HIDDEN (House of Night #10) by PC and Kristin Cast-a review

HIDDEN (House of Night #10) by PC and Kristin Cast

HIDDEN is the tenth full-length novel (October 16, 2012 release) in PC and Kristin Cast’s young adult HOUSE OF NIGHT series focusing on 16 year old Vampyre Zoey Redbird and her gang of misfit vampyres with affinities to the elements. When last we saw Zoey and her friends, Zoey’s mother had been killed by the High Priestess Neferet, Aurox had just killed Weapons Master Dragon Lankford during the reveal ceremony and Kalona swooped in to save his ½ raven ½ human son Raphaim. Oh, and everyone on the High Council now knows that Neferet has aligned herself with everything evil. It took ten books for the Council to pull their heads out of the sand, but finally Neferet’s true nature has been revealed.

The Goddess Thanatos (Death) is now in charge of the Tulsa House of Night where Zoey and the vampyres are schooled. With Thanatos in charge, she makes it her responsibility to ensure that the young vampyres follow the path of good, but when Neferet defected to the ‘dark side’ she left a path of destruction and betrayal. Blood sacrifices called forth the beast known as Aurox and while we all know his true identity, the vampyres at the House of Night only know that he was created from Darkness to destroy Zoey and her friends.

To be honest, the storyline does not progress much further than the previous book and only about 2-3 days in total. Neferet continues to feed the ‘dark tendrils’ using her blood and the blood of immortals, but it is her power and control over Aurox that will waiver when his humanity begins to usurp the beast buried beneath the human façade. And it will be the power of the elements that will help Aurox control the beast and with Zoey’s magical seer pendant, Aurox’s true identity will be revealed to everyone at the House of Night but not before Neferet devises one final plan to bring Zoey down.

Within this particular storyline Kalona and Aurox, once puppets ruled by Neferet, will see the error of their ways and the Goddess Nyx will begin to show some compassion for two of her lost children. A newly marked red vampire will be gifted with ‘the sight’ and with the ability to read colors and auras she will become a valuable member at the House of Night much to Aphrodite’s chagrin.

The usual cast of characters return with a young fledgling defecting to the ‘dark side’ but what I noticed is that some of the Cast’s writing has changed and matured (not all) which was a pleasant and welcome surprise. In the past, the negative, immature and derogatory name calling and comments from many of the characters was becoming unbearable and pushed this particular series into the –”not sure if I want to continue pile”! There is still quite a compilation of immature theatrics from a couple of characters including the high and mighty Aphrodite, who can’t seem to stop the swearing and rude behavior. How many times can one character use the term f***tard in one chapter?  But overall, many of the characters appear to have stepped up to the plate (so to speak).

The writing style continues to be stilted. The storyline will flow along and then all of a sudden falter, but we know there are two writers for this particular series. Similar to all of the other storylines, the books stumble whenever the characters enter into what seems to be a forced conversation with one another. Sometimes it is like reading two different books.  And there is plenty of repetition as it pertains to Zoey’s thoughts and comments. IBS anyone?  

I would like to add that if anyone has not read the HON novella Lenobia’s Vow, I would suggest that you check it out. Lenobia’s Vow is a short story revealing the past life and love of the horse mistress Lenobia Whitehall and the story will come full circle within the pages of HIDDEN. If you are a fan of the House of Night series, the novellas are of a much better quality of writing and speak with more maturity and grace.

Overall, I enjoyed HIDDEN much more than many of the previous storylines. Perhaps it is the change in the maturity level of the writing or the fact that many of the characters are no longer struggling with their own identities and have stopped ‘pushing’ themselves into the storyline at every opportunity.

Reviewed by Sandy