The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel CaineThe second book in the Morgainville Vampires Series starts exactly where the first book ended, with the residents of Glass House back in danger with the vampires and now also with Shane's father and biker friends. The action picks up right away and continues to the very end. There are a few more characters thrown in to the mix but they are not really fleshed out much.
I found some of the writing style hard to read and take seriously. It just seems like the character became the narrator in parts. For example,
"She couldn't see the biker guy, the one who'd been following them. Where had he-This is the narration, not Claire's thoughts or her words. She is not the narrator. Does the writing have to be so simplistic? There are a lot of "Oh"s and "Wow"s thrown in here and there. They just seemed unnecessary. (The quote above is not that great but the problem with the Kindle for iPod is that you can't mark a page or line. This was the first one I found.) Even if it was Claire thinking this-she is supposed to be a genius, a sixteen year old in college-her thoughts should seem a little more adult. Right?
She heard a scream.
Oh."
Well, along with not sounding like one she doesn't act like one either. She is always getting herself into really bad situations and not making very good decisions. She's also ready to sign away her entire future to stay with a boy she has known for about a month, if that long. So far, the only redeeming feature he has is that he is cute. Other than that he is not in school, he doesn't work, he has a psychotic father and all he does all day is play video games. Sounds like quite a catch, huh?
This one didn't leave me running to get the next book in the series as the first one did. Perhaps one day I will check out the next book to see of the books get better.
2/5
YA Book Challenge
This one didn't leave me running to get the next book in the series as the first one did. Perhaps one day I will check out the next book to see of the books get better.
2/5
YA Book Challenge
Serial Readers Challenge
eBook Challenge
eBook Challenge
Ugh! I gotta get book one! I kick myself whenever I see a reminder. ;)
ReplyDeletehaven't tried this YA series...but i'm always on the hunt for stuff for the students to read in their spare time. have you read megan mccafferty's YA series that starts with 'sloppy firsts'? i'm going to be previewing the fifth and final book later this week...i LOVE LOVE LOVE this series--it's smart, funny, and realistic.
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't but "smart, funny and realistic" is definitely what I need! I will be looking for that review. :)
ReplyDeleteI've just tried reading The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale that's the opposite. The kid is supposed to be a normal 12 year old, but have the vocab of an adult with a lot of wows and cools thrown in. It was too annoying and unrealistic, so I haven't gone on with it.
ReplyDeleteArggghhh! Blogger just ate my comment!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think I was saying that it is a shame the first book was good but the second so disappointing. That is always so upsetting when that happens. And the example you shared ... what a piece of bland, stale, unimaginative writing! Just because it is a YA book doesn't mean it has to be simplistic and dull!
TBS- I have a problem with books like that too.
ReplyDeleteJenners- That is exactly it. The simplicity of the writing is what really got to me while reading this book. It was about the same in the first but the plot helped that one out much more.