The series draws to a close with a bit more drama, death and a history lesson.
What They Say:
A tale of heated passion and deadly heartbreak starring warriors Hippolyte and Herkales forms the backdrop for Zoey Redbird’s fifth and final lesson from the goddess Nyx. It’s now time for Zoey to take all she’s learned and make an inevitably controversial decision on how to lead the popular student group known as the Dark Daughters.
The Review:
With this being the last issue, the series doesn’t really change up its structure here compared tot he previous issues. And that’s not really a bad thing since it’s worked well by having Zoey go through the story sequences where she learns something that relates to her life from it and applies it. It’s done a decent job of giving us a look at her and how she handles this situation where she’s up for truly taking over the Dark Daughters, but it hasn’t really let us get to know the supporting cast all that much. That’s pretty much the main thing though as it’s about Zoey and expanding our view of the history of the House of Night. I kind of wanted a little more from this series but at the same time I understand that it’s really going to be mostly in the novels themselves.
The present day material is a little scattershot this time around before it gets to the flashback and resolution. It hits a few different areas, such as the panicked dreams that Stevie Ray is having where it comes to not surviving the process to become a vampyre. It’s something that’s come up a little before but it figures into events here more strongly as the book progresses. It also spends some time with Zoey as she deals with her ex that she ended up imprinting with who is now pretty much infatuated with her in a big way. With the ages of the people involved, none of them are handling it well and it’s really starting to get to Zoey which is nice to see as it continues to make her feel like the age she really is.
When it gets to the flashback segment of the book, it takes us back to the first century BC where we’re introduced to a group of vampyres that are very much isolationists as they try to find a way to live on their own away from everyone else. What this group is called though, which is amusing, are amazons. And through their leader Hipplyte, they end up coming across Herakles and that leads to a serious confrontation between them. But tying to events in the present, she ends up imprinting upon him and we see how disastrous a really outgoing, strong imprinting can go. The two are definitely fun to watch as they get wrapped up in each other and then deal with the downfall. It’s properly epic overall but they also make it fairly personal and emotional as well. It may not be my favorite of the flashback lessons, but it’s a good one.
In Summary:
The end of the series here runs you through thing’s we’ve seen before in terms of how it’s all put together. There aren’t any surprises with how Zoey handles what she learns here and how it impacts things at the end. The present day side of the story may cover a couple of different things but it helps to flesh out what it is to be a fledgling and the kinds of background feelings that are involved here. It naturally plays into what’s going on with the lesson that Zoey has to learn and while it may be all a bit obvious, I continue to find that it works well. With a good mix of art styles that complements the storytelling and a good connection to the novels, House of Night has been a fun series that stands well on its own but definitely encourages you to check out the books as well.
Grade: B+
Readers Rating: [ratings]
