Spoilers for all previous books. Also, continuing my discussion of the historical aspects of 'Feast of Fools' the term, Lord of Misrule, is also associated with the celebration, but after some priests got a bit too jolly in Paris back in the 12th century heavy restrictions were placed upon the title (ordinarily the leader of the church) to keep the person in check.

I'm reluctant to put to paper (so to speak) my thoughts of Lord of Misrule because I'm honestly torn up. I don't think I can put words that don't involve 'freaked out' and 'oh gods no' and 'OH NO NOT THAT'. Bishop is...horrifying. Not just the vampire himself, but his whole ideology is so twisted and warped and inhuman I felt chills. And you know how some evil vampires have moments of weakness? Not Bishop. Oh no. He's kind of like a Vampire version of those Chuck Norris facts--you know the ones. 'Chuck Norris is the only man alive to slam a revolving door' those facts (which can be hilarious).

And it just gets worse as the book goes on.

Somehow this book makes the other four combined seem like Claire and Co. were merely having tea parties. Between friends who aren't so friendly, enemies who have no choice, neutrals who should know better and one person in particular Monica its Monica getting a nice comeuppance (let's face it with Bishop moving to take charge who needs her dad? No one was being nice to Monica because she was sweet after all) the entire power structure is torn down.

I felt kind of bad for most of the inhabitants--for the ones born there the way of life that they had become resigned to and understood at least was gone. For the out-of-towners (those poor college saps) the world just got a whole lot more terrifying.

And the teaser for the next book, Carpe Corpus? Only made me want to cry more.

(just to note, none of what I said is meant to be a negative criticism--I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It just also broke my heart a thousand different times.) ( )

I try to express only my most honest opinion in a spoiler-free way. If you feel anything in my review is a spoiler and is not already hidden in spoiler brackets please let me know. Thank you.

This one was a bit hard for me to rate. I love this series so much, but this book took a while to get into, and even afterward, nothing really happened until the very end of the book, which ended on a cliffhanger as always. So despite my love of the series and intense emotions at the end of the book. I feel it only fair to give it a 4 star instead of a 5 this time.

Don't get me wrong though. Still a great book. The entire series has taken a different direction than I thought it would when I read the first book. Not in a bad way, just different. I love all of the characters, and not just the four main characters either. Also Oliver, Amelie, Sam, and Myrnin.

I don't know how Claire survives. She is almost always a target, and she trusts people way too easily, even those that have proven themselves untrustworthy. But she is brave and has a good heart, showing compassion for those that really don't deserve it in my opinion.

If you have read any of my other reviews on this series I have mentioned before how this book reads like a TV drama series, and I still think it would have made a great one. As it is I have down and 10 more to go, and I can't wait to see how the lives in Moranville progresses. ( )

Another suspenseful installment of the Morganville series. This book is obviously building to the climax of the current conflict, which was why I felt it had a lot of buildup without quite as much action. But character interaction and suspense made up for that pretty well.

The arrival and rise to power of the vicious vampire Bishop has forced all of Morganville to take sides. But this time the lines aren't drawn between human and vampire; the two groups mingle warily in order to either protect the town or conquer it. Claire's connection to the defending leader, Amelie, means she and her friends are key players in the deadly game being conducted. And of course, unpredictable variables keep throwing off any plans that can be laid; Shane's cruel father, the rebelling humans of the town, and the half-mad half-brilliant Myrnin, who is still one of the greatest characters of the series in my opinion.

And of course, Claire lands herself in yet more terrible predicaments that will require trust, sacrifice, and desperate measures to deal with. The characters are still consistant, the story still fresh, and the cliffhanger still maddening. I hope to get the next book soon to watch the steadily building conflict finally play out.
( )

3.5 stars

Lord of Misrule was a filler book, IMO. Until the very end, (which was a cliff-hanger, of course) nothing much was really going on. There's a battle for control of Morganville going on between Amelie and her father, Bishop. The gang is doing what they can to help Amelie. That's about it really. ( )

Felt like there was too much differing stuff shoved into this book. Still, I wanna know what happens next - that's pretty much my whole reason for reading this series. The author's Weather Wardens series is at least fun. ( )