The Dead Girls' Dance (The Morganville Vampires, #2) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Feb 16, 2009 Samantha rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2009, ebook-own

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Mar 02, 2008 Kati rated it it was ok

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 2015, in-english, ebooks, 2008, young-adult, bromance

ETA: Re-read in 2015 and dropping the rating from 4 stars to 2. The saying "You can't step twice into the same river" is very true. I honestly don't understand what I loved about this book 7 years ago. Now, I wanted to slap all the characters so hard: they screwed up their lives big time and it was all their own fault, every single thing. Also, by the time I finished the book, I was fed up with how every one of the main characters was portrayed as a victim who suffered, suffered and suffered som ...more

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May 20, 2010 A book away from an episode of hoarders rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2010, pnr-uf-fantasy, literary-junk-food, adapted-to-screen

The only issue I have is that the title, as well as the back cover, are completely misleading. I liked this book but the Dead Girls Dance is such a small and almost insignifigant part that I can't help but wonder if the person who wrote the synopsis even read the book. All of that aside, I enjoyed it quite a bit and have ordered the next few in the series. ...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Christina T added it

Shelves: ya, 4-stars, 2010

This book starts right up where the first book ended. It ended in such a cliff hanger I have no idea how I managed to go a full year without picking up the second.

What I didn't like....Now normally I would start out by posting the positive but today I am going to do just the opposite and start out with what I didn't like. I thought the beginning started pretty slow. It does start off where the cliff hanger ending of book 1 ended but it almost felt as if after the big bang the story came off of This book starts right up where the first book ended. It ended in such a cliff hanger I have no idea how I managed to go a full year without picking up the second.

What I didn't like....Now normally I would start out by posting the positive but today I am going to do just the opposite and start out with what I didn't like. I thought the beginning started pretty slow. It does start off where the cliff hanger ending of book 1 ended but it almost felt as if after the big bang the story came off of an adrenaline rush and crashed a bit. It wasn't until about half way through that things picked up. They picked up in almost a breakneck speed actually which can be good but also bad. Bad is if so many things are happening so fast the reader might get lost a bit in the shuffle. This actually happened to me once or twice and I had to go back and read a page or two because I kept missing things like "Claire jumped out of the car" and wondered how she ended up in the house when she was just driving. These things are technically minor and probably my own fault. Not only was the storyline taking off at breakneck speed I found I was reading at breakneck speed to keep up with the action.
Also one of the players in the 1st book indirectly affected one of the plots in this book (I don't want to go into great detail as to not spoil this book for those who haven't read it) and for the life of me I couldn't recall this player at all from the first book. Caine actually does do a good job in reminding the reader of specifics without completely spoiling the book for people who read series books out of order but to me the dude was really minor and it was hard for me to accept that he could change the lives of Claire and her roommates so drastically.
The title is misleading. Yes there is an event called The Dead Girls' Dance. Yes it took place within the book. But it wasn't a major event. It took up all of one chapter if that. Claire and Eve head to a frat party to see if they could get some info from a vampire they knew would be there and a new plot emerges which really doesn't tie in to the main one at all. I kind of felt as if I were reading two different books about the same cast of characters.
These books are definitely written to be a series. You really can't pick a random one up and enjoy it for it's own storyline. I think reading them in order is a must too. As I mentioned Caine does a great job of filling the reader in without spoiling the complete first book but there are some things that would be spoiled anyway so you really need to read these in order.

What I liked.....
Despite that it originally felt like none of the characters grew or matured, after finishing and reflecting I decided that they really did. Claire is still young but you see that she emerges more spunky and doesn't completely feel like a little girl playing dress up. Eve has always seemed pretty deep and we get a little more background on her life before moving into Glass House with the group. She sometimes seems young and easily upset and other times she takes control of the situation to help Claire through things. Shane's character also reveals more depth and additional background that helps Claire and the reader understand him more. Michael's character perhaps makes some of the most drastic changes. I am not sure if his changes are for the best or not but that is part of any series character's charms.
The last half of the book really pushed the book up from average to good. The action (although at times I had a hard time keeping up) was seriously there to keep my on the edge of my seat. The conflict between good and evil was there and the lines were completely blurred as to who was on what team which was very intriguing. Baddies from the first book might actually prove to be not so bad in the second which is an interesting concept.
I thought the ending was OK. It certainly wasn't much of a cliff hanger (thank goodness because I totally hated that!) but we as readers were definitely wondering what Claire would do next.

So, overall 4 stars. Not as good as The Glass House but definitely a good read. ...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Nairabell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star, teen-ya-paranormal, read-in-2012

Claire Danvers has overcome a lot of challenges - like being singled out by the on-campus bully Monica, finding out her college town is run by vampires and then upsetting some of the most powerful bloodsuckers in town. But when her boyfriend's vampire hunting father shows up things become even messier. Claire and her friends have protection from Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town, but when the stakes come out that protection could simply vanish.

I loved the first book in the Morganville Va Claire Danvers has overcome a lot of challenges - like being singled out by the on-campus bully Monica, finding out her college town is run by vampires and then upsetting some of the most powerful bloodsuckers in town. But when her boyfriend's vampire hunting father shows up things become even messier. Claire and her friends have protection from Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town, but when the stakes come out that protection could simply vanish.

I loved the first book in the Morganville Vampires series (Glass Houses) and picked this up straight after finishing that. There was a big cliffhanger at the end of the previous book and this installment picks up exactly where the last one left off. The previous book took a while to really get going whereas this plunges straight into the action and holds to a fast pace throughout.

A large part of the plot of this book revolves not around the vampires but around the humans of Morganville. The world building is deepened and more is revealed about how vampires and humans interact and what the rules of living in a place like Morganville are. It is very clever how the human perspective is shown alongside demonstrations of both human and vampire cruelty, showing that fangs aren't a prerequisite for being a bad person.

Claire really grew as a character during the first book and it was great to see her continue to develop her confidence here. She really stands up to the psychotic bully Monica and her lackies and continues to hold her own throughout without becoming cocky or arrogant. More is revealed about Claire's roommates Eve, Michael and Shane. We get to see some revealing interactions between Shane and his father, and some creepy skeletons come tumbling out of Eve's closet.

I was really pleased to see the extract from Eve's diary included at the end of the book again. I love Eve and reading about the events of the book from her perspective is brilliant. We also get to see some things that Claire wouldn't have experienced which really has me desperate for the next book.

All in all this was another great read and I can't wait for Midnight Alley.

Plot: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 10/10

Overall: 48/50 ...more

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Jun 10, 2008 Cindi Kelley rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2008-read

The title is deceptive. It isn't about the dance at all really, it happens towards the end of the book and yes hell does break loose but Shane's dad is the cause of all that. Claire has to help out again to save her friends especially Shane, who know seems to be her boyfriend. And Michael makes a deal with someone he may regret. ...more

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