Tempted (House of Night) - Kristin Cast, P.C. Cast

Tempted is the 6th book in the House Of Night Series written by duo P.C and Kristen Cast.

A little background
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Obviously with there having been 5 books released in the series previously there is a lot of story that has already happened but here is the very simple basics that wont ruin anything too interesting to catch you up to speed; Zoey Redbird is a vampire fledgling who attends the House of Night school, a place where all vampire fledglings go to learn the ways of vampires.

Zoey and her diverse group of friends all have some sort of power, due to Zoey's connection with Nyx, the vampire goddess; ranging from visions to affinities with the elements.

Zoey is the most powerful fledgling that has ever existed in vampire history, she has powers that surpass the adult vampires and can control all 5 of the elements (Earth, Fire, Water, Wind and Spirit)

Hunted
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In the previous book, Kalona, an ancient evil fallen angel has risen from his underground prison, aided by his mistress and is attempting to pass himself off as an ancient warrior of good to rule over the house of night and eventually the world. Zoey and her friends managed to fight Kalona off and make him flee, but it has left them on the run also, where they have had to sort refuge in a local Abbey from the chaos Kalona's followers have left.

Tempted And Opinion
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Tempted, like all previous House of Night books actually only takes place over a few days. The whole series is in this manner, which I love as you get so much detail into each character and situation. There isn't a dull moment, and although you are reading every conversation between the characters and there is a lot of talking and planning, it never gets boring as the subject is always exciting.

In this book we follow Zoey and her friends as they decide they won't hide in the Abbey and want to head back to their school and see what is left and who survived the fight that broke out in the last book.

We also follow Zoey and her friends to Italy as they learn that Kalona plans to persuade the vampire council to be on his side, which could mean the end of the world, quite literally.

Considering that is all that happens, it's still incredibly hard to put down. The characters are very detailed as I said, due to the amount of information we get about them as a reader and especially after 5 previous books, you can't help but want to know what will happen and how it will all end.

The writing style is very simplistic and as it is from a 16 year olds point of view it isn't very complex. I do find that on occasion the author has tried too hard to make it clear these are teenagers fighting this epic battle, by over using slang words and phrases. I am pretty much used to it know, but I do think it is clear and fine without the excess amount that has been put in. I find it a little insulting honestly to think that teenagers are portrayed this way, but then on the other hand, the events that they are going through are rather more mature and the decisions that have to be made are life or death, a lot of responsibility is on these characters and I think the slang is used to balance and remind those who may forget, just how youthful and unprepared for that responsibility these characters are.

The previous 5 books have all been written from Zoey's first person perspective and I have enjoyed them all. Tempted however seems to have taken a leaf out of Stephanie Meyer's Breaking Dawn book and changes the narrative throughout the book, which is something the series has not done in the past. As well as taking a leaf out of Stephanie Meyer's book, PC Cast appears to have taken a whole branch, as not only does she switch narrative to Stevie Rae (Zoey's best friend) but also to at least 2 other characters throughout the book. It breaks the flow of the book initially and I found it hard to pick back up for a while after the shock. I didn't like it and I stopped reading it for about 2 weeks. Which isn't like me at all! However, once I did pick it back up and forced myself to keep reading I couldn't put it down again and I got used to the changes.

The thing that I feel most impacted the flow of the book by doing this, was the fact it didn't change narrative to the other characters first person perspective, like we are used to reading with Zoey, it changed to 3rd person. Which I suppose wouldn't have been too bad if P.C Cast knew how to write in 3rd person. She literally wrote in first person but changed "I" etc to "Stevie Rae" or whichever character she was following. The style of writing changed to use mannerisms and phrases that only that character would use, even though it was not their "voice" we are reading, it's a floating 3rd person.

It also seemed like a strange thing to do as to make the 3rd person work, considering the characters it switches too tend to be alone when we swap to their chapters; they talk allowed to themselves, which I just found silly. Surely 1st person just would have made a whole lot more sense and the characters could wonder and think internally all they liked as we as the reader would understand, but instead they are wandering around by themselves talking allowed even though the writing is in their style anyway? It just confused me and seemed very unnecessary.

Besides the issue I have with the change in narratives, it is still a very readable book and had all the great qualities of the previous ones in the series that will guarantee I keep following Zoey and her friends. It's simple and easy to read, has interesting and exciting storylines and themes and the characters are likable and very easy to get attached to.

Tempted is also the first in the series to leave on a very big cliff-hanger, previous books have had climaxes as this one does, but we are left not knowing the fate of one of the gang of friends which again will guarantee I pick up the next book which is due out in a few months time.

I recommend this book and the whole series really to anyone who likes teen fiction although it isn't suitable really for anyone under 14 I'd say as there is some strong violence and occasional sexual/drug reference.

Thanks for Reading :)