Review Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires 4)

Feast of Fools by Rachel Caine
The Morganville Vampires
Published: Signet, Jun 2008
Source: Bought
Look for this at Amazon/ BD
5 out of 5

About Feast of Fools (from goodreads):
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.

Emily has received Daddy vampire in town and as usual Claire and her entourage have been involved.   This character Mr. Bishop arrives to town in unusual circumstances.  He is accompanying Claire's parents whom -surprise!-are relocating to beautiful and peaceful Morganville.  Emily is not happy about it, but nevertheless she plans a feast to celebrate Bishop's arrival so every vampire can pay their respects.  Meanwhile Myrnin keeps in poor condition until Clare unites efforts with a doctor and achieve a better medicine to help control the vampire's sickness.

This gathering is not an innocent ball. It is a machination from Bishop and his people to have Morganville in his control.  Clare is not invited and decides to go with Myrnin in her effort to trying to keep her friends safe. Once the feast begins, the almost nonexistent safety in Morganville vanishes and who knows if their fragile pseudo-safety could be recovered ever again.

I find Feast of Fools more active than the third chapter on the series.  In Midnight Alley a strange character arrives, the same individual who will cause mayhem in Morganville during Feast of Fools.  Clare as always tries to save everybody but things get complicated for her.  Too many people to save for a sixteen year old.  But as always, Clare uses her resourcefulness to respond to the situations at hand.

The characters in Feast of Fools:
 You can see Michael is changing.  His vampire side is taking over little by little.  I think this is an inevitable change for him. The question is if he is capable to control himself.  Shane is accepting Michael. Also, he keeps dutifully playing videogames. Eve is the character I simply tolerate for the sake of the story.  I find her obnoxious.

This book has the best ending so far in the series.  I really like how the story was developed.  The story kept my with constant interest.  The last pages are incredibly chaotic for Morganville and suddenly the story gained momentum.  Wanted to keep reading but the pages ended.   I can't wait to read the next book and see what happens next in Morganville.

Visit The Morganville Vampires site to know more about the series. You can even read some short stories!

Review Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires 3)

Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine
The Morganville Vampires
Published: Signet, Oct 2007
Source: Bought
Look for this at Amazon/ BD
4 out of 5

About Midnight Alley (from goodreads):

When Claire Danvers learnt that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving student would do: she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but that garlic may come in handy.
Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure her friends. All of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from Claire’s past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home.

Clare is now in a great deal of problems. She now has her own bracelet and as many citizens in Morganville, she belongs to a vampire, in her case Amelie has the end of her leash. Her owner asked her to work with vampire genius, Myrnin to find a cure for a vampire sickness. Clare has to visit Myrnin everyday and become his apprentice. But with Myrnin suffering the same condition, Clare's safety is in jeopardy. He gets easily disoriented to a point where he doesn't recognize Clare, putting her in the same danger all his previous students were on. Sadly his students are not part of the living anymore, or the dead in Morganville's case. Let's say they are part of the normally dead.

Well, at some point Myrnin recognizes he no longer has control, for his sickness has overcome him. At the same time, Clare has been ingesting a little too much of a compound created by Myrnin, that gives her clarity of mind and basically opens her mind to tons of knowledge but that little by little deteriorates her. Then Clare has to apply all that theoretical knowledge and with a dash of cleverness she survives the mess she is in.

At the ending,an interesting set of guests arrives at the Glass house. We all know, guests are not goodwill ambassadors on that little corner of Texas.

Finally, we know who is the crazy creature on the alley mentioned in the previous books. I liked that connection. Myrnin is a character that has a big potential in the series. I hope to get to understand this character. I think it would be a highlight in future books,to read about who he used to be before the sickness.

The story gets more complicated for the group. Michael is a vampire, Shane is still in a not so good standing in the community and Clare is in a great deal of stress. This storyline kept me on the pessimist side of things. Constantly thought that simply only a miracle could resolve things. Let's say things ended ok...until a strange new character arrives at the door waiting to be invited in. What would you do? Would you invite him in?

Review The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine
Published:April 2007
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: Purchased
Look for this at Amazon / BD

About this book from goodreads:
Claire Danvers has her share of challenges---like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm, and above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with vampires. On the up side, she has a great roommate (who tends to disappear at sunup) and a new boyfriend named Shane, whose vampire-hunting dad has called in backup: cycle punks who like the idea of killing just about anything.

Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls' Dance and---surprise!---Claire and her equally outcast best friend, Eve, have been invited. When they find out why, all hell is going to break loose. Because this time both the living and the dead are coming out---and everybody's hungry for blood.

The first thing I like about this young adult (more new adult to me) book is that it keeps continuity. The Dead Girls' Dance begins where Glass Houses ends, in the same circumstances for the characters. The second thing is that it begins in frail calm and ends in frail calm as well. At the beginning they are at the house, their safe haven, without certainty about their safety. At the end, they are at the house again but this time they are certain things won't get easier.

The Dead Girls' Dance has more action and puts the characters in more danger than the first book. The story doesn't provide a moments rest for them. They are fighting and trying to work solutions for what's threatening them on this chapter of the Morganville series. Claire has to survive a town in Texas swarmed with vamps, while trying to keep good grades at college and keeping her parents at bay for their own good.

The characters are shown in a different light. Shane is passive for the majority of the book. He is the one in trouble this time and Clare, Eve and Michael are looking for a way to help him. Clare shows more security on herself, taking risks and making decisions by herself. I like Clare more in this book. Michael was more relevant to me in Glass Houses, now it seems like he diluted into the background. Only at the end he is relevant. Eve shows the same strong personality from the first book, but I have to confess, sometimes her goth self drives me into a boredom abyss.

What wasn't I happy about in this book? Amelie, this ancient vampire, seems like an ornament. Wasn't she suppose to protect them to some extent? In Morganville, if you have a vampire protector nobody can mess with you. So, that doesn't seem to apply for Claire and associates. Those poor kids had the worst moment and she was poor help. At least they could help themselves... if what they chose to do can be called helping oneself. Probably, calling their actions improvisation is more accurate. Nevertheless, Clare and her friends decision making skills is what makes Morganville series a rollercoaster surviving journey that can keep you in a no stop reading frenzy.

Overall, I can't wait to read the next one. With great setting, interesting set of circumstances and cleverly invented characters to play on her world, Rachel Caine has done a great job in this series. Let's see what awaits on Midnight Alley.

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Review: Angels on Sunset Boulevard enjoying the cult of social networking

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I do not know what to think about this book. I decided to read Angels on Sunset Boulevard for the following reasons:
It was written by Melissa De La Cruz.
The cover caught my attention. The colors are vibrant and the girl in the cover looks like someone with a mind of her own, as someone who sets its own guidelines.

After reading this book, I can say I am 50% satisfied. The first part of the book is slow, it is rather introductory, you get to know the characters superficially. We see Taj and Johnny as the iconic couple, the talented musical prodigy and the girl who makes her own style (a trend setter) accompanying him. She seems tired of that environment and indifferent to all of it. We also know Nick, the preppy boy who practices sports, drinks too many energy drinks and who is accompanied by the popular girl at school. All have something in common, they belong to a social network called TAP.

The story continues its slow progress and gradually we discover that what seems like part of a social life has hidden secret practices similar to those of a cult type movement where people search for social supremacy. Nick is the character that moves the gears needed to discover the secrets, is the character who tries to break the social norm governed by this network called TAP. The Angels Practice, or TAP sought to generate a sense of necessity in the story, the need to be part of an elite club.

The story is slow, but when I reached approximately half of the book, it come out of its lethargy. Events begin to occur and you see a darker side to the story. Finally I could develop interest on my reading.

About the Book
The idea of exclusivity was embellished with ideas of spirituality and freedom when in fact, sought to enslave and trap. I found interesting the development of the concept of the social network. The human being is a social being and social networks are a channel to develop different levels of interaction. In this book the interaction the characters developed in this network becomes detrimental. It also discusses the concept of ownership of objects to develop a sense of belonging.

I feel a bit disappointed with this book. I like what De La Cruz writes, but this was not a home run. My level of satisfaction reached a 50% thanks to the second half of book. The author used too many fragmented sentences, this makes the dialog to lose meaning and significance.

On the other hand, I liked the images, the pages of the characters, this gives a better sense of what is TAP and who the characters are and what are their priorities in life.

Do I liked the characters?

Taj was a disappointment. I thought it would be the independent character, but she sets trends just waiting to be followed. She is simply the character that excuses the mundane with spiritual explanations.
Johnny is a character that is forgotten.
Nick is the one who questions, so I liked him.

Dust Review: Reborn more than once

I just finished reading Dust, an urban fantasy novel written by Joan Frances Turner. After reading a little about her, I understand her motivation and inspiration to create it. Since 2003, she began writing ideas here and there, shaping her writing for several years and then bring us the story of Jessie, a teenager in a world where zombies have always been part of everyday life.

Jessie is a teen who dies, becomes a zombie while experiencing an awakening in her existence. In life affected by his family, but in death is accepted into the arms of this family that is the Fly by Nights. Her anger continually perspires in the story, except in the peculiar times in which harmony reigns in the group and a spontaneous dance begins. I noticed while reading this that the author needs to do better transitions between events, especially when they did these dances. The narrative in these scenes is confusing especially during the first part. By putting aside that aspect, later in my reading I found these dances and melodic communication an original and entertaining story.

Here “gentle” existence between friendly food fights and fights just because, is shaken with the arrival of a new threat. From that moment we see Jessie’s determination , her change and development, process that determines what will happen to everyone including mankind.

About the Book
This is the hardcover version which consists of 374 pages and is divided into three parts. Inside is a map, which allows you to make reference and place the characters in a physical place.

The ideas described have originality and are away from the norm of traditional zombies. In the first part of the novel is difficult to determine the participants in a conversation or at what time the events were happening. I was interested in Turner’s way of describing battles and events using peculiar metaphors and similes. That demonstrates creativity. Another interesting aspect is that the author created a slang ( hoo for humans) for the story.

What do I think about Jessie?
Jessie seemed childish and impulsive. The story leads to her development and maturity, which was necessary to make her the centerpiece of the chain of events. The interesting thing about it is that Jessie evolves while others regress. I have interest in seeing what role Jessie plays in the future of this serie.


Rating:

Emily The Strange: The Lost Days Review

The Lost Days is the first of the Emily The Strange novels and its main character is a peculiar girl with an ingenious mind. She finds herself in a town called Blackrock with a case of amnesia. She keeps a diary and as the days are passing by she documents everything she uncovers about herself and her link with the town. Her journey is directed by clues she finds and conclusions she draws while investigating with four cats. During the story she will uncover her identity. Who she is? Well it depends on the moment in the story. She is amnesia girl,Earwig,Molly,Emily. Also, she will learn things that set her apart: her dresses' pockets have an infinite storage capacity, she is skillful in golem creation, she has something close to a doppelganger in Molly, she loves cats and enjoys an evening inside a good fridge box (with 4 cats,of course!) With resourcefulness she will discover the motivations for her amnesia, will help Blackrock's destiny and she will make good friends on her journey.


About the book: Emily The Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner brings a story that keeps us reading and wanting to know who the girl is. The artwork illustrated by Reger and Buzz Parker invades the book in a charming way. The artwork on the sides reminds me of the Cathy's series by Stewart and Weisman, where the art brings cohesion and life to the story. The diary format makes the book engaging.


What do I think about Earwig/Emily? She is ODD with capital letters and that is what makes her an unique heroine. Her mind doesn't have boundaries and the creative scientist in her is limitless. That gives the character and edge. She has her own way of doing things and is confident. Her unconventional look and quick fun remarks sets her apart as a character who can be part of a lasting series.





Emily The Strange is not just a series, it has been diversified into a complete brand around this unconventional teenage girl.
If you have interest on Emily The Strange go to Emilystrange page. Also, you can browse this book at HarperCollins