Review: Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine

Book Details:
Midnight Alley (Morganville Vampires, Book 3)
by Rachel Caine
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published 2007, Penguin Group
Paperback, 245 pages
ISBN: 9780451222381

Synopsis:
"Claire Danvers's college town may be run by vampires but a truce between the living and the dead made things relatively safe. For a while. Now people are turning up dead, a psycho is stalking her, and an ancient bloodsucker has proposed private mentoring. To what end, Claire will find out. And it's giving night school a whole new meaning."
This is my favorite book in the series so far because the plot FINALLY focuses on Claire's schooling. When her schedule got replaced with harder classes, I went just a bit green with envy - I'm a nerd at heart, even though I haven't been to school in years. I also love that we get more background information about the town of Morganville, such as its purpose and an explanation of the more mystical aspects of the town. Myrnin was quite a fascinating character, and I would not have minded if the text spent more time on Claire's studies with him, as well as her advanced class studies. (And yes, my favorite parts of the Harry Potter series was the classroom stuff.)
I didn't like that this book did not have Eve's journal entries at the end like previous books have done. Those previously gave me clues into her mind and her relationship with Michael, as well as a taste of what happens in the next book, so I was rather disappointed when I realized it was missing.
I'm hoping that future books go into more detail about what the journals cover as well as what exactly the red crystals are and how they affected Claire. I'm hoping that the drama with Eve's brother Jason gets resolved quickly as I find him just plain annoying and obnoxious. The ending had me exclaiming out loud, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series, Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires, Book 4).

The Cover: The girl on the cover must be Claire Danvers, although that's not how I've pictured her, and her clothing seems rather non-descript, with the exception of the stake in her hand. I don't recall Claire holding a stake anywhere in this book, so that seems out-of-place. I didn't even notice that alleyway behind her at first, but that must represent the alley that leads to Myrnin. And I have no idea what the line under the title means: "They're going to have fun even if it kills them. Again." Who is "them" and what "fun" is the line referring to? I distinctly recall a whole lot of eluding death and destruction, with very little fun in between.

First Line: "The instant the phone rang at the Glass House, Claire knew with a psychic flash that it had to be her mother."
Not a bad first line, especially with the "psychic flash" part - it makes me want to continue reading to understand the context of Claire's thought.

Favorite Quote: "If you ask me if I'm okay again, I'm going to smack myself in the face just to punish you."



Read For: Pages Read Challenge, Support Your Local Library Challenge, Fantasy Challenge, 101 Fantasy Challenge