The House of Night is more than a set of teenage vampire novels — it is a forge for strong women!

Young Adult culture swerved into very questionable territory in the last decade with books such as the Twilight Saga, and Crave Series, creating romantic notions around male authority and toxic co-dependency. But here’s a series that puts women at the forefront without sacrificing steamy romance, forgetting LGBTQ+ and racial inclusion, or vilifying men by being unapologetically feminist.

Strong Women: The Good, The Bad, And the Criminally Insane!

Did you know that Pagans, wise women, homosexual men, and anyone else in the world who wasn’t submitting to a patriarchal rule under Judeo-Christian scripture standards — were labelled as witches?

That might be a little bit of a reductionist statement, but is it fair to agree that independent women and those who could not be deemed ‘useful’ or ‘in service’ of men were picked on and labelled as outcasts, even as witches — and penalised for it to the point of being burned alive?

· Jacob Distelzweig — a gay man who was accused of bewitching men into having sex with him.

· Joan of Arc — a young, fiercely religious woman who led an army of men to victory and was burned at the stake for wearing trousers and being a leader.

· Alice Nutter and the Pendle Witches — women who were outcast from society and lived without male authority. When a man refused them payment for service, they came under fire and half their family was executed!

While the main characters in The House of Night are compromised predominantly of women and gay men, the series’ primary antagonist is also a woman — and she’s gone mad with power — which just goes to show that gender doesn’t get in anyone’s way.

Even she rebukes the classic anti-feminist, monotheist culture embedded into society:

“This, a man who admits to worshipping a god who vilifies pleasure, relegates women to roles that are little more than servants and broodmares though they are the backbone of your church, and seeks to control his worshippers through guilt and fear!”

Neferet may be a power-hungry, narcissistic, murderous Vampyre, but she’s not wrong in her condemning of the inequality of the Abrahamic injustices between the sexes.

Vampyre with a Y?

It may just seem like an edgy choice, or an attempt to gently separate the books’ focus from other members of the vampire genre club — but the letter Y has been used to remind us that there is in fact a difference between the blood-sucking creatures of legend, and the characters in the novels. They are people — not monsters — and they are not too supernatural to be unrelatable.

Magyck is used in Pagan and Wiccan circles in the same way; to demonstrate the stark difference between the way they practice their new forms of worship in contrast to magic, which over the centuries has been blown out of proportion by Christian opposition to so-called “witchcraft” (strong women) to the point of utter manic fantasy!

The Mother-Daughter Team of P.C. and Kristin Cast!

Of course, the authors are very vocal feminists, and are highly active on Twitter with their opposition to J.K. Rowling’s Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminists movement. Indeed, in the series as well as in their real lives, these two are highly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community in tandem with feminist messages.

There has never been a husband/father figure present in their lives and as a successful author by nineteen years old, Kristin is clearly following in her mother’s literary footsteps, unhindered by a lack of male role-model.

Kristin’s influence on her mother’s writing has been essential to create realistic and relatable characters in The House of Night, with actual teen colloquialisms and slang.

Vernacular with Vampyres!

While it’s super important to appreciate so-called “pretentious” literature — from the classics of Pride and Prejudice, and Wuthering Heights — to modern hits such as the aforementioned and legendary Twilight Saga — what’s the point of writing snobbishly for the youth?

If it makes you read on with a hunger, how can it be poorly written?

The House of Night is written for teenagers, and with a view to include relevant colloquialisms and vernacular — that is, when Damian Maslin, a dictionary addict, speaks, he speaks with a broad range of vocabulary.

When Kramisha, Vampyre poet laureate, speaks? Her dialogue is written how she speaks, being from a Projects neighbourhood with an urban vernacular. This is so important, because it promotes the message that we do not have to speak with Euro-centric or Upper-class, Caucasian dialect to be valid in our expression or art forms.

(And I love that Stevie Rae speaks with Okie twang and slang!)

The House of Night series is proactive in encouraging appreciation of the arts, from the classics and historical prose of Shakespeare and the legends of the Amazons; to modern art in the form of fashion and poetry.

Not only this but the novels consistently promote the importance of empathy with animals, with those whom we may not share background or culture, and even exercise — who wouldn’t want to participate in fencing and horse riding!?

Who is this Damian? Kramisha? Stevie Rae? Character check, please!

Oh goddess, I can’t wait for you to meet the characters! Characters are everything to a book, because if you can’t relate to their lives and their personalities and struggles… then why on earth would you care enough to see what happens to them?!

· Zoey Redbird is almost at once demonstrated to be gifted with a powerful affinity for the vampyre religion and uses her powers to thwart those who would take away the free will of her kin. She is a deeply relatable person with faults and flaws galore, but ones she seeks constantly to rectify. Her Cherokee heritage is imperative to her moral and matriarchal path to victory in the series.

· Stevie Rae — Zoey’s best friend and roommate and total country-music fan-girl. Stevie Rae is faced with death, and on her reanimation as a new type of vampyre — a red moon vampyre — she must fight her new monstrous instincts of bloodlust and animosity to do what is right by her friends and herself.

· The Twins: Erin and Shaunee, though not literal twins, share a mind, heart, and soul bond. Though their characters are initially written as close as can be, their fundamental differences become more pronounced as the series moves forward until they are fleshed into such different people that they take two different moral stances. Though they end up apart, Erin still proves loyal to her friends when the cards are down; and Shaunee proves that she is more than what is on the surface, and that no matter how close we are with someone, we should not let others define who we are.

· Aphrodite LaFont, former spoiled rich-girl with a distinct sarcastic streak and powers to rival Zoey’s own… and they indeed clash, at first. She is a Prophetess who is plagued with visions of future catastrophes. Aphrodite’s character development demonstrates that first impressions can be misinformed, that people can fundamentally change, and that our family is those we choose, not that into which we were born.

· Damian Maslin, a boy who struggles with his parental relationships not because he’s been turned into a vampyre, but because he is gay. This struggle is a persistent one for teenagers to this day, and though it is far from Damian’s key personality trait it is a factor upon which discussion is occasionally focussed and his homosexuality is ardently defended by his friends when necessary. Damian faces serious grief when his partner is murdered but finds the strength from his friends to fight on.

Feminists ruin romance… right?

It isn’t anti-feminist to be in love!

Zoey Redbird and her friends lust after boys just as every teenager does, some finding themselves embroiled in love triangles, and even having to hide their affections for the so-called wrong kind of man. That is, when Zoey’s right-hand woman Stevie-Rae rescues and then falls in love with Rephaim — the son of the secondary antagonist, Kalona — she feels she has to hide her association with him while it develops. However, it is a healthy friendship-turned-romantic relationship and not one of those stereotypical “I can change him” pursuits.

If you don’t want to be swept off your feet and carried over the threshold by a big, strong man with a perfect, kind heart made just for you… well, that’s just fine!

But many of us long for it, and P.C. and Kristin don’t let up — they’re not afraid to get hot and steamy with the reader! No, the House of Night does not let up on the romance, the secret affairs and illicit meetings with older men, or even the erotic dreams about the evil, winged God.

Be a vampyre… join The Nerd Herd…

…and enjoy the fantasy of a Vampyre’s lustful bite without the unhealthy pretence that you need be dependent on the creature of the night. (Mostly because you are the Vampyre!)

P.C. and Kristin Cast’s magnum opus is the perfect solution for those of us who don’t wish to relinquish our power while thrilling at the danger and beauty that forms the allure of any vampire romance novel.