Review: Destined (House of Night #9)

Title: Destined (House of Night #9)
Author: P.C. and Kristin Cast
Rating: 3/5 stars

Goodreads Summary:
.....
Breathing hard, Aurox stood there over the bodies of his vanquished enemies. He turned to Neferet.

"Very good," she said in her emotionless voice. "Let us leave this place before the authorities descend."

Aurox followed her. He walked heavily, his hooves gouging furrows in the dirty alley.

Weak. He felt weak. And more. There was something else.

"What is it?" She snapped at him when he hesitated before entering the car again.

"I do not know. I feel--"

She laughed. "You don't feel at all. You're obviously overthinking this."

"Yes, Priestess." Aurox got in the car and let the world speed past him.I do not think. I do not feel. I am a weapon.
......
Zoey is finally home where she belongs, safe with her Guardian Warrior, Stark, by her side, and preparing to face off against Neferet -- which would be a whole lot easier if the High Council saw the ex-High Priestess for what she really is. Kalona has released his hold on Rephaim, and, through Nyx's gift of a human form, Rephaim and Stevie Rae are finally able to be together -- if he can truly walk the path of the Goddess and stay free of his father's shadow.


But there are new forces at work at the House of Night. An influx of humans, including Lenobia's handsome horse whisperer, threatens their precarious stability. And then there's the mysterious Aurox, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous teen boy who is actually more -- or possibly less -- than human. Only Neferet knows he was created to be her greatest weapon. But Zoey can sense the part of his soul that remains human, the compassion that wars with his Dark calling. And there's something strangely familiar about him . . .

Will Neferet's true nature be revealed before she succeeds at extinguishing Light? And will Zoey be able to touch Aurox's humanity in time to protect them all? Find out what's destined in the next thrilling chapter of the House of Night series.


My Take:
I feel like it took me forever to finish this book. I just didn't like it as much as the others in the series. All the other books were written in this way, but for some reason only in this book did it really get under my skin that the language used a lot of teenage jargon that really isn't used. It's almost like they were trying to make up a lot of their own teenage sounding words so it would appeal more to YA. I don't know if it worked for actual teenagers, but it definitely didn't work for me. (I'm in my early twenties and I use a lot of slang but this was just too different for me.)

There didn't seem to be much happening in the story. This book was basically just a huge set up for the next book, I think.

Zoey is keeping secrets from people and I'm not understanding why exactly. All we hear is something like 'I won't tell Stark about this' but she never goes on to say why. You would think she would want her guardian/warrior/amazingman to know everything, but she doesn't. She's keeping secrets and I don't like it, and even think it's slightly out of character for her.

Aphrodite seemed to take a full swing back into b*tch. I thought she was getting better, but after reading this, not so much.

I'm also not completely understanding what it is Zoey is seeing when she looks through the pendant the Skye island queen lady gave her. I could use a better explanation on that.

I LOVED the new story between Lenobia and her new cowboy! I don't understand why all of that was in the book, probably just for the next book. But I think all of those parts definitely could have been left out unless they play a big role coming up. It's almost like I was reading two different stories in one binding.

There was also a lot of repetition in this book. They would tell a small scene from two different viewpoints when I didn't think they needed to.

I know I did a lot of complaining in this review, but I was REALLY looking forward to this book because the previous two were probably my favorites, but I was vastly disappointed. We have to wait a whole year for these books and I was expecting more :/ They could have at least made it longer.

Overall, I wouldn't call this book a waste of time. Just a disappointment. I will tell you though, I'm glad Zoey isn't always the main focus anyone. If you're a fan of other characters, like Repheim for example, you'll be happy they are in this book a lot. It's like the 'nerd herd' goes every-freaking-where together.