Marked by PC Cast, Kristin Cast (3/5 stars)

This is the first book in the House of Night series by PC and Kirstin Cast. I was interested in this series because it was recommended for people who liked the Twilight series.

Zoey Redbird is leading a fairly normal life, when during school she is Marked. Being Marked means she is one of the Chosen who are meant to undergo a change into a vampyre. Her mom and born-again-Christian-like step-father do not take kindly to this and see it as Zoey's fault that she has been Marked.

Zoey flees her house to move into the House of Night; which is an academy that helps people deal with the Change into vampyre. Unfortunately Zoey even finds herself an outcast here when her mark mysteriously fills in, which it is not supposed to do until she is a full-fledged vampyre.

I'll start out by saying I think a 5 year old could've written this book. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration; but it is not high quality writing. There is a lot of slang, a lot of teenage angsty stuffy, and a lot of fluff. There are also a lot of stereotypical characters. I also found Damien's use of words (and then the constant explanation of what those words meant) to be very silly. That is really talking down to your readers and assuming they are not intelligent people. I mean, if someone doesn't know a word, they can go and look it up online.

All the negatives aside. I found the story to be entertaining and the book was an easy (even if it was excessively easy) read. I liked the idea of vampyrism being fate, I like the idea that some people don't survive the change, and I liked the inclusion of the Goddness Nix. I also found some of the Cherokee folklore that was thrown in the mix to be creative and interesting.

Despite the horrible writing and fluffiness of the characters I am sad to say that I actually did enjoy this book some. I found Zoey to be interesting and am interested in what will happen to her in the next book. So, since I didn't stop half way through the book in disgust and throw it out, there must be something good and engaging here.

I will probably read the next book, but I will try not to buy it new but rather wait until I can get it used somewhere. This level of writing just isn't worth spending my money on. I think the Vampire Acedemy series by Richelle Mead is much more well-written and more interesting and I would strongly recommend reading that series in place of this one. I have also heard good things about Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampire series.