Untamed by P.C. and Kristin Cast, UK edition cover.

Title: Untamed (A House of Night Novel #4)
Author: P.C. and Kristin Cast
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher:  Atom (4th June 2009)
Blurb:

‘I saw the end of everything’ Aphrodite’s voice was as haunted as her face. ‘I saw all of it happening because you were dead, Zoey. Your death made it happen.’ ‘Ah, hell,’ I said and then my knees gave way and I had to sit down.

A week ago Zoey had a group of special friends, three boyfriends and a (kinda) clear conscience. Now she has none of the above. Luckily, ice-queen Aphrodite is showing signs of melting and ex-roomie Stevie Rae isn’t as dead as she’d thought. Though Stevie Rae’s now hanging out in tunnels with freaks – totally gross.

Assuming she can get them to listen, Zoey will need all her friends as events take a frightening turn at the House of Night school for vampyres. Shocking true intentions are about to come to light, loyalties will be tested and an ancient evil is about to rise again.

Some days being special just doesn’t seem all that . . .

Rating:**** (4 stars)

Review:

Untamed is the fourth book in P.C. and Kristin Cast’s epic House of Night series. This book is brilliant; I almost gave it five stars. The narrative begins a couple of days after the events of Chosen.

This book was a real page turner for me – I struggled to put it down at 1am so I could go to bed! I really, really, really enjoyed reading it. Everything just seemed to click together in this book, in a way it didn’t quite manage in Chosen and the book totally outshone Marked for me. I thought Chosen was a turning point in the series, but it’s as nothing to this book. To say things change a lot in this book is something of an understatement. The stakes are definitely raised in this; to rather scary levels to be honest.

In Untamed the (to quote Buffy) big-bad is finally revealed. I think who the Cast’s chose to be the big-bad is very interesting and whilst not an unusual choice definitely an original spin. The build up in this book is brilliantly done. As mentioned in my previous review, I have something of a soft spot for Aphrodite: and she was a definite character of interest in this book, as the blurb hints. Aphrodite is a brilliant foil for Zoey, and actually for Stevie Rae too. Also, I didn’t want to yell or poke or do anything to Zoey in this book because she was actually smart; not that it’s much of a surprise, cause there have been hints, but it’s nice to see Zoey go back to being as awesome as she was in the first book.

Untamed is really about repair and destruction; by the end of the book one thing is clear: nothing will be the same again.