Review: Daylighters by Rachel Caine

Title: Daylighters (The Morganville Vampires #15)
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: NAL (Penguin)
Acquired Via: Library
Release Date: November 5, 2013
While Morganville, Texas, is often a troubled town, Claire Danvers and her friends are looking forward to coming home. But the Morganville they return to isn’t the one they know; it’s become a different place—a deadly one…

Something drastic has happened in Morganville while Claire and her friends were away. The town looks cleaner and happier than they’ve ever seen it before, but when their incoming group is arrested and separated—vampires from humans—they realize that the changes definitely aren’t for the better.

It seems that an organization called the Daylight Foundation has offered the population of Morganville something they’ve never had: hope of a vampire-free future. And while it sounds like salvation—even for the vampires themselves—the truth is far more sinister and deadly.

Now, Claire, Shane and Eve need to find a way to break their friends out of Daylighter custody, before the vampires of Morganville meet their untimely end…

My Review

First, the characters. Claire has really grown a lot from the beginning of the series. When she first arrived in Morganville, she was an unsure nerdy girl who allowed herself to be bullied by older girls. Now she’s a somewhat reckless and brave woman who takes control of the situation and doesn’t allow herself to be the victim. She and Eve do make some pretty too-stupid-to-die decisions, but these are generally made to save each other or the group or are related to group loyalty, so they aren’t as annoying as they otherwise be. Speaking of loyalty, Claire, Eve, Shane and Michael are the most loyal friends I have ever seen, in real life or in fiction. With everything that happens, every action they take first begins with either saving each other or helping each other. Amelie and Oliver are still great semi-villainous vampires. They are truer vampires than the sparkling kind, but at the end of the series they do show more empathy towards the humans than in earlier books. I love that Amelie and Oliver are true, blood drinking, sometimes sociopathic vampires. Myrnin is still the mostly crazy vampire that we all love. I have a sort of apathy towards Shane, but this is probably because I have not really liked him since Bite Club.

As always, Caine’s writing blends just enough fantastic writing with college-level witticism and banter to keep the characters and plot interesting, while not overdoing the teenage-speak. For example, Oliver offers Shane some pretty good life advice, even if your life doesn’t revolve around vampires:

“You fall into the trap of thinking as Fallon does, that there are only heroes and villains, monsters and victims, and nothing between. We all stand in that space, crossing the line to one side, then the other. Even you.”

Third, the series as a whole. The series peaked at Kiss of Death and took a turn for the worse, in my opinion, starting in Bite Club. I struggled through Bite Club and the next few in the series, and almost gave up until Bitter Blood. Bitter Blood brought the series back into the series that held my attention for so long. While it is bittersweet to see the Morganville crew go, this series had definitely run its course and needed a good ending.

The plot of the book itself could have been better. Toward the middle, I found myself a little bored by the same-ol-same-ol in Morganville - something bad happens, Claire and friends run around, then they fix the problem. I am happy with the ending of the series, although the end of the book was a little too convenient. At least mostly everyone got happily-ever-afters.

So, while I will miss Claire (because she is a kick ass, solid, head on her shoulders, intelligent female lead), I think that this series ended well and at a good time before it drug on for more books than necessary.

- 3/5 stars -

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