Review of From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

From Dead to Worse
Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood 8
By Charlaine Harris

Star Rating: 
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 321

Date Started: January 21, 2016
Date Finished: January 21, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)from_dead_to_worse
After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the manmade explosion at the vampire summit, everyone—human and otherwise—is stressed, including Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who is trying to cope with the fact that her boyfriend, Quinn, has gone missing.

It’s clear that things are changing—whether the weres and vamps of her corner of Louisiana like it or not. And Sookie—Friend to the Pack and blood-bonded to Eric Northman, leader of the local vampire community—is caught up in the changes.

In the ensuing battles, Sookie faces danger, death, and once more, betrayal by someone she loves. And when the fur has finished flying and the cold blood finished flowing, her world will be forever altered.

Review:
This book was drawn out. It was hard for me to sit and read it. There were so many loose odds and ends all trying to make their way together, and although the mysteries usually are somehow congruent there were several different story lines meshed into one telling and not really well put together.

There was no romance to speak of, though there were several times I wondered if Sam was going to man up and kiss her, or if Eric would sweep her off her feet. While I approve of women getting out there and being okay on their own, I almost wonder if the lack of a relationship is what drove the book to be so random, to fill space.

While I’m certain she will forgive him in the next book, I’m still quite mad at Jason. If you read this novel, you will be too.

Looking forward to reading the next one, and hoping that it fits together in the usual way of these novels instead of the jumbled mess that this particular story presents.

charlaineAuthor Biography: (From Amazon)
For information on Charlaine Harris, please view her Amazon author page here.

Review of Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark
Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood 2
By Charlaine Harris

Star Rating: 
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 290

Date Started: January 16, 2016
Date Finished: January 18, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)livingdeadindallas
Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is having a streak of bad luck. First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care. Then she comes face-to-face with a beastly creature which gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn’t enjoy it). The point is: they saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favour, she obliges – and soon Sookie’s in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She’s supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition: the vampires must promise to behave, and let the humans go unharmed. But that’s easier said than done, and all it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly…

Review:
Finally, in this book we see that Sookie has to honour a commitment she made too lightly in the first book to a certain vampire, which shows that you should not agree to do something continually if you have no desire to do so.

The relationship dynamics in this book series continue to evolve and it was interesting to see Bill and Sookie’s relationship shift throughout.

The human mystery in this novel was far harder to have any grasp on before getting to very far into the rising action. The climax was completely unexpected, and very intriguing, making me anxious to see what other creatures Sookie might encounter in the future, as well as if her supernatural friends will be able to continue keeping her safe.

 

charlaineAuthor Biography: (From Amazon)
For information on Charlaine Harris, please view her Amazon author page here.

Review of Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark
Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood 1
By Charlaine Harris

Star Rating: 
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 336

Date Started: January 15, 2016
Date Finished: January 16, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)dead-until-dark
Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She’s quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn’t get out much – not because she’s not pretty, she’s a very cute bubbly blonde, or not interested in a social life – she really is …but Sookie’s got a bit of a disability. She can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill: he’s tall, he’s dark and he’s handsome – and Sookie can’t ‘hear’ a word he’s thinking. He’s exactly the type of guy she’s been waiting all her life for. But Bill has a disability of his own: he’s fussy about his food, he doesn’t like suntans and he’s never around during the day …Yep, Bill’s a vampire. Worse than that, he hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble – of the murderous kind. And then one of Sookie’s colleagues at the bar is killed, and it’s beginning to look like Sookie might be the next victim …

Review:
In the beginning I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this novel. Sookie is the epitome of a dumb blonde. Between the constant references to what she was wearing to the amounts of times people had to tone down what they were saying because she couldn’t comprehend adult situations I hadn’t been sure I’d ever like her. Luckily, she began to develop as she met Bill.

All of the characters are well developed, and the mystery is slow burning. The mystery made perfect sense although it was hard to pinpoint which person it could possibly be given the large amount of people that seem to dislike the undead.

All in all, I picked up book 2 as soon as I was finished with this one.

charlaineAuthor Biography: (From Amazon)
For information on Charlaine Harris, please view her Amazon author page here.