Review: Hidden

Hidden by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
#10 in House of Night Series

Rating-

Book Blurb

At last, Zoey has what she wanted: the truth is out. Neferet's evil has been exposed, and the High Council is no longer on her side -- but she's far from done wreaking havoc in the vampyre world. First, a mysterious fire ravages the stables. Then, Neferet makes a devastating move that will test them all.

With the seeds of distrust sown and Darkness breeding chaos at the House of Night, everyone must band together -- but that's proving to be more difficult than ever before. The twins are barely speaking and the House of Night's former enemy, Kalona, has now become their warrior, pushing their trust to the limit. To top it off, Zoey is pretty darn sure she might be losing her mind. She saw something when she looked at Aurox through the Seer Stone that she can hardly explain to herself, let alone her friends. Is it possible that Heath has come back in a different form? Is that why Zoey's so intrigued by Aurox, when it's so obvious that he's dangerous? And who would believe her if she told them? Zoey knows that following her instinct about Aurox might be just what they need to defeat evil . . . but if she's wrong, it could cause the destruction of those closest to her.

With the tension at a breaking point and friendships on the line, can the nerd herd come together to stop the spread of Darkness before it's too late?

My Thoughts

My initial thought after starting this book was I wasn't sure if I was going to like it flipping constantly from viewpoint to viewpoint. (Which is what I thought it was going to do with the sections labeled with names.) Then I came to understand that it was more a concentration on one character. Which wasn't so bad once you figure it out and get used to it.

The teenager characters are believable and relate able, even if you aren't a teenager. Even if they are dealing with a supernatural end of the world darkness, the underlying reactions and emotions are similar to real life. Sometimes the constant bickering between the "Friends" got to be a little much, but I guess it's to be expected from a book about teenagers. I found myself agreeing with Thanatos.. in part of the book she said, "How can we battle the great and ancient Darkness that has been newly loosed upon this world if we are no more than bickering children?"

I know that a series has to have an overlying story arc, but to me to have a "the whole world is ending and I have to find a way to stop it" issue in every book is a little much. I guess I wonder why it has to be so dramatic and almost over the top... It's almost like what people say about the Die Hard movies, there is no way that one man can get into that much trouble or walk into that much. I don't see how one little group of teenagers could really get pulled into so much.

There was plenty of interesting twists and turns in this book to keep me reading. When the group isn't bickering and being annoying in general I enjoyed the story a lot. Overall I liked the book, and the characters did grow personally in this one.

I hope this review doesn't come across as me ranting.. That is not my intention, just how I felt while reading the book.