Vampires

Review of From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

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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 All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

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All Together Dead
Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood 7
By Charlaine Harris

Star Rating: 
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 342

Date Started: January 20, 2016
Date Finished: January 21, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)all_together_dead
Betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse must now not only deal with a possible new man in her life—the oh-so-handsome shapeshifter Quinn—but also contend with a long-planned vampire summit. With her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans, the local vampire queen is vulnerable to those hungry for a takeover. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she’ll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

Review:
Sookie became useful… so much more useful than she likely wishes she had become.

While she learns some things about Quinn, what she learns more is that she has quite the loyalty to one particular vampire, and a large loss of respect or desire to help another. The mysteries in this novel mostly have to do with vampire politics, but it also revealed important revelations about Sookie’s romantic interests and just how much they cared for her.

The mysteries were well done, and while I managed to figure one out, I hadn’t figured out the second one in entirety. Unfortunately, part of my ability to reckon what was going on may have been highly influenced by the acknowledgements, which would have been much better off in the back of the book and not the front, considering the spoilers within.

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

Review of Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

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Definitely Dead
Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood 6
By Charlaine Harris

Star Rating: 
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 342

Date Started: January 20, 2016
Date Finished: January 20, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)book06definitelydead
As a person with so few living relatives, Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse really hated to lose one. But she never guessed that it would be her cousin Hadley—a consort of the Vampire Queen of New Orleans. After all, technically speaking, Hadley was already dead. And now, as unexpected heir to Hadley’s estate, Sookie discovers the inheritance definitely comes with a risk.

Someone doesn’t want Sookie looking too deeply into Hadley’s past—or for that matter, Hadley’s possessions. And they’re prepared to do anything in their power to stop her. But who? The range of suspects runs from the Rogue Weres who reject Sookie as a friend of the Pack to the Vampire Queen herself, who could be working through a particularly vulnerable subject—Sookie’s first love, Bill.

Whoever it is, they’re definitely dangerous—and Sookie’s life is definitely on the line…

Review:
No matter her thoughts, Sookie is going to end up deeper into vampire politics than she ever wanted to.

Relationship wise, this book hits the jackpot. We have so many new faces introduced with good characterization, and you also get to see some already known faces and watch as their relationships with Sookie shift and deepen.

I had guessed of what the king might be trying to do, but what really blindsided me and made me truly sympathetic towards Sookie was the betrayal she learned of. As for the second side of the mystery, I figured it out far too soon, but I sure was glad Quinn was there to help Sookie deal with it (Eric too!)

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

Review of Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

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Club Dead
Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood 3
By Charlaine Harris

Star Rating: 
Genre: Mystery, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 258

Date Started: January 18, 2016clubdead
Date Finished: January 19, 2016

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
Sookie’s boyfriend has been very distant-in another state, distant. Now she’s off to Mississippi to mingle with the underworld at Club Dead-a little haunt where the vampire elite go to chill out. But when she finally finds Bill—caught in an act of betrayal—she’s not sure whether to save him…or sharpen some stakes.

Review:
It was good to see Sookie forced out of her comfort zone and although I didn’t necessarily like what happened with Bill, it was good for her to realize even people that seem perfect can falter.  The new people introduced are interesting and have great depth.

The mystery in this one was very much purely supernatural, and I have no complaints about it.

One thing that does get annoying is Sookie’s constant mention of no one asking her to marry them. She and Bill were only dating a few months, and he’s a vampire. A bit of an unrealistic expectation, but since her only previous relationship experience is reading romance novels, I suppose it’s understandable.

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

Review of Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

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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.

Review of Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith

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Eternal
By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Star Rating: 

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Number of Pages: 320

Date Started: January 7, 2016eternal_PB_med
Date Finished: January 8, 2016

Synopsis:(From Amazon)
At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated by none other than the King of the Mantle of Dracul, she goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous fiend overnight. Meanwhile, her guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as her personal assistant, has his hands full saving his girl’s soul while planning a fast-approaching Death Day gala. In alternating viewpoints, Miranda and Zachary navigate a cut-throat aristocracy as they play out a dangerous, diabolically witty love story for the ages.

Review:
The premise of this book was so promising that I couldn’t wait to see what happened with Miranda’s life and unlife.  The reader gets a solid grasp on what Miranda’s life was like, her aspirations and dreams.  Unfortunately, Zachary was a bit harder to empathize with.  While many might find it endearing that Zachary is falling in love with the girl he is supposed to be the guardian of, some will find it rather breaks character of an angel.  Zachary falling from grace, behaving abhorrently, yet being forgiven without having repented what he did seemed too easy– as if his actions were infallible.

When Miranda changes, everything about Zachary’s girl changes as well.  Everything about Miranda changes when she becomes a vampire, and she seems to completely go with what her new master wants– no mention of her parents, and brief mentions of her former best friend, Lucy.  It is not until very near the end that Miranda seems to think about her parents at all, and never once about how her disappearance would have affected them.  Her interests, which were once so her, only seem to float around, coming back into play at the last possible second.

Action based, there is a lot of running around and attempts to make Miranda and Zachary seem normal.  While their outing into the city is brilliant afterwards everything seems rushed towards the climax.  For how long the book is, more time should have been spent preparing for the big fight.

The opposition of good and evil was very straightforward, and more importantly, the knowledge that there is a choice.  Your circumstances might have been dictated by others, but it is ultimately you who decide your fate and who you will be.

This book is unconventional and odd, and seems a fair bit inspired by Twilight.  Overall, this book was a pleasant quick read.

Author Bio:
As the author has no amazon picture or biography, I shan’t have one here either.

 

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Thank you! 

 

Review of Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

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Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Files
Short stories from The Dresden Files
By Jim Butcher

 

Star Rating: 
Genre: Fantasy
Number of Pages: 432Side-jobs-by-jim-butcher

Season Read: Summer

Synopsis:(From Amazon)
Here, together for the first time, are the shorter works of #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher-a compendium of cases that Harry and his cadre of allies managed to close in record time. The tales range from the deadly serious to the absurdly hilarious. Also included is a novella exclusive to this collection that takes place after the cliff-hanger ending of the April 2010 hardcover, Changes. This is a must-have collection for every devoted Harry Dresden fan as well as a perfect introduction for readers ready to meet Chicago’s only professional wizard.

Review:
I highly disagree with the synopsis.  Go read the first book first.  It’s awesome.  The whole series is awesome.

As for the reviews: what can I say without giving away important plot points?  Some of the short stories I liked more than others, but they were all good.  I liked getting to see more into Harry’s relationships with both his brother and with Billy and Georgia.  Harry is so REAL, that it’s no wonder Chicago would go crazy without him.

Author Bio:
The Dresden Files are the first books that Jim Butcher managed to get published.  He is also the author of the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, Cinder spires.  He is a gamer, including tabletop, video games, as well as LARP.  He still lives in his hometown, Independence, Missouri.

For a more detailed biography of Jim Butcher, as well as a way to purchase his books, see his Amazon page.

 

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Thank you!