Glass Houses

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

(Book #1 of The Morganville Vampires series)

Rating: 🍁🍁

Link to Blurb

I picked this book up because it was on the shelf at my local thrift shop, and I though 'Hey, why not?'

Well, here's why not: *WARNING: UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD*

1) Stupid teenagers are stupid. Seriously - you're (allegedly) a super-intelligent sixteen year old whose life is routinely threatened by your dorm mates, who eventually even attempt to kill you, and you have the ability to go home and try your university career somewhere else. What do you do? Why, you stay and move into a house with a bunch of strangers, of course. And when those same former dorm mates make repeated attempts on your life even after you move out? You decide that leaving would be quitting (which is apparently the worst thing in the world ever), and stick around to put your new house mates in danger too. Because reasons. Awesome!

2) Stupid parents are stupid. This really ticked me off - when Claire's parents show up toward the end of the book and find out about all the hazing/near death experiences, they show mild concern. But OH MY GOSH THEIR SIXTEEN YEAR OLD IS LIVING IN A HOUSE WITH BOYS AND THERE'S A BEER IN THE FRIDGE - GET HER HOME NOW! I guess Claire gets her stupidity honestly.

3) Stupid townsfolk are stupid. Why on earth would anyone live in this town?! You cannot tell me that "jobs, kids and stuff" would make any sane person decide living in a town OWNED BY VAMPIRES and being virtual slaves to the vamps yourself was worth it!

4) Stupid VampTown rules are stupid. So let me get this straight: wood is a controlled commodity (except for, you know, trees, furniture, houses, etc.), churches have all been shut down or forced to operate underground (but are conveniently located in case of stupid teenager emergency), crosses are non-existent (unless you make your own, because we all know how ridiculously hard it is to make a cross out of, oh, say a couple of pencils and a rubber band)...you get the idea.

5) Stupid vampires are stupid. Okay, I like the fact that the vampires are actually kind of bad, and the concept of the relationship between the vamps and the town's humans is interesting. But for all their supposed bad ass-ness, they're kinda invisible as a character in the story. We only see Oliver, who apparently has the ENTIRE TOWN fooled as to his vampire-ness, Brandon (the surface bad guy), and Amelise (the not-so-bad super vamp). Oh, and John and some other girl vamp, but they only come into the picture once to move the plot forward in a particular direction so it's not like they count - they have no independent personality.

6) Stupid cliffhanger is stupid. Did we really need to end it that way? Also, how is it that Shane can kick vampire ass and basically take on the entire vamp population of Morganville, but can't stand up to his Dad?

Overall, it was well-written enough that I was able to finish it, but I was so frustrated by all the problems (and the ones I've mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg) that I didn't enjoy it.