Bite Club/Morganville Vampires
(Finally finishing this because I finished Deadline, and goddammit, I am never sleeping again, am I?)
I really do love this series. You'd imagine a series that hits the double digits would be stale. Not Morganville Vampires. Part of that is probably the serial story format some of the plot arcs take. (The first six books, in particular, can come across this way. Feast of Fools through Carpe Corpus can be read as one larger book, really.)
Another thing is the varied cast of characters that works. Very few sentences can be used by other characters. Another is Caine's willingness to change everything up every so often. The plots usually change as well, forming different facets of the plot arc.
One of these changes is the fact that she switches between the usual 3rd person limited following Claire, one of the main characters, and 1st person pov of Shane, another main character. This is a really good idea, showing a good deal more of what is going on, and pulling off the coherent plot thing people occasionally believe is important.
The characters also do get a chance to grow. The Claire in this book is definetely different from the Claire who came to Morganville in Glass Houses, the first book. She's harder, while still recognizably the optimistic girl who likes seeing the good in people. This isn't always perfect- Eve's characterization often seems to serve as a plot point in bits- this isn't the first time a previously unknown hobby of hers plays a role in the plot. And I started rereading the previous book in this series before writing this, I noticed that she mixed up two minor characters, giving them each other's personalities. And not in an unnoticable way. See? I told you the character's couldn't have line-switching without noticing! Actually, Monica and her cliques' characters bug me, but I suppose given, y'know, town full of vampires, it works. Plus, there are pretty decent mind-screwy characterizations- you don't usually know what's going on with a few of the characters, which leads to scary fanfic, but fun reading.
...Okay, I fully admit that part of my adoration of this book is that it involves two girls, who are friends, competently rescuing their boyfriends. And Claire and her inability to walk away from someone she thinks needs her help.
I addition, it is a series that likes you thinking. Some of the characters are rediculously obviously historical. Ada is obviously Ada Lovelace- Myrnin all but says it out loud. Oliver is obviously Oliver Cromwell- it also isn't stated outright, but he names his year and place of birth, not to mention about five million little hints. Some of them are more difficult. Myrnin- well, he's a mad steampunk scientist who is possibly older than Amelie whose inventions owe less to physics than alchemy and something close to magic. And is Welsh, as I think is confirmed.
Speaking of Myrnin, yay! He's absolutely bonkers, and if he actually existd would probably terrify me, but reading-wise, is an awesome character. (And for certain people, is almost unanimously cast as David Tennant. How is this guy not the DBCA mascot?)
I really do love this series. You'd imagine a series that hits the double digits would be stale. Not Morganville Vampires. Part of that is probably the serial story format some of the plot arcs take. (The first six books, in particular, can come across this way. Feast of Fools through Carpe Corpus can be read as one larger book, really.)
Another thing is the varied cast of characters that works. Very few sentences can be used by other characters. Another is Caine's willingness to change everything up every so often. The plots usually change as well, forming different facets of the plot arc.
One of these changes is the fact that she switches between the usual 3rd person limited following Claire, one of the main characters, and 1st person pov of Shane, another main character. This is a really good idea, showing a good deal more of what is going on, and pulling off the coherent plot thing people occasionally believe is important.
The characters also do get a chance to grow. The Claire in this book is definetely different from the Claire who came to Morganville in Glass Houses, the first book. She's harder, while still recognizably the optimistic girl who likes seeing the good in people. This isn't always perfect- Eve's characterization often seems to serve as a plot point in bits- this isn't the first time a previously unknown hobby of hers plays a role in the plot. And I started rereading the previous book in this series before writing this, I noticed that she mixed up two minor characters, giving them each other's personalities. And not in an unnoticable way. See? I told you the character's couldn't have line-switching without noticing! Actually, Monica and her cliques' characters bug me, but I suppose given, y'know, town full of vampires, it works. Plus, there are pretty decent mind-screwy characterizations- you don't usually know what's going on with a few of the characters, which leads to scary fanfic, but fun reading.
...Okay, I fully admit that part of my adoration of this book is that it involves two girls, who are friends, competently rescuing their boyfriends. And Claire and her inability to walk away from someone she thinks needs her help.
I addition, it is a series that likes you thinking. Some of the characters are rediculously obviously historical. Ada is obviously Ada Lovelace- Myrnin all but says it out loud. Oliver is obviously Oliver Cromwell- it also isn't stated outright, but he names his year and place of birth, not to mention about five million little hints. Some of them are more difficult. Myrnin- well, he's a mad steampunk scientist who is possibly older than Amelie whose inventions owe less to physics than alchemy and something close to magic. And is Welsh, as I think is confirmed.
Speaking of Myrnin, yay! He's absolutely bonkers, and if he actually existd would probably terrify me, but reading-wise, is an awesome character. (And for certain people, is almost unanimously cast as David Tennant. How is this guy not the DBCA mascot?)