Review: Marked by P. C. and Kristin Cast

Marked by P.C and Kristin Cast 

[Goodreads page]

Authors: P. C. and Kristin Cast. Website|Twitter
Published: 1 January 2007 (Atom)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Amazon: Paperback|Kindle
Waterstone's: Paperback|e-book
Book Depository: Paperback

Source: Own/received as present

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
One minute, sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird is a normal teenager dealing with everyday high school stress: her cute boyfriend Heath, the school’s star quarterback who suddenly seems more interested in partying than playing ball; her nosy frenemy Kayla, who’s way too concerned with how things are going with Heath; her uber-tough geometry test tomorrow.  The next, she’s Marked as a fledgling vampyre, forcing her to leave her ordinary life behind and join the House of Night, a boarding school where she will train to become an adult vampyre.  

My Review:
Marked is the first book in the House of Night series - a series that kept popping up everywhere I looked, and so I decided to finally check it out. The story follows Zoey, who gets marked as a vampyre and sent to the House of Night school to train.

I have so much to say about this book that I'm not quite sure where to start! I found it a little hard to get into at the beginning. Everything happened very quickly and I struggled with the whole idea behind how people became vampyres . The whole concept of a tracker turning up to mark then made sense but then they tried to explain the science behind it and why certain people became vampyres as well and I got a bit muddled. I thought the history and mythology surrounding the vampires was interesting though, and so later as Zoey learns a bit more I did become fascinated by the world.

Zoey's voice throughout the voice was a highlight for me. She has that really witty way of narrating the story that made her feel real and engaged me as a reader. I generally liked her as a character and it's obvious she has a lot of potential to grow and develop later in the series. The other characters in the story were a definite plus, from the bitchy Aphrodite to potential love interest Erik. I really liked that Zoey's new group of friends at House of Night were totally different to her friends from her previous life.

I do like a good boarding school story and that part of Marked did grab me. The strongest parts of this book were definitely at The House of Night itself. My only problem was that I couldn't help compare it to similar books and in places it just didn't live up to those.

The book references sex and drugs and whilst I feel it's realistic to throw those things in I sometimes felt this book was either trying to be cool or act as a PSA and so some of it was a little distracting. I had a few niggles with the writing when it started to become repetitive in places, for example whole conversations were relayed back to another character unnecessarily a page or so after they originally happened.

Overall though this was a fairly enjoyable read. It wasn't too heavy and I did like the world and Zoey herself. I probably will check out the sequel at some point.

Rating: 3*
What to read next: Betrayed by P. C. and Kristin Cast, book 2 in the House of Night Series
Books like this: Hex Hall by Rachel Hakwins, Evernight by Claudia Gray, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead