P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast, Marked

Marked

P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

St. Martin's, May 2007, $8.95

ISBN: 0312360266

At a high school in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma the Tracker Vampyre MARKED sixteen years old Zoey Montgomery as a fledgling vampyre accepted at the House of Night, a prep school that trains the newcomers into becoming productive adults. The good is she no longer is failing geometry at SIHS; the bad is that some of the chosen fail to survive the Change. Leaving behind her close buddies, her boyfriend Heath and his beer binging, attending OSU, her step-loser dad, and using her grandfather's name Zoey Redbird begins her new life.

As she adjusts to Vampyre School and makes new friends, the faculty knows Zoey is special. Nyx the Vampyre Goddess has given her and at least one other fledgling special powers.. However, with life and death still to come, Zoey with loyal new friends finds herself in direct opposition against the elitist Dark Daughters, whose leader abuses Nyx's special endowment.

This is a terrific opening young adult fantasy that targets the high school crowd. The cast (pun intended) make the tale work as the audience will believe in vampyre high school because of the fully developed faculty and students. However, the entertaining coming of age story line belongs to the heroine, who just wants to fit in and not have to battle dangerous peers while fearing the Change as she keeps the fine plot focused.

Harriet Klausner