Bite Club (Morganville Vampires, Book 10) [Hardcover]

Rachel Caine (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 3, 2011

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine is "a first-class storyteller" (#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris).

After discovering that vampires populate her town, college student Claire Danvers knows that the undead just want to live their lives. But someone else wants them to get ready to rumble.

There's a new extreme sport getting picked up on the Internet: bare—knuckle fights pitting captured vampires against each other—or humans. Tracking the remote signal leads Claire—accompanied by her friends and frenemies—to discover that what started as an online brawl will soon threaten everyone in Morganville...

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A first-class storyteller' Charlaine Harris --Charlaine Harris --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

About the Author

Rachel Caine is the author of more than twenty novels, including the "Weather Warden" series. She was born at White Sands Missile Range, which people who know her say explains a lot. She has been an accountant, a professional musician, and an insurance investigator, and still carries on a secret identity in the corporate world. She and her husband, fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Texas with their iguanas, Popeye and Darwin; a mali uromastyx named (appropriately) O’Malley; and a leopard tortoise named Shelley (for the poet, of course).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover; 1 edition (May 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451233182
• ISBN-13: 978-0451233189
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rachel Caine is the #1 internationally bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including the bestselling Morganville Vampires series, the Weather Warden series, the Outcast Season series, and the new upcoming Revivalist series. She was born at White Sands Missile Range, which people who know her say explains a lot. She has been an accountant, a professional musician, and an insurance investigator, and until very recently continued to carry on a secret identity in the corporate world. She and her husband, fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Texas.

WWW.RACHELCAINE.COM
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/RACHELCAINE
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/RACHECAINE
HTTP://RACHELCAINE.LIVEJOURNAL.COM

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#23 in Books > Teens

#23 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars More like 3.5 stars, but it falls on the 3 star side this time May 3, 2011

By Ashleigh VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.

A new gym has opened up in Morganville and Shane, to say the least, is excited that there's now a place where he can learn to kick vampire butt. He soon starts acting strangely and despite Claire's attempts to find out what's wrong, Shane isn't talking. Through her own invesigation brought on by the death of a classmate and the long trail that leads her down, Claire discovers that one of Morganville's greatest threats is still alive--and he's escaped his prison. She then discovers a website that broadcasts fight between vampires and humans in Morganville, something that could expose vampires and Morganville's secret to the world. Amelie wants whoever is involved dead, which is a bad thing when Shane is a regular feature of the videos.

This series is one of my current favorites because of how... unputdownable the books are and Myrnin, most of all. I read this book from the moment I got home until about 7:45 and coming out of it, I'm not really impressed. It wasn't awful, but there were definite problems and it's got me worried.

From the beginning, I felt that something was wrong. The narrative voice felt... off, somehow. Little comments that were strange even for Morganville narration, which gets pretty different for third-person narration. That was soon fixed, but then came little discrepancies. Does anyone ever remember hearing a mention in the last nine books of how Eve used to fence competitively? I don't, but she apparently did. Ten books in, we're told about the glamour, which some female vampires have and can use to influence humans and vampires. This felt a bit like an asspull done to justify the plot. There is no doubt that the plot was only possible because of the newly introduced glamour power. Otherwise, it never would have worked.

I don't think the shifts into Shane's first-person point of view from the usual third-person limited narration worked very well. Most of his narrative segments added nothing to the book and even the ones that did could have been done without. Frankly, they felt like fluff in a series that didn't need it. The last series that pulled that trick is one I went from loving to loathing. It feels like this book needed more editing, some tweaking of story and grammar and such in a few places and cleanup of the sometimes clunky prose and many misplaced commas. Nothing knocks you out of a suspenseful, tense scene like "Harry closed his eyes and sweated, a lot (p. 283)."

Most of all, Claire and Shane acted pretty out-of-character (though much of Shane's behavior is excused by glamour/for the sake of plot). Claire had a bit of information to tell her roommates about her MIT invite and yet she never tells Shane in all the opportunities she had before his mood swings kicked in. So this girl, who could stay up for three days straight (wasn't that it?) when forced to, can't force herself to stay awake a few minutes to finish a conversation and tell her boyfriend about an invitation to MIT? She forgives Shane for all he does in this book far too easily. As he admitted, he came under such control of the glamour because there was something there to work with. She doesn't seem to realize that. Also, Shane learns about his father's fate. His reaction? Not talk to people for a week and then be fine. Something felt off about that reaction.

Despite the rocky road at the beginning that I just ranted about, Bite Club got into the Morganville groove by the half point of the book and became impossible to put down. If anything, this series is a master of suspense, how everything gets tense and the narration will quit fooling around and start flowing smoothly. You always know the main four will live and that Amelie, Oliver, and Myrnin will too, but everyone else is fair game. Despite this surety, there's always the desperate need to keep turning those pages and find out how it's all going to work out. Each time I got a new Morganville book, I finished reading it the day I got it because the book wouldn't let me go. Bite Club was no exception. Only one or two other series are like that for me, and I've read many series!

If you are a fellow Myrnin fan like me, rejoice because he is here and just as much fun as usual! Among other things, he nearly causes many traffic accidents and we find out that his picture ID on Claire's phone is a close-up photo of those famous vampire bunny slippers. When I got irritated, I flipped back to his entertaining moments and it made me feel better again. Bonus if you're a Myrnin/Claire fan: everyone and their mother thinks, 'There's something there...' I'm not a fan of it and even I could see it. Most of what makes me love Morganville is its supporting characters and they are out in spades here to entertain the reader.

This is definitely my least favorite book yet in the series and it makes me worry for the future of the series. I can see where holes are forming in the foundation, threatening to make the entire structure fall apart and become a bad series. However, the two events did not happen at once like multiple series I don't wish to name. With more careful writing, Morganville can be saved. Most Morganville fans will love or at least like Bite Club and anxiously await Last Breath for their next dose of Myrnin (oh, and some other characters, in case they don't like Myrnin).

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Bite Club May 3, 2011

By Loves FAB Romance

Format:Hardcover

When Bite Club opens, the guys are excited about the new gym opening in Morganville, Shane especially, since they're offering martial arts. It's vampire owned, with vamp and human members. Shane loves it and starts spending more and more time there. He's also getting angry - fast and mean. He's picking fights with Michael, Eve, and even Claire. The angrier he gets, the more time he spends at the gym, where Gloriana's been hanging out. It doesn't seem to matter that she's a vampire, Shane can't seem to get mad at her.

Claire has her own problems - Bishop is back, MIT is calling, and she's still keeping the secret about Shane's father from Shane. Then, she gets a phone call from a strange female telling her Shane is hot and out of Claire's league. She comments she's "watching it again" and Claire gets suspicious. After a bit of investigating, it turns out the gym is running an online human vs. vamp "fight club" where paying viewers can place bets on the outcome of the fights, and Shane is a participant.

My Thoughts: Bite Club is definitely Shane's book. We get a lot of what's going on in his head, and it's angry and confused. We see his deepest hopes and doubts and watch as they morph into something unrecognizable. The vampires in Bite Club are badder than ever, more so because they don't seem all that bad... until it's too late. Aside from Shane's issues, Claire still has a lot going on. Some old "friends" from previous books come back and surprise me, and just when I think it's all over Ms. Caine throws another twist into the plot. I get enough Myrnin-time to keep me satisfied, and, just to tease us, there is some unfinished business between Eve, Michael, and Amelie. Bite Club is an action-packed, no-punches-pulled installment in the Morganville series!

Favorite Quotes:
(between Claire and Eve)
"I have no idea what that is, but yawn, anyway, just on principle. Eat up. Pancakes is brain food."
"Apparently not grammar food."
"Wow. You college girls are mean."
~Bite Club, page 116

(by Myrnin)
"Follow me," Myrnin said. "And do stay together. And by the way, this is the last time I go anywhere with you people. You are all insane."
~Bite Club, page 318

I really enjoyed Bite Club; Claire is still as smart and loyal as ever and I loved the glimpses into Shane's head throughout the book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I'd give 3.5, but amazon doesn't allow for 1/2 stars :) May 5, 2011

By Barbara

Format:Hardcover

Bite Club (Morganville Vampires, Book 10) is the latest in the Morganville Vampire series. I really love this series and I finished it in about 24 hours :) In Bite Club (Morganville Vampires, Book 10), Shane gets involved with a new gym promoting martial arts training and winds up in over his head. Claire, Michael, Eve and the usual suspects all have to fight to get him out of trouble before Amelie exterminates everyone involved in a secret that threatens to expose Morganville.

In many ways, this installment felt like the middle of a trilogy or something. The main story line was basically resolved by the end, but it left open a lot of unanswered questions and possibilities. Some old villains resurface, including Gloriana from the short story Drama Queen's Last Dance, found in Eternal: More Love Stories with Bite. While the vampire-related dramas seem to come to some conclusion, the human dramas seem to be building up. Claire and Shane's relationship is strained by the end of the story, and Michael seems to be harboring doubts about Eve. I strongly suspect that in the next Morganville Vampires book, the main focus will be on the relationships, with vampire enemies falling second. I could be wrong, but that's how things felt to me at the end of Bite Club (Morganville Vampires, Book 10).

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The characters are very interesting and it's been nice seeing how they have developed over the course of the series. Claire, in particular, seems to really come into her own strength in this story, although at the cost of some of her innocence. Shane seems to find more of his inner demons, more than he is truly able to explore in this story. As I said, the ending of this story really leaves a lot of emotional issues unresolved--I hope that there is some closure in the next installment Last Breath: The Morganville Vampires due out in November 2011.