Paperback, 1st edition, 306 pages
Published
May 1st 2007
by St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN
0312360266
(ISBN13: 9780312360269)
edition language
English
original title
Marked
series
characters
literary awards
The House of Night
series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old
Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed. In this first book
in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after
having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire
-- that is, if she makes it through the Change. Not all of those who
are chosen do. It's tough to begin a new life, away from her parents
and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average
fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx.
But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special
powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the
school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must
look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny--with a
little help from her new vampyre friends
My Review
Of course I have read this series right through till book number nine, and it is one of my all time favorite series. But in conjunction with the fact that book ten has just been released and landed within my posession, I thought it was a good opportunity to reread the series, refresh my mind, really get the feel of adventure once more from the book. Marked is an amazing and yet somewhat simple start to a series, a fantasy novel with a bit of twist that shows a completely different way of how vampires are made. In most stories we are told that its about a bite and a blood swap from the human and the vampire, but in this series it is merely to do with the concept of a tracker choosing you as there next person to mark and then placing some form of mark upon you. Zoe, at the time, was just an ordinary teenager. She went to school, she had a boyfriend, two parents who just didn't understand her anymore, and friends she wasn't entirely sure about. She was everything that a lot of us actually are, so when she got marked, it was a huge turn around in her life because things were about to become an adventure that she wasn't even aware of. Of course upon first glance everyone seemed to find her disgusting. She was a disgrace to the family who are God believers by far, and a freak to the rest of the population her age. Thats a hard thing to live with, when your confused by the change yourself.
Thank God though she had, what I feel and think in my opinion, is the best grandmother in the world. Slyvia Redbird is amazing by far. I love the way that her character is portrayed within the novel because she just comes across the way that a grandma should and you feel like you can connect with her the way that Zoey does within the novel. You know that she is the sort of person who will stand by you no matter what but is not afraid to give you advice that could very much possible change the way that you react to something.
It is hard to start reading the series again with a clear and open mind because obviously through reading them all, I know what happens and when you go back to the beginning, you find that the perspective you would and should of have had on certain characters had you only just started the series, has changed somewhat dramatically because you know that what they are portrayed as in the first few books are merely masks and cover ups and the real them will shine through very soon. But for now, we have to pretend we know nothing at all and that we know that there are no bad guys what so ever in the novel apart from the mum and dad and the evil queen bitch who thinks shes top notch. we all have one of those in our life somewhere.
From reading back through the first book, and reading on to there later books, you can see that it started off very simple, almost as if it was actually nervous of letting its true nature shine through incase it got it all wrong and wasn't liked for what it is. The writing style is just so different to there later writing style, but yet I could not help but feel addicted to the first novel once more. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the story just feels more alive and real here within the lines, and because you really are getting a sense of what it is that they are going through. You get to see the characters through all there different perspectives, making them mark a very different thing and almost giving you this sneak peak and intuition that not everything is how it may seem.
Theres no doubts that despite the fact that I have grown up with the book, that it will stay where it has always been in my list of favorite series, because even now I can feel my fingers itching to pick up the next novel in the series and to start reading again. its a wonderful series and its well worth the five star rating that I am going to give it. I know its not for everyone, but for me, its a huge yes.
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