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Publication Date: February 23, 2009
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 367
ISBN: 9780749079796

It was hard to imagine how Claire’s day could get any worse… And then the vampires holding her hostage wanted breakfast.

In the town of Morganville, vampires and humans have learnt to live in relative peace. Still, Claire Danvers knows that after dark, her homework can take a backseat to staying alive. But this tenuous harmony is turned on its head with the arrival of Mr Bishop.

Bad to the bone, the ancient old-school vampire cares nothing about keeping the peace; staying at the top of the food chain is enough. What he wants from the town’s living and dead is unthinkably sinister. It’s only at a formal ball attended by vampires and their human dates that Claire realises Bishop’s plan—and the elaborately evil trap he’s set for the warm-blooded souls of Morganville…

Review

Feast of Fools is book number four in Rachel Caine’s popular Morganville Vampires series. An awful lot has happened before Feast of Fools, so make sure you read Glass Houses, The Dead Girls Dance and Midnight Alley before starting with this one. Also, this review might spoil certain things for you if you’re new to the series so read on with caution.

Feast of Fools picks up where Midnight Alley left off. Once again readers are thrust into the middle of all the action and in this case, Claire Danvers and her housemates have visitors: Amelie’s Father Bishop and his sidekicks, with Claire’s oblivious parents in tow. If you thought you’d seen the worst of the vampires, well you haven’t seen anything yet.

It seems wherever Claire, Eve, Michael and Shane go, trouble follows them. Claire’s parents are in town; the last place Claire ever wanted them to be. She knows how dangerous life in Morganville is but her parents don’t. On top of stressing about her parents safety, her work with crazy vampire-scientist continues and Bishop and his sidekicks are causing trouble of their own. As part of vampire tradition, a welcome feast is being thrown for his arrival. This is the event to be at and everyone seems to be invited… except Claire. Convinced something big and sinister is going to happen, Claire does her utmost to get an invite herself. Her suspicions prove right and the consequences of the evening’s events will change life in Morganville.

Once again, Caine delivers and then some with Feast of Fools. From the very first page of the books in this series, I am hooked. The action begins immediately and captivates you right until the last page. Feast of Fools was no different. I always find it astonishing how quickly I fly through these books, but with a plot that is fast-paced and action-packed, I suppose it’s no surprise I can’t seem to put these books down. Feast of Fools didn’t have a dull moment – so much more developments occur!

The characters are still some of the best I’ve read in young adult fiction. However, Claire did infuriate me a little with her somewhat whiney behaviour when she didn’t get an invite to Bishop’s welcome feast. It sank in that she’s still young and I realised that I’ve always thought of her as older. I guess that just shows that the majority of the time, she is the mature girl she is proclaimed to be. I fell more in love with Myrnin in this instalment. As he demonstrated in the previous book, he is off his head ninety-nine percent of the time, but he has this other side to him too. The tensions from Midnight Alley between Shane and Michael seem to be thawing, which was great to see. Also, the relationship between Claire and Shane seems to be progressing nicely. Shane earned my respect at the extremes he will go to in order to keep Claire safe. It’s sweet.

When a good series comes along, it’s hard not to be repetitive when reviewing it. I do feel as though I am saying all the same things with each book, but without giving the story away, there is not much more I can say than this series is consistent. It is refreshing to read a series that has the same brilliance embedded into every book. Feast of Fools proved to me that this is a series worth reading.