Darkphoenix

I’ve really been looking forward to Hidden, dying to read actually. So having read it, I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed. I am a huge fan of the HON series and I like the characters and the best thing about the series is that pretty much every book has a very well-paced narrative and the story progresses very steadily. This time though, that wasn’t the case. I felt that for most of the book, there wasn’t anything happening except a lot of pointless bickering (and it wasn’t even humorous what with the twins “unhappening” and all) There were parts of the book where I felt very annoyed with most of the characters, they spent too much time just bickering amongst themselves and then also ignored some very obvious hints about some other characters. Zoey’s insecurity and self-doubt was also very irritating, she was pretty self-assured the past few books and she decides that suddenly she can’t trust what she saw through the Seer Stone? Seriously? And is it very wrong for me to miss the Twins? I get that Shaunee is finally being her own person and Erin has turned into a very evil version of herself, but I really liked their banter. It made for some very funny dialogue and they were almost the only people who could answer Aphrodite in kind (also made for some great dialogue) Shaylin is a nice addition to the mix and it was nice to see her not taking any crap from Aphrodite. As for Stark, I don’t think I ever really liked him, he’s a little too controlling for my liking (I totally agree with what Kramisha said) I always liked Heath way more and I’m glad he’s back, even though he’s not back back. I’m hoping we’ll see more of his personality emerge through Aurox. It was also nice to see Thanatos take a more active role in running the school. I was also disappointed with the way Lenobia just disappeared from the book towards the middle, it was as if the writers simply forgot about her. She was the only professor who believed and agreed with Zoey when it came to Neferet turning evil so it’s a little strange that she did not have a more active role in the events that took place towards the end. Erik appears briefly, but he’s still a jerk and I still can’t stand him.I have a feeling that the main purpose of this book was to actually set up the last 2 books. I am a huge fan of the series and I really like the world and the very-carefully crafted and detailed mythology that the Casts have created. So I sincerely hope that the last 2 books pack a punch and are better than Hidden. While I did not hate the book (there were times when I couldn’t stop reading, especially the climax. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened), I can’t say that it lived up to my expectations.