Welcome to Morganville, Texas.
Just don’t stay out after dark.
College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation, where the popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks in the school’s social scene: somewhere less than zero.
When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don’t show many signs of life. But they’ll have Claire’s back when the town’s deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.
I know I am way behind the ball on this one but I have started reading the Morganville Vampires series. For those of you that are not familiar with this series, let me just say this – this is not your normal vamp fiction. The vampires do not sparkle, they do not woo, they do not seduce some busty vixen. These vampires are not good guys. They’re not even anything close to being mistaken for good guys. They are straight up, in your face, cant be denied monsters. And it’s kinda awesome.
The star of this series is a sweet little doormat by the name of Claire Danvers. Claire is a child prodigy of sorts. At 16 years old, she’s in her freshman year of college. The book opens with her being terrorized by an upper classman and that really sets the tone for the type of character we are dealing with. She’s young. She gets pushed around. At 16 years old, I would have beaten the ass of anyone that pulled that kind of crap on me. Our character feels more like 13 or 14 than 16 years old.
At times, that young feeling is a grating feeling in this book. She’s supposed to be in college and even the upperclassman all act like they’re twelve. Granted, I am fully aware that there are plenty of immature “kids” in college but the collegiate cast in this book is a bit much.
That immature feeling is about the only thing I really didn’t like about the book. The rest of the book is good. The whole “forsaken town” vibe that Morganville has just wreaks of Quentin Tarantino! Think ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’ or John carpenter’s ‘Vampires’. Or even Joel Schumacher’s 80’s cult classic The Lost Boys. These are all prime examples of the feel that this book has – like Morganville is the last stop before hell and about as far from Heaven as you can get.
However, there is very little blood in this book. It’s not horror in the sense that those films all are. It’s very PG. Aside from someone being pushed down a flight of stairs and talk of someone “being tortured”, there really isn’t even a whole lot of violence in Glass Houses.
The sex content is only hinted, not blatant. There is a threat of an inappropriate relationship but the older of the pair is very much like “I wanna but I know we shouldn’t so I won’t”. From the moment that we meet these two characters, I sooooooo knew that was coming. There was no way they weren’t going to play with fire on that one. The two characters are too conveniently placed.
As for the writing, It’s pretty good. It’s fast moving with not a lot of speed bumps. The mystery of the day is well written in that I did not see the bad guy coming at all. That one totally blind sided me. There’s also a twisty little surprise in the middle of the book that will make you make this face:
Also, I kind of love the character of Amalie! She reminds me a lot of Queen Sophie Ann LeClerq of the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris (NOT the True Blood version). She has moments of kindness but you would be very wise to remember that she can and would snap your neck in an instant if you cross her. She’s kind of bad ass.
One thing I realized upon finishing this novel is that Morganville Vampires are not stand alone novels. I would say the end was a cliffhanger but I don’t even think that really explains it. It’s more like it’s the end of a chapter and you’ll find the next chapter in the next book. Very much a “To Be Continued” kind of moment. Luckily, I had the next book ready to go immediately so I didn’t punch anyone in the face hole for leaving me hanging.
One last note in regards to the audio books. I got this as an audio book and I got the Kindle book (so I could read at night while my husband slept). The narrator of this series is…….well……..bad. I found that I had a very hard time staying focused when listening but not a problem at all when reading. That’s normally not a problem for me at all. So you may want to listen to a sample before buying the audio book to determine whether or not you can stomach that voice for over 8 hours.
Overall, I am going to give Glass Houses 3 stars. It’s a good book. It’s solid but it’s far from mind blowing. I am going to proceed with the series for now because I am hoping that as our main character gets older, the maturity level of the book will come up a few notches.
GLASS HOUSES
Morganville Vampires #1
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THE DEAD GIRLS’ DANCE
Morganville Vampires #2
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MIDNIGHT ALLEY
Morganville Vampires #3
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FEAST OF FOOLS
Morganville Vampires #4
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LORD OF MISRULE
Morganville Vampires #5
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CARPE CORPUS
Morganville Vampires #6
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FADE OUT
Morganville Vampires #7
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KISS OF DEATH
Morganville Vampires #8
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GHOST TOWN
Morganville Vampires #9
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BITE CLUB
Morganville Vampires #10
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LAST BREATH
Morganville Vampires #11
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BLACK DAWN
Morganville Vampires #12
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I’ve been wanting to read a vamp series where the vampires are really bad. I mean lets face it…. they’re souless creatures who kill for blood. Still not seeing the warm fuzzy in that 😉
I just started reading these! I’m on book 8. THey’re super fast reads, and they all end with those “cliffhanger” endings that are not really cliffhangers, but more tell you what the next story will be about.
They get better as you go, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that they mature a whole lot, the maturing thing is slow because time moves by slowly. I’m on book 8 and it’s months later.
Amelie gets better and better! 😀