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rottonluck's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
katieslibrary_'s review against another edition
5.0
This book had my emotions up and down! I disliked characters to loving them to crying over them! I am already currently reading the second book and I’m trying to find the rest of them!
jenagregoire's review against another edition
3.0
I know I am way behind the ball on this one but I have started reading the Morganville Vampires series. For those of you that are not familiar with this series, let me just say this – this is not your normal vamp fiction. The vampires do not sparkle, they do not woo, they do not seduce some busty vixen. These vampires are not good guys. They’re not even anything close to being mistaken for good guys. They are straight up, in your face, cant be denied monsters. And it’s kinda awesome.
The star of this series is a sweet little doormat by the name of Claire Danvers. Claire is a child prodigy of sorts. At 16 years old, she’s in her freshman year of college. The book opens with her being terrorized by an upper classman and that really sets the tone for the type of character we are dealing with. She’s young. She gets pushed around. At 16 years old, I would have beaten the ass of anyone that pulled that kind of crap on me. Our character feels more like 13 or 14 than 16 years old.
At times, that young feeling is a grating feeling in this book. She’s supposed to be in college and even the upperclassman all act like they’re twelve. Granted, I am fully aware that there are plenty of immature “kids” in college but the collegiate cast in this book is a bit much.
That immature feeling is about the only thing I really didn’t like about the book. The rest of the book is good. The whole “forsaken town” vibe that Morganville has just wreaks of Quentin Tarantino! Think ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’ or John carpenter’s ‘Vampires’. Or even Joel Schumacher’s 80’s cult classic The Lost Boys. These are all prime examples of the feel that this book has – like Morganville is the last stop before hell and about as far from Heaven as you can get.
However, there is very little blood in this book. It’s not horror in the sense that those films all are. It’s very PG. Aside from someone being pushed down a flight of stairs and talk of someone “being tortured”, there really isn’t even a whole lot of violence in Glass Houses.
The sex content is only hinted, not blatant. There is a threat of an inappropriate relationship but the older of the pair is very much like “I wanna but I know we shouldn’t so I won’t”. From the moment that we meet these two characters, I sooooooo knew that was coming. There was no way they weren’t going to play with fire on that one. The two characters are too conveniently placed.
As for the writing, It’s pretty good. It’s fast moving with not a lot of speed bumps. The mystery of the day is well written in that I did not see the bad guy coming at all. That one totally blind sided me. There’s also a twisty little surprise in the middle of the book that will make you make the WTF face.
Also, I kind of love the character of Amalie! She reminds me a lot of Queen Sophie Ann LeClerq of the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris (NOT the True Blood version). She has moments of kindness but you would be very wise to remember that she can and would snap your neck in an instant if you cross her. She’s kind of bad ass.
One thing I realized upon finishing this novel is that Morganville Vampires are not stand alone novels. I would say the end was a cliffhanger but I don’t even think that really explains it. It’s more like it’s the end of a chapter and you’ll find the next chapter in the next book. Very much a “To Be Continued” kind of moment. Luckily, I had the next book ready to go immediately so I didn’t punch anyone in the face hole for leaving me hanging.
One last note in regards to the audio books. I got this as an audio book and I got the Kindle book (so I could read at night while my husband slept). The narrator of this series is…….well……..bad. I found that I had a very hard time staying focused when listening but not a problem at all when reading. That’s normally not a problem for me at all. So you may want to listen to a sample before buying the audio book to determine whether or not you can stomach that voice for over 8 hours.
Overall, I am going to give Glass Houses 3 stars. It’s a good book. It’s solid but it’s far from mind blowing. I am going to proceed with the series for now because I am hoping that as our main character gets older, the maturity level of the book will come up a few notches.
The star of this series is a sweet little doormat by the name of Claire Danvers. Claire is a child prodigy of sorts. At 16 years old, she’s in her freshman year of college. The book opens with her being terrorized by an upper classman and that really sets the tone for the type of character we are dealing with. She’s young. She gets pushed around. At 16 years old, I would have beaten the ass of anyone that pulled that kind of crap on me. Our character feels more like 13 or 14 than 16 years old.
At times, that young feeling is a grating feeling in this book. She’s supposed to be in college and even the upperclassman all act like they’re twelve. Granted, I am fully aware that there are plenty of immature “kids” in college but the collegiate cast in this book is a bit much.
That immature feeling is about the only thing I really didn’t like about the book. The rest of the book is good. The whole “forsaken town” vibe that Morganville has just wreaks of Quentin Tarantino! Think ‘From Dusk Til Dawn’ or John carpenter’s ‘Vampires’. Or even Joel Schumacher’s 80’s cult classic The Lost Boys. These are all prime examples of the feel that this book has – like Morganville is the last stop before hell and about as far from Heaven as you can get.
However, there is very little blood in this book. It’s not horror in the sense that those films all are. It’s very PG. Aside from someone being pushed down a flight of stairs and talk of someone “being tortured”, there really isn’t even a whole lot of violence in Glass Houses.
The sex content is only hinted, not blatant. There is a threat of an inappropriate relationship but the older of the pair is very much like “I wanna but I know we shouldn’t so I won’t”. From the moment that we meet these two characters, I sooooooo knew that was coming. There was no way they weren’t going to play with fire on that one. The two characters are too conveniently placed.
As for the writing, It’s pretty good. It’s fast moving with not a lot of speed bumps. The mystery of the day is well written in that I did not see the bad guy coming at all. That one totally blind sided me. There’s also a twisty little surprise in the middle of the book that will make you make the WTF face.
Also, I kind of love the character of Amalie! She reminds me a lot of Queen Sophie Ann LeClerq of the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris (NOT the True Blood version). She has moments of kindness but you would be very wise to remember that she can and would snap your neck in an instant if you cross her. She’s kind of bad ass.
One thing I realized upon finishing this novel is that Morganville Vampires are not stand alone novels. I would say the end was a cliffhanger but I don’t even think that really explains it. It’s more like it’s the end of a chapter and you’ll find the next chapter in the next book. Very much a “To Be Continued” kind of moment. Luckily, I had the next book ready to go immediately so I didn’t punch anyone in the face hole for leaving me hanging.
One last note in regards to the audio books. I got this as an audio book and I got the Kindle book (so I could read at night while my husband slept). The narrator of this series is…….well……..bad. I found that I had a very hard time staying focused when listening but not a problem at all when reading. That’s normally not a problem for me at all. So you may want to listen to a sample before buying the audio book to determine whether or not you can stomach that voice for over 8 hours.
Overall, I am going to give Glass Houses 3 stars. It’s a good book. It’s solid but it’s far from mind blowing. I am going to proceed with the series for now because I am hoping that as our main character gets older, the maturity level of the book will come up a few notches.
anapereira2005_'s review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
bookishwonderlandco's review against another edition
5.0
The book started out kinda boring and I thought that I was just going to put it down. But then it caught and there was no way that I could even thinking about putting it down. I finished it in two days and it was worth the sleep loss! The only thing I really didn't like was the cliff-hanger ending, I know its a series but other series that I have read never had a cliff-hanger ending, or at least not as BAD as that one was. By bad I mean leaving you completely curious and your mind wondering whats going to happen, which I hate! but it was really good and I am excited to read the next!
kathy1958's review against another edition
4.0
Couldn't put it down! A different kind of vampire book than I've read lately. The vampires are not friendly or romantic. The story pulls you in and keeps you there.
piensshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
lucija0's review against another edition
3.0
2.5
★★✫
I don't even know what to think about this.
The biggest issue for me was the fact that I felt like I had somehow missed half the story. Everything just happens super fast with little explanation and I was left wondering if maybe there is a book before this one or I just slept through parts of the story. Everyone just forms attachments in like a minute and there is no wondering if there is something supernatural going on or not because we find out immediately. The whole plot felt to me kind of like a summary.
The other minor issue for me was that the main character was repeatedly said to be super smart but I didn't really get the sense of that in her actions. That wouldn't bother me that much if not for the fact that the author really rubbed it in our faces again and again.
But I flew through this and it was interesting enough so I would still recommend Glass Houses for a quick read.
★★✫
I don't even know what to think about this.
The biggest issue for me was the fact that I felt like I had somehow missed half the story. Everything just happens super fast with little explanation and I was left wondering if maybe there is a book before this one or I just slept through parts of the story. Everyone just forms attachments in like a minute and there is no wondering if there is something supernatural going on or not because we find out immediately. The whole plot felt to me kind of like a summary.
The other minor issue for me was that the main character was repeatedly said to be super smart but I didn't really get the sense of that in her actions. That wouldn't bother me that much if not for the fact that the author really rubbed it in our faces again and again.
But I flew through this and it was interesting enough so I would still recommend Glass Houses for a quick read.