Rachel Caine – Feast of Fools

The fourth book in the Morganville Vampires series, published June 3, 2008.
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Cover: I have no idea if this is Shane or Michael



In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans have learned to live in relative peace. Still, students like Claire Danvers know that after dark, studying can take a back-seat to staying alive. But the tenuous good-neighbor policy is really turned on its head with the arrival of Mr. Bishop,
Bad to the bone, the ancient, old-school vampire cares nothing about harmony. Staying at the top of the food chain is enough. What he wants from the town's living and its dead is unthinkably sinister. It's only at a formal ball, attended by vampires and their human dates, that Claire realizes Bishop’s plan – and the elaborately evil trap he's set for the warm-blooded souls of Morganville…


The previous book ended with a surprise visit from Claire’s parents, who have apparently moved to Morganville without her knowing, and with their companion, Mr. Bishop, who is Amelie’s father …

Mr. Bishop and his two nasty companions treat Claire and her friends as their servants when they demand breakfast while waiting for Amelie to show up. But Claire’s calls to her go straight to voicemail, and desperately, they finally decide to call Olivier. When he hears who is visiting, he gets scared and promises to find Amelie and come as soon as possible. When one of the most powerful vampires in town gets scared, they better obey their orders as good as possible. Neither of them is very good at cooking, and Claire’s parents are under some kind of vampiric mind control. Michael is too young a vampire to be of much help either, as he is severely outclassed, and he knows it. Worse off is Shane though, as the female vamp has her eyes set on him …

Amelie and Olivier manage to get them out of their house, but won’t tell where they will be staying. Claire can only hope that they won’t be staying in the same Founders House as her parents. And she refuses to go live with them too, she will stay in the Glass House with her friends.

Bishop certainly stirs things up in the village, and Amelie is throwing a huge masquerade ball for him to welcome him. Vampires are taking one human being with them to the ball, and of course Eve wants to go with Michael, and is hurt badly when he chooses Monica off all people. Of course he is not allowed to tell her she should be very happy with this …

Meanwhile, Claire still has to go to classes as the university and together with the Doctor she is working on improving Myrnin’s medication. But when Myrnin finds out about Bishop, he wants out of his prison cell, Amelie will need him at her side!


This series keeps shocking and surprising me with its twists and turns, and the cliffhangers at the end. Of course I do have the whole series, so that is not much of a problem. Even though it is quite a thin book, it took me a surprising amount of time to read it, as it is filled with a great story that you have to keep your concentration on so you don’t miss anything important.

I love all the main characters, and I can never guess what will happen next. I completely understand why this series is so popular. Reading the next book soon, that is for sure!

9 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian