Bitter Blood (Morganville Vampires, #13)

by Rachel Caine

For years, the human and vampire residents of Morganville, Texas, have managed to co-exist in peace. But now that the threat to the vampires has been defeated, the human residents are learning that the gravest danger they face is the enemy within.


Thanks to the eradication of the parasitic creatures known as the draug, the vampires of Morganville have been freed of their usual constraints. With the vampires indulging their every whim, the town's human population is determined to hold on to their lives by taking up arms. But college student Claire Danvers isn't about to take sides, considering she has ties to both the humans and the vampires.

• ISBN10: 0749012803
• ISBN13: 9780749012809
• Publish Date: 6 November 2012 (first published 1 November 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Allison & Busby
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 544
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Bitter Blood is definitely my least favorite of the series. I was excited to see how the vampires of Morganville go about having their only enemy wiped out, and how the humans react. But sadly, this installment is mostly boring and kind of silly. Ghosthunters from a TV show appear in town, which is obviously bad. Then Claire decides that Monica should run for mayor, because of reasons. What?!

I just never got into Bitter Blood. The ghosthunter angle could have been interesting if they had played a larger role in the story. As it is, they just show up and annoy people. I think they were just there to give Miranda something to do. As for Monica running for mayor? I honestly don't even understand Claire's reasoning behind that. No one is going to vote for a 19 year old psycho, and there's no way the vampires would let it happen anyway. I suppose it could have been funny if it weren't so out of left field.

However, my biggest issue with Bitter Blood was that no one even considers the obvious. There have been some rule changes in Morganville, and they don't really fit with Amelie's vision. In fact, a few vampires aren't acting like themselves, and we're told why near the beginning. Maybe that contributed to my frustration, because I just wanted Claire to figure it out already. But seriously no one even thinks about the fact that vampires have special abilities, including compulsion, and that probably someone is using compulsion which is why everyone is acting strange.

Bitter Blood just wasn't a favorite at all. It didn't even feel like filler. To me the story didn't even fit into what's happening. And once Claire finally does realize what's going on, it's fixed in just a few pages. That's not very exciting.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[ellieroth]

El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Este libro es el más político dentro de la serie, y en la época que lo leí (el año pasado) se me dio por hacerme la muy culta y no funcionó mucho, la verdad. Si bien el libro trabaja un recurso que ya usó antes, y es predecible, no le quitó para nada la emoción a la historia. También me gusta que Caine no use triángulos amoroso, y si lo hace, lo hace de una forma tan sutil, tan solo para asustarnos, sin en realidad jugarlo del todo.

Bitter Blood es rápido y sencillo de leer, descripciones sin gastar palabras y párrafos cortos. Si bien la saga completa es muy especial para mí, Bitter Blood está dentro de toda la serie, entre los primero puesto de mis favoritos.

Reseña completa: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

[Linda]

*sighs* This might just be the most satisfying volume of this series yet! Have I already said how much I love Claire? She is the best heroine ever! Smart, tough, courageous, generous, loving and never giving up.

This and other reviews can also be found on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews.

Bitter Blood is the perfect continuation of The Morganville Vampires series. Claire is such a great heroine; she is smart, tough, courageous, loving and never gives up. Her friends are her new family, and it is quite a new adventure they are all facing in this story.

I think this book is the one in this series that surprised me the most! There were quite a few things that happened that I could not at all guess in advance, and I had no idea which character was behind all the mayhem! It was very well written, with enough things to throw me off track, but not entirely in the wrong direction anyway.

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

With each book in the Morganville Vampires series, I find it more and more difficult to write reviews that get across exactly how much I love these books. I feel like I repeat myself about how good the series is, or how Rachel Caine is an amazing author, but I do it because it's true. Bitter Blood is the thirteenth book in the Morganville Vampires series, yet I am still blown away by each new book I read. This series is never predictable, always exciting, and each book brings something new and action packed. Thirteen books down the line in the series, and Caine has still got it.

The draug have been defeated, and the vampires of Morganville have nothing left to fear. No creatures alive pose a major threat to them, they are at the top of the food chain. the absence of fear has brought a change to the town. Amelie and Oliver have formed a relationship, and Amelie is partially listening to Oliver, who is wanting change. He wants vampires to be more like vampires, for humans to be seen as what they are - a source of food - and to not be given so much when they are so beneath them. Of course, Amelie is still queen of Morganville, and isn't giving Oliver all his way, but allowing vampires a free pass to hunt one human a year, what harm? The humans are livid and refuse to stand for it. There's a Captain Obvious, and he is rallying the humans into fighting back. And with a new mayor needing to be elected - one the humans want, but one the vampires will allow - tension is rising, and things are starting to look ugly. Amongst all the political turmoil, in rolls a film crew wanting to find ghosts. Filming in Morganville isn't good for anyone, and Claire is caught in the middle of it all.

There is so much wow going on in this book! So much! Unlike Black Dawn, which was quick and snappy as it was held over around two days, Bitter Blood has gone back to a similar timing as the previous books, over a span of a few days, a week or so. It feels a little slower, and getting to the real meat of this story takes a while, but there are so many other things going on - seemingly small, but never, ever small - that you're never bored and constantly intrigued. Things are getting so bad in Morganville between the vampires and the humans, the divide becoming much larger, that even Myrnin is thinking of leaving. Yes, Myrnin is scared of what's to come. This is not the town he came with Amelie to this part of Texas to build, and he can only see it's destruction in it's future. This has Claire worried, but she just can't see Amelie going so far, or the humans really going against the vamps.

There's also the grief the four members of the Glass House are getting. There's one thing the vampires and the humans can agree about; just how wrong Michael and Eve's relationship is. Since Michael and Eve's wedding, the four of them are under attack from both species. A walking food-bag should not be given the same status as a vampire, which is what happens when vampires marry, and Eve is sleeping with the enemy. There are death threats, there are physical attacks, there is nothing good. And with Amelie as she is at the moment, there is no help from that quarter.

What's fantastic is Caine has kept up with the multiple point of views. Claire is still the main narrator, but other characters get to speak too, and this is especially important for us. We find out what's going on much sooner than Claire and friends. While they have no clue, we know time is a-ticking. There is no better way for Caine to get us sitting on the edge of our seats, knowing the danger that's coming, but only being able to watch as it all unfolds. It's excruciating! But so exciting! It has you desperately turning the pages, urging the characters to move, or think, or open your bloody eyes! Oh my god, I was fit to burst with the stress and excitement of it all, and I just loved it!

There's not much more I can say without spoiling things. It's brilliant! And the ending... wow. Caine is contracted to write up to fifteen books in the series. From how this book ended, I think it's a possibility that book 15 may be the last. Relationships have changed, drastic actions are taken, trust is fragile, and people are hurting. It really feels like things are changing in a way that will lead to the end. Either way, there are at least two more books to go, and I believe I have some inkling as to what they will involve. There are some new things to explore, and I am so excited to see where on earth Caine will take the series next in Fall of Night, released on 7th May 2013. But if the ending of this book is to go by, I'm not sure it will be anywhere too happy. Bitter Blood is another incredible addition to a phenomenal series, and if I had my way, it would go on and on.