House of Night (7) - Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast
And now to part 7 of 12: Burned (in French Brulée, in German Verbrannt). I read it in German where it contained 550 pages. Originally published 2010.
The events in Italy sent Zoey directly into the Otherworld. The fight over Z's soul begins: While Heath tries to heal her, Kalona is sent to keep her broken. Stevie Rae literally confuses good and evil and the prophets send Stark to the Isle of Skye. In a footrace against time he and the Queen of Vampyres try to help Zoey. Because if she dies, the good in the world will perish as well.
I really liked this book. The characters begin to make sense again, they are actually alive again. Especially Stark's reaction to this kind of stress is very well done, as is Aphrodite's development. She starts to embrace her powers, instead of fighting them. I like this oracle stuff she's pulling off,
Spoiler:
how she's able to look into the future instead of letting the future use her. But it would have been better if we had some hints as to how her powers really work – before this book. She doesn't always see death, at least she didn't before that. The poem about Kalona's return? She saw Z's Grandma, nobody's death. And she simply saw these words. It didn't have anything to do with the Otherworld.
By the way, I think that her and Kramisha is just too much. It's too confusing, over time. We have two people who tell the future, plus all the other powers that surface – like Jack. Seriously? What good is his power? Can't a person just be somewhat talented in a normal sort of way?
Dallas' powers were so very well done, especially how he uses them against Stevie Rae, finally. By the way, when did SR and Zoey become so much alike?
Spoiler:
I always liked about SR that she's not holding anything back about what she feels for whom and that she makes clear decisions. Now she's pulling off the Loren-Erik thing with Dallas and Rephaim. I was sorry for Dallas. He did everything for her, and she used him terribly. Sure, she didn't mean to be so mean, but... well, she did treat him like crap. And she never got around to explain it. I understand why he flips and changes sides, even though it is as drastic as not okay – because one person's betrayal shouldn't have so much power over a person that he/she starts killing and torturing people for the fun of it. To be exact, nothing should have the power to make you do something like that. There is a line, and it doesn't change, no matter how emotional or downright desperate you are.
Okay, I'm finished philosophing. To Rephaim: He's so, so cool. I like him really much. What he did with SR? How he saved her? That's just beautiful. I like how he changes for better because of her, even though it was just a little fast. He has centuries of customs to fight, even though it would suck on a moral level, he has to slip a few times in order to be a character who makes sense.
Spoiler:
I like Nyx role in this, how she takes care of him, how she leads him and fights for his soul, in a way – and with that, for Kalona's redemption.
Kalona. He's a special snowflake, that's for sure. Neferet totally has him in her pocket, at least for a while. I like how he struggles with what he has to do, how he feels for Z – but mostly for Nyx. And, even though it's hypocritical, I like that he makes her responsible for everything instead of taking the blame. Because Kalona still needs to go a long way before he can be called a good person. He was the one who built up a reputation of rape and other things.
The Otherworld itself was really well done, especially how Zoey seethes (okay, this sounds way wrong, I hope you know how I mean it). I like how she blames herself and can't cope, and I like how she tries to hide her restlessness from Heath – it fits to who she is. And I love how Heath struggles to fight for her, and all the parts of her. But I must admit, the final was just... anticlimactic. I mean, they say that a splintered soul is a death sentence. Several High priestesses have gotten there, their warriors followed and no one came back. But instead of having to put up a fight for her parts of the soul, which would be cool, she simply says: Hey, get back inside of me at once! And everything is well, there isn't even an aftermath of some kind. Like, that she feels detached from her body from time to time, or is afraid of loosing herself again. If it's that easy to heal yourself, why didn't the other priestesses manage it? Their warriors followed them, the notion of damning your beloved warrior to such a death should be enough motivation for a priestess to yell at the parts of her soul (anyone else things this sounds macabre? This review gets even more weird).
I like Stark's role in bringing her back, what he has to do, this fighting himself – and how he's the one the poem is about. Even though I wonder why Kramisha gave it to Z and not to him, if he's the hero.
Apart from that, the black and white bulls were nicely done, even though I'd like to have found out more about them before.
Oh, and to my favourite subject of these series: The High Council. Seriously, does it consist of idiots only? They let Neferet do the punishment of Kalona, they don't even try to question the fledglings, vampyres and the human as to who they are, what it means to be red, why the hell they have these talents (because they outshine anyone besides Thanatos). Oh, by the way, Thanatos. She's cool. I really like her, but I think her gift is mostly unnecessary.
Spoiler:
Aphrodite has an affinity towards death, in a way, and if Thanatos doesn't teach her... well, why is her talent necessary? By the way, it's kind of sad that the importance of Aphrodite's powers just more or less disappears after this book. Seriously, we have Thanatos for everything Death-related (she doesn't even teach Aphrodite how to use her powers), we have Kramisha for the obscure hints and warnings and we have Shaylin for anything else. There are just too many powers which overlap each other.
Okay, I conclude that this book was way better than the others before, because the characters were more real and there were lost of novel ideas. And the beautiful relationship between Rephaim and Stevie Rae, but exactly this relationship and some other things were... not as well done as they should have been and there are still some mistakes.
In brief:
I give stars for ideas, plus ½ for each style and characters. Minus one for mistakes. So... One star it is!
Prequel:
Extra:
Sequel: