didn’t feel like throwing it against a wall when I was done reading it. My cousin, on the other hand (they are her books that I read) says that she’s not going to read any of the remaining books that are due for release until they’re all out because she can’t deal with the cliff-hanger endings. I’m inclined to agree but I’ve already read so many of these books that I just want to get the rest over with as soon as possible.

As far as characterization goes in this book, Stevie Rae aside (and even then, nothing really happened), there wasn’t any movement. Sure, Stark overcame himself, Zoey was restored, blah blah blah. I think that the most interesting character in this book was Rephaim and currently he’s about as two-dimensional as they come.

Overall, yes I am going to finish reading these books… the multitudes that are slated for release already with the potential of more to come, but they’re lasting too long for my taste. Really, they could cut out the crap and finish this in one, maybe two if you push it, books. Personally, I can’t wait to see how it all ends just so that I know that it has in fact ended. Like Marissa being killed off the OC. So, I’m giving this book a 5/10.