Review of Chosen by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Is it possible accepting an undesired change? This is the main question of Chosen, a paranormal fiction book written by P.C. and Kristin Cast. The authors are, respectively, the mother and her daughter, both passionate about vampire stories. Chosen is the third book of the House of Night, a successful series that has also become a very famous TV movie.  Chosen is the Book 3 of this series and tells the vicissitudes of a teenager called Zoey Redbird. Zoey has been marked with the emblem of the House of Night, a half moon tattooed on the forehead, this is the mark of vampires. The House of Night is, instead,  a sort of dark congregation inhabited of  monsters, goddess and vampires living underground and killing boys and girls to be turned into bloodthirsty  vampires. Zoey is one of the victims of Neferet, the high priestess of the House of Night, the same woman who marked Zoey and her friend Stevie Ray to become vampires. Neferet taught Zoey to use strange and terrific powers, but, at last, this woman turns out like a malevolent creature and not only a vampirism teacher. Indeed, those guys who don’t accept the transformation die, but they don’t really die, but become undead. This is the awful and creepy destiny happened to Stevie Ray, undead because she didn’t accept  the transformation into a vampire. Zoey, instead, is still going through the transformation process and wants to save Stevie from this tragic destiny. Chosen opens with the first character of the Book, Zoey, who is about to celebrate her birthday. The seventeen year girl celebrates her birthday on 24 December and it is in this initial stage of the book that the authors unveil the troubles of all teenagers:  difficulty to accept themselves and  unavoidable changes of life. The plot of the Chosen, is, admittedly, a story of betrayal and suspects and secrets. Zoey, indeed, decides not to reveal to her friends and her teachers that Stevie is undead. If she did, the priestess of the House of Night,  who has the power to read thoughts, would find out immediately. This secret and some suspects lead Zoey to have well two boyfriends, Erik, her official handsome boyfriend and Heath,  a former human boy bitten by Zoey. During the story Zoey must take several choices, among these,  leave Heath or Erik and to find out a way to save Stevie Rae before she is turned into a vampire fully and before  the priestess of the House of Night manages to read her thoughts. This story is also shaken by the gruesome murder of Professor Loren Blake, another character who showed a particular interest for Zoey.  To defeat the priestess and save Stevie,  Zoey also decides to ask help to Afrodite, the most abject girl of the school.  This girl is the one who, along with Zoey,  is capable to resist the power of the Priestess. Readers adore Chosen and can’t live without  because the book deals the paranormal stories about vampires as very human stories. Zoey is a nearly vampire and a human teenager torn among the usual conflicts of all teenagers.  The narration is highly effective during the meeting between Zoey and Stevie, the friend now transformed into an unknowable freak who drinks only blood. The language of the book is also brilliant and jaunty and the vicissitudes of the brave teeneager Zoey Redbird, especially during the final battle with the priestess Neferet, show a very high emotional strain that appears on each page and explains why the “ House of Night” series  became a successful TV movie.