Untamed: A House of Night Novel
Untamedby P.C. Cast and Kristin CastI have been enjoying the House of Night series very much since I first discovered Marked in the bookstore over a year ago. The books seem to come out in Fall and Spring and I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Untamed. I found myself full of envy when I heard that Monkey received her copy early. Drat! I should have pre-ordered, though I was trying very hard to not buy books for a while. Of course I could not resist getting this book when it finally came out. Imagine my glee when I held the book in my hands and noted that it was thicker than the first three. Woo hoo! A longer story!My first worry was that it was so thick because half of it would be a recap of the first three books, which I really didn't want to have to read. I was mentally preparing myself to skip the first third of the book at least. Though I didn't have to. The recaps were very well done within the telling of the story. Kudos to the Casts!In Untamed, Zoey Redbird must deal with the aftermath of having kept secrets from her friends. The juggling three boyfriends, hiding the fact that Stevie Rae and the other fledglings who had supposedly died but we actually alive didn't go over so well, not to mention the super secret that Neferet, the Head Mistress of the House of Night was actually evil and out to try and ruin Zoey's life (and goodness knows what other types of ne'redowellness!). No one was talking to her except for Aphrodite, her sworn enemy. Zoey was friendless, boyfriendless and alone. Until Aphrodite has a vision of Zoey's death. At the same time, there is an unseen evil presence lurking in the shadows that was able to attack Zoey. Zoey has to win back her friends, try to help Stevie Rae and the new type of fledglings, and of course, save the world – yet again!I had problems with this book and at the same time I still loved the continuation of the series. I think one of my main problems is that I do not like any of the secondary characters. I used to think Stevie Rae was great but I don't know if I do anymore. I know something is up with her and her new red crescent moon tattoo but I don't know what and I just don't like the turn around of personality she underwent, even though I completely understand WHY and HOW it happened. I dislike the Twins and Damien with a passion and I think Jack is really young and immature. Aphrodite is growing on me, and she was well written in this book. My problem with her is my own fault since my husband and I have been rewatching all our Buffy the Vampire DVDs and we're up to the middle of season 3 and every time I read an Aphrodite line all I could hear was Cordelia Chase's voice from the Buffy show. Oops. Although, it does work for me. :)There was something “off” about Untamed for me and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I kept reading well into the night and finished the book without putting it down all that often, which is the sign of a really great book, but I couldn't get completely into the story. It felt wrong, sort of set up and though it wasn't completely predictable, I thought it was a lot lower key than I had hoped it would be. I think. I honestly can't describe it. I sort of felt it was the weaker of the four books.I was originally excited to hear the next book, Hunted, would be out in March 2009, but I see it is in hardcover, which means I will not be getting it until March 2010! Grr! I hate when publishers do this. All of a sudden they see a series or author is doing well and they go and change the format. All about money those publishers. Boo! Hiss! I am very obsessive about my books, and my series ALL have to LOOK the same. Same format, same cover art type. Do not mess with my book mojo, publishers! Sigh.I shall be awaiting the paperback version with baited breath. Come on, 2010!House of Night