Take a photo of a barcode or cover
millie_rose_reads 's review for:
The Dead Girls' Dance
by Rachel Caine
The Dead Girls' Dance begins right where Glass Houses left off, with Shane's father, Frank, and his biker gang (vampire-fighting, too, but the novel fixates on their penchant for motorcycles) relieving Shane of spy duties and welcoming him back into the fold. I'm surprised how little drama actually arises from this. A character dies, yes, but Shane's duplicity (coming back to Morganville under false pretenses) is overlooked to accommodate a larger discussion about his father's abuse. I get that they relate to each other, but the gang seems to talk over and around it and that feels like a missed opportunity.
Typical of Caine pacing, within forty pages most of the trauma is forgotten for the next conflict. This time, Shane loses his vampire protection and is arrested for a vampire death he didn't commit. Because it's Morganville, he's placed in a cage in the centre of town, awaiting execution. The titular Dead Girls' Dance isn't really relevant beyond giving the book its title. The pacing is both good and bad. Good as it keeps the characters moving, and the events lively, making them quick and easy reads. Bad as it can do a disservice to certain character moments. Eve and Michael's relationship is as sudden as it is rushed; a couple of paragraphs doesn't magically create emotional investment. I get that Caine probably didn't want to repeat the Claire/Shane will-they/won't-they dynamic, but there has to be a midway point somewhere.
Monica Morrell begins her role as conflict #234 when Caine needs to fill forty pages, and that's about it. Despite her attempting to murder Claire every other meeting, nothing really comes of it. Their encounters aren't quite treated as jokes, but they're hardly consequential either. Similar to the two instances of threatened sexual violence, a lot of the storytelling can feel motivated solely by shock value, nothing more.
Claire's contract with Amelie is the most important plot point of this book, and works as a quieter cliffhanger to the chaos of the last one, a consequence rooted in a proactive character rather than reactive characters at the mercy of the plot.
The Dead Girls' Dance feels less like a fully-fledged sequel and more like part two of Glass Houses, giving both on their own a sense of incompleteness, but the world of Morganville mitigates some of that. Not all, but some.
Typical of Caine pacing, within forty pages most of the trauma is forgotten for the next conflict. This time, Shane loses his vampire protection and is arrested for a vampire death he didn't commit. Because it's Morganville, he's placed in a cage in the centre of town, awaiting execution. The titular Dead Girls' Dance isn't really relevant beyond giving the book its title. The pacing is both good and bad. Good as it keeps the characters moving, and the events lively, making them quick and easy reads. Bad as it can do a disservice to certain character moments. Eve and Michael's relationship is as sudden as it is rushed; a couple of paragraphs doesn't magically create emotional investment. I get that Caine probably didn't want to repeat the Claire/Shane will-they/won't-they dynamic, but there has to be a midway point somewhere.
Monica Morrell begins her role as conflict #234 when Caine needs to fill forty pages, and that's about it. Despite her attempting to murder Claire every other meeting, nothing really comes of it. Their encounters aren't quite treated as jokes, but they're hardly consequential either. Similar to the two instances of threatened sexual violence, a lot of the storytelling can feel motivated solely by shock value, nothing more.
Claire's contract with Amelie is the most important plot point of this book, and works as a quieter cliffhanger to the chaos of the last one, a consequence rooted in a proactive character rather than reactive characters at the mercy of the plot.
The Dead Girls' Dance feels less like a fully-fledged sequel and more like part two of Glass Houses, giving both on their own a sense of incompleteness, but the world of Morganville mitigates some of that. Not all, but some.