Review of Marked Series

So, I listen to audiobooks on the way back and forth to work. Usually if I pick up part of a series, I will try to find another book of the series, if I can, whenever.

A few authors get my loyalty and have me running to the bookstore or eseller to pick up the next book after then next of their series. Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Robin McKinley... it doesn't matter what they write, I pick it up because I know it is good stuff.

So when I started hearing through websites, friends and through my loops, I was leery...For one, I have to admit although I had read all of the Stephanie Meyer books, I was frustrated with them. And they had gotten the kind of hype I was hearing about Marked.

I was so leery, I didn't fork out the money for Marked the first book of the series. I borrowed it from the Ohio Ebook project, an online library.

That was all it took.

Zoey Redbird is an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. That is until she is Marked to make the Change to Vampyre. Now she has to fight everything from those she trusts to the very powers of darkness. Not really a problem when she is given the power to control all four elements. Now, if she can get her boy issues under control, life is good.

Lines like, "I can't save the world. I'm seventeen! I can't even parallel park."
and, "His kiss was a gentle question mark and I answered it with an enthusiastic exclamation mark of my own," will leave the reader smiling. Zoey is charmingly seventeen however wise and likable. Her moral fiber, unlike another recent YA heroine, is in excellent condition. Now, that's not to say Zoey doesn't ever make bad choices but she tries, honestly tries to do the right thing for not just herself but for the people she cares about. She, unlike that other heroine, has lots of people (and I mean lots) that she could be dating or sleeping with but (unlike that other one who spent a large portion of three books trying to get in his pants) she tries to control her desires even though they are rooted in her bloodlust.

Neat stuff. Creative plotting. Clever dialogue.

Really, the series has it all.

I am eating through the series like a fat kid in a candy store with a handful of giftcards. I am currently on Hunted, the fifth book of the series and am close to the end. Soon I will jump to book six. My kids are trailing behind me, all of them on book one.

The series goes as follows:
House of Night

1. Marked, 2. Betrayed, 3. Chosen, 4. Untamed, 5. Hunted, 6. Tempted, 7. Burned, 8. Awakened

I admit I have cheated and read the blurbs of the remaining books. I have a feeling that really sad things are a comin' for Zoey and her pals.

But you can buy the books and merchandise at the authors' website here.