The situation at the Tulsa branch of the vampyre academy House of Night appears to be unraveling: a human is murdered on school grounds; the sudden death of a fledgling vampyre sparks violence within the student body; Old Magic may be corrupting a high-priestess-in-training; and a malevolent former priestess is getting ready to make a serious comeback. Being the eleventh and penultimate book in the House of Night series, this requires serious backstory knowledge to understand the characters, their alliances, and the significance of their actions. For series fans, this is more of the same, and other than a few episodes of physical violence and what seems like a gratuitous lesbian kiss near the end, not much happens to advance the plot or character development. No worries, though some teens will love the vamp connection, the steamy love scenes, and the pop-culture feel of this almost-final chapter.--Welch, Cindy Copyright 2014 Booklist