Saturday, April 18, 2009

Carpe Corpus-Rachel Caine

Carpe Corpus
Rachel Caine
NAL, Jun 2009, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451227195

Morganville is not your typical college town because vampires make the rules that paranormal and humans must obey. For instance mortals are required to contribute to the blood bank. It is difficult to leave Morganville because you need vampire permission. Amelie was the head vampire, who ran the town with compassion for all, but her father Bishop led a coup d’etat and with the help of spells and insider information has taken over.

Amelie and her followers reside in the shadows waiting for the moment to take back their town from the lethal lock of her sire. Some people, who really know the brilliant teen, Claire Danvers, believe she is the only hope to save the town. However, even Claire must heed Bishop’s call since he marked her. Her boyfriend Shane and her father await execution, but Claire convinces Amelie to free him. Claire her friend Michael the vampire, a vampire scientist and goth girl Eve are also waiting to bring down Bishop and use his blood as an antidote to end the disease killing vampires.

Rachel Caine has carved out a unique niche in the urban fantasy sub-genre with her super young adult Morganville Vampires. Her mythos is wonderful as she makes the town seem genuine with humans and vampires living in a shaky peaceful coexistence; reminiscent of the early Gorbachev-Reagan era Cold War; that is before Bishop took over and brought overt hostility (sort of a return to Stalin) into the insecure relationships. The latest thriller contains plenty of action, but as always in this saga, CARPE CORPSE is character driven by the good, the bad, and the evil.

Harriet Klausner

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