Awakened by P.C and Kristin Cast

Published: Jan 2011

Publisher: Atom

Pages: 290

Copy provided by: Bought

Summary: Goodreads



Summary:

At the start of Awakened, the pulse-pounding eighth installment of the bestselling House of Night series, Zoey has returned, mostly whole, from the Otherworld to her rightful place as High Priestess at the House of Night. Her friends are just glad to have her back, but after losing her human consort, Heath, will Zoey—or her relationship with her super- hot Warrior, Stark—ever be the same? Stevie Rae is drawn even closer to Rephaim, the Raven Mocker with whom she shares a mysterious and powerful Imprint, but he is a dangerous secret that isolates her from her school, her red fledglings, and even her best friends. When the dark threat of Neferet—who is coming closer and closer to achieving her twisted goal of immortality—and Kalona returns, what will it take to keep the House of Night from being lost forever, and what will one desperate girl do to keep her heart from being irreparably broken?

Review:
Firstly, let me start off by saying that once you have invested this much time into reading eight books in a series, it is mighty hard to give it up, despite how freaky the story gets. House of Night is definitely starting to take on a bit of a weird sexual edge. This is NOT great for a younger audience. To be blunt, Neferet gets her freak on with everyone....and I do mean EVERYONE.

It's a complicated story to begin with if you have missed the first seven books. I am not going to get into it because I'm afraid I'll give away too much of the story line. I am going to mention things that are spoilers in this review, so don't read any further if you want Awakened to be spoiler-free!!

Despite the mention of Neferet's neverending nakedness (weird), I did enjoy other aspects of this book. For instance, the development of Rephaim's relationship with Stevie Rae. It is incredibly complicated as he is a creature that has caused harm to people she respects and admires. However she is bonded to him and cares for him, as he has feelings for her. So how do they work it out? Can you imagine their kids....uhhh....let's not.

Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was that Zoe seemed to be stronger and more mature this time around. She doesn't seem to be making ridiculous choices anymore. She is back to being a one guy kinda gal an and is slowly getting over her other men.

Neferet. I mentioned that she is overtly sexual in this book but that's not all. She's awful! She was awful at the end of Burned but OMG she actually becomes even more evil....how does she manipulate so many people into thinking that she is sincere and apologetic for her actions? She even goes so far as to kill one of the characters in the book. Yes, it is quite sad. I won't tell you any more....see? spoilers!!

Lastly, there is a cliff hanger at the end of the book as an old cast member is written back into the series! Hmmm...looking forward to how they are integrated back into the storyline! So here's my take. Definitely keep reading if you are already into the series as long as you are open to some pretty strange things happening. If parts of Burned (book 7) bothered you, you might want to pass on this one.