House of Night (8) - Awakened by P.C. and Kristin Cast
And now to part 8 of 12 - Awakened (in French Libérée, in German Geweckt). I read it in German where it contained 427 pages. Originally published 2011.
Zoey did what she does best: The impossible. But her return from the dead means, that the fallen angel is in the hands of her enemy, bound to do what ever she wants him to do. While Z and Stark take a vacation on the Isle of Skye, Stevie Rae has to manage the affairs at the House of Night – even though she's sill so confused about Repahim. When the price has to be paid, Zoey's vacation ends. But is it even possible to clean the House of Night of the influence of evil?
Nope. I think the only way would be to burn it down to the ground.
Spoiler:
But... okay. I like Jack's death. Or, to be exact, how he ends up on the other side, how he greets Nyx and all of that. Besides, it's a) a little sappy and b) kind of sad – but I wasn't crying waterfalls or anything. Besides, I wonder how Jack's sacrifice would work. Neferet was supposed to find someone who can't be corrupted. Corruption is a bit more complex than to say “Hey, look here, I've got a carrot for you, do you want to have a carrot?”. Very few people would take a gift from someone of whom they know that (s)he's evil, but that doesn't mean that everyone who refuses is what Neferet looks for. She didn't even seriously play with Jack's fears! Oh, by the way, what are his fears? Would be nice to know that. Because everyone is afraid of something. And this “you're going to loose Damien” only works, if Jack was in a situation in which he was really confronted with the notion, on a practical and not on a theoretical level. What are Jack's plans for the future? You basically don't know him, the only things you find out is that he's a cliché gay, loves movies and music, especially Glee, likes to make things by hand, cries easily and is good with technology. His friends don't know him either! Seriously, Z got his name wrong! That or he changed his last name from Twist to Swift and no one mentioned it.
While we're at it, another mistake: My “favourite” (cough) character, Erik! What. The. Hell? He knew about Neferet! He was with the friends, from the very beginning! He knew Neferet was evil, he knew what she did and that Z is especially blessed by the goddess, Nyx. And Stevie Rae knows that he is supposed to know! So why the hell is he suddenly so intend on behaving like he can't believe all of it? He witnessed himself Kalona's rise, he was told by the Reds what happened to them, he had all the information and was on the hero's side all along – so why is he behaving like he doesn't know anything at all? That so doesn't make sense!
Oh, besides, Nyx is a little hypocritical as well. She's always leading people to do her bidding, basically telling Z who's evil and not, she even told the House of Night of Tulsa that Neferet is evil – but she can't say or do anything that could change the outcome and disrupt the balance. Aha.
Spoiler:
To Neferet herself: Kalona says that she didn't kill Z because that would offend Nyx and she's afraid to make outright war with her. Sounds about right – if you ignore the fact that Neferet killed the High Priestess of Nyx before Z was hurt, went to the High Council to have herself proclaimed the incarnation of the goddess and enslaved her former warrior and sent him to the Otherworld, even though he was forbidden to be there. Additionally Neferet brought everyone in the House of Night from the goddesses path. But, hey, sure, she's definitely afraid to seriously offend Nyx. Of course, who could have doubted it?
Oh, and how did she manage that in the long time of, like, a week? To change centuries of belief, in some cases? And how about this: Why don't the other teachers realise she's evil? I understand why Dragon's a bit... well, a bit confused, even though she was the one who freed Kalona (which he knows) who then freed the Ravenmockers. But, okay, he's in grief, he doesn't have to think coherently.
Another thing that bugged me is the style. In the beginning, about every ten pages (okay, let's say fifty) there's an “If he/she/it/I/the milk man would have told he/looked up/ paid attention/ bought the new make-up on Amazon, then maybe we could have changed the outcome or at least would have been warned”. And every time it is about Darkness. We got it the first two times, thank you. Besides, the protagonists found out before what the bulls mean, and the got pretty quickly what Neferet's plan is. So far to foreshadowing.
But what I do like is the magick, the fairies and that stuff. Even though I wonder why there are no fairies of the spirit – and what role they play, since they never show up after this.
Spoiler:
Kalona's plot line was interesting, how he tries to spy on Stark in his dreams.
Besides, what's wrong with Stark? Sure, he has to have a lot of aftermath, but Zoey's soul splintered, not his, and she's fine. Well.
I like Sgiach. She's cool – and her warrior. I like this society in itself – even though I ask again why the hell we never found out about the queen before – in this case, before Burned (Verbrannt).
In brief:
The ideas were okay, so a star for them, minus one for content and minus one for style. So... it would be -1, but I only have 0.
Prequel:
Extra:
Sequel: