Summary: (from Goodreads) After a Vampire Tracker Marks her with a crescent moon on her forehead, 16-year-old Zoey Redbird enters the House of Night and learns that she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess Nyx and has affinities for all five elements: Air, Fire Water, Earth and Spirit. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school’s most elite club, is mis-using her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny – with a little help from her new vampyre friends (or Nerd Herd, as Aphrodite calls them)
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Well, the synopsis kind of gives it all away, so no real need for me to summarize. I was drawn into this book based on the lore surrounding vampires in this story. In this world, vampire are not made by being bitten or sharing blood, they apparently chosen by their goddes, Nyx. i found this to be a refreshing concept as so many vampire novels tend to follow the same sorts of patterns when it come to the lore and mythology of the species. They have their own religion that is very much like the Wiccan religion. They worship a goddess and perform rituals for the full moon, equinox’s and solstices.
Other than the lore religion of the vampire, I wouldn’t say there was much remarkable about this book. It followed some fairly common YA troupes, including Zoey’s extreme specialness and the fact that the most popular boy in school is instantly attracted to her. And naturally the most popular girl in school hates her and sees her as a rival.
The characters weren’t overly remarkable either. You’ve got Zoey, the seemingly ordinary high school girl who suddenly discovers how special she is and that she has a destiny to fulfill; the most popular boy in school, who is, of course, gorgeous and instantly attracted to the new girl; the popular mean girl who needs to be taken down a notch; a male gay character, a cheerful roommate and two girls who are so alike they call each other “twin”.
After a mere few days at the House of Night, Zoey’s powers come to light and she learns part of the reason the goddess chose her (i’m guessing there’s more to it than was revealed in this novel) and the importance of friendship. The friendship bit actually made me roll my eyes at the cheesiness of it. A little too “gather around the camp fire and sing” for me.
Overall, i enjoyed Marked for a light fluffy read. It wasn’t anything special but it also wasn’t terrible. I will likely read the next volume, mostly because I already own it but I don’t have high expectations.