REDEEMED by P.C. and Kristin Cast
by P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast
published on October 14, 2014 by St. Martin's Griffin
In the final electrifying novel in the HoN series, Neferet has finally made herself known to mortals. A Dark Goddess is loose on Tulsa and the world. No single vampyre is strong enough to vanquish her - unless that creature has the power to summon the elements as well as the ability to wield Old Magick. Only Zoey Redbird is heir to such power…but because of the consequences of using Old Magick, she is unable to help. Find out who will win and who will lose in this epic battle of Light versus Darkness.
Ladies and gentlemen... the House of Night series is finally over.
(I've been waiting to say that for years. Literally. Years. Although I hoped I would feel a little more sad about it.)
When P.C. announced that the series would be twelve books long, I became weary. Twelve books is a lot of pages to fill. Twelve books is a lot of plot that has to be present. Twelve books can become disastrous if there is nothing happening. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Pretty Little Liars, at sixteen and counting.)
Unfortunately, Redeemed falls into those hands.
I waited a few days to write this review because I was in denial. How could a series I loved so much at one point, with the hilarity and fun plot of Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, and Untamed, turn into something so... worn out? Weak and weary? Because let's face it: the last four or five of these novels have just been terrible. But now, I've got an honest review in my head, and I'm ready to say how I feel.
Although this novel is called Redeemed, it does nothing to redeem its past (and current) mistakes. I stuck around from book to book to book to book to book because I hoped, somewhat foolishly, that the steep decline in quality would somehow be able to fix itself. Even when Awakened felt like a waste of space, I remained hopeful. Even when Revealed did absolutely nothing, I stayed positive. Even when I realized in a soul-crushing moment that I no longer cared what happened to these characters, that I no longer gave a crap about who won and who lost in the "epic" battle of Light versus Darkness. Frankly, I started wanting Neferet to win.
The fact that the Casts felt the need to introduce new characters in the final installment proves their lack of ideas. I think that's what ultimately happened here: the Casts signed onto a large series deal naively, with no idea how to write one successfully. They got bored. They got lazy. (I think I counted five typos in this book, and that's coming from me, a fast reader, someone who rarely, if ever, catches mistakes.) Redeemed and the series's previous installment, Revealed, display a large lack of effort and interest. Neferet becomes a crazy, power-hungry lunatic, with absolutely nothing frightening about her, spending the novel worrying about entertainment, forging a slave out of some poor girl named Lynette. (Recognize that name? No? That's because she's a completely new character. Yep. In the twelfth freakin' book.) The gang is just as immature as always, which is nothing new. The only thing to elicit some sort of emotion out of me other than disappointment and slight annoyance was the presence of Aurox. His "Zo" calling brought about some reminiscence, as I thought about how much fun the series used to be, how much I missed the days when I enjoyed the House of Night tale.
The House of Night series could've been worthwhile if it weren't twelve books. Maybe the Casts would've taken some time and come up with original, fun plot events and characterization if they had had a smaller course load. But they didn't, and this is where they leave us: with a final installment that does nothing to atone for its previous failures.
If you're a new reader of the series and are a "series reader," meaning you need to know how it ends, read through book four (five if you're feeling patient, seven if you're a bit of a masochist) and skip to twelve. Or just try to find plot summaries online. If you haven't started, don't: there is nothing redeeming about Redeemed.
Color me vastly disappointed.
one owl
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