Just finished reading Last Breath by Rachel Caine.  I read that there will be 15 books in total in the Morganville Vampire series with this being the 11th installment (not 12 like I originally thought).  I did wonder whether RC would manage to come up with a new story or whether the series would start to tail off but I’m pleased to say that RC has put together another gripping installment.  This is quite an emotional ride and I found myself quite literally gobsmacked about half way through.  Yes, mouth dropped open, scratching my head, saying ‘what just happened?’  If you haven’t read the other books this review may contain spoilers.

Last Breath continues on from where Bite Club left off but in this story Morganville is going to come under attack from a new and terrible foe.  An enemy that preys on vampires!  This poses a much greater threat than Bishop ever did and could prove catastrophic not only to the vampires but the human inhabitants as well.  A new stranger is in town, his name is Magnus – he’s not human, in fact it’s difficult to say what he is but he’s stalking around town and vampires are starting to disappear.  Claire and her gang are about to have a few questions finally answered – like why vampires, who don’t like sunlight, decided to set up house in the middle of a bright and sunny desert.

What I particularly like about this episode is that RC continues with the style she adopted in the last book of allowing other participants in the story to take part in the narration.  I really like this style as it allows you to see other parts of the story that are restricted by having only one storyteller and it allows us to experience the thoughts and emotions of some of the others which we havent really had an insight into previously.  For example, Amelie provides some of the narration and it’s really good to hear her thoughts and understand some of her reasonings, I think it also helped to show that she’s not quite as cold as she always seems.

I think that the new threat written into this story is really well imagined with a good backdrop that slowly unfolds as the story develops – so we don’t get to learn everything right away, we’re kept in the dark about events just as Claire and her gang are.  Again we are in a race against time situation where the clock is ticking ever faster as we race to the action packed finale and the final show down.

And, of course, my favourite character Myrnin is ever present in his bunny slippers and we get to see a little more into his true feelings for Claire.

I do enjoy this series and have mixed feelings, partly I don’t want it to finish but partly I can’t wait to see how it will end.  Only four more books before we find out what will happen to the gang (and I’m including vamps in that – obviously we have Michael and Myrnin, but also Oliver has sort of grown on me as have a few of the others) how can you have an ending that satisfies everyone?  It won’t be easy.

I thought this was much more of an emotional instalment and it ends on a cliffhanger I’m afraid with a bit of a wait before the next book comes out to satisfy the curiosity.

Rating: -A

Last Breath