Author: Rachel Caine
Date of Publication: October 2, 2007
Formats Available: Paperback, E-book
Buy This Book: Amazon
Synopsis: Morganville is such a nice place to live... And die. If you don’t mind that sort of thing.
When Claire Danvers learnt that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving student would do: she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but that garlic may come in handy.
Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure her friends. All of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from Claire’s past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home.
My Review:
Midnight Alley is a major novel in the Morganville Vampires series. With the introduction of Myrnin as well as many revealed secrets about Amelie and the vampires the third novel in the Morganville Vampires series is without a doubt a pivotal one. Even though this novel introduces some major plot lines the character relationships and romance we know and love are still in place, making Midnight Alley one of my favorites of the series.
The first time I read Midnight Alley (five years ago maybe?) I wasn't very impressed with Myrnin or his story line. However, this time around I found that really had an appreciation for his character. Jumping between complete insanity and complete genius he is one of the most fascinating characters in the Morganville world. I found myself looking forward to his parts of the story, wondering what extreme he would go to or what crazy thing he would do next. Claire and Myrnin have an extremely interesting relationship, going from friendship to student and teacher to prey and predator. Myrnin holds so many of the secrets of Morganville and I'm so excited to continue the series and see everything I missed the first time around.
As usual the romance between Claire and Shane was absolutely adorable. Something about their personalities just work perfectly together, despite the fact that Claire is a 16 year old genius studying biochemistry and Shane is a slacker who hangs out in his pajamas all day. Maybe it's the fact that they are such opposites that makes them so cute together, I don't know but they are one of my absolute favorite fictional couples of all time. Caine has a way of creating such strong and believable relationships that it's impossible not to become as involved in the relationships as the characters themselves. One of the reasons I love these novels as much as I do is because of how much I can related to each of the characters and in a way I can see a bit of myself in all of them. Caine is such a skilled writer her characters can reach through the page and grab your heart, pulling you into their world before you even know what's happened.
Midnight Alley has one of the better plots of the Morganville Vampires series, even though the majority of the novel is spent on smaller events that lead to bigger ones in later novels (like Myrnin and Oliver) the events the novel did have just fit together perfectly. I know I've said it before but I think one of the reasons this series so great is because of the character relationships, and not just the relationships between Claire, Eve, Shane, and Michael. The relationships between Claire and secondary characters, like Monica, as well as the complex relationships like the one between Claire and Myrnin are what make this novel really shine. All of the characters are connected in some way without a weak personality in the bunch.
We all know that I always recommend the Morganville Vampires series and I truly believe that this series is one of the greatest YA vampire series of all time (honestly this series should have taken the place of Twilight). Caine has weaved such an engaging world and fascinating plot it's impossible not to love this series. With the slew of vampire novels out there it's hard to know which ones are worth reading, this is one series that is worth that time.
5/5
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