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I finished this a while ago, actually, but things have been crazy here. First, the hard drive on my computer dies and that took a week to get fixed. Obviously couldn't update then (easily anyway). Then Binghamton gets hit with a massive flood, worse than the "100 year flood" of 2006. I'm OK and everything I own is OK, but they evacuated a ton of places (including our place, but I stayed home) and many roads and businesses are closed. It's been a few days of focusing on recovery. The worse thing that happened to me was the cable's been out for 3 days now, and I have to boil water to drink and such.
So, not much energy left for book reviews. *grin*
But back to this book. I read the first book and thought it was interesting. This one was a little strange. It almost felt like two books in one. It begins with a body being found in the back of the local police detective's car. This seems straightforward enough, and so one would think the rest of the book would revolve around this murder, or perhaps something larger that begins to be revealed by this murder. But then Sookie gets summoned by the local vampires and is attacked on the way there by a rather vicious creature. The vampires save her, and then tell her they need her talents to help out another set of vampires in Dallas.
Suddenly we're in Dallas and onto a whole other plot about finding a vampire who vanished from a local bar. Sookie is told to figure out what happened to him, which leads her to a local religious group intent on eradicating the vampires in their own little crusade against evil. We spend some time in Dallas with this plot and toward the end of the book return to Bon Temps, Sookie's hometown, and the original dead body found in the detective's car.
If there were some kind of connection between the two plot threads, I'd be fine, but they are completely separated. Nothing of the Dallas trip has anything to do with the dead body, and vice versa. There was nothing wrong with either plot, it just felt odd having both of them in the same book. Of the two, the more interesting one for me was the dead body in the detective's car. I really liked the resolution of that plot, since it tied in with the creature that attacked Sookie on her way to the local vampire lair. This plot also advanced Sookie and Erik's relationship, however strange that may be. This also provided some great humor, which was needed to counter the darkness of the resolution.
As for the Dallas plot . . . initially it was rough. The writing there wasn't as smooth and it wasn't as engaging to me, probably because it involved characters that were unfamiliar to me and so I wasn't as invested in them. We did learn more about the vampire culture and some of the rules and laws the vampires play by. And about halfway through the section in Dallas the writing smoothed out and I DID become engaged with the characters and the outcome. I especially liked the parts involving the vampire Godfrey. A truly evil vampire. And I liked how Sookie's moral resolve was also tested and countered by what happens in Dallas; she realizes that perhaps some things aren't as black and white, or as easy, as she might think.
So there were good aspects to both plot lines, which led to an overall good book. A little odd because of the two plots, but good.
So, not much energy left for book reviews. *grin*
But back to this book. I read the first book and thought it was interesting. This one was a little strange. It almost felt like two books in one. It begins with a body being found in the back of the local police detective's car. This seems straightforward enough, and so one would think the rest of the book would revolve around this murder, or perhaps something larger that begins to be revealed by this murder. But then Sookie gets summoned by the local vampires and is attacked on the way there by a rather vicious creature. The vampires save her, and then tell her they need her talents to help out another set of vampires in Dallas.
Suddenly we're in Dallas and onto a whole other plot about finding a vampire who vanished from a local bar. Sookie is told to figure out what happened to him, which leads her to a local religious group intent on eradicating the vampires in their own little crusade against evil. We spend some time in Dallas with this plot and toward the end of the book return to Bon Temps, Sookie's hometown, and the original dead body found in the detective's car.
If there were some kind of connection between the two plot threads, I'd be fine, but they are completely separated. Nothing of the Dallas trip has anything to do with the dead body, and vice versa. There was nothing wrong with either plot, it just felt odd having both of them in the same book. Of the two, the more interesting one for me was the dead body in the detective's car. I really liked the resolution of that plot, since it tied in with the creature that attacked Sookie on her way to the local vampire lair. This plot also advanced Sookie and Erik's relationship, however strange that may be. This also provided some great humor, which was needed to counter the darkness of the resolution.
As for the Dallas plot . . . initially it was rough. The writing there wasn't as smooth and it wasn't as engaging to me, probably because it involved characters that were unfamiliar to me and so I wasn't as invested in them. We did learn more about the vampire culture and some of the rules and laws the vampires play by. And about halfway through the section in Dallas the writing smoothed out and I DID become engaged with the characters and the outcome. I especially liked the parts involving the vampire Godfrey. A truly evil vampire. And I liked how Sookie's moral resolve was also tested and countered by what happens in Dallas; she realizes that perhaps some things aren't as black and white, or as easy, as she might think.
So there were good aspects to both plot lines, which led to an overall good book. A little odd because of the two plots, but good.
