Customer Reviews

Last Breath: The Morganville Vampires

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Things never get a chance to calm down in Morganville as it seems like one crisis after another arises. The last few installments have proved that. However, now vampires are going missing, and it doesn't seem like the "rebels" are to blame this time. His very being permeates evil and he's been the last one seem with some of the missing. Yet it seems as if Claire is the only one who can see him. With the town's vampires acting quite strange, she may be the their only hope, but at what cost?

There was a slight change in the way this book was narrated from previous installments. In Bite Club there were times when we would get a direct view into Shane's head and that really helped the reader get a better idea of the whole picture. In Last Breath, Rachel Caine took that idea one step further and added in a few chapters with perspectives other than Claires. Amelie, Shane, Michael and Eve all get a little time showing their side of things. I particularly liked getting into Amelie's head as it shows a lot of her inner struggle. She's always going to do what she thinks is best for her people, no matter the cost. However, that look into her head showed how much of a struggle it was for her to make those sacrifices and hard choices. She really isn't quite the cold creature she seems to be.

After the slight let down of the last installment, I had high hopes for redemption in Last Breath. I got what I asked for and then some as Last Breath completely blew my socks off. Things started off somewhat sedately, and built so steadily until the pressure almost snuck up on me as it boiled over. It is a wonder that I have any fingernails left after that nail biting read that kept me on the edge of my seat. You would think after reading the past ten installments, there wouldn't be much room for surprise, but Last Breath was one big shocker after another. One of the biggest being the answer to a long standing question: Why would vampires build their town in the middle of a desert when the sun is so deadly to them? This complex addition to the world building was pulled off brilliantly, adding a horrific twist to things that I never could have seen coming.

While the nonstop action was heart pounding, the utter depth of raw emotion was what really cemented this as the very best of the series. The highs are so high that you feel like you are soaring right along with the characters. As for the lows, well lets just say devastation has never been more aptly portrayed. Anger, fear, loss, betrayal, jealousy, love, and desperation, all play huge roles in Last Breath. But the one emotion that stands above it all is hope, and nothing is stronger than that. To be able to feel such hope after everything that happens in this book is nothing short of amazing, and it made Last Breath a truly phenomenal read. I highly recommend setting aside a solid block of time to read this book, as once started, it will be impossible to set down. You won't want to miss this utterly captivating book that will leave you breathless in the end. Bravo!

Claire Danvers is an extra-ordinary girl living in the extra-ordinary town of Morganville, Texas. What makes Claire so special? She's super-smart, having started college early, and, among other things, works after school in a lab with Myrnin, who's a little crazy...and a vampire. In Morganville though, that's no so unusual - there are lots of vampires in Morganville.

While there is usually an uneasy truce between the humans and the vampires, things are currently a little strained. Someone's planning a wedding, and as the countdown ticks down, it's plain that the wedding is one thing that everyone in town seems to agree on: no one thinks it should happen; not the vamps, and definitely not the humans.

But while the town is focused on the approaching nuptials, Claire and the gang learn that vampires are going missing. Just a few at first, but as the days go by and there's no sign of the missing vampires, things start to get weirder than usual. Claire sees something she shouldn't but can't remember what it was, Amelie gets a cryptic message that leads her to the decision to close down Morganville, and Myrnin has a decision to make. Will Claire and her friends solve the mystery and save Morganville? Do they even want to save Morganville? Or is this their chance to be free of the vampires forever?

My thoughts:

Last Breath is a can-not-miss installation to The Morganville Vampires series! As I've come to expect from this series, the story is fresh and the players are like old friends. As an added bonus, in Last Breath, we are treated to viewpoints from not only Claire, but also Amelie, Eve, Michael, and Shane.

Fans of Myrnin will love Last Breath: he continues to be one of my favorite anti-heroes. Even faced with the possible demise of Amelie, Morganville, and possibly himself, he steps up and does what needs to be done. And Shane...oh Shane...*sniffs* Shane faces possibly the most heartbreaking section of the book.

Without giving anything away, we do learn why this book is titled Last Breath; and believe me, you're going to be holding yours. After 10 books in this series of characters we have grown to love, Ms. Caine continues to captivate the reader with jaw-dropping scenes like this:

I lifted my head, and I knew my eyes were flaring with white power, driven by my rage, my revulsion, my desperation. "Silence them Myrnin. You know you must."

He stared back at me for a moment in mute horror, and shook his head. "I can't," he said. "God witness me, I cannot do it. Not to her. The boy, yes, but not her. Amelie, there must be another way."

"Jesu, you think if there was, I wouldn't take it?" I shouted it at him, fists clenched against the need to strike. "You will do it. You must." And I put my will on him, pushing in a way that I so rarely did these days. That I so rarely had to do.

~page 74, Last Breath

Last Breath was impossible to put down; every time I thought I knew where Ms. Caine was going to take us, I was wrong. This new villain in Morganville is dangerous and scary; so terrifying that even the vampires are panicking. And it's stealthy, sneaking up on us while we're busy looking somewhere else.

I have one complaint...usually Ms. Caine ends her stories nicely and things are as wrapped up as they can be, without ending the series of course, but that's not the case in Last Breath. Last Breath ends with a definite cliffhanger, and I felt like the story was left unfinished.

Last Breath is probably the most emotionally-charged installment in the series to date; fans of the books will not be disappointed. Between the surprise twists and the seemingly impossible challenges Claire must overcome, Last Breath left me gasping for breath.

Rachel Caine is an evil, wicked author for what's she has done to her characters--and by extension her readers--in LAST BREATH, the eleventh book in her crazy fun Morganville Vampire series. Not since GLASS HOUSES--which ended with with the decapitation of a main character--have I been as shocked by a book in this series...and yes, that means someone else very important dies.

I am continually amazed at how after so many books, the stories about Claire, Shane, Eve, Michael, and Morganville still feel fresh and exciting. What's more impressive is that the stakes--pardon the pun--escalate with each book too. How Rachel Caine manages to top herself with each book, I'll never know, but the reader in me is just thrilled that she does.

Vampire politics have become an increasingly pivotal plot point in the series overall, but like in previous books, there is a very personal storyline in LAST BREATH too, involving Michael and Eve's impending nuptials. Not to mention the ever volatile relationship between Claire and Shane, who actually didn't make me hate him even once this time. That's a new record. There were also some very difficult realizations that Claire had to make about a different relationship. I am extremely excited about what this could mean for the future of the series.

As in the previous Morganville book, LAST BREATH isn't told exclusively from Claire's perspective. We get chapters from Shane, Eve, Michael, and even Amelie, the last of which was a little odd. I think I prefer her as the mysterious and aloof Founder rather than knowing her thoughts. But these new perspectives did provide TONS of answers about Morganville and it's citizens, so I'm not complaining. I can only hope that we get a chapter from Myrnin next time. And there will be a next time. Rachel is under contract for at least three more books in The Morganville Vampires series. Up next is BLACK DAWN, which will be published in May 2012, and after the end of LAST BREATH...the series may never be the same.

Sexual Content:
Kissing. References to sex.

This book starts out strong, centering around a new villain more powerful than any we've ever seen before. We find out why Amelie built Morganville where she did and we get to peek into her mind as well. The middle of the book is so engaging that it keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next... Then the book starts going downhill for me.

(SPOILERS)

When Claire was being brought back to life, she was faced with a CHOICE of being a vampire or human. Why? Michael didn't have a choice, so why should she? Especially considering right before Myrnin brought her back, he told Eve and Shane that the only way she could come back was if she was a vampire. He didn't mention any choice then. And Shane's reaction also irritated me. He acted as though he would rather her be dead than be a vampire. How is that true love? I've never been the biggest fan of Shane and Claire, especially after Bite Club, but that put me off him completely. Also, if she hadn't had a choice, I wonder how Myrnin and Claire's relationship would have changed. There might have even been a possibility of romance but now it seems like that won't be happening. Amelie's death also seemed unnecessary especially when we finally saw some romance blossoming between her and Oliver. Another great opportunity wasted.

All and all, I think this book was okay but I'm not sure I'll be looking forward to the next installment.

I bought the first Morganville Vampire book on a whim at an airport. I liked it; it was a quick, fun read. And that's why I continued to read the series, it's a good series to just escape too as long as you don't expect much out of them. They aren't brilliantly written and they aren't going to make you really think. But sometimes that's just what we need.

However, with these last couple installments, I've found myself less and less happy with these books. It seems to me that Caine is just using gimmicks such as switching points of view religiously among other things that I won't go into to avoid spoilers.

I will probably keep reading these books in hopes that the series will end well but that's not what I'm really expecting.

Last Breath, the eleventh chapter in the Morganville Vampire series, proved to be a HUGE disappointment. This far into the series, I expect that any events that happen in it need to have reasons to really be there, instead of just acting as fillers. Nevertheless, that is the exact thing I get: two supposedly "huge" dramas that didn't have any consequences molded into a storyline that fit into the exact pattern as the previous books.

Nothing new is really there other than the villain and even he doesn't really have any depth. Another thing that I don't get is why must everything happen to or have to be about Claire? There are three other members in the Glass House that I think deserve to be put on the center stage. Let them steer the story, let it be about them rather than about Claire. After all, it is "The Morganville Vampire Series" NOT "Claire Danvers series". This is the kind of change that this series need - something that work against the pattern - not just the alternate chapters that the author featured in this book.

In my opinion, the predictability of story clearly shows that the author is using an easy, lazy way to create something that is "suppose" to be new, but the truth is, in the end of the day, all we get is the same old story with some minor changes and that clearly is not enough. Cheated, that is how Last Breath make me feel as I graduated to its final page.

Whew. Let me take a moment to catch my breath.

Okay, better now. In Rachel Caine's newest Morganville Vampires book, Last Breath, something dark and sinister has arrived in Morganville...and it isn't Bishop, Amelie, or any of the other vampires who have called the town home. Things have gotten so bad, with both vampires and humans disappearing, that when Amelie receives a note with one word on it--Run--she makes hurried plans to do just that...and to take the vampires with her. Which of course means that conflict is going to arise between the newly engaged Michael and Eve, who refuse to be parted. Claire is once again in the middle of the action, but she knows things are dire when even Myrnin seems worried. When she begins seeing things that no one else does, Claire tries to investigate...and that's when things go from bad to worse.

What I loved, loved, loved about this book: Ms. Caine is not afraid to take us into new territory, even killing off beloved characters if need be to move the story along. The depth of feeling is so real that it literally pulsates off the page, and the surprising revelation of just how much Myrnin cares is both touching and believable. I loved how the history of the series is woven into the book, making it all the more believable, and I loved how there is a determined refusal to give up. It's a page turner of epic proportions; I defy anyone to put the book down once Claire's "incident" occurs.

Nitpicking (and a bit of a spoiler): Still not sure precisely how Myrnin's "cure" of Claire worked, but I suppose it doesn't really make any difference, since it strengthens their bond and accomplished its purpose. I also think Michael and Eve are being ridiculously fast with the marriage thing, but that's a personal opinion from someone on the other side of being married for quite a while. Why antagonize an entire town and rub it in the faces of everyone by hosting an engagement event open to all? And I'm kinda over Eve's Goth look obsession. But like I said, that's just nitpicky. And the cliffhanger? Wow--I want answers and I want them now, but it's a smart move on Ms. Caine's part to mix things up and keep us salivating.

Last Breath is fresh and fast, and a rollicking good read. The four roommates are at their best, showing loyalty, unity, and determination when Morganville is in its death throes. At a time when most series start becoming tired and pale shadows of their former brilliance, Rachel Caine's Last Breath propels the Morganville Vampires books on to new places and deeper character development. This is how a series is *supposed* to be done.

So I've really felt this series has been strong and there have been a few books that have been filled with some fluff and filler but this one was written really well. Rachel Caine's writing style is very strong and you can really feel the connection and how strong it is between Claire and her roommates.

Claire is yet again a very strong lead heroine with a strong sense of self. She can take care of herself in a fight and that's a great quality in a main character. We don't always want to read about a girl who needs saved by a knight in shining armor it's nice to see a girl who can save her boyfriend when he needs it as well and that is Claire Danvers! I also enjoyed that this book showed parts that were from Amelie's point of view. It helps to see a little behind the Ice Queen herself.

I think this book was really great because it had a lot more surprises than others and it held my attention really well. I would have to say that I was in complete shock throughout the story and was awestruck more than once. I almost cried at times. Myrnin will always be my favorite character and he does not disappoint yet again. His character is as always charismatic and crazy. This was a very well written book which is hard to say about a novel that is book number 11 in a series. I was surprised to see on Rachel Caine's website the other day that there will be a total of 15 in this series. But after reading the story today I think she can pull it off and has much more to bring to the table. The end is on a cliffhanger which I enjoyed and am excited to see what happens next.

Excellent addition to the series!!! 4 1/2 Stars!

I have devoured every book in this series so far, and did not truly believe that there was any room to improve the plot or twist and turns in this latest installment. I own the whole series on kindle, and Audible versions! Rachel Caine has topped herself with this one! She is an incredible writer, with a gift for vivid writing. The moment I pick up one of her books, I'm lost in the world she creates. It all feels like it could happen any second! Once you identify with one of the characters, you're sucked in, and there's no escaping! I just can't wait until the last book in this series is released. Claire, Michael, Shane, Eve, Amelie, and Mernin are inviting you to join them in Morganville! Watch out for Magnus, he's one BAD dude! What's next for these characters? I guess we'll all find out when Rachel releases the last chapter.............

There are more twists and turns in Last Breath than the average Morganville book! I can't wait for the next book in this series!