A House of Darkness

… Then I saw him. The dead guy. Okay, I realized pretty quick that he wasn’t technically “dead.” He was undead. Or un-human. Whatever. Scientists said one thing, people said another, but the end result was the same. There was no mistaking what he was and even if I hadn’t felt the power and darkness that radiated from him, there was no frickin’ way I could miss his Mark, the sapphire-blue crescent moon on his forehead and the additional tattooing of entwining know work that framed his equally blue eyes. He was a vampyre, and worse. He was a Tracker.
Then the vampyre spoke and his ceremonial words slicked across the space between us, dangerous and seductive, like blood mixed with melted chocolate. ‘Zoey Montgomery! Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night.’
He lifted one long white finger and pointed at me. As my forehead exploded in pain Kayla opened her mouth and screamed.

Marked, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, talks about a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in a world full of vampyres. On a normal day at school, a Tracker Marks Zoey Montgomery. Once Zoey has been marked, she must pack her belongings and move into the Tulsa House of Night, or she will die, forever. When she tells her mom, she rejects her. Then, Zoey rushes to find her grandma. However, she’s not home. In a coughing fit, she passes out and hits her head. When she wakes up, she’s at the Tulsa House of Night. The big surprise is her Mark is completely filled in. To find out what happens next, you will have to read this addictive book.

Many of Casts’ novels have been nominated for awards. Here are some of them: New York Times bestsellers, Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant readers, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Prism, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, Booksellers’ Best, and the Laurel Wreath.

Important people have written reviews about this book and series, mostly good. “Marked is one of the best coming of age stories to come out of Oklahoma since S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. It teaches about the beauty of being a social outcast, friendship, and finding your own inner spirituality.”—MaryJanice Davidson

“Cast reeled me in from paragraph one. I…devoured it in one sitting.”—MaryJanice Davidson, New York times best-selling author of the Undead series
“From the moment I stuck my face in this book it hooked me! Totally awesome new take on vampires! Marked is hot and dark and funny. It rocks!”—GENA SHOWALTER, AUTHOR OF MTV’S OH MY GOTH. As you can see, many people think the book is AWESOME!

There are many different styles a book can have. However, the main ones of this book and series are: drama, mystery, love and fantasy. The Casts show these styles by dialogue and descriptive writing.

The most important drama scene is when Zoey tells her mom she’s been marked.
I swallowed hard. “Mama.” I used the name I used to call her, back in the days before she married John. “I need your help.”
I don’t know whether it was the unexpected use of “Mama” or if something in my voice touched an old piece of mom-intuition she still had somewhere inside her, but the eyes she lifted immediately from the book were soft and filled with concern.
“What is it, baby,” she began, and then her words seemed to freeze on her lips as her eyes found the Mark on my forehead. “Oh, God! What have you done now?”
That’s when I felt them. They were all around me, almost-visible shapes shimmering like heat waves lifting from a blacktop road in summer. I could feel press against me as they twirled and moved with graceful, intricate steps around and around the shadowy image of a Cherokee campfire.
Join us, u-we-tsi-a-he-ya…..Join us, daughter…
Cherokee ghosts….drowning in my own lungs…the fight with my parents…my old life gone….
A lot of the writing this author does mixes fantasy and mystery. Reading this passage from the book makes me wonder if she is really seeing ghosts or she is unconscious. This is one of the many reasons why I recommend this book and series.

I was drawn to this book because of its teenage romance edge. Zoey has to deal with two different guys in this first installment. Erik Night, a super gorgeous vampyre who she walks in on with his ex-girlfriend, is the one person who understands and can help her with what she is going through. Then there is Heath Luck, her childhood crush who knows everything about her and was always there for her. She feels something for Heath, but she thinks they can’t be together because of her abnormal blood lust. When you become a vampyre, you aren’t supposed to feel blood lust until you’ve completed the Change.

Many parents would say this book is too graphic for the age range when it’s not. It has many similar issues in it that teenagers go through today. I think a lot of teens, who have read it and who are interested in reading it, will feel a draw to it.

All of these reasons are why I strongly recommend this book and series.