Cupid and Psyche

The book I'm reading has countless references to greek mithology, so I was intrigued to know more about it. And I happened to stumble on this sentence that means a lot to me:

"Darwin saw the butterfly as an apt emblem of the soul because it began as an earthbound caterpillar, 'died' into the pupal stage, and was then resurrected as a beautiful winged creature."

Destined, P.C. and Kristin Cast

Plot:

In Destined, the forces of Light and Dark collide as their epic struggle focuses on Tulsa’s House of Night. Zoey is home where she belongs, safe with her Guardian Warrior, Stark, by her side – and preparing to face off against Neferet. Kalona has released his hold on Rephaim, and, through Nyx’s gift of a human form, he and Stevie Rae are finally able to be together – if Rephaim can truly walk the path of the Goddess and stay free of his father’s shadow.
But is Zoey really safe? Does she truly know those who are closest to her? And will love win when it is tested by the very soul of Darkness? Find out what’s destined in the next thrilling chapter of the House of Night series.

My Opinion: It has spoilers!

'Destined' is the ninth book of the HoN sequel.
As expected, new characters are born/created while others die.

A good example is Aurox and Dragon.
Aurox is a weapon designed to follow Neferet's command, however due to the fact that Neferet's sacrifice was imperfect (Linda Heffer - Zoey's mom was the sacrifice), Nyx took the advantage and merged the Vessel's body with Heath's soul (Heath's request to reborn).
When Aurox faces with Zoey, he is able to feel!
Zoey is the button of Aurox's self-destruction as a weapon (Aurox takes the form of a bull, when corrupted by Darkness). Nonetheless Aurox is not gifted with Free Will and easily succumbs to the sharp tendrils of Darkness, killing Dragon - The Sword's Master.
Dragon faces a crossroad: 1) Kill Rephaim to vengeance his mate's death (Anastasia - The Rituals & Spells Mistress); 2) Protect Rephaim, as if he's a regular student, like a Sword's Master is expected to do.
Dragon's soul might be filled with anger and sorrow, but those feelings aren't strong enough to surrender to Darkness. Relying on his oath, Dragon saves Rephaim from Aurox in the middle of a ritual. Unfortunately he dies, double-breasted by one of Aurox's horns. Now, good side of things - Dragon is capable of meeting Anastasia in the Otherworld.

The splendid duet of Erin + Shaunee (the half-brained twins, metaphorically) is now told apart. Shaunee understands the harsh relationship some of us might have with parents. So she chooses to help Rephaim with his daddy issues.
To be honest there was no need for the duet to be told apart, if Erin learned to listen and to understand other people's point of view (She is the embodiment of the element Water - My favourite element! So I'm a little disappointed with her).

Erik, the jaw-dropping gorgeous boy with Hollywood expectations, sees himself wronged by Nyx because she made him a Tracker (a vampire that selects the humans who are destined to turn into vampires). When his instinct takes over control, he comes across a blind girl who is his target. Nothing goes according to plan, and Erik ends up turning the poor girl into a Red Vampire - then the Goddess gifts her with True Sight.

Lenobia - the horse's Mistress - is forced to accept the presence of a human in her stables. She falls slowly in love, as well as he does. But Lenobia holds a Vow, that keeps her away from humans in order to smooth the scars of her ancient soul. (I still need to read 'Lenobia's Vow' so I can't say much about her.)

Tenth book (Hidden) here I go!

'Destined' quotes

"I do not think. I do not feel. I am a weapon." Aurox, Chapter One, page 8

"I learned young that evil sometimes likes to be bragged about, even when it would be best if it kept a low profile. It has been my experience that Darkness's true struggle isn't against light and the strength of love and truth and loyalty. I think evil's greatest threat comes from its own pride and arrogance and greed. I've yet to see a bully who doesn't gloat, or a thief who doesn't brag. That's why they get caught. Darkness could get a lot more of its destructive work accomplished if it was more, shall we say, circunspect." Lenobia, Chapter Seven, pages 64/5

" 'No. Not a demon. I am Neferet's to command.' Aurox turned away then, leaving them behind, but he could not leave their words behind. They followed him down the hallway. He's a freak, they whispered. Something not right." Aurox, Chapter Twelve, page 130 

" 'Darkness does not always equate to evil. Light does not always bring good.' Maybe things aren't exactly as they appear." Rephaim, Chapter Sixteen, page 171

"Over more than one hundred years the one consistent thing I have found is that there really is no normal when it comes to women!" Dragon, Chapter Eighteen, page 201

"The dead move like the wind, or at least they do as they manifest to me. They are ethereal, diaphanous. They appear to have no real substance, though they are, indeed, very real." Thanatos, Chapter Twenty-Two, page 234

"It is admirable as well as understandable for you to desire justice. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you - there is a distinct difference between wanting to gain revenge and exact vengeance, and wanting the truth to shine forth so that justice for all is illuminated." Thanatos, Chapter Twenty-Five, page 271

"The question of what we are can only be answered by ourselves. We each decide what we are by the life choices we make. How we were made, who are parents are, where we are from, the color of our skin, who we choose to love, all those things do not define us. Our actions define us, and will keep defining us untill even after death." Thanatos, Chapter Twenty-Five, page 273

"Fear can be beneficial if it is tempered with common sense and courage." Thanatos, Chapter Twenty-Six, page 285

Torment, Lauren Kate

Plot:
Hell on earth.
That's what it's like for Luce to be apart from her fallen angel boyfriend, Daniel.
It took them an eternity to find one another, but now he has told her he must go away. Just long enough to hunt down the Outcasts - immortals who want to kill Luce. Daniel hides Luce at Shoreline, a school on the rocky California coast with unusually gifted students: Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans.
At Shoreline, Luce learns what the Shadows are, and how she can use them as windows to her previous lives. Yet the more Luce learns, the more she suspects that Daniel hasn't told her everything. He's hiding something - something dangerous.
What if Daniel's version of the past isn't actually true? What if Luce is really meant to be with someone else?
The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series...where love never dies.

My opinion: It has spoilers!
Torment is the second book of Fallen's sequel writen by Lauren Kate.
It is indeed an interesting story, however (in my point of view) this writer still has a long path to blaze through her writing career.
As odd as it sounds, her writing skills remind me of my own.
I'm really disappointed with the general male's personality - they all seem like little puppies trying to protect the main character.
However just like everything in life, this book has its perks.
Before anything else I would like to highlight a few quotes of Torment (This is me trying to translate quotes):
* "You need to trust that the ones that surround you will be faithful to their natures. Even when it may seems like they are betraying who they are."
* "The feeling of lonelyness in a big group of people is the worse kind of lonelyness, but I can't help it."
* "Luce already trusted in the wrong people. A thoughtless occupation at best. At worse, is a good way of being killed."
* "Daniel had adviced Luce to trust her instincts. But her feelings seemed very unreliable."
* "The fact of being connected to him forever, like a puppet to its puppetman."
What really caught my attention was the huge amoung of concepts between angels and demons.

I read this book in my idiom (shamely) so I'm not sure about its right terms in English.
Anyway, we have God and we have Lucifer. Lucifer is a fallen angel that rebelled against God - creating the free will.
Between the fallen angels, there's the ones that are actually angels (white wings) and there's the demons (golden wings).
The shadows are like 'portable videos'. They're appear to be irregular clouds of darkness that record important historic events. Later we get to know that we're able to travel through space and time by them.
Also, we find the Nephilim - half angel and half human creatures. Genious mortals that have been offered special gifts.
Finally we have creatures that were banished from heaven, as well as from hell. They are blind and their wings are painfully degenerating.

The supernatural world is facing an ancient war, that started with a forbidden love between a fallen angel and a mortal. Both of them were curse to endure a love that will never be.
In this book, Luce (the mortal girl) basically finds out more about her other lifes with Daniel (the fallen angel white winged).

All in all, the lesson is: how many lifes does we have to live to find someone that's worth dying for?

Awakened, P.C and Kristin Cast

Plot:
Exonerated by the Vampyre High Council and returned to her position of High Priestess at Tulsa's House of Night, Neferet has sworn vengeance on Zoey. Dominion over her immortal consort Kalona is only one of the weapons she plans to use against Z. But Zoey has found sanctuary on the Isle of Skye and is being groomed by Queen Sgiach to take over for her there. Being Queen would be cool, wouldn't it? Why should she return to Tulsa? After losing her human consort, Heath, she will never be the same - and her relationship with her super-hot-warrior, Stark, may never be the same either...
And what about Stevie Rae and Rephaim? The Raven Mocker refuses to be used against Stevie Rae, but what choice does he have when no one in the entire world, including Zoey, would be okay with their relationship? Does he betray his father or his heart? In the pulse-pounding 8th book in the bestselling House of Night series, how far will the bonds of friendship stretch and how strong are the ties that bind one girl's heart?

My Opinion: It has spoilers!

Awakened is the eighth book of House of Night's sequel. As amazing as it sounds, the story still surprises me in every turn of pages.
P.C. and Kristin Cast stretched out their horizons and wrote our delight story from other character's point of view. For example we have chapters destined to Jack's (Zoey's gay friend), Neferet's (Hight Priestest that turns her back to the Goddess) and Linda's (Zoey's mother) side of the story.
It's a win-win game, because there's no way that the reader gets bored while reading.

Zoey and Stark (her Warrior, Guardian, Boyfriend) decide to stick around the Isle of Skye for a few days, in order to recover their energies from the exhausting trip into the realm of Nyx.
However reality doesn't take long to succumb over their souls. Soon they start receiving calls from their freinds. They get to know that Jack is preparing a whole welcoming party - he has organized the events, he has made the decoration and he even is planing to sing 'Defying Gravity - Glee'.
I suspect that Jack has an afinity with Spirit (the purple element), but the book doesn't really mention it.
His soul is uncapable of being tainted, due to that fact Neferet kills him using his essence to pay her debts to Darkness. He dies with honour, defying gravity 'till the very end.
Damien (Jack's boyfriend) and Duchess (Jack's dog) break down and surrender to tears. Erik also cries for his dorm's partner death.
Neferet keeps looking for stronger and invincible weapons to start a war with humans. She has recently allied with the embodiment of Darkness - a white bull.
Kalona (a fallen angel that fell for his sin - obsession), after failing his mission to kill Zoey while her soul was shattered in the realm of Nyx, desperatly tries to break his oath with Neferet. When he realizes that his immortal being has never really belonged to her, he reclaimes his own freedom and walks the lonely path of rejection.
Kalona's favourite son - Rephaim - faces two harsh choices, whether to remain by his father's side (like he always has) or pay his life debt to Stevie Rae.
Meanwhile, Heath is given three choices for his future: 1) remain inside Nyx's domain, living a fake hapiness that slowly washes away his human memories; 2) the chance to live again, with a different body/memories/story; 3) incorporate the Vessel (named Aurox) that Neferet is summoning - as her brand new weapon. Excited with the thought of seeing Zoey once again, he choses the latter.
Since the murder of Anastasia, Dragon is in the middle of a crossroad, whether he joins Zoey's team to avoid a war with humans or let his rage take over control, not fulfilling his mate's promise.

All in all, I got to highlight the splendid writing style/ideas that these two american girls have.
I 'heart' P.C. and Kristin Cast!!!