Awakened by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Title: Awakened (House of Night #8)

Author: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: January 4, 2011

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Exonerated by the Vampyre High Council and returned to her position of High Priestess at Tulsa’s House of night, Neferet has sworn vengeance on Zoey. Dominion over Kalona is only one of the weapons she plans to use against Z. But Zoey has found sanctuary on the Isle of Skye and is being groomed by Queen Sgiach to take over for her there. Being queen would be cool, wouldn’t it? Why should she return to Tulsa? After loosing her human consort, Heath, she will never be the same--and her relationship with her super-hot warrior, Stark, may never be the same either.

And what about Stevie Rae and Rephaim? The Raven Mocker refuses to be used against Stevie Rae, but what choice does he have when no one in the entire world, including Zoey, would be okay with their relationship? Does he betray his father or his heart?

In the pulse-pounding eigth book in the bestselling House of Night series, how far will the bonds of friendship stretch and how strong are the ties that bind one girl’s heart?

****SPOILER ALERT!!! DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS BOOK OR THE PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THE SERIES!!!****

To be honest, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the House of Night series. When I first started reading it I really enjoyed it, but now I’m not so sure anymore. Regardless, I picked up Awakened, book number eight in the series, when it came out. It didn’t disappoint me completely but it could have been better.

Zoey and Stark have come back to the world of the living, but not without any scars. Zoey is till trying to cope with Heath’s death while Stark is still recovering from having been sliced up in order to save Zoey. Meanwhile, back in Tulsa Neferet is still trying to convince everyone that she hasn’t turned to Darkness and unfortunately for Zoey’s friends people are starting to believe her. And on top of everything else going on, there’s Stevie Rae who is trying very hard to hide her relationship with Rephaim, a raven-mocker. Now Zoey has to leave the island where she feels completely safe and go back to Tulsa to face the music.

I have my problems with many aspects of this book, but there were some development in the story that finally made me happy. For one, Zoey finally made her mind up about who she wants to be with. Granted Heath is dead and Erik has turned out to be a majorly jealous jerk so all that’s left is Stark but still. Now we’ve moved on from Zoey’s love troubles so I may just start appreciating her more. I’d have to say that Zoey’s friends are the part of the series I like the most. Every single time Aphrodite opens her mouth to speak I start smiling or laughing depending on what actually comes out of her mouth. And the Twins are just plain special and they just crack me up. As for gay vampyres Jack and Damien, well, I just can’t help but like them.

As for Zoey, it doesn’t really seem like she’s changed or grown all that much in the eight books that span the series. She has her moments where I start to really love her but then she does something and goes back to her old ways and that love sort of disappears. Personally, I like to see the characters grow but I apparently haven’t had that luxury with Zoey so far. The other person I had a problem with was Stevie Rae. For the most part, I like her but in this book, and the previous one for that matter, it just felt like she was going around in a circle with the whole Rephaim and Darkness thing. But like I said, for the most part, I like Stevie Rae.

As many issues as I may have with Awakened, and the House of Night series as a whole, I still enjoyed reading it. It seemed that at the end the story seemed to finally be moving along. Maybe with the next book I’ll start truly enjoying this series again. But regardless, I’m sure I’ll pick it up anyway.