“Awakened” is the eighth installment of the popular “House of Night” series penned by Oklahoma mother-daughter authors P.C. and Kristin Cast.

The New York Times best-selling authors have created a new type of vampire. The series is based in Tulsa, but with one major difference: there is a vampire high school called the House of Night.

The story itself follows a young girl, Zoey Redbird, as she is marked as a fledgling vampire and experiences all the changes that go with it.

The series ultimately is a good vs. evil story, with Zoey as the ‘good guy’ and her mentor, Neferet, as the ‘bad guy.’

While the writing and flow occasionally leave something to be desired, it nevertheless retains the personality of the character whose viewpoint you are reading at the time.

The authors are able to weave a tale that includes all the typical high school drama along with some mystery and intrigue.

They also are able to include the rich history and culture of Oklahoma, Tulsa, and of the Cherokee Indians. The authors weave all this in with the fictional vampire history that relates to the story they want to tell.

The writing itself is far more mature than the previous books, which is not bad in and of itself. It’s bad because the period between books for the characters tends to be a matter of days, if that.

The events that take place in these books would easily trigger more maturity in teenagers as they save the world again and again.

However, the growing up should have been more gradual, not thrust in the readers’ faces. It changes the series drastically and much too quickly.

Despite this, the series, and this book, are worth at least borrowing from the library, if not buying.

RATING: B