While Morganville, Texas, is often a troubled town, Claire Danvers and her friends are looking forward to coming home. But the Morganville they return to isn’t the one they know; it’s become a different place—a deadly one…
Something drastic has happened in Morganville while Claire and her friends were away. The town looks cleaner and happier than they’ve ever seen it before, but when their incoming group is arrested and separated—vampires from humans—they realize that the changes definitely aren’t for the better.
It seems that an organization called the Daylight Foundation has offered the population of Morganville something they’ve never had: hope of a vampire-free future. And while it sounds like salvation—even for the vampires themselves—the truth is far more sinister and deadly.
Now, Claire, Shane and Eve need to find a way to break their friends out of Daylighter custody, before the vampires of Morganville meet their untimely end.
My Thoughts :
I finished this one a few days ago but I have been having a lazy week as far as the blog is concerned. However I think it was also good for me to have a few days to think about this book, the fifteenth and last book in the Morganville Vampire series. Daylighters is what we have all been dreading and maybe even hoping for. An end to a series that has not only been an amazing ride but also a long friendship. It has left its mark and it is certainly a must read in the genre whether you are younger or older paranormal lover. An end of an era and hopefully the start of something new.
There are most likely a lot of fans out there who have already read this book and like myself pre-ordered a copy. However I know there will be people out there who haven't yet had the chance to get a copy or sit down and finish this last installment. So I will try not to give away too much in this review.
As endings go it wasn't a bad one. Throughout the book the constant thought that this was the end dominated how I read about my last encounter with Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve. My last visit to Morganville. The final chance to find out more about the vampires who I have come to hate and love. So it was obvious that I began wondering how the author must have felt writing this book. Rachel Caine has been living with these characters much longer and more intimately that any of us fans. I had to also wonder if this is how she always saw things coming to an end and how it would end. Vampires or humans having the final say in Morganville.
Despite fitting in a new angle and some pretty interesting new aspects to the story this final book didn't feel rushed or packed too full. It was fast and furious most of the time and there are casualties and some very nice twists here and there but for an ending it didn't try too hard. There may even be a few loose ends if I think about the series very carefully and the final pages left things very open ended. There could be more, the people left over are not shown in the future all happy with kids and there wasn't a conclusion that made things, imho, final.
If you haven't read this series then you can now devour them all in go. This is a brilliant, original and compelling series that I can only highly recommend. If you are a fan then you most likely read this already or are hoping you find this under the Xmas tree. Just don't wait too long to read this final installment because it is nice to get some closure.
Not convinced that this is the last we will see of the Morganville Vampires. Yes there is a TV series coming soon (I am a backer...) but I am not sure that we won't meet up with these characters again on paper. Maybe their children? The next generation of Morganville? Who knows but I can hope. As for now I am eager to see what the author will be presenting us with next. She writes a great story and I will be there for the next ride!
The Blurb : Claire never thought she’d leave Morganville, but when she gets accepted into the graduate program at MIT, she can’t pass up the opportunity. Saying good-bye to her friends is bittersweet, especially since things are still raw and unsettled between Claire and her boyfriend, Shane.
Her new life at MIT is scary and exciting, but Morganville is never really far from Claire’s mind. Enrolled in a special advanced study program with Professor Irene Anderson, a former Morganville native, Claire is able to work on her machine, which is designed to cancel the mental abilities of vampires.
But when she begins testing her machine on live subjects, things quickly spiral out of control, and Claire starts to wonder whether leaving Morganville was the last mistake she’ll ever make...
My Thoughts :
The Fourteenth installment in the Morganville Vampires, Fall of Night, is a little different than the previous thirteen. Mostly because it plays outside of Morganville. Now the characters have been outside of the town before but this book is actually totally outside of the town with new characters and some interesting developments. The story is told by Claire and Shane while they both end up finding out that life is just as dangerous outside of Morganville.
After all this time I feel like part of the gang. I know everything there is to know about them and have been with them since Claire went to live at the Glass House all those years ago. Actually for me it has been years but for Claire and the other occupants of Morganville it has only been a couple of years. Those years have been action packed and full of vampires and this book is no different.
However this wasn't, in my honest opinion, the best book so far. It actually didn't rate very high in the ranks if I think back to all the adventures the gang has been through so far. It was nice to be in another location and have Claire taken out of what has become her comfort zone but at the same time it all seemed a little to forced. Having some new characters put in the mix made things interesting and the story opened up some new avenues that I hope will be a main feature in the next book.
The cliffhanger ending seems to suggest that the series could be coming to an end. I wouldn't be upset if it did but on the other hand I don't think that it could be that easy to bring all of the loose ends together in one more book. Some of the questions opened up in this book are hopefully going to get answered in part fifteen but I wouldn't be against having that spread out over another couple of books.
Any fans of the series will want to read this as soon as possible. If you haven't already had the pleasure of visiting Morganville then it may just be time to take a trip and go see what all the fuss is about. Don't be put off by the Young Adult tag. The kids in this series have had to grow up quick and there isn't much childlike behaviour going on. If you know what I mean ;)
For years, the human and vampire residents of Morganville, Texas, have managed to co-exist in peace. But now that the threat to the vampires has been defeated, the human residents are learning that the gravest danger they face is the enemy within…
Thanks to the eradication of the parasitic creatures known as the draug, the vampires of Morganville have been freed of their usual constraints. With the vampires indulging their every whim, the town’s human population is determined to hold on to their lives by taking up arms. But college student Claire Danvers isn’t about to take sides, considering she has ties to both the humans and the vampires.
To make matters worse, a television show comes to Morganville looking for ghosts, just as vampire and human politics collide. Now, Claire and her friends have to figure out how to keep the peace without ending up on the nightly news… or worse.
My Thoughts :
The Morganville Vampire series is something you are reading or not reading. After 13 books it is easy to decide if you are a fan of the series or not. If you haven't yet tried this series or gotten around to it then don't bother reading this review. I fear it may include some spoilers.
So the Draug are gone but there is something weird going on in Morganville. Yeah, yeah! there is always something weird going on in Morganville. However this time around it is a mixture of smaller problems which amass into one last huge problem. The story tries to keep some of the twists and turns a secret from the reader but parts slip out when the story is told from any perspective other than Claire's. Things come together and you aren't left alone in the dark like Claire and in this way the author does a good job of keeping things, as always, exciting and interesting.
The plot flows nicely like all the Morganville stories do. After all this time the town feels like home and all the characters are either friend or foe and need no introductions. The ghost aspect of the series takes a few new turns this time around and some outsiders making a ghost reality show come off really bad in the process. Amelie's family is still haunting her and Oliver's motives are even harder to understand than before. So nothing too new.
Micheal and Eve are now happily married but of course the story adds some ups and downs for the newlyweds. Which author wouldn't take up the opportunity to make the honeymoon a little bumpy outside of the bedroom as well as inside it? Myrnin is crazy but somehow the saniest person around this time. I can't get enough of his character and would love to know more about his Welsh roots.
The stars of the book are, as always, Claire and Shane. I don't feel that Shane makes a huge impact on much of the book but he does have a huge influence on everything Claire says and does. While he is cool and Claire loves him I am sure she would be better off without him. At the end of this book it looks like it could go that way but with everything they have been through together I think they are in for the long haul.
Once again I find myself finishing another book where Morganville and it's main residents get into trouble with the vampires and win. It is a process that has been repeated over and over again but the content between the oncoming crisis and the final fight is always entertaining and thrilling. Great characters help make this series special and I find myself enjoying every new addition to the series. After all this author writes an amazing story everytime.
The end of Bitter Blood could have actually been the end of the series. I haven't gone off to check if it is and will let myself be surprise. It was a nice ending, left some questions unanswered and Morganville still full with Vampires but it wouldn't bother me if it was left like that. Claire is tired and I know I am. I want to see the characters get their happy end. It will be sad to see them go but it has to end sometime.
Read this series and check out all of Rachel Caine's books. She is a fabulous writer and has come up with some extremely special concepts that always test the limits of the genre and pull it into a new cool shape.
In Last Breath, the rain brought a new and dire threat to Morganville and its vampires... their ancient enemies, the draug. Now, the vampires are fighting a losing war, and it will fall to the residents of the Glass House: Michael, Eve, Shane and Claire, to take the fight to an enemy who threatens to destroy the town, forever.
My Review :
I have been visiting Morganville since the beginning. Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael have become like friends. I am invested in how their life continues and I care if they live or die. I hope, like they do, that the town of Morganville will be free of the vampire rule and that they will lead a normal life. However, despite the fact that I don't want the series to end, I want to finally have some closure.
Yes this is an amazing series and Black Dawn is yet another super story in the tale of Morganville. The way the author manages to keep this series fresh and unique amazes me and I love that each book always has something good come out of everything that goes wrong. But this time around I wasn't convinced. I wasn't sure that all of this was necessary. Loads of action and some lovely twists but it felt like things are just being drawn out. Putting off the inevitable end of what has been an exhausting but momentous saga. The Glass House team have been through so much and I am sure they are tired.
Book #13, Bitter Blood, is due out in November and of course I am going to be getting a copy. I definitely can't let go of this series even if I would like to see it finally come to an end. It is addictive and very special. There is nothing in the genre like the Morganville Vampire series and even though it is aimed at younger readers I can't think of anything too childish in the books that would put off any adult reader.
So long live the Morganville vampires but I am gearing myself up and hoping for an end soon. Absolutely amazing series that stays on my must read list.
There are a lot of authors that I can say are on my 'favourites' list but some authors have a higher status than others because they are writers I have been following since the beginning. My author guest this week is one of them.
Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series showed me that there was more to Urban Fantasy than just vampires, werewolves and the occasional ghost. Then later she also proved that vampires can be more interesting if you have the right setting and crew in the Morganville Vampire Series. She also still manages to wonder and amaze me with her unusual but fantastic new ideas for books like she does in the Revivalist series.
If you haven't read a book by Rachel Caine then you have been missing out on some of the most impressive Paranormal and Urban Fantasy stories of the last eight years!
I hope you enjoy this interview with the wonderful Rachel Caine and please feel free to enter this weeks contest. Win a copy of one of these amazing books!
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Amber - Hello Rachel! Welcome back to Amberkatze's Book Blog! You are an extremely busy author. Maybe you can start things off by telling my readers a little bit about each of your series?
Rachel - Sure!
First, the Weather Warden series is an adult urban fantasy tale of a smart, sexy woman (with a supernatural genie boyfriend) who is part of an international organization that defends you, poor mortal, in the un-winnable fight against Mother Earth -- who wants us all dead.
Outcast Season is a spinoff series featuring Cassiel, a former genie (Djinn) whose personal quest to rejoin her kind means opposing another insane outcast Djinn, with the lives of the human race in the balance. Book 4 (and the last) of that series, UNBROKEN, just released in February 2012.
The Revivalist series is my newest urban fantasy outing, and the first novel WORKING STIFF came out in August 2011; it's the story of a funeral director who discovers that her bosses are reviving the dead for profit in the basement -- and ends up hooked on the drug herself. Now, she's addicted, and one shot away from death, every day. The second novel, TWO WEEKS' NOTICE, is out in August 2012.
And the Morganville Vampires series (young adult) follows the adventures of Claire Danvers, young college student who discovers that her new college town of Morganville doesn't just have a substandard university and the prerequisite Mean Girls, but is owned and operated by vampires. As Claire acquires friends, allies, and a boyfriend, she also attracts deadly enemies ... and only some of them have fangs. Book 12 of the series, BLACK DAWN, is out in May 2012.
Amber - The most well known series you have right now has to be the Morganville Vampires. Last Breath was the latest release and book the 11th so far. How many more books do you intend to write based in Morganville?
Rachel - Right now, we're planning on a total of 15 books. Book 12, BLACK DAWN, is next, and then #13, BITTER BLOOD, will hit the shelves in November 2012.
Amber - The Morganville series has been around a while but you always manage to come up with amazing storylines each time. How do you decide what to throw at Claire and the gang each book?
Rachel - You know, it's really a matter of "what's the worst that can happen?" And there are just an amazing variety of bad things, unfortunately -- that's the nature of life. I think it makes it easier when there's an entire town full of characters and plot lines to draw on.
Amber - Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve are starting to grow out of the Young Adult phase. Do you try to tone things down for the younger readers? Is it hard to keep things young?
Rachel - No, not really, because although they are maturing I still think they're in the most intense and formative period of their lives ... and that's the essence of young adult, isn't it? I don't try to tone things down, to be honest, because I think that if I do, it reads falsely. I need to be true to the story first, but I try to put a lot of humor, love and caring into the story to balance out the scary, dark stuff.
Amber - When will the next Morganville installment be available? Can you tell us a little about it?
Rachel - BLACK DAWN will be out in May 2012. It's the continuation of the story started in LAST BREATH, with the invasion of Morganville by the draug, water-dwelling monsters who are at the very top of the supernatural food chain ... ahead of vampires. Now, Claire and her friends have to work with the vampires to bring down their common, very dangerous enemy ... but what happens when the vampires no longer have anything to fear? There's lots of action, adventure, romance, heartbreak, humor ... everything you've come to expect from a Morganville book!
Amber - The Weather Warden series ended but the Outcast series was born from it. How is the series going and how will it continue?
Rachel - The series just ended with the release of book 4, UNBROKEN ... I had originally planned this to be a limited four-book series, and it actually dovetails into the events of TOTAL ECLIPSE in the Weather Warden universe!
Amber - Do you miss the Weather Warden series? Ever thought of bringing it back?
Rachel - I'm not saying I won't revisit the Wardens and the Djinn at a future date, but for now that's the last in the saga.
Amber - I loved Working Stiff the debut in the Revivalist series. How did you come with the idea for that one?
Rachel - Thanks! I actually got to speak to a nanotechnologist a couple of years ago who was working on nannies that could repair specific types of damage to cells; the idea was to ultimately repair the aging process. I took it a step farther, with nannies that could act as a kind of in-body life support system ... as long as you get your shots every day. I thought it would be interesting to combine that with a business that few people ever write about ... the "death business" of the funeral and embalming trade.
Amber - When can we expect to see a sequel? Will there be more from the Revivalists?
Rachel - We'll be doing three Revivalist novels! The second is called TWO WEEKS' NOTICE, and it'll be out in August 2012.
Amber - Is there one character from your books that you love a lot? Hate? Books you wish you could go back and change?
Rachel - Hmmm, I think I am probably fondest of Myrnin, in terms of characters who are fun to write for ... but it's a very close race! I don't think I hate any of them. I mean, if I hated them, I'd probably kill them off. (This doesn't mean I hate ALL the characters I kill off, though, some of them I actually love!) I don't think there's any writer who wouldn't like to go back and change things after the fact, particularly those written when life was difficult for them ... but I think I like them the way they are, as a testament to who I was and where I was at the time.
Amber - Last but not least, if you could be any character from your books, who would you be and why?
Rachel - I think I'd probably have to pick Joanne Baldwin from the Weather Warden series. I mean, she controls the weather! She has great fashion sense! She has a hot Djinn boyfriend! Yes, sure, she's in mortal danger most of the time, but ... there are compensations. :)
Amber - Thank you for visiting!
Rachel - Thank you for having me! Hugs, Amber!
Contest Time!
Win one of Rachels's books. Winners choice! Want to start the series? Need the new book? You win, you choose!
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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 new to town—a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville’s latest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn’t merely human. But is he a vampire—or something else entirely?
My Review :
The Morganville series has got to be one of my favourite YA reads and as things progress I begin to wonder when it will be over. The title for book Eleven, Last Breath, implies that things could be coming to an end. Or at least for someone. The actual horror and surprise of what does occur was something that I didn't see coming and would have not have even contemplated. It was shocking but gave the series a new leash of life.
I am not saying that this series needed something new but there is only so much you can do with a town full of vampires. At some point you have to start mixing things up . Most authors wouldn't manage to get things pumping again but Rachel Caine has, once again, managed to totally grab my attention and bring something amazingly good to the table. I couldn't put down this new installment and can't wait to see what she comes up with next.
Lovers of the series will spend the second half of the book wondering if there will be any more in the series. Luckily I read the Author's Note and knew that a 12th book was promised. I had no worries about what happens to one of the regular crew but I was scared of how things would progress. Anyone new to the series will definitely want to stop and just start at the beginning. And to be honest there is no way you can jump into Morganville at this late stage and even begin to understand what it all means. Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve have come a long way in the Glass House and the depth and seriousness of everything that happens can not be understood without knowing all the history.
Last Breath is not the end but I fear the end is near. It is, most likely, the best in the series yet and I really am eager to read the next part. Make sure you start this series if you haven't already and if you have then go out and get Last Breath asap! This Young Adult series rocks and adults should, would and do love it!
