Rachel Caine - Daylighters

Now for one of my favourite series which is coming to an end, the Morganville Vampires series, which has spanned 7 years and 15 books. As I love this series, because I'm partial to a bit of Shane Collins, the main character's, Claire, love interest, I decided to ignore my own system and read this one way ahead of my plan because I have been wanting to read it for ages!

Daylighters is the fifteenth and final book in Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series that focuses on Claire Danvers and her housemates, Shane Collins, Eve Glass (formerly Rosser), and Michael Glass, as they try to survive living in Morganville, a town in Texas that is run by vampires (or was prior to this book).  Claire and her friends have been through hell and back, from a psychotic vampire hunting father to another psychotic father who takes over the town to a race of vampires, Draug, who target other vampires as well as humans for their source of food drenching the town and overthrowing the ruling vampires.  As well as the problems in the town, with the vampires, Claire goes through a lot regarding her relationship with Shane, which has had its troubles because of his dad interfering and Shane being jealous of Claire's relationships with the vampires in town, including her employer, Myrnin, and even Michael.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Vampire lovers; Rachel Caine lovers

Favourite Characters: Shane - always and forever

Favourite Part: And then he kissed her, all passion and intensity and heat and dark chocolate sweetness melting on her tongue, but not just sweet because there was spice in it, too, bursts of searing pepper, and he made her hungry, so incredibly hungry to feel his skin on hers that it almost drive her crazy. - Page 334

Good Points: Lots of action; Shane's character development; good end to the series

Bad Points: Michael's happy ending being linked to the villain

Daylighters begins seconds after the events of Fall of Night where Michael, Myrnin, Jesse, and Oliver have been staked and taken into custody by a group who go by the name the Daylight Foundation who have taken over Morganville by force while Claire, Eve, and Shane are left dumbfound as they are taken into custody to meet the leader of the Daylight Foundation and updated on what has changed about their town.  Eve is distraught about Michael, Claire is trying to work out what's going on, and Shane is behaving oddly around all of the vampires, more so than usual, which has got Claire wondering what's wrong.

There has always been plenty of action in this series to satisfy my need for some butt-whooping in my literature because it keeps me entertained and this book continues this aspect well as Claire and co. fight for Morganville, therefore keeping my attention all the way through.  Amidst the action and vampire violence, there is also this hint of humour, trying to break the tension of these stressful events, particularly moments that include Shane because he is not one to admit his true feelings (especially if he's scared), using humour to cover it all up.  While it could be seen as unhealthy to do this, suppressing emotions, humour and action go hand in hand for me which is probably from my love of superheroes who have witty comebacks while fighting an archenemy (well, Spidey) and this is what I like about this series as through times of stress, humour can relieve some of it even if it's for a moment and possibly completely inappropriate.

Shane has developed over the series from a vampire-hating angry hunter to a much more mellow young man who has accepted that vampires are not all vicious creatures though is still not entirely comfortable around them, even his vampire best friend/housemate; I loved how he's developed because he's not as angry now but there's still something in him that is his old self, a spark that leads him to be protective of Claire and his friends from the threats of Morganville.  One great thing about this book is that Caine shows us Shane's struggle with his former temper after the strange dog bite he gained during Fall of Night which is causing some strange symptoms to come out because he even says he doesn't want to be that way at one point, he doesn't want to be the guy he used to be.  Caine has written his character well along with the others as they've gone from semi-regular young adults with standard issues in an irregular town who look out for themselves and their friends to strong-minded men and women who are willing to fight for their town's freedom, not just themselves.

It's great that this series has a happy end with Claire and Eve with their respective men after everything they've been through, particularly Eve and Michael who have had major issues concerning him being a vampire (her not being) and the townspeople's feelings on the matter, because I truly think they deserve it.  However, I did think this series could have finished a lot sooner, such as after Bishop was finally defeated or the Draug were gone but after every storyline Caine introduced over the series, from Michael's reluctant vampirism to the human population of Morganville rebelling against the vampires repeatedly and the Daylight Foundation becoming involved in the series, Caine was able to bring each storyline to a nice close, leaving the citizens of Morganville in a state of calm.  I have to admit I loved the very last part of this book between Amelie and Oliver as it alluded to a possible continuation further along in time, even if it is between a new set of human characters and the old vampires because it allows the audience to think of new possibilities and wondering if there will ever be more.

I know I've spoken about how I enjoyed Shane's character development over the series and how it was illustrated in this book, I also want to speak about why Shane's my absolute favourite character in this series and this book.  It's simple really and though some think it comes down to the fact he falls into I find attractive in my typical guy - tall, dark-haired (instead of blonde), and has a bit of an edge to him, and they are correct to a degree because I don't find Michael (the blonde, blue-eyed Morganville sweetheart) nearly as appealing.  I have always thought that Shane had more to his character; he goes being from the protective boyfriend, worrying about Claire's safety around the vampires, to the funny guy she lives with, so to lighten the mood, to the damaged child that's inside, especially around his father, which I found fascinating and I just wanted to know more about him because he seemed more complex and therefore interesting.  While this kind of character may not be everyone's cup of tea, give me a slightly tormented yet sweet soul wrapped up in a tall, dark-haired man shell and I will become enthralled in the book/series and the character and their backstory.

Please don't read this paragraph as it does give away a big spoiler in a way, though not outright.  The only thing I absolutely hated about this book that Michael's happy ending was tied to the villain's ultimate plan because it took away some of the happiness that came for Michael and left a bitter taste as it wasn't as satisfying as it could have been.  This is because Michael has been through a lot over the series from being killed by Oliver prior to the beginning of the first book and resurrected as a ghost of sorts, coming back as a human during the night but a spirit during the day which ties him to the house as a sort of life support which Claire discovers, but then is eventually freed from this curse by Amelie by turning him into a vampire which allows him to leave the house after a year being trapped but with an even bigger curse weighing on his shoulders as he becomes something he and those he cares about despise.  While I loved that Michael had a happy ending with Eve, the fact it happened because of the Daylight Foundation annoyed me.

And then he kissed her, all passion and intensity and heat and dark chocolate sweetness melting on her tongue, but not just sweet because there was spice in it, too, bursts of searing pepper, and he made her hungry, so incredibly hungry to feel his skin on hers that it almost drive her crazy. - Page 334

I loved moments like this in the Morganville Vampires series because despite the horror that goes on in this series, there always were these little moments of passion and love between Claire and Shane, especially later on as Claire got older, as well as Michael and Eve because it gave a different feel to the book for at least a few moments.  Plus, I always loved Claire and Shane as a couple because I loved Shane and this showed a different side to him, a more tender yet passionate side.  While he could have been with anyone in the series as he's been with other girls, as a reader, we only really see him with Claire in moments like this and it was nice to see there was more to the hot-head.

I am sad to see the end of this series because I loved it all the way through, though it could have ended sooner as well and still would have been great in my opinion, and it will be sorely missed though I can go back to the beginning and read the series straight through without having to wait months to read the next book.