Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires, #3) in Book Buying Addicts Anonymous

Oct 04, 2009 Lexie rated it really liked it

Shelves: review-blog-pr, books-owned-read

Spoilers for book 1 (Glass Houses) and book 2 (Dead Girl's Dance).

Since I'm assuming y'all read Book 2 by now I can freely say that I hated how Shane acted throughout much of the book. I understand that he was under pressure and that he was mentally, physically and emotionally beaten down by his dad, but I'm not sure that excuses all of his jackass behavior. Unfortunately if I thought he would improve in this book I was obviously mental. His attitude in general is horrific for much of the book a Spoilers for book 1 (Glass Houses) and book 2 (Dead Girl's Dance).

Since I'm assuming y'all read Book 2 by now I can freely say that I hated how Shane acted throughout much of the book. I understand that he was under pressure and that he was mentally, physically and emotionally beaten down by his dad, but I'm not sure that excuses all of his jackass behavior. Unfortunately if I thought he would improve in this book I was obviously mental. His attitude in general is horrific for much of the book and his attitude towards Michael in particular is worthy of a quick slap upside his head with a frying pan. I wish I was joking.

The troubles for Claire and Co. just keeps coming. Yes they successfully saved Shane and stopped his dad from making a mondo-mistake...but the trade off was Michael is now a full fledged Vamp, Claire is pledged to Amelie and the part of the town that didn't already distrust and dislike Shane now has joined the other side. Not to mention Eve's brother Jason is still creeping (literally) around the town, Oliver has a score to settle, Amelie's independent study for Claire is this side of crazed and oh yeah Monica seems to think that Claire is the newest coolest toy in the whole wide world.

I still contend that Michael and Claire's chemistry is better then either Eve/Michael or Claire/Shane. They just...get one and other, understand almost immediately if something is wrong. True that was hampered by Michael going vamp (though a more gorgeous vamp you'll never meet apparently), but the two connect. Its hard for me not to see that romantically (especially as Claire seems apt to calling him gorgeous every little while).

Amelie proves to be more then her mettle in this book. Cracks appear in her demeanor and Claire is quick (unfortunately) to pick up on those cracks. Despite what is said I think Amelie does have a sort of fondness for Claire, though I fear its the sort that one feels for their pet goldfish. Two new characters are introduced in this book, well technically one because the other sort of showed up in Book 2, and both are dangerous. On different levels however and both are connected to Amelie. Oh and the reappearance of two other characters is less welcome.

I think the most interesting addition is Myrnin, a very old vampire friend of Amelie who studies alchemy and is losing his mind. Has been for years upon years. A well guarded secret even amongst those she trusts, Myrnin alternates between utterly charming (in a crazed manic sort of way) to cruel, dangerous and manipulative. He's a wonderful character though! He's never completely sane quite frankly and even when he's mostly sane he's really not. A true mad genius.

The end, as usual, leaves us with a tasty predicament for the Glass House residents specifically and Morganville in general. Its ends like these that make me happy I waited till I had a good chunk of the series to read at once. I don't know if I would like having to wait. ...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Jess rated it really liked it

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 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?
...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Schnaucl rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, read_2007, owned, horror, october, series, young_adult

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a good follow-up to the series. Rachel Caine does a good job with characters that are trying to do the best they can under difficult circumstances. They're all forced to be much more adult than their ages suggest. The main development was interesting but I'm wary of the twists at the end. ...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Shannon rated it liked it

Shelves: zbook-3, paperback, stars-3-5, library, 2011, series-morganville-vampires, zz07-2011, have-kindle-copy, z-at

Definitely an addictive series. This installment was nonstop, and the ending has definitely pulled me into the next installment. Can't wait to see where this series goes. 3.5 Stars! ...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Sharon rated it really liked it

Shelves: vampires, random-paranormal, fiction

More danger and more intriguing characters. Very good continuation of the previous books. Another ending that make's you want to start the next book immediately. ...more

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