Destined By: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

My Review

I was indifferent while reading this book, due to the fact that the plot of the story is very repetitive, yet relatable. Destined is the ninth novel in the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. This novel tells the story of Zoey Redbird and her best friend, Stevie Rae, as they struggle to keep calm among all of the chaos that Neferet, their High Priestess, is causing in their school. Stevie Rae has taken a former Raven Mocker, a creature of evil, in as her boyfriend, causing all sorts of chaos. His name is Rephaim. Zoey supports Stevie Rae and trusts that if she sees something good in him, he must not be so bad after all. In Destined, the storyline and overall plot of the novel is often repetitive and predictable when viewed with previous novels in this series, yet it is written in a way that is easy to read and it’s a relatable story.

Destined is the ninth novel that P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast wrote for this series and in each of the novels Zoey had some sort of relationship problem, she fought evil, someone either was hurt or killed, and then by the end of the novel Zoey and her friends teamed up together to fight the evil force and won. It’s the same basic plot every time and if they couldn’t come up with a different plot outline for all nine novels, then maybe the series should have ended a long time ago. Some repetition and predictability is fine, and I understand that it’s unavoidable sometimes. Yet after nine novels going through the same storyline with small variances here and there, it’s time to just stop writing this series. There is one other major flaw I have noticed in how these novels were laid out: whenever it seems like P.C. and Kristin Cast are trying to teach us a lesson, they have the characters flawing in that very issue. An example of this would be of all of the times when Rephaim and Stevie Rae are talking and Stevie Rae never truly believes Rephaim, even though the novel had just been trying to teach us that believing in your friends and trusting your partners is essential to bettering who you are.

P.C. and Kristin Cast wrote this book in a way that is easy to read, especially for young adults and teenagers. The way the characters think, speak, and act all are direct reflections on how teenagers are. There is enough immaturity to keep the characters relatable, yet not so much that the characters become obnoxious and the book gets tossed aside as a failed joke. The characters in Destined also provide a way for the reader to relate to them by experiencing the same issues young-people have to go through in reality. For example, Rephaim has to continuously prove to others that he is not an evil creature anymore. “Rephaim stared into Stevie Rae’s kind eyes, willing her to understand” (105). Even though Nyx, the Goddess they devote themselves to, forgave Rephaim for his past and gifted him with the form of a human boy at night in front of the House of Night school, people still doubt him and have suspicion that he will suddenly turn on them. This seems relatable to me because, let’s face it, we have all had someone not trust us for reasons we had no control over. Rephaim is one of those sympathetic characters in the book that you cannot help walking in the shoes of. The other good thing about how the characters were created in this series is the way that the characters aren’t made wiser than their suggested ages normally are, therefore allowing people to connect with the characters without feeling like they are trying to connect with someone completely fake and made up.

Destined has failed, in my opinion, to create an interesting read that will keep people hungry for the next page. A good book should be able to catch and keep my attention while it follows a clear plot that is written in a way that makes for a reasonably easy read. The story should also be a teacher to the readers. This novel did catch my attention in the beginning, however, after a few chapters my attention was easily lost. Too similar were the ideas in this novel compared to the previous novels in the House of Night series. Although a basic lesson was laid out for the reader to gain from this reading, the lesson was lost when the characters failed to stick to the idea. Basically, Destined had a poor storyline that is far too similar to the previous eight books P.C. and Kristin Cast wrote for the House of Night series, the lesson was lost, yet the characters kept me reading - although just barely. This book wasn’t good, but it did have some pros to go along with the cons I cannot look past; therefore, I will state my opinion of this book as one of indifference.

I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

Other Source's Reviews

Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone. Mutant victims of the plague -- The Infected -- lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move... waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood. But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time. Written by Warner Bros. Pictures

It is the year 2012. In the ruins of New York city. Robert Neville who is a military scientist who is the lone survivor of a biochemical disease which was supposed to cure cancer 3 years previous. With only blood thirsty zombies as his neighbors and his trusty dog, Samantha, Robert is trying to discover a cure for this disease and to find out any other people who might have also survived. Written by John Wiggins

---

My Review

The film and book, I Am Legend, caught my attention one day while I was channel-surfing on my TV. At first I missed the opening scene and I was lost, but after a brief moment at the computer, researching what the movie was about, I knew what I had missed. As the story carries Robert Neville, played by Will Smith in the movie, through countless nights of being alone and staying alive in a society of mutant victims. Personally, I do not know how he was even able to stay sane with only a dog to keep him company for such a long time, yet seeing that he does inspires me and makes me think about how I would be in this senerio. I pictured myself trying to research medical solutions to help save the mutant victims, staying alone night after night, finding food and using whatever was left behind to keep myself alive when I had to sleep at night. Then the movie lead Robert Neville down more tedious and testing roads, leaving him completely and utterly alone without even his dog after some mutant canines bit the dog, forcing Robert to kill it before it changed and bit him.

I could not fantum being in such a terrible situation, being so alone and still working on saving New York's mutant society in order to save the mutation from further spreading. Thus, allowing the New York civillians who were all forced to evacuate the city to someday return. The worst part, to me, was how Robert had to leave his family. He had to live every day not knowing how they were doing, knowing his child was growing and his wife was without him. It would drive me insane knowing I was missing my family and for what? Curing a disease that was trapped in New York and already contained from the rest of the world may be important, but I think Robert stayed because he would have wanted someone to cure him if he was bitten and made into a mutant victim.