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it was okay but, unlike Twilight, did not crossover well to adult readers. This one is still very teen but is a new theory on handling vampires. Easy read. ( )

DNF ~ 15% ( )

I liked this one better than Twilight! Very fun read. Now on to part 2 to ....?? ( )

A wonderful throwback to my younger years

I read this book for the first time when I was a kid and loved it. Vampires were all the rage and the thought of a vampire school was awesome! Some 15 years later it still holds up! It's been fun remembering the adventures of this crew and the trouble they get into. I'm excited to keep rereading the series! ( )

These books are, honestly, my guilty pleasure. The writing style is simple and flows well, and the series is fraught with angst, mayhem, and raging teenage hormones; what's not to love?! I reread these books all the time. ( )

It has been a bit of time since I read these, but I will give my opinion. I enjoyed the first few of this series in the way that I enjoy shows like South Park, mildly entertaining, however completely unstimulating. As a pagan I did enjoy the use of many aspects of Wicca that were brought into daily life for the characters at first. The circle castings were cute, though they do grow progressively mote ridiculous through the series. Props for original ideas, those are hard to find in modern vampire tales. The writing isn't great, but that seems to be common in books marketed to teens. (which I find incredibly counterproductive.) The descriptions and narrative tend to be regurgitated fairly repeatedly and if you continue through the series you will find that the first chapter or two, used to "catch the reader up if they are starting from this point", are almost exactly the same in every book. Overall, decent bubblegum reading if you stick to the first few books, but I believe the cast ladies should have stopped at book 4 and done a few more drafts of each book.
*EDIT*
And then I go and read the comments and remember all the little nagging things that disturbed me...
the ridiculous stereotyping of all of her friends, male, female, from different cultures (her southern character is ridiculous.) of different races, and her pet gay boy. (also the way she frequently feels the need to say, "oh she's pretty but I'm totes not a lez, teehee, that would be gross! not that I'm judging, I don't judge, that makes me totes modern and like forward thinking. lawl!") The slut-shaming. The mental-health-shaming (is there an official term for that?) The overall shallowness of thought that is being implanted into teenagers' heads. Gr. I got pretty far in this series for the same reason I read all 4 twilight books and saw all 5 movies. Common ground with my mother. it's not worth it. ( )

Fantasy

My best friend loves this series, so we went on vacation and I read it on the drive there so two hours this was great!
I loved this book. The story is about Zoey Redbird who is Marked as a vampyre fledgling. She has to leave her normal high school and transfer to the House of Night a private school for forming vampyres. She has a crappy family who doesn't support her and has to adapt not only to the Change but also a new school and friends.

This was a great book, the characters are entertaining and relate-able(even though they are vampyre). The story was good and left room for more to happen (I know it is a series and i am super excited about that). The way that Zoey interacts with others is angst-y and kind of teenage dramatic, but it works. ( )

It was an interesting story, I liked the plot and I love the characters. It does seem kind of predictable at times (in terms of which character is going to turn out to be evil and which is just misunderstood). I also did not like the writing at all. Too much "Stevie said this, Damien said this, Erin said this", it got really annoying. So overall it's an interesting story and I really like the mystery element to it, I just really don't like the writing style. ( )

I definitely DID NOT understand half the things going on this book the first time i read it - i was FAR to young lol. I may now be a little too old, but it was a fun read, and i shameless bought the next few books. ( )

Generally very well written.
But the book becomes increasingly lecturing and prescriptive in the worst way.
Initially, this really wasn't a problem at all but by the end, this might as well have been a wishlist by a mother to her daughter on how to behave.
Don't get me wrong, apart from this one point I would have eaten this up as a teenager and I could have enjoyed it as the adult am I now as well.
But this is not something happening in isolated scenes meant to have some sort of learning outcome. It is tightly woven through everything and it couldn't be less subtle. ( )

Not imprssed enough to read past 1st book ( )

Lo leí hace muchísimos años. Por error mi madre me lo compró, ya que le había pedido "La casa" de Frank E. Peretti y Ted Dekker, y se equivocó y me compró Marcada ya que era de la Serie "La casa de la noche".
Con todo el auge de Crepúsculo, los vampiros y todo eso, me enganche con esta serie. Me encantó completamente en su momento. ( )

If I had to read this in print, I don't think I could have finished it. I listened to it as a book on cd, and the narrator amused me immensely. Not particularly well written, with far too many pop culture references to have any staying power at all, I still liked the book. I am young enough to remember high school, and old enough to know better. This book was a fun, quick read that I didn't have to think too hard about (great driving to & from work read!). I will be reading the next in the series. ( )

A great start to the series. Looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. ( )

22nd/11/10 This is the fifth time reading this series and im now going to review them, admittedly i do feel the series does linger too much and should have ended long before it reached book 10 -and counting- but as the opening to the series Marked is a fun, very chic lit book that makes for an enjoyable easy read.

Zoey Redbird is our main character -for now- and she finds herself pulled from her mundane life into a world she barley understood yet already she was in the godess Nix favour.

Marked is just an opening, introducing the reader to the characters and showing a glimpse to what the series will turn into.

The characters are very stereotypical and it is annoying that the authors have portrayed them in such a way.

this book is worthy of five stars in my opinion just because its not to serious, its fun and a generally easy and enjoyable read.


16/2/15

Still a quick and easy read. ( )

TW & cons: Sex shaming, Religious trauma, Brief ED mention
Pros: Cherokee cultural & spiritual representation, pagan rituals i feel as one is accurate
"A lot of sex shaming. Looking online its pretty popular especially with indigenous cosplayers. Zoey Redbird. I am liking these vampire versions so far. I wouldnt mind being one." I am hoping (depending if I enjoy boy two as much as I have book 1) there is less sex shaming because zoeybird is definetly horny for Mr.Night. Heath is just a good refrigerator lol. I am hoping she does not end up with Heath in the end of these 13 books. Based on spoilers I know I am suppose to be suspicious of Nefret but she is so Iconic. I love ALL of zoey's friends. I hope they all make it through the change. I know the hag is suppose to be redeemable eventually just not sure when. I have never thought about vampire lore in this way. I have always wanted tattoos but only in connection to my indigenous culture. These markings on their face & body is so beautiful. I am grateful to my friend Scar for exposing me to this "vampire trash" that I love. So far not so trashy just a little cringey. Unfortnately there will not be a series since the deadline has passed now but maybe one day or even a movie franchise. Found a beautiful playlist for the first book: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3EuZvxmCDeUi3OuO9k6Bff?si=83d1100397074768
If I could be any character human I would be Grandma Redbird, Vampyre* Zoey, Fledgling Shaunee
(Did not like how to spelled vamipre at first*) I am curious as to why the authors chose indigenous culture but I am grateful I have NEVER read a book that does. Blessed Be till the next sabbath of Mabon.
( )

A kind of nothing story that creates more questions than it answers. I will be fair and say that I'm a bit over the paranormal vampire trend and that could be influencing my review. But also, this was just your run of the mill paranormal vampire book. There wasn't anything special (except for how often they told Zoey how special and different she was) about it.

Zoey is an outsider to her own family when she is tracked and marked as one of the potential vampyres (and the spelling annoyed the crap out of me) destined to attend the House of Night boarding school. Her religious family are horrified and ready to contain her and convert her back (or let her die). FYI, there was a particularly strong slant against Christian/Catholic religion in this, it comes up way more than it needed to be. Anyway, she turns to the only one of her family willing to help her through - her grandma. Her grandma takes her to the school and Zoey finds new friends, new enemies and new dangers as she struggles to learn about what it means to be a vampyre.

Well. For 300 pages I still know very little about the world Zoey finds herself in. The vampyre change is practically ignored except when necessary to dish out a tiny morsel for Zoey to stress about - oh right, bloodlust, oh right, imprinting, etc. House of Night clearly needed an introductory class for their students and I want to take that up with management. But it also annoyed me that Zoey wasn't more proactive in finding out what the hell was going on. As far as the timeline, it felt like she was only there for a week or two, so I guess she was busy. Especially with her always being on the soapbox - there was a lot of preaching about stereotyping and kindness and religion and race and lgbt and it felt like it missed the mark on educating versus lecturing.

But the biggest problem with this book was I just didn't care. I didn't like Zoey or her friends or her enemies. I didn't like the plot. I didn't like the numerous questions I had about the world building that just weren't answered. It was very flat and bland and I just couldn't be bothered. I won't be reading the rest of the series so I guess my questions will have to go unanswered. 1.5 stars, rounded down to 1. ( )

I abandoned the second book I tried in this series, and since then, regarded House of Night with my own special loathing. But to be honest, I did finish this one and liked it enough to try another. I'm not saying I was in my right mind. ( )

I read this for the first time when I was a teenager, and I loved it. Now, I think the entire series is very problematic. It’s still a guilty pleasure for me because I really enjoy the whole idea behind it and I want to know how the story ends, but I should warn any future readers. You will find annoying teen girls (beginning with Zoey, the protagonist, who is insufferable), slut-shaming and homophobic comments (there’s a gay character, but also a lot of stereotyping and just nonsense). ( )

Edit - 2017
You know those dark and dirty secrets you are ashamed to share with anyone and are willing to take to your grave at all costs? THIS IS IT.
So do yourself a favour of never picking up this disaster of a train-wreck. PLEASE.

I somehow made it all the way to book 9, once upon a time. (shudder) To be honest, book 1 is the only one I've actually, y'know, read. (did I really though? I remember lots of skimming. And skipping. And nothing-to-see-moving-on)

And things only get worse from here on out. And it draaaags...
It horrible.

Save yourselves while you can.
Flee. Flee for your lives. ( )

Marked, the first book in the House of Night series by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast, is the story of Zoey Redbird, a sixteen year old girl who has been marked as a fledgling vampyre. It’s not an easy time, new life, new school, new people all while going through a major physical change, and the posibility of not surviving it. Zoey also has to deal with the fact that she is incredibly unique, she was blessed by the goddess Nyx herself leaving her with a different mark than the other fledglings, a bloodlust that’s set in a few years early and of course you other average high school boy and sworn enemy drama.

Well, I actually got really into it. I busted through it in just a few hours. Part of that I’m sure is my mad skill, but mostly it’s just an easy read. I found myself getting annoyed with the drama (I went to high school, I graduated, I’m over it), but I suppose it is part of what makes the book seem real, for lack of a better term.

The big winner for me in this book is the mythology behind it. Not only was the vampire mythology quite interesting, but there was also a lot about the Cherokee indians in it (Zoey is a descendent of the Cherokee who was educated in their ways by her grandmother, and it takes place in Oklahoma – both of which I have roots in).

I really liked Zoey and her friends – the new ones. As far as the people from her old life, I wasn’t in love with them with the exception of her puppy dog ex Heath. I didn’t hate him, but the groveling could get annoying.

Though this shows some similarities between other vampire series, all in all it was well thought out. It’s similar to the Sookie Stackhouse novels in that the vamps are ‘out of the coffin’, and like the Midnight Breed series they have natural markings that they grow into – only difference being that it seems they are earned in the House of Night series. As far as teen vampire series go, I still find Vampire Academy to be my favorite, but I would still recommend Marked as an easy and interesting read. ( )

2nd read.. still an ok read, nothing special
I really like the idea and the world, but honestly, I don't like at all the insta love! ( )

Oooh. I loved this book. Can't wait to read the rest of the series to date. :D ( )