Last Breath - Morganville Vampires (#11)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER BITE CLUB!

Overview:

Claire Danvers is concerned when three vampires vanish from Morganville without a trace. The last person seen with them is someone new to town – a mysterious individual named Magnus. Claire is convinced creepy Magnus isn’t human … but is he a vampire or something else entirely?

Claire’s hunt for answers leads her to solving another mystery that’s long been puzzling her: why do vampires live so far out in a sunny desert when they’re sensitive to sunlight? The answer has nothing to do with sunlight, but with water – and an ancient enemy who has finally found a way to invade the vampires’ landlocked community. Vampires aren’t the top predator on earth. There’s something worse that preys on them … something much worse. Which means if Claire, and Morganville, want to live, they will have to fight on to the last breath…

Review:

This is one spooky description and it doesn’t kill the thrill! So, Last Breath continues from where Bite Club left off and from the beginning it manages to captivate the reader. Something is definitely out of place in Morganville and gradually our heroes catch up with the oddity. Moreover, there is too much personal drama this time around to spark a lot of excitement. Last Breath is not for the idle reader. Somehow one is kept guessing all the time, thus requiring a keen brain. One thing that definitely makes it important to pay attention to detail is the close-knitted plot. The devil lies in the detail and that’s what makes Last Breath incredibly interesting. I believe that there is a term in author’s jargon about laying clues here, there and everywhere for the reader to pick up and figure things out, but, alas, I don’t know it, I just hope that you get the meaning.

Another factor that makes the book very appealing is that we get the sequence of events from different people. Even the author writes a small introductory note about this method of narration. Although it isn’t a novelty for the series, this time around it’s not just Claire and Shane whose point of perspective is used to tell the story, but also Michael’s, Eve’s and –surprise, surprise – Amelie’s. For those fearing that too many cooks will probably spoil the broth, rest assured: not only does this formula works out, but it also help us readers to better evaluate and understand our heroes. Once you get a person’s point of view, you get a glimpse into their minds and that’s usually very illuminating. On the other hand, at end you wouldn’t want the story to be told any other way. It really does make sense why some parts need to be told by others than Claire.

In addition, we have a lot of developments on the personal front for many characters. Drama alongside with love is in the air, and not only for the usual suspects. This sparks a lot of tension and anxiety. Along with the strangeness that occurs in everyday life in Morganville our heroes’ private lives go through enough turmoil to make even the more patient lose their cool. Somehow, the author manages to intertwine the personal tension with the desperation and frustration of everyday life to create an atmosphere of fear, desolation and uncertainty so vivid and colourful that it transcends the pages and captivates the reader.

Finally, the author writes with sincerity, compassion and humanity, even when she writes about the vampires. Everyone is vulnerable and everyone has a breaking point. Whether they manage to overcome their personal obstacles and fight back is a point debated many times and treated with a lot of respect. Our heroes are people – be it humans or vampires – and that is imperative for understanding the plot and following up with everything that happens from page one till the last page.

Despite its complexity Last Breath can be read by the uninitiated with success. The story has a fabulous individuality, which makes the eleventh book both engaging and sensational.

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Bite Club - Morganville Vampires (#10)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER GHOST TOWN!

Overview:

Morganville is a quiet college town where humans and vampires live in relative peace. But lately a great deal of blood is being spilt...

Having survived a number of adventures with her new night-dwelling friends, college student Claire Danvers has come to realise that for the most part, the undead just want to get on with their lives.

But someone else wants them to get ready to rumble.

There’s a new extreme sport being broadcast over the Internet: bare-knuckle fights pitting captured vampires against one another – or, worse, against humans. Claire soon discovers that what started as an online brawl will soon threaten everyone in Morganville. And if they want to survive, they’ll have to do a lot more than that...

Review:

Bite Club is the tenth book in The Morganville Vampires’ saga. It is set a while after the events narrated in Ghost Town and it tells a new story of Claire, Shane, Michael, Eve, Myrnin and Amelie.

What I’ve always liked about this series is character development. From the very first book on the author chose a group of characters and depicted steadily their many aspects, idiosyncrasies and traits. She has done so using a type of narrative that although was in the third person, it allowed her through the eyes of her protagonist (Claire) to introduce to the readers the chief characters of her story. Bite Club launches a new narrative, i.e. the story is also told from Shane’s point of view, in the first person. Plot wise it is ideal, because it enables us to understand few key elements of what this book is all about. Moreover, it is wonderful to finally have insight on one of the most intriguing characters so far. Doing it from the fist person point of view also strengthens the story’s authenticity. Additionally, it highlights Shane’s motivation and behaviour patterns.

This book has a good pace and of course a lot of action. The plot is tight and the narrative is linear and consistent. The dialogues are realistic and the reactions genuine. As we proceed not only do we learn more about the people in the story, we also understand better life in Morganville. There is familiarity in the sense that everyone behaves in the way you expect them to, rather than seeing them doing something extravagant or downright unexpected. But we never get bored. On the contrary some old foes return not only to spice things up, but also to conclude their part in the saga.

Reading this book one cannot but feel great sympathy for the chief characters and gradually one ends up being emotionally trapped (always in a good sense) to the many comings-and-goings in the story. Emotions do run high here on so many levels and most importantly where Shane is concerned. Fans will certainly delight in that.

Nevertheless, despite the book’s length I couldn’t help but feel that it was necessary to have a few more pages. Some parts of the story could have been better developed. A little more detail wouldn’t have gone amiss and of course it could have wiped out any feeling that sometimes things just magically resolved. In relation to Shane events needed to take place in longer periods of time, than the ones given in the book. This way some of his reactions would have been believable. Finally, it is important to address the point that it is essential to have read the whole series before starting with Bite Club. As I mentioned earlier characters from the past reappear, and they play a big part in the plot, so it might confuse some, if they haven’t read the past books.

Bite Club is a really good book. Having been narrated from Shane’s point of view, in the first person, it would have been ideal. Apart from the traditional introduction, the complimentary track-list is also available.

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Ghost Town - Morganville Vampires (#9)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER KISS OF DEATH!

Overview:

When Claire is ordered to repair the systems that protect Morganville, it’s not just cutting into her study time, it’s a life-threatening problem. If there’s one thing this vampire-infested town is serious about, it’s security.

But achieving the impossible only brings a whole new set of problems, and the upgrades have unexpected consequences: people inside the town are slowly beginning to forget who they are, even the vampires. Soon, the town’s little memory problem has turned into a full-on epidemic. Now Claire needs to figure out a way to pull the plug on her experiment – before she forgets how to save Morganville…

Review:

Let me preface this review by saying the following: if you are unfamiliar with the Morganville Vampires and Ghost Town somehow ended up in your hands, then gawk at the fancy cover, go through the pages, but don’t start reading the book. Instead buy Glass Houses (the first book) and start at the beginning. Why? Well this is the ninth book and believe me at some point you will feel the need to go back. Unlike other writers Rachel Caine includes little snippets of what has happened before as a commentary of something that is happening in the book, but that is not a summary nor is it extensive enough to make the book an independent read. If on the other hand you are familiar with the story, then Ghost Town rounds up the main story that started with Fade Out. It is set a few months after the events of Kiss of Death. Like all the books in the series this one is also narrated from a third point of view, but always as events unfold before Claire’s eyes.

Character wise this book is richer in information, especially concerning the vampires. By using the trick of selective amnesia the author cleverly incorporates flashbacks in the story, thus highlighting not only various aspects of the characters personalities, but also the dynamic of past relationships that still cast long shadows in the lives of our heroes. As Claire learns more about her friends and her sometimes allies sometimes enemies, we – the readers – also learn more, draw conclusions and shift our beliefs about them as well. Claire’s character is very well portrayed in Ghost Town. There is so much depth and compassion for her person, that it is easily identifiable for the readers. Both sympathy and empathy can be felt for her as she struggles with new challenges. Moreover, the subject matter of memory loss is handled with dexterity. Some of the dialogues and descriptions of events are so touching, so realistic, that the overwhelming emotion of fear and confusion pours from the pages directly into the reader.

Plot wise, Ghost Town follows the well-trodden path of previous books, i.e. a steady narrative, meticulously organized and delivered. There is good grammar and a rich vocabulary and believe me it is important and it does give an edge to the story. There is also a rhythm, like a heart-beat, omnipresent throughout the book that slows down or spikes as the plot thickens. Even if the story is slower than usual, one is compelled to read on, page after page, because one simply must find out what is going to happen next. By the time the reader has read the last page one is simply fascinated by the story’s power.  Ghost Town is truly one of the best books in the series.

Finally, as far as this edition goes there is an introduction, the complimentary track-list and a big bonus in the form of an exclusive short story set between Fade Out and Kiss of Death, titled Worth Living for. It features Shane and Michael. Fans will love it! 

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Kiss of Death - Morganville Vampires (#8)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER FADE OUT!

Overview:

Claire Danvers has a few things on her mind. First of all there is the laundry, which is now an unfortunate shade of pink. There is her boyfriend, Shane, who is never too far from her thoughts. Finally there is her best friend Eve's relationship problems. As if life as a student wasn't complicated enough, Claire just happens to be studying in Morganville. A town run by vampires.

Trouble seems to follow Claire and her friends like a shadow and tonight is no exception to the rule. They must must find the most difficult documents for a vampire to acquire; people passes that will allow 'bad ass' Morley and his friends to leave Morganville. But it's proving incredibly difficult, and with the odds seemingly stacked against them, the biggest question of all is...

Will they survive?


Review:
The opening pages of the book see Claire and her friends living their usual Morganville style lives - dodging bullies and vampires while getting on with their daily business. Excitement is provided in the form of permission passes to leave Morganville for a short trip to Dallas so that Michael Glass, Claire's housemate and vampire friend, can go to record a demo CD of his music. The only down-side is that they are to be escorted to Dallas by Oliver, the unfathomable vampire who everyone loves to hate. Needless to say, nothing goes according to plan and it isn't long before the happy holiday travellers find themselves up to their necks in vampires and danger.

The tourist board for the job of promoting rural Texas as a nice place to visit will despair at the depiction of the small towns that Claire and friends travel through. The first small town is plagued by red-necks and the second town is infested with zombie-like killer vampires. Oh well, who visits rural Texas anyway?

Kiss of Death has everything that Morganville Vampires fans have come to expect from the series - fast paced plotting, high octane action and dangerous vampires, interspersed with witty banner and occasional laughs. The only thing missing is Myrnin. It's fair to say that Myrnin's mad scientist vampire character is my favorite character in the series. One minute he's sweet, the next he's homicidally dangerous - certainly there's never a dull moment when he's around. Sadly in Kiss of Death he isn't around and the story seemed to have a Myrnin shaped hole in it as a result. Still the story hardly lacks for vampire villains, Morley and Oliver provide replacement undead creepiness and the zombie-like vampires that the group encounters on their travels certainly provide an abundance of blood-lust driven danger

There isn't really anything new in Kiss of Death but this fun, action-packed adventure shouldn't fail to please the series fans. I however am a bit bored in the long-run without my Myrnin.

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Fade Out - Morganville Vampires (#7)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER CARPE CORPUS!

Overview:

Without the evil vampire Bishop ruling over the town of Morganville, the resident vampires have made major concessions to the human population. With their newfound freedoms, Claire Danvers and her friends are almost starting to feel comfortable again…

Now Claire can actually concentrate on her studies, and her friend Eve joins the local theatre company. But when one of Eve’s castmates goes missing after starting work on a short documentary, Eve suspects the worst. Claire and Eve soon realize that this film project, whose subject is the vampires themselves, is a whole lot bigger — and way more dangerous — than anyone suspected.


Review:

Carpe corpus, the previous book in this series, saw the conclusion of a long running story arc which involved saving Morganville from falling into the hands of Bishop, an ancient vampire with a medieval attitude towards the town's human population. Along the way Claire managed to help find a cure for a debilitating (and ultimately fatal) vampire disease while dodging certain death at the hands of the town's less civilized undead inhabitants.

The opening pages of Fade Out see Claire enjoying a brief period of relative calm. The fate of Morganville doesn't rest on her shoulders and nobody is trying to kill her, so this is quite a change of pace. This is reflected in the change of pace for the plotline of Fade Out too. Rachel Caine's trademark break-neck-speed plot pacing is greatly reduced as she commences a new story arc and takes her time introducing new characters and nudging old ones into fresh positions within the story.

As a result Fade Out devotes more time to developing characters and their relationships than readers have seen since Glass Houses (MV book 1) and has less of the mindless action that plagued some of the books later in the series.

By far my favorite character in the Morganville Vampires books is Myrnin, the mad vampire alchemist. Mad yet intelligent, dangerous yet oddly sweet, caring but untrustworthy plus a snappy dresser - Myrnin is a delightful mixture of complexities. Myrnin's character is written with a light comic touch and Fade Out gives him even more of a chance to shine as he starts to lose control of Ada, his vampiric computer.

Ada, the difference engine with a taste for blood, requires an almost too great amount of suspended disbelief. While I can't pretend to understand how Ada could possibly work, the author doesn't try too hard to explain her either - so it's perhaps best to just accept it without giving it too much thought. Just think steampunk computer and move switftly on...



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Carpe Corpus - Morganville Vampires (#6)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER LORD OF MISRULE!

Overview:
In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace – until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He’s kept a death grip on the town ever since.

Now, an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants – the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?

Review:
Carpe Corpus is the sixth book in Rachel Cain's popular Morganville Vampires series. Aimed at the Young Adult Market, these books have teenaged protagonists and feature some coming-of-age themes but they are entertaining enough to appeal to a wider audience than just teens. Carpe Corpus sees the culmination of the story arc that has been running through the series since book 3, Midnight Alley. For this reason it's necessary to read the books in series order so I wouldn't recommend reading Carpe Corpus unless you have read all the books preceding it.

The storyline for the serise so far has seen Claire tasked with helping to find a cure for the sickness that afflicts all the vampires in Morganville. She assists the dangerously mad vampire Myrnin with his experiments into the illness but his periods of sanity are getting shorter and he did accidentally kill his past assistants in fits of madness. In addition to her work with Myrnin, Claire has her college classes and her budding relationship with boyfriend Shane. Bishop, a nasty vampire who makes the original vampire residents of Morganville look like poster children for liberal tolerance, has taken over the town and magically made Claire his evil minion. Shane is once again locked in vampire jail with his father awaiting a  fate that's worse than death. All-in-all there are plenty of storylines to wrap up in Carpe Corpus, making it the most action packed book of the series so far.

My main criticism of Lord of Misrule, the previous book in the series, was that the characters ran around a lot but nothing actually seemed to happen to further the story. Carpe Corpus has none of these problems. From the first pages the plotline moves forward with purpose and keeps delivering character and plot developments right through to the final page. The book even wraps up storylines from previous books that I'd forgotten about in all the excitement of Bishop's Morvanville coup!

Carpe Corpus isn't just action driven. There is romance for Claire as her slow burning relationship with Shane develops further and all of the major vampire characters, such as Amelie, Sam and Myrnin seem to gain new depths as more of their characters are developed.

There are more macabre shocks in store when Myrnin finally reveals the source of Morganville portals to Claire. He made a difference engine over a hundred or so years ago that still works to power the portals today but only a vampire could invent a vampire computer...


Rachel Caine is on top form with Carpe Corpus making it the best book in the Morganville Vampires Series so far. It has everything any teen vampire fan could want - fast paced action, dangerous adventure and first-love romance. With evil vampires, mad vampires, good vampires, and a vampire computer, magic and mayhem are never more than a step away. Bloody brilliant!

Note: The UK edition of Carpe Corpus also contains "Murdered Out" - a prand new exclusive Morganville short story only available in this edition. This sweet short story chronicles Shane's first foray into the world of car ownership and makes a nice bonus feature for this book.


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Lord of Misrule - Morganville Vampires (#5)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER FEAST OF FOOLS!

Overview:
In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans coexist in (relatively) bloodless harmony. Then comes Bishop, the master vampire who threatens to abolish all order, revive the forces of the evil dead, and let chaos rule. But Bishop isn’t the only threat.

Violent black cyclone clouds hover, promising a storm of devastating proportions as student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against elements both natural and unnatural.


Review:
Lord of Misrule is the fifth book in the Morganville Vampire Series. As if riots, fires, warning vampires and angry mobs weren't enough danger, a tornado is added to this mix to up the ante in destruction stakes. While tornados are hardly unusual in Texas, one does have to wonder what purpose it served in the story. It kinda seems unnatural in the writing world since most weather phenomena are some style of foreshadowing but this one seems to be as simple as pushing the feeling of the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it bit. The writing style of Cain is so frantic throughout this story as it has been slowly leading to throughout the series so far, with throwing in heartache and other obstacles at the main character so fast and hard it leaves my head spinning and I could only wonder what would happen to a real person if they were ever put into Claire's shoes.

This read has earned only three hearts. To me, Lord of Misrule is a tedious read at best. With no greater story development and I wasn't all that enthused to read much at all. It is very repetitious of the same style of danger, head spinning, vampire saves the day and then another vampire or sometimes human comes in for a kill at the end taunting you to read the next book. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a BAD book, just that after four previous books from Cain, it becomes slightly predictable. The cliff hanger still does draw me in to make me want to know how this train wreck continues...cause just like a car wreck you just have to stop and watch. This is a train wreck simply because of how many cars seem to keep colliding one after another so it makes for a longer gawking period.

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Feast of Fools - Morganville Vampires (#4)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT ALLEY!

Overview:
In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans live in relative peace. Student Claire Danvers has never been convinced, though, especially with the arrival of Mr. Bishop, an ancient, old-school vampire who cares nothing about harmony. What he wants from the town’s living and its dead is unthinkably sinister. It’s only at a formal ball, attended by vampires and their human dates, that Claire realizes the elaborately evil trap he’s set for Morganville.

Review:
Rachel Caine is a wonderful artist. The ability she has to continue this journey without becoming too predictable. The characters are continuing to develop their personalities are becoming more real and alive on their own.

This book gets four hearts, the ability to feel along with these characters and have your heart pound alongside them while dealing with new types of vampire problems.


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Midnight Alley - Morganville Vampires (#3)

***THIS IS A SERIES BOOK***

PLEASE DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER DEAD GIRLS' DANCE!

Overview:
Claire Danvers’s college town may be run by vampires but a truce between the living and the dead made things relatively safe. For a while. Now people are turning up dead, a psycho is stalking her, and an ancient bloodsucker has proposed private mentoring. To what end, Claire will find out. And it’s giving night school a whole new meaning.

Review:
So hello big life decisions! Welcome to reality Claire, I know you're young but part of growing up means big choices and this is one of the biggest ones available to anyone in Morganville. How will everyone react? This is one of the more interesting points in this plot-line and I won't ruin it for you but I will say WOAH, what a trip this book was!

Again, the age group for these books might need to go a bit higher than its set at due to the violence and sexual content, hence the three heart salute again, but again a great book overall.



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