The Neon Graveyard: The Final Sign of the Zodiac
The Neon Graveyard: The Final Sign of the Zodiacby Vicki PetterssonWARNING: TOTAL SPOILERS HERE!! So move on if you haven't read the series from the start or haven't gotten to this book yet.****I can't go back and re-read the last chapter of book 5 because I have already lent it to my father, but... WTF?? Did I miss the Fifth and a HALF Sign of the Zodiac?? How is Joanna's pregnancy suddenly a new and non-explained thing? Ok, so sure she slept with Hunter in, what, Book 3? Book 4? I don't remember now. It was before he was stuck in the confusing place that is Midheaven though. I don't recall any mention or hint of pregnancy in the last book and suddenly she's all "my child!" "my unborn child with my LOVE!"Gag.What the heck happened to this series during this book? Was it the fact that astronomers were all "Hey, there's a 13th zodiac sign!" and suddenly Vicki thought of a way out of having to write 12 books? I feel like the entire story just did an about-face and strayed from the original path so poorly.I don't like Midheaven. I don't know if it's because it's so complicated that I have trouble understanding the description, or that it's such a vague concept it's impossible to understand it? I just know that this book was all about jumping in and out of this mysterious underworld and saving "my love!" Hunter (gag) that the whole rivalry with the Shadows and Tulpa became completely moot. The Tulpa's demise wasn't anything spectacular. It was pretty underwhelming at that.And what was the deal with Jo's powers coming back because Hunter gave her the poker chips with them while in the hotel room? I didn't get that at all. So in defeating Solange she regained some of her powers? That totally confused me and I re-read that chapter twice to try and figure it out.Everything seemed to wrap up so neatly, I was sort of disappointed by this entire book and that just makes me sad because I enjoyed this series so much (except book 4). The Light end up siding with her and being friends again, the Grey just accept that she's leaving them, the Shadows are rendered useless without the Tulpa (which I find somewhat unbelievable). There is suddenly this 13th zodiac sign, which everyone is wary of and surprised by and it's all "unknown", so I figure it's going to turn out to be the sign that Joanna's baby is born under but that's not even discussed. It was all "Ok, I have saved Hunter from Midheaven and killed Solange and got back to Vegas and people aren't trying to kill me anymore, and.. oh, yeah, I finally killed that Tulpa that's been after me for SIX BOOKS!" The end.Really?One of the things that I loved about the series was how original it was from all over UF out there and then this book goes and gets all swoony-eyed for a man trapped in another universe and everything else is forgotten. No mention of Zoe Archer or of Jo's daughter Ashlyn. Nothing.I am so disappointed.I didn't need this series to be 12 books long. I just needed an ending that seemed less rushed and underwhelming as this one was. I honestly feel like the discovery of that 13th zodiac sign was a point where someone thought "ah ha! a way out!".Not to mention the odd pop culture references like the one about girls screaming over Robert Pattinson. That just stuck out like a sore thumb to me. It felt so out of character with the rest of the books. There was a funny little reference to Kim Harrison's graphic novel, which made me chuckle but that the same time groan, because now we're down to friends calling each other out in their books. Which I think is a little high school-ish?Vicki Pettersson can write. She sure can and she can create a very original and intricate world with that imagination of hers, but sadly, this final sign of the zodiac had no sizzle. No supernova quality to it. It sort of just blinked out like a candle and that makes me sad.Zodiac Series