The Fledgling Handbook 101

Title: The Fledgling Handbook 101
Author: P.C. Cast
Series: House of Night (Extra)
Genre: Young Adult



I was anticipating a little bit of behind the scenes House of Night information. A book that would fill us in on anything that was maybe a subtlety in the books that had been missed. I was quite wrong.

The Fledgling Handbook starts with an Introduction and then is broken up into 5 "chapters," each giving you different types of information.

The Introduction was my favorite part. It gave pictures of each of the emblems that the different formers wear as well as a little information of what they mean. Since this has been discussed before in the books, I found these pictures and information helpful. There was also a tentative schedule of what a day looks like at the HON.

1) Vampyre Biology - This chapter included some pictures of before and after being marked as well as after the change. I thought this too was interesting, seeing the differences that come about as they change into a vampyre. It also touches on Imprinting and the Warrior Bond. Unfortunately, it was downhill from here.

2) Rituals - Each ritual starts with a story about where the ritual came from followed by a description of how to do the ritual. Since I have no desire to preform any of these anytime soon, I really didn't care for this section.

3) Nightkind Elementology - Holidays that are observed at the HON and a Vampyre twist on astrology (Nightkind Elementology) You pick your element based on when you changed. It was okay to read, but unlike astrology, there wasn't one for me to look for.

4) A Brief Intorducion to Vampyre History - If this was brief, I'd hate to see extensive. This was a lot of fairly dry history. I'm not a history girl and this chapter was the worst for me.

5) Words of Hope from Fellow Fledglings - A kind of funny chapter. There are quotes from famous people, such as Shakespeare, as well as pictures of the speaker with their crescent and tattoos.

This book started off strong, but was sorely lacking. It really could have had nothing to do with the House of Night and seems like it will be for only the most die hard fans.