Hunted (House of Night #5) - P.C. and Kristin Cast

Hunted is the fifth book in the House of Night series by mother and daughter duo, PC and Kristin Cast. It is published by Atom Books and is 448 pages long.
Books in the series:
1.Marked
2.Betrayed
3.Chosen
4.Untamed
5.Hunted
6.Tempted
7.Burned
8.Awakened
9.Released 2011
10.Released 2011

For more information regarding the House of Night series, you can go to http://www.houseofnightseries.com/

The website has a lot of interesting features like leaning all about your favourite characters and creating your own vampyre tattoo (if you want to make believe a little bit). After reading the first book, I had a good look around the website and I think it's a nice companion to the series.

What has happened so far
Zoey Redbird recently got marked by a Tracker, meaning that she had to move to the House of Night in order to maybe become a vampyre. If she doesn't die first. Zoey is unlike any of the other fledglings though. She has been extremely blessed by the Goddess Nyx who gave her powers that she never expected. Zoey can has an affinity for all five elements: Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Spirit.

Zoey has her faithful friends, Stevie Rae, Shaunee, Erin, Damien and Jack to help her out. Zoey has had an array of guys on the go; human Heath, hot and talented Erik and teacher Loren the poet. The new guy Stark turned up and Zoey couldn't help but feel something for him. Football players from Zoey's old school went missing and were murdered so she had to save Heath before he was killed as well. After best friend Stevie Rae died and came back as something else, Zoey wasn't coping very well and managed to annoy everyone she cares about. Neferet turned evil and reawakened an evil immortal who took over the school with her.

Hunted
Neferet and Kalona have taken over the House of Night, forcing Zoey and her friends to stay elsewhere for the time being. Luckily, Stevie Rae and the red fledglings are still living down in the tunnels which have been made a lot more home like. No one is exactly happy about sharing living space with the red fledglings because not all of them are as nice as Stevie Rae but what other choice do they have?

Being down in the tunnels gives Zoey a chance to make up with Erik after their huge break up but Stark is also on her mind. She felt something huge for him before he died and knowing that he came back un-dead gives her hope....until he turns up as one of Neferet and Kalona's minions. Evil has reared its ugly (well ok, he's pretty hot) head and Zoey is completely messed up. How is she going to fix things this time?

What I thought
After the events in Untamed, I was really excited to see how things were going to pan out and I wasn't disappointed. There is a lot of mystery in Hunted which builds up so much tension ready for book 6, Tempted. Normally I would complain about this but there are quite a few unanswered questions but I'm not going to this time. I felt like everything that I didn't find out or figure out was done just right so that there would be a lot to address in the next book. Also, all of this mystery adds to the suspense of what is going to happen and kept me guessing the whole way through.

As the book is only set over the space of two days, everything that happens seems realistic. Books that are set over the space of months can sometimes feel quite unrealistic and rushed, trying to pack as much in as possible in such a short space of time but that isn't what Hunted is like at all. The fact that the story is only spread over two days gives the chance for a lot to be explored and explained properly so that nothing ever felt unclear at any point.

I'm not too sure how I feel about Kalona. I know he's supposed to be this hugely evil, fallen angel character but he just doesn't seem bad enough to me. Maybe that's because he has so much charm that he wants everyone to follow him and has certain ways of making that happen. He is certainly sleazy and creepy though, making me shudder a little at the thought of him. There are times when he does seem extremely bad but other times where I'm not convinced. He tries to tempt Zoey and make her think that he really isn't the bad guy so I think this is why I feel like this.

I really enjoyed the inclusion of the red fledglings as so far, we have only really heard from Stevie Rae. It was good to see how the others were coping and alike and different they were at the same time. It was good that some of them were included into the main plot which made their appearance more justified. I would have liked for some of them to have been included a bit more but as there are already so many characters to follow, I can understand why this didn't happen. One thing that I did find to be missing here was the relationship between Stevie Rae and Dallas. It is clear that they have something going on but never really expanded upon and I would have liked to have seen more of this part of the story.

Some other relationships that are explored in this book are very interesting though so made up for what was missing. Some I cant mention though otherwise it would be giving away too much. What I can say though is that the relationship between Zoey and Stark develops a lot and not in the way that I had expected. It was nice for the repetitiveness of Zoey's bad choices to stop for a little while, at least when it came to Stark anyway. Aphrodite's relationship with Darius is progressing well even when some major problems are thrown in their way.

If you are just picking up this series then I urge you not to start with this book. House of Night is a series that really does need to be read in order so that you don't get lost and can really follow what is going on. I also think that starting at the beginning gives you the chance to get to know and love the main characters which I don't think you can do by starting anywhere else other than the beginning. Hunted is addictive, interesting, mysterious and funny all at the same time. PC and Kristin Cast are quickly becoming two of my favourite authors.