Review : Glass Houses
Glass Houses by Rachel Caine
Pages : 247
Genre : YA, Urban Fantasy
Series : The Morganville Vampires, Book 1
My Rating : 
What it’s about :
When things turn bad with the popular girls at her dorm, Claire Denvers decides enough is enough. She heads off-campus and finds a room in an old house, where she’ll hopefully be able to concentrate on her studies. Her new roommates might not bully her, but they certainly don’t act “normal”; and as she gets to know them, Claire realizes creatures even more menacing than a group of girls might be running the dark streets of Morganville.
The Morganville Vampires series isn’t the most recent of the vampire craze; at 8 books and counting, I think it’s safe to say that it is quite a popular one, too. After reading Glass Houses, I can see why the series would get such good attention from readers, but I found some aspects of it to be too irritating to fully enjoy it.
If I was to rate the book on its entertainment factor only, it would be a solid 4 out of 5. The pace was good, the story interesting, the setting just enough predictable but still intriguing. It’s a perfect book to sit, read and relax. When it comes to the plot and the characters’ motivations thought, I was left wanting more.
Sadly, Claire is the one I couldn’t quite get – and she is also the main character. I understand the love for studying and wanting to achieve the best grades in the best school; being a student, I perfectly do! But to risk your life for it? Hum, no. Heidenkind said it perfectly in her review of Glass Houses, with a letter describing perfectly why Claire is a bit idiotic. I completely agree.
Still, I enjoyed the setting. A vampire town is a cool place to be if you’re a teen novel’s heroine, and I thought there were some good ideas in there. There were also details not making sense, which pretty much all brought me to the same question (Claire, why would you want to stay in this crazy town!?), but I enjoyed the rest of it enough to put them aside and enjoy the reading. I have to say that I enjoyed how they explained people not knowing about the real nature of Morganville.
Glass Houses wasn’t a book without problems, but there was just enough to keep me curious. I know I’ll be reading at least a couple more books in the series, and hopefully I’ll learn to appreciate Claire and her irrational decisions!
To those of you who did read the book(s), what did you think? Did you enjoy it? Is Claire making more sense as the series progresses?
Series reading order :
- Glass Houses
- The Dead Girls’ Dance
- Midnight Alley
- Feast of Fouls
- Lord of Misrule
- Cape Corpus
- Fade Out
- Kiss of Death
- Ghost Town (coming November 2010)
Thanks for the review. I’ve seen this series around quite a bit, and now I have a better feel for what it’s like. I’ve always seen it just as fun reading but nothing that will change the world 🙂
I’m not much for vampires, so I think I’ll skip this one since it only rates 3 stars from you.
I gave this book three stars the first time I read it. I really couldn’t relate to any of the characters. But I read on, and it got significantly better with the next book. And by the third, it was my favourite YA series (ever!). So do try to continue on!
Sounds interesting, might try it. Thanks!
When characters’ motivations totally elude me, that becomes a major problem! Still, this one sounds intriguing . . . I’m surprised I’ve never heard of the series! I might keep an eye out 🙂
looks like a fun series for the summer! i can’t wait until school’s out so i can get to reading fluffier stuff. 🙂 haven’t heard of the series and hope claire gets it together in the later novels.
The setting was just about the only think I liked–oh, and the three kids in Glass House. But Claire just drove me too crazy. I still get all twitchy thinking about her character. 🙂
Sounds like an interesting series. And the name of the town caught my eye: I grew up near a small town called Morgan Hill. Not exactly the same name but close enough to catch my eye and interest me a little. I’d be interested to read more about this main character and explore her motivations a little more.