Burned , by P.C. Cast

 

Paperback, 325 pages

Published April 27th 2011 (first published April 27th 2010)

more details...

ISBN

1905654812 (ISBN13: 9781905654819)

edition language

English

original title

Burned

series

House of Night #7

characters

Zoey Redbird, Nyx, Stevie Rae Johnson, Neferet, Heath Luck

literary awards

Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Favorite Book, Young Adult Fantasy, Favorite Heroine (2010), Children's Choice Book Award Nominee for Teen Choice Book of the Year (2011), Teen Read Award Nominee for Best Series (2010)

 

Y’all need to get yourselves together. Here’s a newsflash from the only High Priestess you have left at this dang school: Zoey isn’t dead. And believe me, I know dead. I’ve been there, done that and got the fricken tee-shirt.

Zoey Redbird is the youngest High Priestess in House of Night history and is the only person—vamp or fledgling—that can stop the evil Neferet from raising all kinds of immortal trouble. And she might just have a chance if she wasn’t so busy being dead.Well, dead is too strong a word. Stevie Rae knows she can bring her BFF back from her unscheduled va-cay in the Otherworld. But it’s going to take a lot more than hoping to bring Zoey back. Stevie Rae will have to give up a few secrets of her own...

 

 

My Review

Poor zoey is in the otherworld, her consort Heath having died in front of her eyes at the hand of Kalona, the guy she was just starting to believe may have a good side to him as well, that just needs a helping hand to come back to the light. Zoey however has now fallen apart from the fact of heaths death and is unable to bring herself together. But she is not alone, because where Zoey is. neferet sends Kalona. Neferet wants her dead and this time she doesnt want her to return and knows she has the upper hand here because no one can really pull zoey back to the land of the living other than herself. The beginning of the book really adds the elemtn of suspense ot the novel especially considering the way in which the last one finished. I really enjoyed the very fact that I had the next book on hand to read because I remember the pain of not having it before and having to wait for it to even be published. I know thazt in this book my heart serverly ached for Zoey but I also felt myself relating to her. I think at some point in time we have all lost ourselves and who we are and this in many ways represents the journey of rediscovering who we are, what we are all about and where we feel we need to be at that time and moment.

 

The fact that Neferet is still pulling the wools over the high councils eyes though is far from irritating because you really just want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them, wondering why the heck they can not see sense when they are meant to be the high and mighty ones who are in control of pretty much everything that goes on around them. Its annoying and this is shown through starks emotions, although we can clearly see that there is also guilt and ashame in the fact that he had not believed Zoey about what she had said to do with kalona and had therefore not been there as her warrior to prevent her soul from shattering. The novel in particular really makes you question the motives of others but also about the actions that we do take and the ones that we do not take. I think in many ways it almost seemed as if the authors did want us to really link and relate to this novel so that we could see all the different perspectives that were there within the pages.

 

Aphroditie, for once, has the normal and thinking head on. She very much takes on the leading role whilst zoey is away and is able to make sure that everyone is doing what they need to do. Although she still sounds and appears hateful to the others, you can see that actually there is a lot of love and care within her motives and that she doesnt really want to loose perhaps the first and one person who actually chose to trust and support her along the journey she has to face. In fact in this one I would say that we see aphroditie take on a much more mature role whilst the rest of the "nerd heard" take a back seat, becoming not so much prominent in this novel, but still needed for the remainder of the story.

 

Of course though, we still have the very fact that stevie rae is keeping a huge secret from her best friend and from the others as well which probably isnt helping to keep the plan on track, especially when it seems that everything is starting to unravel and people are discovering that something is not quite right about it. I think for me though my favorite part was about the white and the black bull because it seemed to really have this historical motive to it, but also seemed to make one think, who decided that black meant dark and white meant light. It really seemed to represent the whole not everything is what it seems and the whole what may appear dark may not be and vice versa. It was scary though the way in which the white bull was decribed and that alone seemed to send this shiver of fear down my spine, because I think at times we have all faced things that we thought were good but instead turned out to be nothing but danger and bad for us.

 

I would say that whilst the books are actually based around a story, they in fact motivational and thought provoking as well because there seems to be an element and atmosphere of space within them that almost seems to invite the reader in to really relate to the person that they are themselves. it means that your mind is actually constantly thinking whilst keeping up with the plot of the book. Something that I do very much agree with!!! 

 

The journey with heath and zoey though represented that sometimes the person that we didnt think we loved as much is sometimes the anchor that we hold onto in life that causes us to drown when we are not meant to, and causes us more damage than good. it really seemed to suggest that sometimes we have to learn to let go of certain things for the better part of life and that is certainly what Zoey has to do in this part and she finally manages to with the help of stark of course. This book is particularly difficult in comparrison to the others, but when looking back at them all, I would say they all stand out in some formation or another. this is a good factor for the series because it means that you can remember, even if its only a brief memory, what happens in each book. For me they really seem to grasp me, keeping me within its pages and with this need to finish. I will be sad to see this series end, but I also want to know how it ends as well.

 

My rating