House of Night gets picked up

Producers Michael Birnbaum and Jeremiah Chechik have ponied up some dollars for screen rights to the House of Night, a series of nine young adult novels by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

According to Variety, the series was published by St. Martin's Griffin, and just reached its fourth installment with the recently released "Untamed."

House of Night takes the vampire myth in a -esque direction. In the series, "vampyres" are accepted in society; they possess a genetic anomaly that manifests itself in some people at puberty. Vampyres are "marked" and sent to the House of Night, a school that offers training necessary to become an adult vampyre.

The story centers on Zoey Redbird, whose ordinary life is thrown into disarray when she becomes a vampyre and must change schools and enter a brand new world.

"P.C. and Kristin Cast created a thrilling world that juxtaposes teen drama with supernatural suspense, using the transition from human to vampire as a metaphor for the transition from adolescence to adulthood," Birnbaum said.

Book plot according to School Library Journal:
Grade 9 Up—In 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres not only exist but are also tolerated by humans. Those whom the creatures "mark" as special enter the House of Night school where they will either become vampyres themselves, or, if their body rejects the change, die. To Zoey, being marked is truly a blessing, though she's scared at first. She has never fit into the human world and has always felt she is destined for something else. Her grandmother, a descendant of the Cherokee, has always supported her emotionally, and it is she who takes the girl to her new school. But even there the teen stands apart from the others. Her mark from the Goddess Nyx is a special one, showing that her powers are very strong for one so young. At the House of Night, Zoey finds true friendship, loyalty, and romance as well as mistrust and deception. She realizes that all is not right in the vampyre world and that the problems she thought she left behind exist there as well. Readers will identify with many of the characters, especially the protagonist. The story moves quickly (a little too quickly at the end) and purposely leaves many unresolved issues. A good choice for those libraries serving fans of the occult, but be aware that the book contains some suggestive language and sex.—Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY