Morganville Vampires (X) - Bite Club by Rachel Caine
And to part 10 of the thrilling series about vampires and living machines - Bite Club by Rachel Caine (in German Bis die Dämmerung uns scheidet). I read it in German, where it contained 365 pages. Originally published 2011.
Claire's lab partner stole blood of a vampire and is found a few hours later dead in his apartment. Bishop fled. The MIT called Claire. And Shane got into a fight club, where something happens to him... and everything happens at once. Amelie wants heads on stakes and Oliver will give them to her. Claire and Eve have to do everything to get Michael and Shane out of danger, and this very soon. If they have to get help from Myrnin, Frank and Kim, and break more than just the traffic rules in Morganville, they don't even think about it twice.
This might be the most tense part of all the series. You have some chapters by Shane, who seem more like a diary entry than really like a perspective. SPOILER ALERT: The way he thinks about Claire though is sooo cute. It would have been better, if we could have come to know Gloriana before, than to only get the impression of Claire. At the party, it was this way. At the party, that happened. This party must have been so important, than why can we just read about it through Claire's memories and Eves speech? Plus it would be nice to get to know more people than Claire's enemies and close friends. This is a very small town. And Claire did enough to be famous, but how do others react to this? Who are her neighbours? In part 6 of the series the people's reactions where shown to make clear she's more than an outcast in Morganville. But by know EVERYONE must know how many things she did for Morganville. How do they react?
I like how Claire deals with Amelie, Oliver, Kim, Monica, Gina and Myrnin. I bet she will own Morganville at the end of the series. At least she made the decision to stay. And I'm really glad her parents are out of the way. I can understand them, but they are so annoying! The characters were great, as always, but I wonder why Shane first says no one touches Wassily and then slaps him. And why Dough didn't turn on Claire after she insulted him. If this stuff they take makes them so aggressive, why did he stay so calm after she treated him like an idiot?
But there are other mistakes too: It's Ysandre, not Yvette, Landsdale Hall is girls only, everybody knows Myrnins labour (because they evacuated the city hall through a portal after the tornado and the portal led to Myrnin, Myrnin can drive), Claire knows Bishop's not dead, why does Michael get to the Bishop-conclusion so fast, he doesn't know Bishop broke out! And, last but not least: Shane is a so-called Friend of Morganville, he doesn't need to pay blood-taxes.
But Miranda totally makes up for these implausible things. This half-insane way of speaking and treating people is half funny, half sad. I really think she's cool, all on her own, and still trying to be good.
All in all, this book was fine. I give it a star for ideas, style and characters. Minus one, as always, for the mistakes.