Review: The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine

Morganville Vampires #2

Claire has her share of challenges. Like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains; homicidal girls in her dorm, and finding out that her college town is overrun with the living dead. On the up side, she has a new boyfriend with a vampire-hunting dad. But when a local fraternity throws the Dead Girls' Dance, hell is really going to break loose.

Claire and her friends were granted protection from the founder as long as they do not cause any more trouble. So, of course the inevitable happens and trouble finds them. Shane's dad is completely set on his vendetta against the vampires. He doesn't care who he has to sacrifice to achieve his goal, even his own son, Shane. With Shane mixed up in the mess with his dad, Micheal's inability to leave the house and Eve's general death wish, its up to Claire to save the day yet again. However, this time shes in danger of losing something very near and dear to her heart.

This book is extremely intense, and the stakes are even higher than the last one. Once it got started, it never really stopped. The danger was very real in the last book, and involved all four of them equally. However, this time around it really hits home so much harder even though the biggest threat is only to one of them. It's funny how some things really seem to sink in more than others, even if the overall danger is less.

The ending of this book surprised me. It didn't really follow Caine's history of ending every book on a major cliffhanger. Well, I guess the ending could be considered a cliffhanger, but considering Claire's character and the nature of the vampires in Morganville, it really isn't a surprise. I had actually assumed the ending of this book was a point that was inevitable in the series anyway. However, since I just said this book really doesn't have a cliffhanger, I bet the next book has one heck of a doozy ending.

I enjoyed this book, and I really like the direction the series is taking. There definitely isn't a slow progression of events. There is a lot going on at once, and the action just keeps coming. This book had plenty of shocking events, and really kept me guessing. I'm finding the more I read, the more I love Claire's character and her inner strength. She really is admirable, and of course the rest of the characters are pretty great too. I cannot wait to read more of their story in the next book.

Rating:

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The Dead Girls' Dance (Morganville Vampires, Book 2)