House of Night: Hunted

So the Nerd Herd is now underground and hiding away from Kalona. Aphrodite and Stevie-Rae have imprinted, Stark is an evil rapist, and Erik went from sweet guy to way too possessive. Not to mention that Kalona can reach Zoey in her dreams... so lots of drama. Nothing is ever slow in these books. Very fact paced and I enjoy that.

Most of this book is spent trying to figure out a way to get rid of Kalona. When is easier said than done when Zoey's very soul calls out to him. She was made for him. Finally, they do figure out a way to banish him from Tulsa but it doesn't get rid of him completely. So while they get a small break from now... the real battle is only just beginning...

So my biggest gripe with these books is all the damn dudes that are in love with Zoey. She's got like 3-4 in here and I just don't get it. I mean I like her and all but there is no way that every freaking dude is going to want her. That's not how it works. It also seems a bit sluttish to me, the way she runs around kissing them all and leading some of them on. Also, I'm starting to think the guys in here have self esteem issues... why else would they allow to girl to treat them that way?

Erik also seems to have flipped 180, he was so nice in the first book and now... it's like the authors needed to get rid of one guy and kind of made him an asshat. Was he always this way and I just missed the signs?

All in all, I did enjoy this novel and can't wait to read the rest so I can finally move on to Loved.

Reader reviewed by an_d

Hunted it the fifth installment in the House of Night Series.  All of the other installments had a certain pace that pulled you in and kept you reading until the end.  Hunted, however, missed the mark on several levels.

 First of all, Zoey, our main character, seems to have some weird dysfunction of becoming more annoying and immature as we go along.  A main character with the powerful gifts that she has should be maturing and growing.  She is becoming the biggest whining, dramatic, immature, indecisive teenager in the entire book.  I understand that teenagers typically have certain issues and levels of maturity (as do adults), but the author is creating a character that I would rather see be gobbled up by some phantom Ravenmocker instead of hearing her moan, gripe and kiss every boy that shows interest.

This leads to my next issue, the love triangle is becoming played out.  It's ridiculous.  We are moving nowhere with these people.  It is borderline soap opera, circa 1981.  Yes, I understand that she is supposed to be a teenager and yadda yadda.  She is always so concerned with being a ho!  Um, doesn't kissing and leading 3 boys on amount to some sort of ho qualities??  I think so!  It's exhausting and it keeps happening over and over in each book!!  With pretty much the same guys!  GRRRR!!!

Which leads to yet another issue.  The book is 75% repetition.  The same storylines and dialogue are recycled. It's almost the same, from start to finish.  Zoey and the nerd herd are in trouble (GASP!), Zoey is injured (GASP!), Zoey has boys flocking her and she can't decide which one she wants (GASP!), and so forth and so forth (DOUBLE GASP!!).  The fans and readers want this go somewhere!!  I couldn't keep count of how many times the Kalona story was given.  Good gravy! 

Then I have to point out the text and dialogue.  I can understand some certain level of eye rolling for an adult to be reading a young adult novel, but this is more along the lines of, covering my eyes hoping that it will go away!  I know several gay men/boys and I believe that they would be very offended by the representation these boys are getting in this series!  We know they are gay.  We know they are a couple.  Odds are, most of the readers have been reading this series since book one and we know this!  I'm not sure if gay men should be offended or the readers, for the writers to think we are so ignorant to not understand.  We are not idiots.  Even if you were new to the series, it would not take a brain surgeon to figure out that these boys are gay.  Don't keep repeating it!  They might as well ditch the boys' names and just say, "Gay Guy 1 and Gay Guy 2!"  It's offensive!  Then the dialogue, oh my.   I sometimes have to wonder if these teens are vampyres or if in some plot twist they are really ROBOTS! Come on!!

   I really, really want to love this series.  It has such a great premise and I really do enjoy the parts that aren't recycled.  I do enjoy it, I keep reading!   I used to adore Zoey and her friends.  I'm just finding that I keep getting disappointed in them.  I just want these characters to develop.  I want the STORY to develop.

I am starting to think that I may be just a sucker for buying these little installments.  Maybe I am in some sort of marketing scheme.   Maybe having 3, 4, 5, 10! books in the series is just a way for them to make more money.  They throw us a crumb and when we think that they are going to give us another one, they put the whole loaf away!  Just tease us and fluff up the mediocre story with repetition.  Rather than focus on getting the next book out in the series, maybe they should try writing a better quality book with more depth.  Instead of four books, maybe combine it into ONE!  I don't know, maybe more plot?  I would gladly wait longer.  It just really gripes me that I have been waiting all these months, just to read about two more days in the life of Zoey Redbird.  Two more days that sound like the two days before and two before that.  Until what??  That's the problem!  I am starting to fear that this story will have no big pay off in the end.  I don't want to continue to waste my time on 200 pages of recycled storylines and the grand finale just fizzle into nothing and I will be out ten bucks or more per book! Now that's an expensive let down!