Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine

Given my interest in the paranormal (which the YA world shares right now, luckily for me), I've heard about the Morganville Vampires many times. I finally got a hold of the first book, Glass Houses, to check it out.

So worth the hype.

Claire is a sixteen-year-old genius: having graduated high school, she has already been accepted to MIT. Unfortunately, her protective parents send her to the "safe school" of Texas Prarie University, for a year or two before the big leagues. But nothing is safe in Morganville. Because Morganville is a town full of vampires.

And in a town full of vampires, you either swear allegiance to them or you get eaten by them. And when Claire flees her dorm because she's being picked on, she walks into secrets that could get her killed.

Now Claire lives in the Glass House with Michael, Shane, and Eve, three Unprotected humans. There are secrets, and danger, and -oh!- school. Will Claire survive?

***

I'm on the sixth book in the series, and I am tearing through them. Caine writes with the perfect style for Claire's POV: nervous and stubborn and intelligent. And while each book has it's own story arc, greater troubles in Morganville surface every volume. The books are quick enough reads on their own (~250 pgs), but be certain to have the next one ready! So far every one has ended on a mega cliffhanger that sets up for the next book.

If I have any complaints about the book, it's the obsession with Claire's age. I've lost track of the number of times she's had to say that she's "almost seventeen." Hooray for virtuous boys and obnoxious villains, but I get it already! She's young.

The series so far:
Glass Houses
Dead Girl's Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade Out
Kiss of Death
Bite Club (May 2011)

The Bottom Line: Get ready to be addicted!