House of Night: Burned
by P.C & Kristin Cast

Release Date: 27th Apr 2010
Publisher: Little Brown
ISBN: 978 1 9056 5481 9
RRP: £11.99

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Jaw-droppingly brilliant and gloriously irreverent book 7 in the irrepressible House of Night series...

Burned sees us return to where things left off in Tempted. Zoey’s trauma at seeing her human consort’s neck brutally snapped by Kalona caused her soul to shatter; it’s fragmented pieces finding their way to the Otherworld. The High Council are ready to give up on Zoey – no other High Priestess has ever succeeded in returning from a soul shattering... of course, we all know Zoey is no normal High Priestess – and in fact, that point is finally made keenly in this instalment. Key to recovering Zoey’s soul is an ancient religion mostly buried and forgotten by the High Council... but not by Neferet. It all comes back to the old fashioned struggle between Light and Darkness – embodied within a black and white bull.

With Heath dead and gone, Stark must learn to look inwards and accept his all aspects of himself through a purging and purifying process that will ultimately change him forever. We learn of ‘Guardians’: an elite group of more-than-warriors, bound to their ‘Aces’ (or Queens) with their very soul and essence. Not least, we see a tentative relationship between Stevie Rae and Rephaim start to solidify into something more substantial.

The big questions are: Will Zoey get back to her body? Just how powerful is Stevie Rae and what’s up with her sudden gooey-eyes at the Raven Mocker? Plus, how can Neferet get any more evil? Well, the latter question is easily enough answered: simple, she can keep kidding herself that she is in control of Darkness and she can burn every bridge she has; in so doing, her transformation to the dark side is complete. The rest, you’ll have to find out for yourselves!

Interestingly, a different tack is taken with the writing of Burned. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of Zoey, Stark, Aphrodite, Stevie Rae and Rephaim, thereby altering the balance of the story – instead of it being mostly all about Zoey, there is a clear progression to encompass each of the individual characters in their own right – an inspired decision for this chapter, as the over-riding message is that everything in life is about balance. No good without evil, no light without dark, no joy without sorrow, no action without consequence. Ok, so that’s hardly something new – but it is exquisitely woven into something that is faintly moving.

We know that the mother and daughter team were under considerable pressure to deliver this manuscript on time and there was some concern that this would end up with this instalment feeling a little rushed and cobbled together – thankfully, however, despite the odd typo,Burned is blissfully equally a fast-paced drama and quiet moments of repose that illustrates just how brilliantly P.C and Kristin Cast work together. If it were humanly possible, we’d have to concede that we are even more hooked on the House of Night series. The only downside? We have to wait for our next fix (Awakened)... dang it!