Morganville Vampires, Book Four: Feast of Fools

I'm devouring this series! These books seem to be the perfect summer fare for me: light, intriguing, quick, fun. On to my thoughts on finishing book four:


Claire, Claire, Claire...are you ever going to keep yourself out of trouble? Somehow I doubt it. In this fourth book of the Morganville Vampire series, we pick up almost immediately where Book 3 leaves off: Claire and her housemates are dealing with the arrival of her parents to Morganville when, out of the blue, Amelie's father (read: Big Daddy of All Vampires) arrives at the Glass House with two of his cronies, demanding food and Amelie. Turns out he's not there for a friendly visit, of course; he's there to wrangle control of Morganville from his daughter, and he doesn't give a flip who he hurts (or kills) in the process.


There is a lot of action in Feast of Fools, with Michael conflicted over his vampiric nature, Eve losing her estranged father, Shane forced to attend a vampire ball as the escort of the dangerous Ysandre, and Claire still working with the increasingly volatile Myrnin on a cure for the disease affecting the vamps. The relationship between Shane and Claire continues to grow (rather nicely, as a matter of fact), and Claire's self-confidence increases despite her misgivings for belonging to Amelie. The height of the action hits when Amelie is forced to give a ball for her father, and sides are chosen as to whom loyalty will be given. Claire's knowledge brings her into the center of things, and once again we're left on a major cliffhanger (and I'm left checking my mailbox every few hours, waiting on my Amazon shipment that contains book #5!).


Feast of Fools is a very interesting installment in the series; we see Claire maturing constantly as she tries to figure out the complex intricacies of the vampire society and her place in it. The addition of her parents has left me a bit puzzled because it honestly feels as though Claire is the parent and her parents are the clueless ones. I like how the series develops its characters as the stories move along, and I like how, despite the turmoil going on in Morganville, there are some rather "human" stories, such as Michael playing guitar in Common Grounds. I may as well confess it now: I'm hooked, and I'll be reading this series until it bleeds me dry. Great, great fun.
~taminator40