A Plague On Both Your Houses

Published:  February 4th, 2014

Prince Of Shadows

By: Rachel Caine

NAL

ISBN-13:  9780451414410

In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power.  The boys are born to fight and die for honor and -- if they survive -- marry for influence and money, not love.  The girls are assets, to be spent wisely.  Their wishes are of no import.  Their fates are written on the day they are born.

Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this.  He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives in him.  At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona -- and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet.  In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona...

...And will rewrite all their fates, forever.

Review

     Retellings are something that I love to try, because I hate to see a good story end.  As a younger person I was NOT a fan of Romeo + Juliet, thinking that they were beyond stupid and I couldn't understand why people romanticized their story.  But as an adult I look at them and think, "Those poor, stupid teenagers.  That's not what love is and they never had a chance to figure that out."  I was intrigued when I learned that Rachel Caine, whose Morganville Vampire series I happen to love, was writing a R&J retelling from Benvolio's point of view I was excited.  I am definitely happy that I gave it a chance!  In this book, set months before the events of the infamous Shakespeare play, Benvolio is chafing at the bit of family responsibility.  His rebellion is to be the greatest thief Verona has ever known, the Prince of Shadows, and humilate all of his enemies.  One night, he decides to attempt a truly deadly theft and steal from Tybalt Capulet.  While in the Capulet household, Benvolio is seen by Rosaline and the interaction between the two promises that things will never again be the same.  Then Benvolio's domineering Grandmother orders him to retrieve Romeo's love letters to Rosaline, and stop his infatuation.  All this while Benvolio is trying to hide Mercutio's love affair with another man from everyone, for fear of his friend being put to death.  When everything comes crashing down around them, will both Montagues and Capulets be cursed beyond redemption?  Or will Benvolio and Rosaline be able to bring themselves out of destruction and start over again?

     The majority of this book was set before the events of the original play, which in and of itself was different than the majority of retellings.  Most of them seem to be set during and in the aftermath.  But this book chose to give readers a backstory and some reasoning for the whole disastrous sequence of events.  I love Benvolio as a narrator!  It was wonderful to get his side of the story, since in the play he's basically just Romeo's right-hand man.  I also liked seeing Rosaline as more than just a mere mention and learning a bit more of who she actually was.  In this version, she is strong, feisty and makes up her own mind.  But she is also a practical realist.  Rosaline just wants to go to the convent and be away from the whole mess between the Capulets and Montagues - and away from her brother Tybalt's rage and heavy hand.  Probably my absolute favorite thing about this retelling though, was the focus on Mercutio, his story and the reasons for his behavior, etc.  I loved the relationship between him, Romeo and Benvolio (both of whom are keeping Mercutio's secrets).  They has some great quips and banter going on, and the scenes with Romeo and Mercutio creating drunken diversions for Benvolio's thieving were hilarious.  

     I think the only thing that seemed abrupt and out of place were the random inclusions of Shakespeare's dialogue, sometimes slightly butchered, and the inclusion of witchcraft and curses.  The book has a decidedly modern feel to it, and though witchcraft was often in Shakespeare's plays and it was a plausible explanation for the whole mess, it still felt kind of odd and out of place in this particular book.  Overall though, this was definitely a great read for fans of R&J, but not necessarily the actual characters of Romeo and Juliet.  They are both shown to be what they were in this book: thoughtless, dreamy children with a penchant for leaping before they looked.  I would recommend this one though.  It was definitely worth my time.

VERDICT:  4/5  Stars

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

When Daylight Comes We'll Have To Go...

Published:  May 7th, 2013

Fall of Night (Morganville Vampires # 14)

By: Rachel Caine

New American Library

ISBN-13:  9780451414250

Thanks to its unique combination of human and vampire residents, Morganville, Texas, is a small college town with big-time problems. When student Claire Danvers gets the chance to experience life on the outside, she takes it. But Morganville isn’t the only town with vampire trouble...

Claire never thought she’d leave Morganville, but when she gets accepted into the graduate program at MIT, she can’t pass up the opportunity. Saying good-bye to her friends is bittersweet, especially since things are still raw and unsettled between Claire and her boyfriend, Shane. 

Her new life at MIT is scary and exciting, but Morganville is never really far from Claire’s mind. Enrolled in a special advanced study program with Professor Irene Anderson, a former Morganville native, Claire is able to work on her machine, which is designed to cancel the mental abilities of vampires. 

But when she begins testing her machine on live subjects, things quickly spiral out of control, and Claire starts to wonder whether leaving Morganville was the last mistake she’ll ever make...

Review

     I love Morganville as much as the next girl.  I feel like the premise is still eons away from Twilight in fresh ideas and the way it treats the tired vamp subject matter is very welcomed by me.  But at the opening pages of book #14 (yeah, you read that correctly), I feel like the series has gotten quite a bit stale.  I was pleased that Caine took things out of Morganville finally and gave Claire a chance to test out the life she'd been dreaming of at M.I.T. since the first book when her parents made her go to Texas Prairie U instead due to her young age.  I liked that she does get to explore that possibility, so that when she ends up with Shane (which is a given at this point) it will be with no regrets on that score.  She won't have wasted dreams due to a guy.  Yet, at this point in the series it also took the reader out of Morganville, in a not so good way.  With how movie-of-the-week the plots have gotten the only thing really even saving this series for me anymore is the characters.  As in, the characters we know and love from multiple books in the series' past such as Michael, Eve, Myrnin, Oliver, Hannah, Amelie and even bitchy Monica Morrell.  For the first half of this book we are stuck in an unfamiliar setting with only alternating points of view between Shane and Claire as our window into a new world.  Oh yeah, Shane too because he follows her so he can watch over Claire without her knowledge.  Sweet, but still kind of creeptastic even when they are on the verge of being engaged.  

     This book also suffers from nowhere near enough Michael and/or Eve.  With the lack in this book of either one, I'm not picky - I just want half of my favorite power couple.  Please Ms. Caine?  Pretty please with sugar on top of it? :(  Claire is working with a Professor Irene Anderson who used to work for Myrnin.  She still works for the vamps, in an out of town capacity with who I believe to be the ill-fated, nine day Queen Jane Grey as her vampire bodyguard.  There is a secret government organization, The Daylight Foundation, looking to control vampires that is sniffing around the lab at the worst possible time.  Because Claire brought the ray gun with her that she made to control vampires' urges and emotions.  Of course she gives it to Anderson to study.  What could possibly go wrong?  *insert sarcasm here*  Another new (yet mentioned in book #1 by Claire's Mom) character was her ex-BFF, Elizabeth.  She is perky, neurotic and has her very own stalker ex-boyfriend Derek, who is a psychotic creep.  However, Shane's behavior is pretty close to Derek's, which after 13 books worth of relationship between him and Claire was disappointing.  It was very teen-angst, bordering on the beginnings of abusive relationship behavioral-patterns.  I have loved Shane for most of this series, but I feel like lately his character has advanced backward instead of forward.   And considering where he was in the first book, that is somewhat horrifying.  It's a pretty rapid descent too, which is all the more wrong to me.

     The Daylight Foundation and the other villain in this book felt like placeholders and were so cliche I can hardly stomach thinking about it.  I missed the humor and unique perspectives of the first half of this series.  This book was entirely too serious for me to really like it as much as the others.  Yeah, we get it.  Claire and Shane are in major trouble and so is everyone else.  But there always used to be some jokes to break the tension or a funny moment where you knew it would work out somehow, without it bashing you over the head in its obviousness.  Now this book sports a grim, Joker-like slash of a grin.  Unnerving to say the least as a major fan of this series.  Overall, I'm just failing to see the point of this book.  All the side plots with Liz, Derek and Professor Anderson (except for the DF connection) were verging on pointlessness.  After all, Shane and Claire are just going to end up back in Morganville and none of these other people will.  So why, in book #14 should I give a shit about them?  I don't and I didn't.  Overall, I would recommend reading it if you're a hardcore Morganville fan and can get past the cringeworthy content issues and the mediocre attempt at our favorites being 'serious' and 'growing up.'  Gag me.  Worth it to get to book 15, for which I hold the hopes of Star Wars fan to Disney's treatment of Episode VII - meager and full of denial.  Good luck to you all. 

VERDICT:  2.5/5  Stars  

**No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores, online, or maybe even at your local library.**

Floating In The Air

Published: November 1st, 2011
Last Breath
By: Rachel Caine
NAL Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780451234872


The brand-new novel in the “intriguing world” (Darque Reviews) of Rachel Caine’s New York Times bestselling Morganville Vampires series!

With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace. She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone new to town—a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville’s latest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn’t merely human. But is he a vampire—or something else entirely?

Review

   When we left off at the end of Bite Club, Eve and Michael were engaged, Frank Collins was the machine running Morganville and tensions were at the highest peak yet between the human and vampire residents of the town.  Now, Eve and the others are feeling the backlash from the prejudice of the town's residents, who REALLY don't want the marriage to take place.  But that isn't the only thing going on in Morganville - something is very wrong on the vampire side of things.  With vampires going missing and a mysterious message delivered to Amelie that just says one thing, "RUN."  This is enough to make her pack up the entire town and try to leave, but not before killing Claire and Shane because they know about the note.  The attempt fails and it just makes them even more curious.  Plus, a shadowy figure that no one else can see keeps showing up in Claire's line of vision.  He'll do anything to not have his position compromised, including killing Claire...can she find her way back to her friends when it seems like all is lost?  Can Eve, Shane, Claire and Michael save the town and everyone in it from a new brand of evil, unlike anything they've faced before?  Or will there be one last breath taken...  So, I absolutely adored this book!!!  I wasn't crazy about Bite Club because the overall plot didn't appeal to me greatly, but the double point of view thing annoyed me the most.  I disliked the multiple points of view even more than I thought possible in this book than the last one.  But it's a testament to the plot, characters and writing that I was able to devour this book and love it as much as I did!  The last couple of books fumbled a bit, but this one turned it around for me personally.  I can't wait to see what happens next and I would definitely recommend this entire series to newcomers, this book specifically to old fans of the series.

VERDICT:  4.5/5  Stars

*No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book is now available in stores and online.*