Title: Last Breath
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin/NAL
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Pages: 335 pages (hardback)
How I Got the Book: Bought it.
With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace.
Somehow, I have only just now managed to notice the lows of the descriptions. Between all the not-facey faces and the eyes-but-not-eyes, I wanted a decision to be made already about what they were or were not. Then there was a gem in Eve being described as poisonously fierce (that is going to be a memorable example of bad description) and after so many descriptions of Eve's Goth makeup and Goth clothes and totally-not-described-but-totally-there Goth underwear, I wanted the book to stop. She's beautiful. She's Goth. Point made. Describing them so much so many times is a waste of precious words.
And that was the end of our objective segment (and yes, that was my twisted version of objective). Now is where I stop considering the true quality of the book and get down to how I felt about it in my heart of hearts and yadda yadda yadda.
See, I have a longstanding tradition concerning the Morganville Vampires series: I read each book in one sitting during one day. They were just that good (though Bite Club was another story, but that's neither here nor there) and kept me glued to the pages so I could find out where Claire, Shane, Eve, and Michael were going and what they would do.
This time? It took me two days, and the tradition was not broken out of necessity. No, it was broken because I was so disinterested in the book that I procrastinated reading it, mostly by working on my NaNoWriMo novel. A terrible sign indeed. (AND I HAVE SAID NOTHING OF MY DARLING MYRNIN WHEN MY LAST TWO REVIEWS OF MORGANVILLE BOOKS BABBLED ABOUT HIM. Could there be a worse sign?)
Does the book have problems? Absolutely. Is the book terrible? No. Despite my indifference to it this time around, I do recognize the book's quality (why else would it be getting four stars instead of the three I think it deserves?). It is a marked improvement on Bite Club, but it appears I've checked out on the series at this point. Not even a huge cliffhanger promising that the next book Black Dawn will be a dramatic one full of good fight scenes interests me now.
4 stars!
What am I reading next?: Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Penguin/NAL
Release Date: November 1, 2011
Pages: 335 pages (hardback)
How I Got the Book: Bought it.
With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace.She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone who has just moved to town: a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville's newest resident, Claire is certain that magnus isn't merely human. But is Magnus a vampire--or something else entirely?
One thing is clear: Magnus is to blame for the disapperances. And if vampires are turning into victims, what chance does a human like Claire have?
Review:
Michael and Eve are ready to ring the wedding bells, but the rest of the town isn't so ready for their marriage. Neither side is willing to let the two races mix and considering previous precedent of what happens when humans and vampires marry, their worries are almost understandable. As the group fights for the couple's right to marry, Claire is seeing a man no one else can see, a nondescript man that...turns to water? Who is he? What is he? Whoever or whatever he is, his presence has the vampires ready to run away, but the capture of people near and dear to them sends them into the monster's lair.
See how different my summary is from the back cover summary? That's because the "official" summary lied.
Last Breath was a fast-paced thrill ride that could keep a reader glued to their seat. It can be occasionally interrupted by shifts in the point-of-view (there are five narrators this time around, giving the reader a better look at characters they have already come to know well), but it. is generally a straightforward novel. The numerous tension-filled scenes and fights are wonderfully written and fly by in a flash. Funny, shocking (and it really is this time--can you say another main character death?), complex--it's everything a Morganville book should be and just a little bit more.
And there went all the praise. Crit time!
It appears the reader is supposed to be on Claire and co.'s side about the marriage, but I found myself on Amelie's side. It isn't fair for them to be denied their right to marry, but Amelie has never pretended to be fair. She wants to keep Morganville peaceful and letting the two get married would cost the town what small and fragile peace there is. Solid rationale by a person whose decision could either make a small group unhappy or send the entire town into chaos.
The dual plots of Magnus's presence in Morganville connected to the vampires going missing and Michael and Eve's struggle to get married are unevenly balanced--the marriage plot conquers the entire first half of the book with minute appearances from the Magnus plot, then the Magnus plot takes full control and the marriage plot is (understandably) completely forgotten--and I still have questions about it that were never answered. Why could Claire see Magnus when she wasn't supposed to?
And that was the end of our objective segment (and yes, that was my twisted version of objective). Now is where I stop considering the true quality of the book and get down to how I felt about it in my heart of hearts and yadda yadda yadda.
See, I have a longstanding tradition concerning the Morganville Vampires series: I read each book in one sitting during one day. They were just that good (though Bite Club was another story, but that's neither here nor there) and kept me glued to the pages so I could find out where Claire, Shane, Eve, and Michael were going and what they would do.
This time? It took me two days, and the tradition was not broken out of necessity. No, it was broken because I was so disinterested in the book that I procrastinated reading it, mostly by working on my NaNoWriMo novel. A terrible sign indeed. (AND I HAVE SAID NOTHING OF MY DARLING MYRNIN WHEN MY LAST TWO REVIEWS OF MORGANVILLE BOOKS BABBLED ABOUT HIM. Could there be a worse sign?)
Does the book have problems? Absolutely. Is the book terrible? No. Despite my indifference to it this time around, I do recognize the book's quality (why else would it be getting four stars instead of the three I think it deserves?). It is a marked improvement on Bite Club, but it appears I've checked out on the series at this point. Not even a huge cliffhanger promising that the next book Black Dawn will be a dramatic one full of good fight scenes interests me now.
4 stars!
What am I reading next?: Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
