LoveVampires - the website dedicated to vampire fiction.
With vampire book reviews, information and author interviews.

Hidden

P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Published 2012          302 pages

Reviewed by Georgia

Summary (from the book jacket)

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 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 close to her.

With the tension to 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?

The Review

Hidden is the tenth book in the House of Night Series and it kicks off from whence Destined stopped. Like the previous books this one is also narrated from multiple points of view giving the reader the satisfaction of seeing various happenings in the story through different eyes, thus enabling him/her to delve deeper into the plot and understand things more profoundly. Furthermore, multiple points of view always help with character development since all of our heroes and heroines are given the spotlight and consequently frequent glimpses into their minds and hearts.

Nevertheless, from the very beginning until the last page Hidden has left me the impression that this is a “bridge”, namely a link between what has happened so far and what is going to happen in the forthcoming book(s). Without this being a deterrent to the furthering of the plot, it helps set the ground for future action. There are many arcs that come to a close and the ground is prepared or set for the narration of new ones. There is also a great deal of character development as some of our heroes are seen through a different light, that is to say old friendships fall apart, new ones are being formed, most of the “nerd herd” is growing up, and above all most of them come to some startling realizations about themselves and their role in the fight against Evil. Moreover, it is not a dull book. There is enough action to keep the pulse beating, so to speak. There is tension and suspense, a healthy dose of drama and enough interaction between the various characters to ensure a delightful and entertaining read. Finally, it leaves readers with a longing for the next book, as the story is told in such a way, that in the end a lot of intriguing questions are being raised as to what the future will bring for our heroes/heroines.

On the down side this book is not offered for independent reading. Fans will be perfectly happy with it, but someone picking it up randomly will have difficulty catching up with everything that has happened so far and the significance of events, choices, artifacts, characters and places to the main plot and various subplots.

LoveVampires Review Rating: