Sunday 29 November 2009

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine


This is the first book in Rachel Caine's "Morganville Vampire series". It tells the story of 16 year old Claire Danvers, college freshman and teenage prodigy. Claire has a tough time in college, being two years younger then the other college freshman dorm life is already a struggle, but when the dorm's most popular girl focuses her wrath on Claire, life becomes unbearable. After being pushed down the stairs, Claire realizing that dorm life is just too dangerous and goes looking for somewhere else to live. After answering an ad she finds sanctuary at the house of Michael Glass and his two roommates, Eve and Shane.

This book is different from the all too common young adult vampire novel in a few ways, one is that the vampires are feared, not revered, another is that the book takes place in college, not high school. The story being told through Claire's eyes makes it easy to relate to being a shy teenager (which I was, so maybe that's just me), which is different from so many stories in which the main character is well liked and popular (see Elena from the Vampire Diaries and Bella from the Twilight Saga for examples).
This book is truly a young adult novel in that it has very little sexual context or violence, as in, almost none. The book manages to be entertaining without those elements. There is still some romance and slight violence.

Bottom line: A very "PG" rated young adult book, safe for almost all ages, yet still entertaining. Id recommend it, especially for young readers.