So many books, such little time.

SCORPIUS
Who? The Ministry kept it before, do you really trust them not to keep it again? Only you and I have experienced how dangerous this is, that means you and I have to destroy it. No one can do what we did Albus. No one. No, (slightly grandly) it's time that time-turning became a thing of the past.

ALBUS
You're quite proud of that phrase, aren't you?

SCORPIUS
Been working on it all day.

Twenty-two years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry and his wife Ginny wave goodbye to their second eldest son, Albus, as it's his first year at Hogwarts. Forever feeling like he's living in his father's shadow, their relationship becomes rocky and after over-hearing Harry talking to Amos about using a Time-Turner to bring back someone he loved, Albus takes things into his own hands.

I did rather well to avoid spoilers and I went in with an open mind; this was nothing like I was expecting.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

I found many problems with this book.

1. Scenes from the original book series are included which I would count as cheating.
2. Every time Albus and Scorpius go back to the Triwizard Tournament in 1994, Ludo Bagman repeats the same thing every time; and they go back three times.
3. How can Voldemort have a child?!? He's missing a nose, what other body parts is he missing.
4. Finally, a plot hole. When Albus and Scorpius go back to 1994 the second time to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, they humiliate Cedric by expanding his head so he then floats to the surface of the lake. This is where it might get complicated. Cedric is then angered, turns to the dark side and works with Voldemort. He kills Neville therefore Nagini is never killed with the sword of Gryffindor. Voldemort lives and Harry dies. But then if there's no Harry, there's no Albus. Therefore Albus won't have the motivation to save Cedric in the first place thus never going back in time... and we're stuck in a paradox.

As a play in a theatre, it would look awesome. But as a book on its own... Not great. Harry Potter should have been left in the past.

'Do you know why Nyx didn't destroy me when I chose to Fall? Because Nyx is a true Goddess - loving, benevolent, loyal, and kind. You? You are a petulant child, a pretender, and a usurper. No matter how much vengeance you spew or how much chaos you cause, you will never be a Goddess!'

Redeemed starts of with Zoey being chucked in jail for the murder of two human men in Woodward Park where she then refuses to see anyone from the House of Night so therefore sentencing herself to death from rejecting the Change. Meanwhile, Neferet returns to her penthouse suite at the Mayo where her tendrils of Darkness possess the staff members that work there and she creates a barrier/curtain of blood around the hotel so no one can leave.

When I sit and think about it, this book wasn't actually that bad, I was just relieved it finished and at the end it said 'THE END'. None of this 'THE END ... for now...'

'The centre golden limestone statue above the entrance to the church quivered, shifted, and in a fetid burst of freezing air, the white bull materialised. As he emerged from the skin of the church, his hooves sparked, causing the ground to shake. He snorted, staring after where Neferet had disappeared.
"Now that, my heartless one, surprised me..." '

At the end of the last book Neferet was thrown off her Penthouse suite at the Mayo Hotel with Aurox, when she comes into contact with the ground she explodes in a mass of spiders that scuttle away into the shadows. She then materialises later at the job fair, Zoey senses that this swarming mound of spiders is Neferet and casts a circle to get rid of her. Erin comes back to join the circle after turning to the bad side and her reward is rejecting the Change as Neferet's spirit passes through Erin. Neferet is then banished to a cave where she watches her life and memories flash before her eyes... But not in a dying way more like an inspirational way.

As a whole, this book is boring. I went days without touching it, which is never a good sign. The Casts' must have ran out of ideas due to them recycling storylines ... AGAIN!! A theme for this book is not turning your back on your friends which was also the main theme in some of the earlier books; Zoey has a temper tantrum and ends up attacking Shaylin. And again with the whole boyfriend situation, she has Stark, her warrior and Guardian and boyfriend but because Heath's soul is in Aurox, she wants him too and even sucks his blood. Although she does get her act together by the end of the book and decides to stay with Stark, but a large quantity of the book is Zoey moaning about boy trouble ... AGAIN!!

The only hope I have that's towards the House of Night series, is that I've got one more book to go and then THE END!! Closure. Fin.

'"You disappoint me. I expected you to call me and beg for aid. You see, my heartless one, I should not be able to predict your actions. That bores me, and I have no desire to waste my powers on predictability and tedium."'

At the beginning, we are thrown straight into the action. Neferet is found in Lenobia's stables where she is sacrificing Shadowfax, which is Dragon Lankford's cat, so then she can control Darkness, but as Darkness flies off to cause chaos, it hits a lit lantern which falls onto the hay bales and catches a light instantly. This is where we go further into Lenobia's history, which I was rather excited about as I quite like her. My prediction was correct in that she did have a human mate many years ago. His name was Martin and he died in 1788 due to jumping into a fire with some bad guy that was trying to attack Lenobia. This is illustrated again as Travis goes into the fire to save the horses.

The part of the story I didn't like was that it felt like the Casts' were recycling their storyline. I'm not going to go any further into it than that because it is too close to the end and it's the climax of the book. Due to me feeling that way, I was struggling to keep interested in the last hundred odd pages, therefore taking a few days to reach the end.

Only two more books and then I can get closure on this bad boy.

'"Tonight, 'seen with True Sight,'" Aphrodite quoted quietly. "Darkness does not always equate to evil. Light does not always bring good.'"
"I told you we should have brought Kramisha," Stevie Rae whispered.
"I think we should have brought a damn tank," Stark said.'

So we left off with Zoey's mum being murdered by Neferet as a sacrifice to Darkness in exchange of a gift; a vessel that is Aurox. But due to Linda Heffer not being a perfect sacrifice for the task, Aurox is flawed. After finding out about her mother's death through a vision from Nyx of her greeting Linda into the Otherworld, it felt like she didn't care at all and throughout the story we never really see her breakdown or at least reflect on her mother.

When Zoey returned from the Isle of Skye, Queen Sgiach gifted Zoey with a seer stone which 'is in tune with only the most ancient of magicks: the kind I protect on my isle. I am gifting you with it so that you might, indeed, recognise the Old Ones if any still exist in the outside world...' This stone she wears around her neck becomes hot whenever ancient magick is around and it only seems to happen when Aurox is near.

We also revisit Heath in the Otherworld, which was a little bit of a surprise as I thought with him 'passing on' that would be the last of him, but no. We see him talking with Nyx, who has a proposition for him to go back to the real world but not as himself.

A new character has been introduced. Shaylin was blind until she was marked with a red mark instead of the normal sapphire mark, and now she can see with True Sight which is being able to tell what colour 'aura' someone is but she must learn what the colours mean. I feel like she will be an important character in the next few books. So I will be keeping an eye out for her.

Also, we dwell deeper into Lenobia's past. With Neferet hiring local humans to come help out some professors to build some form of relationship with the outside world, Travis Foster has to help Lenobia in the stables. From her reactions and emotions towards him we sense that in the past she has had a human mate or consort. But we will only really find out her past in her novella.

Destined actually gripped my attention from start to finish, and the ending was amazing and I can't help but stop thinking that this would make a great movie; the special effects would look incredible. Although not many huge events happen and the narrative stays around the death of Linda Heffer, it's all about the journey to discovering the truth.