Last Breath by Rachel Caine

RCaine

RCaineThe last couple of Morganville books have left me unsatisfied and annoyed. Yeah, I am a huge fan of the series but some of those plot lines…come on. Morganville is better than all that petty drama. Because of that, I’ve been dragging my feet on reading Last Breath by Rachel Caine. But I shouldn’t have worried so much because Last Breath had everything I loved about the first few Morganville books and got me excited about the series again.

Student Claire Danvers learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. And after an uneasy encounter with Morganville’s latest resident, Claire is certain that the mysterious Magnus isn’t human. But is he a vampire-or something else entirely? One thing is clear: Magnus is to blame for the disappearances. And if vampires are turning into victims, what chance does a human like Claire have of stopping him?

Last Breath is the 11th book in the Morganville series. I wouldn’t recommend anyone start so late in the series because there is so much stuff going on. Rachel Caine does a good job of giving background information without bogging the reader down with details but there are certain things that the characters now take for granted that were major plot twists several books back.

The plot of Last Breath started off really slow, dealing with some petty, inconsequential drama – everything I’ve come to hate about Moragnville. Thankfully, it didn’t last too long and once the action started, it didn’t stop. It was like the first few Morganville books with Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael running around fighting bad guys and trying to save the town. I don’t want to give too much away, but the vampires have a mortal enemy that finally caught up with them and the humans of Morganville were stuck in the middle of the battle.

There was even some point-of-view-jumping in Last Breath. Not only did we see from Claire’s point of view but Amelie, Shane, Eve and Michael all told parts of the story.

Claire has evolved throughout the series, growing from the meek, timid little girl into a take-charge, ass-kicking heroine. Yet, through it all, she usually fought for Amalie, the vampire ruler. In Last Breath, Claire finally broke away from that stance, no longer willing to be Amelie’s minion. It was a huge step for Claire, since she’s always tried to bridge the gap between vampires and humans. I loved that even after 11 books, Claire was still able to change and grow as a character. (And I just want to add, for anyone worried about Shane after Bite Club, that yes, Shane is back to his usual self. Which is a very good thing. Otherwise, I would have quit for good Morganville right then and there.)

I’d been ready to give up on Morganville but decided to give Last Breath one last chance to save the series for me, and it totally did. It had a slow start but once it picked up, there was non-stop action and crazy plot twists and best of all, Shane was back to his lovable self. I’m excited about Morganville again and can’t wait to see what happens next!

Read Order:
Glass Houses
Dead Girl’s Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade Out
Kiss of Death
Ghost Town
Bite Club
Last Breath
Black Dawn
Bitter Blood
Fall of Night
Daylighters (Nov 5, 2013)

About Casey 203 Articles
Casey is the founder of Heart Full of Ink, Director at Reading Until Dawn Con, and a full time cheese addict. She's been ranting and reviewing for Literary Escapism since 2010, and is part of the trio #3Bloggers1Series podcast. When she's not reading, looking for new books, or stalking authors online (waiting for more books), she can be found binge watching Netflix. But really, her life is all about DEM BOOKS!