Series just gets better!

Shift is the 5th book in Rachel Vincent's Shifters series and picks up a week or so after Prey. Faythe and her Pride are still deep in mourning for the loss of one of their own and busy plotting their revenge against Calvin Malone and his supporters for that death. But things take an unexpected and very dangerous turn when they are attacked out of the blue by Thunderbirds. Giant bird shifters with deadly hooked wings and talons, putting the werecats at a big disadvantage by their ablilty to fly. Faythe is determined to get to the truth behind the attacks, but can she do it and take care of teenage tabby Kaci? With her personal life in turmoil and Malone determined to have both tabbies for himself, it's going to be far from easy. But Faythe's never been one to back away from a fight.<br /><br />I loved this series from the first book, and it's grown on me with every book. The characters are vivid and flawed, but have grown a huge amount throughout the series learning from mistakes and the difficult decisions that have been made along the way. Shift sees Faythe trying to deal with the consequences of one of her biggest mistakes, sleeping with Jace, without hurting either him or Marc. Jace has grown and changed a whole lot since Ethan's death as well. He's not content with playful flirtation with Faythe anymore, or being a low-ranking enforcer. He's showing potential that shocks those closest to him and gives greater depth to his character.<br /><br />I couldn't help but feel for both Faythe and Jace as they worked together through this book, against the thunderbirds and Malone's cats. My heart ached for Marc and his place in the situation too, loving Faythe and wanting her to finally commit to him, unaware of her actions with Jace. And Kaci, a young werecat who knows little of their world and yet finds herself in the middle of a war, trusting in Faythe to keep her safe. Faythe is facing huge decisions, both personally and professionally, in the hunt to save those she loves and I felt every up and down, twist and turn along with her. I love how she's gone from a mouthy brat in Stray, to someone who has great potential to be a very good leader.<br /><br />The action started on page one and never really let up. The thunderbirds were well described bringing them to vivid life, and something that gave me chills. There were some really great twists and I was never sure what was going to happen until the end. The tension built through the book right to the intense ending, but there were a couple good lighter moments that made me laugh too. I think this has replaced Prey as my favourite book of the series, although it doesn't hold quite the level of shock Prey did, it was so well put together and created a real tension that made it impossible for me to put down. I really feel for all the characters and the troubles they're in, and Faythe in particular, as she makes some really tough decisions. Things are a long way from over for any of them, and I really can't guess what's going to be thrown at them next! The whole series has improved with each book, in every way, the writing, the characters, the way it's all brought to life. I'll be sad to see the series finish, but I also can't wait for the final book, Alpha, to come out so I can find out what happens to these characters I've really fallen for.

Sad end to what could have been a brilliant saga

I read all the books and heres what I think for whats its worth. Meyer is never going to set the world alight with her literary skills. In"Twillight" she created a believeable world and a perfect little story that was very satisfying to read so you could forgive her flaws as a writer."New Moon" not as perfect but pretty good too. This final book unfortunately showcases her glaring lack of writing talent with a poor storyline and some downright ridiculous moments. It has already been said by other reviewers but I feel she chose the lazy route with the story line and padded the book out to the last with pages of unnecessary waffle to fatten it up. I hope the screen play for the film strips all this padding from it and makes something better of it.

Not Sure

I liked the first story of this book but they seem to drag on then the ending so short i prefer this authors writting in vampire diaries than i do for night world as night world does not catch my attention as much. I also found it hard to get into this book and after the first story really didnt seem interested to carry on read the next.

news on strange fate

i 1st encountered the night world series by mistake when i was eleven, im 22 now and still rivioted by her work. ive always been abit of a bookworm so family members were always fobbing their cast offs on me, not that i minded and it just so happened that secret vampire was a treasure amist alot of rubbish and from page 1 i was hooked and had to have all of her books, which i do apart from the new vampire diaries and strange fate!<br />i have however been on her web page to see if strange fate was on its way and she says"I'm now working on the second half of Strange Fate, and for all of you groaning in the gallery, the first half was 600-and seventy or eighty pages and I begged S & S to put out the book in two parts, in which case you would have Part I: The Mystic sooner. But they are adamant and I can only offer you sneak peaks of the main characters sometime soon.Don't worry about me dawdling about writing Part 2: The Seeress--because after that's done in four or five months I have to start on the second new Vampire Diaries book". so as you can see there seems to be a wait still but worth it for the size of the book to come... hope that helps someone :)<br /><br />nightworld fan!<br />x

Night Creatures with a difference.

I borrowed the Night World books Vols 1 - 3 (9 stories) from my granddaughter to go on holiday and I couldn't put them down until I had finished them, I am hoping there is a Vol 4 as the story was not finished.<br />They are not your usual vampire horror stories as portrayed in the films, when you've seen one you've seen them all.<br />These stories which are all interlinked working towards the final battle of good vampires, werewolves, witches etc. against evil ones trying to extinguish the human race so they can rule the world and come out of hiding.<br />There is fighting and killing but also romance between species when they find their 'soulmates' all trying to come together to protect each other and also the human race.<br />I have never written a review before so its probably not very informative, but if you like stories with a difference that are well written and you can visualise the characters while reading, I would recommend you invest in buying the Night World Vol. 1 by L.J.Smith.<br />

Expecting it to be good

I havent read it yet, but from what i've read of the first book its gonna be an amazing book, if your a vampire fan this book overs that and many more mythical creatures as well

Lord of Misrule Review

In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans live together, in a somewhat bloodless harmony. Claire Danvers is a student at the local university and has become a very popular member of the town, both in a good way and bad.<br />Lord of Misrule is the fifth book in The Morganville Vampire Books. The book continues on from where it left off with the Bishop planning to take over Morganville. Now as a storm comes in, both natural and unnatural, not to mention the vampires acting very strangely - Michael included. Claire, Shane and Eve must try and put a stop to it.<br />The story as just as satisfying as the previous ones and will not disappoint.<br />

Brilliant

I think, so far, that this is the best Morganville book. The writing is better, the actual story and the direction the characters are taking is better.

Getting better with each book

This is a series that is growing on me more with each book. Midnight Alley picks up where The Dead Girls' Dance left off, with Claire having just sworn herself to Amelie, and currently hiding it from her friends. There are many, many secrets in Morganville, kept by everyone and everyone else wants to know. But knowing can get people killed. Still, nothing seems to stay secret for long, not with Claire around.<br /><br />Midnight Alley introduces a interesting, if scary, powerful vampire to the scene. Hidden away, brilliant and rapidly going crazy, is Myrnin, a favourite of Amelies', he's Claire's new mentor (of sorts) and through him she begins to learn a lot more of the darker side of Morganville than she'd like. As if that wasn't enough, her best friends' psycho brother, Jason, is stalking both Claire and Eve, making the daylight as unsafe as night time for them. Boyfriends Shane and Michael are around to try and keep the girls safe, but there is only so much they can do before someone gets hurt.<br /><br />Claire, Eve and Shane are also having to deal with the consequences of Michael's actions in the previous book, and it's not something that is easy for any of them, Shane in particular. But it adds an interesting subplot to the books and the tension that comes with it is pretty gripping.<br /><br />I really enjoyed this book, and I'm glad I already had book 4 waiting for me so that the cliffhanger ending wasn't the killer it could have been. The plot here is still pretty tight and gripping, although not the edgiest or deepest I've read. It's all pretty easy to read, but there is enough depth to keep you really interested. Just when you think things can't get worse for Claire and her friends, that's exactly what happens. Whether it's new vampires wanting to munch on her, or her parents trying to stop her from living with a couple of 18 year old guys, it's all got to be dealt with. Hopefully without anyone being killed.<br /><br />I still think it's more a teen series than a teen and adult one, but it's a very enjoyable one. There is some nice character development beginning to show, although it's slow to surface. The books follow on rapidly from one another, and don't cover a very long space of time, so you can't expect there to really be a lot. But Claire is a fast learner and as fast as things change in Morganville, that's a very good thing.

"Oh, Mr Darcy. Your brain is so tasty..."

Pride and Prejudice is one of those books that just about everybody is reasonably familiar with. The Bennett sisters, Mr Darcy, proposals, misunderstandings, a comedy of manners...it's enough to make me poke myself in the eye just to experience something less tedious. You'd think throwing in zombies to this overdone and over familiar mix would be a guaranteed winner. Sadly, it's not.<br /><br />This isn't to say Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a complete failure; there's some humour in the contrast of zombie action and the original story and it's bizarrely easy to picture the walking dead munching on the brains of 18th century villagers. The problem is it all feels extremely forced, as if the author forced such different worlds together purely for the sake of being quirky. Austen's story doesn't serve a zombie (semi) apocalypse; the brain munching doesn't really add to the original text in any great way and I have to say the whole thing could have been improved by increasing the threat of the zombies. At no point did I feel the characters were in much danger so maybe the author should have turned it into a proper end of the world situation rather than leaving it as sporadic attacks and anecdotal stories of the military battling the dead. While I don't regret reading the book, I don't doubt I'll have trouble remembering it in a month or two.<br /><br />In short, it's worth a read but I recommend getting it from a library rather than buying it. <br />

Don't really know what to think!

Well, where to begin? I decided to read this series after reading The Twilight Saga and seeing the TV series advertised. Now I am not a teenager, I'm in my twenties so the fact that they were for younger readers put me off slightly but I decided to give it a whirl. To be honest I found it very hard to actually get into the book, but I struggled on and managed to finish all four books in the series. Overall, I was frankly quite glad when I finished the last one (which took me ages to finish as I was getting quite bored!). The whole story is quite juvenile but it is aimed at younger readers, so I'll let that slide but, to be honest, I've enjoyed the TV series of it more. Anyway back to the book, Elena really quite annoyed me, she was really selfish at times and generally I wanted to slap her! Stefan was ok but I found myself more drawn to the character of Damon ... he was probably my favourite in the books - what can I say, I love a bad boy! It was worth reading to see what the fuss was about but I wouldn't read them again. Now, I know some people would think I was expecting too much after reading the Twilight Saga ... but actually, I know I'll probably be hated for saying this but ... I have a love/hate relationship with those books. When I first read them I loved them except for the last book which really dragged! Then when I re-read them I found myself literally cringing at what I was reading. Now I know I've kind of went off on a tangent but as a lover of supernatural fiction, The Vampire Diaries series was worth a read but I prefer the TV series instead and as for Twilight ... well I'm kind of realising the series was not so great as it was made out to be.<br />Anyway both series are worth a read, preferably just the once. Watch the TV series instead.

It is getting better!

I will read anything that has the words vampires/immortals and so on, this wasn't different but i found myself dragging through the first volume (1 and 2) until middle of volume 2 (3 and 4). However, I have to say that book 4 ended very nicely and now I'm looking forward to read fifth and sixth book. It's not the best of the books but it is ok!

Lost in translation

I purchased this book because I had seen the original film with english subtitles and I had thought that it was brilliant. However, I cannot say the same for the book because of its translation. Some parts of the book are translated like an instruction manual. You understand what it says but it sounds too technical. I think the translator tried too hard to be loyal to the original text and neglected to make the english verson enjoyable to read.

love it!

Wow!! This book is truly brilliant. For people who have followed this from the start, then you will notice that any loose ends that were not yet connected are in this last part of the demonata. The detailing is great and finishes it off in such an interesting way. Anyone looking for a good read then buy this book now! 9.5 out of 10.

Worth it, but don't let it put you off Anne Rice

The first of the Vampire Chronicles, 'Interview' is definitely worth reading, but I found I couldn't 'fall in love' with it as I could her later novels. Rice is a wonderful writer - particularly when it comes to creating imagery so sensual that the reader begins to crave more the individual words on the page than the actual story being told behind them. However, in excess, this proves to be Rice's downfall.<br />Reading 'Interview' is an indulgent experience, but there were times when it felt as though the plot came almost to a halt. That is not to say there is no plot - the story follows Louis' vivid account of escaping New Orleans with Claudia, leaving Lestat behind, and travelling to Paris by ship where they seek out 'new blood'. In other words, the book consists of a very satisfying chain of events - it's just that these events unfold very slowly. Again, I will stress that it is not like this throughout the entire book, and as such it is definitely worth reading as an introduction to the 'Anne Rice canon' that follows, but if you keep on reading even during the bits where you feel like you 'could be doing something else right now', and see it through to the end, you will begin to appreciate its true value. The book also covers more detail than the film, and there are slight discrepancies between the two, so reading the book will give you the 'true' story. Finally - on a personal note, the sequel to 'Interview' ('The Vampire Lestat') I consider to be one of the greatest novels ever written. Read 'Interview' and enjoy it, such that you might read the sequels, and love them.