Betrayed (House of Night, Book 2)

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It's a hit!

I found this book as addictive as the first one. It draws you right in and makes you want to keep turning the pages as Zoey struggles with everythi... (show more)

I found this book as addictive as the first one. It draws you right in and makes you want to keep turning the pages as Zoey struggles with everything in her overwhelming life.

The pace is fast but there are still moments of quiet and stillness. The death of one of Zoey's friends (and one of my favourite characters) is really moving and the reader can feel the pain and grief that Zoey and her friends experience with piercing clarity.

However.

Just as with the first in this series, I have several problems with it.

Firstly, the writing style is weak and flawed in many places. I'm all for 'teen speak' as it makes it more realistic but it is over done here and actually jars with the rest of the narrative. There are also far too many pop culture references which mean that this isn't a novel that will age well. Will people know what 'Will and Grace' was in ten or fifteen years time? I don't think so.

Secondly, there are so many parallels with and references to Harry Potter and Twilight that I almost expected Dumbledore or Edward Cullen to jump out of the shadows! This makes the supporting characters and the turn of events very predictable.

Finally, as this was always going to be a series with Zoey as the protagonist, we never really feel that she is in any real danger. This lowers the stakes and makes it less of a triumph when she defeats the evil that she is confronted with.

Overall, this is a flawed and unoriginal novel that for some reason wants me to keep reading and that I found incredibly addictive. This is a definite guilty pleasure and it's a fair bet that I'll be reading the third one. And the fourth. And the fifth. And the sixth. So puzzling! (show less)

 

 

by Facebook User

No, it's a flop!

Not sure about how I feel about this series but I am sure I will finish it. It is like being in the middle of a extraordinarily bland dinner and so... (show more)

Not sure about how I feel about this series but I am sure I will finish it. It is like being in the middle of a extraordinarily bland dinner and someone keeps promising you an extravagant desert at the end.

Only there are 45 courses to go.

That freaking desert had better ROCK!

I like Zoey for the most part - although I do get the urge to punch her in the throat when she starts bitching about all the boys she wants or the boys that want her - and damn it she just can't figure it out! Zoey wants her bloody cake and she wants to eat it, too, all the while protesting she is not a ho or skank or whatever. Nice roll modeling there Z! Way to make people respect you!

Her friends are morons who blindly follow her no matter what she wants or says - apparently they had no life before her arrival at the House of Night so thank the Goddess she shows up. They wait on her, they worry about her every mood and cater to her Priestess-in-training whims. Finally something to do!

The plot twists are obvious you can see them coming from a mile away. No one is really interesting enough to make the reader happy or unhappy about anything they do. It just sort of goes on and on and on in the middle of Oklahoma. I can't get excited enough to care who wins in the end.

The most tragic thing here is the storyline is such a blatant rip off of Harry Potter. Chosen this and chosen that. It's as if it was stuffed into a washing machine and turned on the spin cycle. Wow when the buzzer went off; Harry suddenly became a girl, Hermione is a wildly gay boy, Ron is a down home country girl and Fred and George are a pair of black and white twins who BY FAR are the most obnoxious creatures in the story.

Ta dah! (show less)

 

 

by Elizabeth D McGlasson

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  I don't know how I feel about this. I liked the book enough. I liked it as much as the first I think... I really like Erik and just can't stand Heath. So I guess that's where this book found it's issues with me. Erik was away for most of the book.

  Zoey got real whiny in this book as well.

  I liked the twist in the middle. Maybe it wasn't a twist but... It was interesting.

  And in THIS book I really got aggravated with the "kidspeak" I understand we're trying to write like a ... (show more)

  I don't know how I feel about this. I liked the book enough. I liked it as much as the first I think... I really like Erik and just can't stand Heath. So I guess that's where this book found it's issues with me. Erik was away for most of the book.

  Zoey got real whiny in this book as well.

  I liked the twist in the middle. Maybe it wasn't a twist but... It was interesting.

  And in THIS book I really got aggravated with the "kidspeak" I understand we're trying to write like a teenager but lord it gets to be too much.

  Oh and I'm tired of the whole Damion being gay thing. Every book she has to reestablish that he's gay for like a solid 2 pages before she'll move on. When we get to the part of Jack we'll get it lady. Stop feeling the need to repeat it 20 times.

  Speaking of repeating I am tired of authors feeling the need to repeat the previous books. People should start from the beginning and not in the middle of the series. If they don't know what's going on, it's their own fault.

  I skimmed a lot of the end stuff too. I know I am in a rush to get through these books cause they're overdue but... I just lost interest near the end.

  And again with the author constantly shoving opinions of the way people act in their face. For someone trying to create a more "open-minded" series of books, her opinions are very narrow. Whether some of it is right or wrong it's annoying to have this constant stream of parenthesis comments.

  It's a good continuation of the first book but I don't know if I liked it as much. (show less)

   

   

  by Jennifer Manley on Mar 13, 2009 at 12:49AM

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  I purchased this book.

  Betrayed, the second book starring Zoey Redbird, recently marked by the goddess of the night, Nyx, and destined for great things, starts off with a thick, back story heavy first chapter that's an example of the worst the Cast writing gets. Things appear shallow and skewed, with the misunderstood female-goddess-powered vampires facing off against the domineering, bone-headed male “People of Faith” (a cult of Christians) types. And with Zoey's super special, empowered ... (show more)

  I purchased this book.

  Betrayed, the second book starring Zoey Redbird, recently marked by the goddess of the night, Nyx, and destined for great things, starts off with a thick, back story heavy first chapter that's an example of the worst the Cast writing gets. Things appear shallow and skewed, with the misunderstood female-goddess-powered vampires facing off against the domineering, bone-headed male “People of Faith” (a cult of Christians) types. And with Zoey's super special, empowered friends railing against meanies, while themselves being judgmental and snobbish.
  But don't stop there, because once the series and situation so far has been summed up the Casts move on to tell a completely different story.
  Fresh off a victory over meanie, vampyre elitist Aphrodite, Zoey finds herself the leader of the elite House of Night school prep club/sorority the Dark Daughters and Sons. She immediately puts the people who helped her take the position from Aphrodite at her side as prefects as she struggles to make the club something more than the nasty, abusive thing it had become.
  But Zoey doesn't know it all, and isn't exactly prepared to handle what Nyx starts to reveal to her. After much preparation Zoe's first Full Moon ceremony as Priestess in training begins to go well, with her friends all showing an affinity for an element that makes them solid choices for the role Zoey has put them in (and it makes Zoey's choice seem less like nepotism and more like foreshadowing, or even prophecy.)
  But Fate—or something worse—takes Zoey's best friend and roommate from her when Stevie Rae collapses after the ceremony and appears to fall prey to a failed Change (when a Marked teen's body rejects the Change to a vampyre and instead, dies.) When Zoey's semi-stalker ex-boyfriend Heath vanishes soon after Zoey is shocked to be given a vision which shows her Stevie Rae is responsible. To save Heath Zoey must tear away another layer of the mystery surrounding the House of Night, which leads her to the only person who seems to believe her and maybe even knows what is going on—Aphrodite.
  What could very well be taken as a cliché tale of super special (underestimated) teens proving to the world how much better than ordinary they are instead becomes something else. Again Zoey represents a girl struggling to find her own place in the world, and in herself, when the people around her seem determined to ruin her or rule her. When everyone else says her instincts are wrong Zoey is forced to follow them, or lose people she loves.
  Furthermore this book introduces additional complexity by showing that Dark doesn't always mean evil and Light doesn't always mean good. Actions speak louder than compliments, familiar roles and even religious affinity.
  After the initial chapter, religious and female power overtones are relaxed and worked better into the tale, even to the point of glancing off the idea that only women getting “favored” by one god is as unfair as only men being “favored” by another. Even Zoey's more annoying friends, Shaunee and Erin, are toned down while the plot is proceeding and take a stronger supporting, instead of agitating, role.
  The plot as well is a nice mix elements that is similar to those seen in other well liked long running series, like the Harry Potter books. While there is, one can assume, one primary evil, it's minions are many, and unexpected (by Zoey anyway). And the solution is never as easy as pointing and declaring “There's the bad guy.” Instead the characters must weave their way through their destined conflicts, which even include their differences with each other.
  Zoey's voice keeps the darkness in check with wit, snark, a special kind of confidence, and determination. A good read for teens, and even adults still fighting with teen issues, Betrayed is a good, easy read that manages to keep some meat on its bones with out becoming either too heavy or too fluffy. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Dec 03, 2009 at 04:16AM

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