So begins the House of Night series, with a quotation taken from Hesiod’s Theogony. From the very beginning, the reader of P.C. and Kristin Cast’s popular series is clued into the fact that Nyx—who is known as Night personified both in the books and in our world’s mythology—is at the very center of events. It all comes back to her, as we see time and time again throughout the series.

Nyx, Greek goddess of night, is traditionally known as a primordial god, one of the creators of the world. Before there could be Night—and, therefore, also Day—there was only Chaos, and it was Chaos who conceived a daughter and named her Nyx. In turn, Nyx gave birth to a daughter, Hemera (Day). As we can see from Hesiod’s version of events in the epigraph that opens the entire series, Night and Day “come close and greet each other” as they fulfill their designated roles. When you find the full passage from which the extract is taken, however, it becomes clear that the reference is literal, rather than just metaphorical. Nyx does indeed share a “house” (or a cave, in some versions) with Hemera, but they can’t spend quality time together. “When  …