Book Review: Marked by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

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Author	P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Title	Marked
Publisher	St. Martin's Griffin
Date of Publication	May 1, 2007
Page Count	306
ISBN	978-0-312-36026-9
Series	House of Night

Zoey Redbird really is in for it in this first installment in the House of Night series by mother-daughter-team P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. One encounter changes her life completely and makes the popular 16-year-old a Vampyre fledgling including a saphire-blue crescent on her forehead. After her friends turn their backs on her and her parents react everything but well to Zoey's change, she gets to the House of Night, the boarding school for vampyres, on her own. It is there that she will be trained to be a real vampyre - if she survives the change, that is! But before she reaches her new school, Nyx, the goddess of vampyres, reveals to her that she is the chosen one.

What an adventure! As soon as I started Marked it was over already. I just couldn't put the book down. It takes immense control for me to not grab the next and then the one after that (I have the first four books at home). While the story begins at an unhurried pace, it soon speeds up and you've reached the end before you even realize it.

The best part for me was that the change was not started with the bite of a vampyre, but a slow change after Zoey being marked. And this change does not end in being a vampyre happily-ever-after for every marked fledgling. P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast managed to create an exciting vampyre series that is quite a bit different from the other vampyre books out there I read so far.

In the world Zoey lives, most of the Hollywood actors are vampyres and it is not unusual, because they are stunning and one of the electives at their schools is acting. One scene that made me especially smile was:
"Okay, grab your schedule and let's go. Hey," [Stevie Rae] said as we hurried out of the room and skipped down the stairs, "maybe you'll be the next Nicole Kidman!"
Well, I guess being the next Nicole Kidman wouldn't be bad (not that I plan on marrying and then divorcing a manic short guy). (p. 104)