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House of Night #1
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: P. C. Cast
Artist: Joelle Jones (cover by Jenny Frison)
Dark Horse is bringing us something special with House of Night #1! Critically acclaimed writer P.C. Cast writes the latest in a string of teen-angst horror books. We follow the main character, Zoey Redbird, and her struggle to not only grow into a young woman, but do it as a vampyre that has been “marked” by Nyx, the vampyre goddess. Instead of attending high school, she now attends House of Night. It seems there is a pecking order as far as social status, but also in the form of a “leader” of a hierarchy as well called The Devil’s Daughters. Zoey is put in the role of leader after Aphrodite gets removed for a disgraceful incident. Of course, this puts the two girls at odds with each other and gives us another dynamic besides the flashback to the 13th century in Norway. This was to show us the early days of vampyres and the struggle to just survive, let alone thrive. By the end of the book, we have Zoey struggling to manage her new powers (elemental stuff), a great rivalry with Aphrodite, and her new friends at school that seem to be on the fence about her even being there.

Alright, my thoughts are as follows. First, I know nothing of P.C. Cast, but I’ve read that she has sold quite a few novels on this type of subject manner, so it would only make sense that this should be pretty good. This particular book starts off kind of pedestrian, but definitely has lots of potential, and I’m betting it will pay off between now and the end. The artist, Kent Dalian, is a solid artist, but I really think his work shines when they do the flashback to the 13th century. His rendition of that time period and setting are absolutely incredible. The first pages of a lake surrounded by a small village almost remind me of a painting by Thomas Kinkade. All in all, it was a good start, but I’m hoping for even more action and some vampyre action in the next issue! Rating 3.5/5