After staying up until 1 am on Wednesday, trying to finish this, then having a VERY long day on Thursday, I didn’t actually finish it until Friday. I am sorry I had to wait so long.
As always, the newest Sookie Stackhouse book is a treat. I barely refrained from buying it in hard cover. Only the lack of room to put it prevented the purchase. I seriously have 60 books that I have not read and no bookshelves. Must buy a bookcase.
So, Sookie hasn’t heard from Quinn since the deal in the last book with the hotel colllapsing. There are were wars going on and very possibly a vampire war in the making. Sophie Anne is dead. There is a new king. Bill has shown up again but Sookie appears to be uninterested. Eric is behaving more like a lover and less like the aloof guy he’s been thus far, he’s remembering the time he had amnesia and how it was with Sookie. To tell you much more would give it all away, but if you’re a fan, you must read. If you haven’t read the series yet, go back to the beginning and read ‘em all. Soon.
This is the first of the Southern Vampire series that I listened to on audio. It was weird, frankly. The narrator’s voice was nothing like I imagined Sookie.
The general story: Sookie is off to Chicago with Queen Sophie and the rest of the Louisiana vamps for a vampire summit. QS is going to be on trial for killing her husband, which she did not do. Sookie is going to read the minds of the humans to help QS decide who’s up to what.
Sookie tries to balance being with Quinn, avoiding Eric and Bill and doing here work for Queen Sophie. While they are there, other vampires wind up dead, humans have all kinds of problems and there is a group of anti-vampire protesters causing problems. Actually, fairly big problems. Sookie winds up letting humans see that she is a telepath, which winds up causing her big problems.
This was probably my favorite of the Southern Vampire series. The storyline was attention getting and there were more developed relationships with Sookie and Quinn and Eric.
This book was odd in that there were things that were referenced as if they’d happened in antoher book but I’ve read all of them and there was nothing. So, that was weird.
In any event, Sookie’s cousin Hadley dies and Sookie is her heir. Hadley, as it turns out was a vampire. Sookie goes to my favorite city, New Orleans, to clear up Hadley’s “estate” and gets herself into way more trouble.
Quinn is in this book again as well and I really like him. He seems like a good match for Sookie as long as he isn’t up to no good, which you can never tell about characters in these books. Who knew Bill was?
See, today I stayed home from work for various reasons. I read a lot. I didn’t even go to my dad’s because I just didn’t feel like it.
On to the book.
In this one, Sookie’s brother winds up a were-panther. Once again someone is trying to kill her and Sookie has two new men interested in her. For a girl who was a virgin until she met Bill, she has a lot of men around these days.
I *really* love Sookie Stackhouse.
Eric is cursed by a witch and can’t remember who he is. Sookie finds him and takes him in. She also has a lovely relationship with him because Eric doesn’t remember to be a jerk. As always, there is a lot going on and Sookie winds up killing someone, which freaks her out. The witches have an agenda and Sookie, of course, is right in the middle of it.
Clearly I didn’t have much to do this weekend, right?
So Sookie and Bill are having issues. Bill tells Sookie he has to go out of town on business and if he doesn’t come back within a certain amount of time, she’s to go to Eric and get help.
Bill leaves and doesn’t return. Sookie is contacted and told that Bill has probably been kidnapped and is being tortured, so she goes off to Jackson, MS to try to find and help him, despite the fact that she is sure he’s hooked up with an ex-girlfriend of his.
Along the way she meets some cute guys, a nice girl and saves Bill’s ass.
Book 2 in the Sookie Series. Which is not, I’m sure what the author calls it. Let me go check Amazon.com … Nope. She calls it the Southern Vampire Series. In any event, this time Sookie and Bill have to go to Dallas so that the Dallas Head Vampire guy can use Sookie’s abilitities to find a missing vampire.
Oh, and along the way, a friend of hers is killed and a not-so-friend is set up for it. Sookie meets a maenad who wants tribute from the local bar owners. Also, the not-so-friend turns out to be Sookie’s vampire boyfriend’s great-great-grandson. Right. A stretch, that, but kind of touching. In a way.
I didn’t want to like this. Well, sort of I did, but I thought I wouldn’t. I mean, it seems like thanks to the success of the Anita Blake series, there are vampire stories all over. Oh, I know, Anne Rice started it all. I may even have to go back and re-read those.
Here’s the gist: Sookie Stackhouse is a mindreader. She doesn’t want to, but she can hear other people’s thoughts. She meets a vampire, oddly named Bill Compton. Oddly, I say because vampires tend to have exotic names like “Jean-Claude” and “Lestat” but his name is Bill. Several women get killed and Sookie’s brother Jason and Bill are suspects. Sookie must solve the mystery. Throw in a shapeshifter who fancies himself in love with Sookie and some anti-vampire people and there you are.
It’s fluff, I’ll tell you that. Nothing deep or even remotely so but still a well-written story if you’re just looking for a fun, light read.
Notes for future reference in case I read more of these:
- Sookie’s grandmother is murdered.
- It was Sookie’s friend Arlene’s man who killed these girls.
- Jason had sex with both the murdered women (or was it 3?) and took videos which is why he was a suspect.
- Bill is from the town they live in, which is why he’s there now.
- He was in the Civil War.
