Book Review: Chosen (House of Night Series #3)

I started reading the House of Night series about a year a go but haven't got round to reading the 3rd book in the series until now. Yes, this is another vampire based story but as with most of them the author (or in this case authors) have their own interpretation of what a vampire is. I think to exaggerate that their definition of a vampire is quite different to some others they have spelt it differently as vampyre in these books.

The House of Night series is named after the school in which the majority of the story is set, and follows the life a a girl named Zoey Redbird who is sixteen at the beginning of the series. In this story the vampyre world is well known by the human world. In a small percentage of teenagers, adolescent hormones trigger a strand of what is otherwise junk DNA, which can eventually cause them to change into vampyres. When this happens they become 'marked' by a sapphire blue crescent-shaped outline on their foreheads. This signals the start of their change to become a vampyre and at this stage while they are changing they are called fledglings before they become an adult vampyre, although it takes four years to complete the change and not all the fledglings survive. Once they have been marked they must attend the House of Night boarding school, where they are required to take the Vampyre Sociology 101 course where they will learn the dangers of the vampyre world. If a fledgling is not in constant close proximity to adult vampyres, they will die. They will also die if their body rejects the change. Adult vampyres are super-gorgeous and super-talented and this is what a fledgling has to look forward to if they complete the change. All vampyres also follow what could be called a religion. They worship a goddess named Nyx and there is also an element of magic which gives them what could be called supernatural powers.

This novel, Chosen, is full of drama. From what could be normal teenage drama like being disappointed at getting Christmas presents on your birthday just because your birthday happened to be on the 24th of December and falling out with your parents to the complications of living in the vampyre world, but even Zoey's life is far from normal for the average fledgling. In this book she has to deal with many issues and learn from the consequences of her actions. Most of the story is set around her trying to find a way to save her best friend Stevie Rae who she saw die but is now an undead dead person. Zoey believes Stevie Rae is different from the other undead dead people as her affinity for earth has allowed her to retain some of her humanity and Zoey finds a way to 'fix' her best friend. But Zoey can't tell anyone about her best friend in case Neferet (Hight Preistess, who is seemingly wonderful to everyone else, but who Zoey knows is evil) finds out. So she keeps this a secret from her friends and boyfriend as well as the fact that she has been secretly seeing the hottest guy known in the vampyre world, Loren Blake. None of this goes well for Zoey as secrets always come out in the end. 

"Remember, darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good."

I read through this book in the last 3 days. Although it is not a book that leaves me deep in thought after I have finished reading it, it is a book that is hard to put down as you get so sucked into the story and finding out what happens next.