House of Night (6) - Tempted by P.C. and Kristin Cast
And now to part 6 of 12! Tempted (in French Tentée, in German Versucht). I read it in German where it contains 551 pages. Originally published 2009.
Zoey finally did it – her enemies fled! But this doesn't mean everyone's puking rainbows. While Stevie Rae saves a Ravenmocker, the fallen angel and his ally visit the Vampyre's High Council... to proclaim themselves the reincarnations of Nyx and Erebos. As if this wouldn't be enough, Zoey senses that Kalona can be saved... and Stevie Rae's fledgelings start to turn against her.
So... let's see: In this book we see the world through Z's, Stevie Rae's, Stark's, Kalona's, Rephaim's, Neferet's and Heath's eyes, which is a nice variety.
But let's start with the mistakes: First, directly at the beginning: Darius, Heath and everyone else treat Stark as if he was their best buddy ever. Just minutes (or two pages) before, they didn't even know he was not Team Evil, but Zoey's warrior! And now they trust him, just like that? Right! They're perfectly at ease with him, as if they'd worked together their whole lives! They don't even want an explanation!
And Heath's parents: They let their son go to Italy just like that? With vampyres?
Spoiler:
Hello, the murders at the House of Night caught the police's interest, there has to be something in the media. Then, on New Year's Eve, death and destruction has been spread everywhere – from the location of the House of Night (– by the way, where were the reporters, the people who clean up, anyone?!) and before, Heath was in a shape comparable to Bella in New Moon – because of Zoey. And now they a) let him out of side, b) hang out with vampyres from the House of Night and c) let him with said vampyres, one of them Zoey, out of the country? What kind of parents are they? They didn't even argue! Not even the most blindest parents in the world would pull that one off!
Well, to get to the good stuff in this book. I like how Stevie Rae and Rephaim work together. It's so typical for Stevie Rae to do something like this.
Spoiler:
And the way she and Rephaim begins to circle around one another – and how he saved her in the end? It's romantic. Really beautiful, in a way.
Apart from this, Erik has, as I already said, been abducted by aliens (he's such an ass) – hey, why didn't he ask where Stark was coming from? I would have, as her boyfriend. Wait, now. If I was a guy in this story, I wouldn't be with Z in the first place, and after the Heath/Loren stuff I would have made a huge effort to never get back together with her – and even if I didn't, I'd have broken up after this. Oh, and now Aphrodite's all like “he was always like this, why I actually never really wanted to be with him” - aha. Right. Totally believable. Or not.
But I love Aphrodite's and Darius' relationship. This is like, really really cute!
Spoiler:
By the way, a little side question: What have they told the other fledgelings and the teachers at school about Neferet? Would love to know that!
Well. The Coucil of Vampyres is pretty interesting. I just wonder how they can be so gullible. And why they haven't asked about the death of the High Priestess. Like, the High Priestess who was sent by the Council to find out why the heck Neferet has declared war on humanity. And why the heck the so-called incarnation of Nyx did that.
And why do they accept Kramisha as their Master Poet? Because a seventeen-year-old told them to? R.I.G.H.T. Or not.
In brief:
So... as always, minus one for content and minus one for characters. As well as half a star for the ideas and half a star for style.
Prequel:
Sequel: