Book Review: Tempted by P.C. and Kristen Cast

Tempted
P.C. and Kristen Cast
Genre(s): young adult, paranormal, fantasy
Published: October 23rd 2009
Pages: 319
Rating: 3 stars

“Zoey needs a break after some serious excitement. Sadly, the House of Night school for vampyres doesn’t feature breaks on its curriculum—even for a High Priestess in training and her gang. Plus juggling three guys is no stress reliever, especially when one is a sexy Warrior so into protecting Zoey that he’s sensing her emotions. Wider stresses lurk too, and the dark force in Tulsa’s tunnels is spreading. Could Stevie Rae be responsible for more than a group of misfit fledglings? And Aphrodite’s visions warn Zoey to stay away from the immortal Kalona and his dark allure—but they also show that only Zoey can stop him. She’s not exactly keen to meet up, but if Zoey doesn’t go to Kalona he’ll exact a fiery vengeance on those closest to her. She just has to find the courage to do what’s necessary, or everything that’s important to her will be destroyed.”

Tempted is a turning point in the House of Night series.

Things begin to improve, the plot thickens and I found things to start being explained a little more. It's still not a great book by itself, but in House of Night terms, Tempted is amazing.

It may have something to with the introduction of new POVs, or the writer's may have just gained enough experience and been in the House of Night world long enough to get better. Whatever the reason, I'm not going to complain... much.

The new POVs in Tempted really help the reader to understand what's going on in everyone else's heads, and they're refreshing breaks from Zoey's constant babble and 'struggles' (not knowing which boy she likes best? Oh god, the world is ending! But seriously, that is not an issue that needs to be brought up in every. Single. Chapter.). That being said, they are a little confusing in the beginning, as not only does the POV change, but the tense does as well, from first person to third. While that isn't necessarily a bad thing (I don't think I'd have been able to cope with everyone else in first person, thanks a lot, Zoey), as it allows a little more world building and for the reader to see the bigger picture. Things aren't limited to that person's personal views and opinions, which is very nice, as first person can become incredibly boring and repetitive, what with the same thoughts going round and round.

We get insight into Stevie Rae and Aphrodite's minds in Tempted, with Aphrodite's being a lot more interesting, I found. While it was nice to see how conflicted and guilty Stevie Rae feels, the constant use of country idioms got very tiresome and, overall, her perky nature just got annoying. I found Aphrodite to be a lot more relateable, and I really liked how her chapters clued us in about her upbringing and how she feels behind the bitch façade. We also get a brief glimpse of the Raven Mocker, Rephaim's, POV but I found those parts a lot less interesting than everything else. Probably because I think the whole Raven Mocker storyline is too long-winded and dragged out (but I've already up to Destined, so that's probably why). And, at the very end, we even get little snippets from Heath and Stark, which I think helps with the whole 'Zoey has mulitple boyfriends' issue, which is getting so drawn out and annoying. 

Not only do we get new POVs, but there's some actual plot!

Okay, some parts of Tempted are still a bit filler-y, like Huntedwas, but these bits are done to build up to the next big instalment. And boy, is the next instalment big!

The build up is pretty good, even if I feel like the dialogue related to it was rather forced and unnatural. I felt things were laid out a little more clearly than usual, which was a very nice change from things being mentioned briefly and then pushed aside. The pacing was, again, nice. The writing kept things moving at a fair pace, but not so that you were overwhelmed with plot and details and left going 'huh?' over things.

All in all, a good addition to the House of Night series. Still not perfect, but definitely not the worst book in the series.