Review: Hunted by PC and Kristin Cast

I've said before that if you have not discovered PC and Kristin Cast's House of Night series, please get to a book store immediately. Amid the now-dissipating Twilight frenzy and an ocean of also-ran books with a similar theme, the mother-daughter Cast duo are a pleasant surprise and richly nuanced stand-out. Their Zoey Redbird is a delightful departure from the rest of the crowd, an independent young woman who uses her head, her heart, and her gut without ever coming across as trivial, vapid, silly, or weak. Even when she's confused, even when she's embroiled in teen-angst, Zoey's choices, delivered in fresh first person, seem believable. Even better? They seem smart.

Hunted, the fifth installment in the House of Night series, arrives in a hardcover edition with a delightful surprise for those of us who can't read with a dust cover on. (The inside is worth a peek.) Zoey finds herself in exile, caught between three boys for whom she has feelings, and distracted by such trivial high school silliness as a fallen angel who works for the dark side and some Raven Mocker creatures with very bad attitudes.

And you thought prom was a nightmare.

If this series has a fault it's lag between installments, since they blend, one into the other, with fairly tight plot focus. The wait between requires the Casts to re-introduce readers to the plot in the first chapter, and leaves us hungry (and, let's be fair, a little annoyed) with a sliding conclusion. Each ends with unresolved issues and months to wait for more. In spite of this the House of Night series delivers a sharp, sympathetic protagonist in Zoey, who stays centered amid the chaos by remembering her Grandmother's love, guidance, and lessons, and by clinging to friendships among her fellow vampire students. Emerging as a new sub-group, the "red fledglings," who are closer to the traditional vampire of literature and film, present an entirely unique set of issues. Once thought to be lost souls, Zoey and her friends have found redemption for them. She has reclaimed her best friend, forged surprising new friendships, and discovered an old evil.

Kalona, a dark fallen angel with ties to her own ancestors among the Cherokee, has aligned with her old nemesis, Nerefet. If you think your high school principal is a twerp, you ain't seen nothing yet.

The most endearing quality I find in Zoey is her amazingly well adjusted sense of herself. Marked as a vampire, removed from everything she knew, and thrust into a world of danger, power, fear, and chaos, Zoey somehow approaches all her trials like any teenager who knows she is loved. And though Zoey's parents are of little use to her, her Grandmother is there, the center in the wheel of her world, guiding her with warmth and unconditional approval. This knowledge keeps her grounded even as amazing powers and terrifying circumstances swirl around her. Quite simply, Zoey is a good kid who keeps her head because, deep down, she believes in herself in spite of her teen angst and serious challenges. She may doubt her astonishing powers, she may freak out when chased by giant bird creatures, she may question her alliances and judgment. But when push comes to shove Zoey trusts the Goddess, Nix, and the woman who loved her first, best, and unconditionally: her Grandmother. With that foundation beneath her she prevails.

This series has dark themes and subject matter, but the Cast team delivers them with sparkling dialogue, wry humor, and realistic characters driven by genuine humanity. Simply put, the books can traverse murky waters, deal with serious issues, and enter very dark territory without floundering because the themes and subject matter are not delivered with brooding self-indulgence or melodrama. They are served up at an effervescent pace, never wallowing in grandiose preachiness. PC and Kristin give us vamps, gods, creatures, death, life, and teen pissyness without ever falling into the common trap of sounding like a goth teen wrote the novels.

Not naming any names, but there are a few authors out there making a lot of dough who might benefit from a healthy dose of that delightful delivery style.

If I had a complaint about this series it would be the open-ended feeling each novel leaves me with. But to give this devilish duo their due, that's the style of the series. I checked the House of Night Series web site and found no reference to the next book, but Hunted left dangling ends flapping like Raven Mocker wings, so I live in hope. (Incidentally... that may be the coolest website I have ever seen.) Though Zoey's seemingly endless choice of boyfriends does seem to spiral round and round, she also finds opportunities to think, grow, and learn about being a woman through them. Fans will have to indulge her, and the authors. And if anyone gets buzz on book 6... LET ME KNOW!

Edited by Gwen: Also, Happy Birthday to Melissa Francis, Fictionista Extraordinaire. We love you.!

Interview Time! Plus, Win A Book!

Today, we've got a fab interview with one half of the writing team that creates the delish House of Night series (Marked, Betrayed, Chosen), P.C. Cast! And best of all, one lucky commenter is going to win an autographed copy of Marked to get you started on the series!

How did the idea of a mother-daughter writing venture come to be? Whose idea was it?

It was my idea. When I was beginning the first book Kristin hadn’t gone off to college yet, so she was still living at home. I’d yell out questions about teenage vernacular at her from my office. Like, “Chicken!”(I call her Chicken. Kristin Frances Cast. KFC.) “Chicken! When someone’s really drunk, what do you call it?” She’d say, “Trashed, Mom.” And then I’d yell back “Thanks!” and keep writing. So I’m trying to write the first three chapters and I keep yelling down the hall. Kristin says she was “innocently” watching MTV. (Please! I don’t think you can innocently watch MTV.) Anyway, I finally came out and said, “Would you like to coauthor this book with Mama?” She said, “Coauthor… like have my name on the cover?” “Uh huh,” I said. She said, “Like, Kristin Cast and P. C. Cast?” I said, “No, like, P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast .” She went, “Oh. Yeah. That’d be cool.” So I called my agent and she liked the idea. She was thinking of the marketing perspective. Everyone was cool with it, so it happened.

What's the writing process like with you and Chicken *snerk* working on a book at the same time?

Kristin and I do some brainstorming, and then I write the first draft. It’s hard for me. I want to call her and talk to her about it sometimes, but she hasn’t read up to where I am. I used to send her pieces of it, but I revise constantly. So what I will have sent her before might have completely changed. So that didn’t work. When I get the whole first draft done, I send it to her. (I’ll talk to her in the manuscript.) Then she goes through it and fills in the blanks and answers the questions. She makes sure I’m being succinct enough, because I tend to do too much description. She said in this last book she had to delete a zillion “and whatnot”s. So she’ll change some of the text and write little bubble comments to me. Then she sends the manuscript to me and I see what changes she’s made. I re-read it carefully to make sure she’s not messing up any of my dominoes, because I have a much better idea of where I’m going than she does. When I’m done, we send it off.

Very cool that you guys work so well together. What was your inspiration for the House of Night series?

Well, it started out with my agent saying “vampire finishing school.” Two, almost three years ago, at the [RWA National] Conference in Reno. We were drinking, and she says “Hey hey hey, I have an idea for a series I need to give you.” I said, “Okay.” Then she said the three magic words: “Vampire finishing school.” I had been reading a lot of young adult, and I was thinking I would really like to write a young adult series. She, on the other hand, was thinking bondage and college co-eds. Well, those of you who have read my Goddess Summoning Books know I could definitely make that work, but I couldn’t get the YA angle out of my mind, so I talked her into young adult. And I’m sooooo glad I did. It’s made my career. These books have put me in a completely different place.

Also, I sat down with my dad, who is a biologist, and came up with a biological basis for vampirism. Then created a world that’s ours only there have always been vampires. It’s an uneasy alliance between vampires and humans. My vamps are like Superman. They’re super-gorgeous. They’re super-talented. They’re literally super-men and women. It’s matriarchal. Nyx is their goddess. I use a lot of Wiccan based rituals. They’re in no way disrespectful to men, because a real matriarchal culture would not be disrespectful to men. It’s just that men have a different role, and their role is more is as a protector.

I love that you got your dad involved! Who is your favorite secondary character from the series?

That’s easy – Aphrodite! Okay, I know she comes off as abrasive and selfish and even kinda ho-ish, but I love her. Plus, her character grows and evolves during the series quite a bit.

Okay, I have to agree. She's kind of a snot, but sooo interesting. I can't wait to see where she goes in the series. Speaking of which, how many more books will there be? Any buzz on a movie?

Right now we’ve sold a total of nine House of Night books, which includes a three book spin-off. As for a movie, Empire Pictures has optioned the series and is going to pitch it as a TV series to the major networks. So keep your fingers crossed!

Awesome! Can I come to the premiere? Kidding. Not really. Um, can we get a sneak peak at what's next for Zoey?

If you’ve read CHOSEN you know that Zoey messed up Big Time. So UNTAMED (out in October) begins with Zoey cleaning up her messes, but in the middle of all of that we meet a new force of evil that has been influencing vampyres at the House of Night. I can tell you that I scared my own self when I was writing this one! And I think of the end of it as more of a pause than a real The End. I’m working on the next book, HUNTED, already, and it begins literally within minutes of the close of UNTAMED.

I can't wait to see the new covers. The current ones are amazing. In between books, when we need a fix, where can we find you online?

You can find me at my website: http://www.pccast.net/ (and http://www.pccast.blogspot.com/) and the House of Night series website: http://www.houseofnightseries.com/.

That House of Night website rocks. Thank you for stopping by! Now, readers, don't forget to comment to get your name in the drawing to win Marked!