THE LAST MILE

The trilogy that introduced vegan vampires (don’t call them “sapsuckers”), passionately environmentalist thespians and the southern Oregon town they call home (well, actually they call it Lithia) comes to an end here, and not a moment too soon.

Life is sweet for Kat, proud owner of a mountainside, now a stagehand playing real-life Juliet to Roman’s (real-life and onstage) Romeo, with Alex a potential suitor if things don’t work out. Unfortunately, their powerful vampire progenitor, Victor, remains faithful to the (undead) paleo diet. Her mother’s serpentine pendant protects Kat for now, but Roman warns her, Victor will find a way around it. The earthquake he sets off at her landlord’s wedding proves he means business. Has Victor found a way to awaken Mount Lithia, the dormant volcano looming over the town? Repetitive recapping of the first two books, plus Kat’s soliloquies on animal rights and environmentalism, go on a tad longer than necessary, and like Roman’s ponderous warnings, they lack humor. Never mind—the real protagonist, Lithia, hasn’t lost a bit of its quirky, high-altitude allure; rain gear–clad theatergoers throng the streets sampling the Bard’s offerings, while local runners lace up their shoes for Cloudline—a race to the mountain’s not-quite-dormant summit.

One (OK, three) of a kind for readers who prefer their fantasy tinted green, with fangs that sink into grains, not veins.