Grade: B-

I told myself I was going to stop buy the Sookie Stackhouse books in hard cover, but the second this book became available on pre-order at Amazon, I was right on it. I’m such a sucker. I have to admit that I rushed to buy it as soon as I saw the cover. That’s Eric, my favorite cool-as-ice Viking vampire, on the cover. With Sookie! And they’re flying! I was a little hesitant about reading this book because I was so disappointed with the last one in the series, which focused on Sookie’s developing relationship with the were-tiger Quinn (who, frankly, reminded me of a bald Joey Lawrence— who shaved his hair clean off for Dancing With the Stars) and I didn’t like him very much. Thankfully, there was a lot of good stuff in this book for us Sookie-Eric shippers and Quinn— wow, I didn’t mind him so much this time around. Weird. I still wish he’d die already ’cause I suspect a whole Morelli-Ranger thing developing for the future books, but hey, that wasn’t even my biggest problem with this book. A lot of stuff happens— I mean A LOT— and most of the time, I had no idea what was happening! There are some crazy-ass vampire politics going on in this one that will rival anything in the Anita Blake books or even Anne Rice. And frankly, I skimmmed through A LOT of it. And the ending was totally “meh”. Oh, and uh… there may be some spoilers in this review.

The Plot: Sookie Stackhouse is the unofficial telepath of the vampire Queen, Sophie Ann LeClerq, as well as the object of lust/annoyance of Eric Northman, the local vampire boss. She’s also the long-suffering sister of Jason, her no-good brother who just married a were-leopard, and the girlfriend of Quinn, a were-tiger who’s apparently a badass cage fighter or something. In the last book, the vampire king of Arkansas (Sophie Ann’s husband) was assassinated and Sookie was the only one who saw what really happened. Naturally, when a suit is brought against Queen Sophie for control of the Arkansas holdings, Sookie is called upon as a witness and has to fly to Rhodes, Iowa for a vampire summit. As if that’s not enough, someone’s out to get Sophie Ann and her entourage, especially since she’s in a very vulnerable position because her holdings in Louisiana were greatly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Oh, and Vampire Bill, her deceptive sneaky ex… he’s there too. And Eric is suddenly acting like a weird jealous boyfriend and Quinn is pressing for a deeper relationship… Oh, and then there are some crazy-ass humans who would like nothing more than to blow up some vampires.

The Heroine: Sookie is her usual unflappable self. She’s still witty, still clever, and still oddly naive even though she’s been through A LOT in the last few books. It is great to see Sookie retaining her personality and humanity, especially since she gets more and more entrenched with the world of the supernaturals with each book. I was amused by the way she “abjures” Bill by refusing to look at him or even say his name in her mind, thus effectively banishing him into the background (there was no room for him, anyway). In this book, Sookie is drawn deeper into the world of vampires and since she can’t read a vampire mind (though Harris hints that this might be changing since SPOILER Eric and Sookie were forced to exchange blood and Sookie can now sense stuff from vampires), her telepathic powers are basically useless and she now has to depend on her smarts to figure out who’s trying to frame Sophie for the dead vampires popping up all over the place. What I like about Sookie is that girlfriend knows her priorities. When she’s on a case, she’s not overanalyzing her romantic situation with Quinn or bemoaning the fact that Eric is sending her mucho mixed messages. Girlfriend is focused. I hope she keeps this whole “I’m just a poor little Southern girl” humility and practicality even when she becomes super-duper-powerful (and you know she will).

The Hero(es): It’s not so much a love triangle this time around, but there is heavy hinting of it. Eric is Mr. Cool Dude— he’s mysterious, aloof to the point of cruel, and yet… has the tendency to give our girl Sookie smoldering looks that drives me Sookie crazy. Eric is extra super hot in this book and I loved him. Not that Quinn is anything to sneeze at, either. I don’t know if he’s just growing on me (but not like mold, I hope) or if he’s just more fully developed as a character, but I really didn’t mind him in this book. He seems to genuinely care about Sookie, even though there’s something kind of… shadowy about him. Anyway, Harris seems to be intent on shoving Quinn in our faces ’cause everyone and her grandma is gushing to Sookie about how lucky she is to be dating Quinn and what a cool dude he is. Eww. Lemme judge that for myself, thanks. As for Bill… who? Seriously, Vampire Bill was such a non-entity in this book that I barely noticed him.

The Secondary Characters: Sookie’s former best friend Arlene is now all up on the vampire-hatred and has joined a cult dedicated to killing them off. Awwwkward! Jason, the former playboy, seems to be settling okay with his new life as a were-leopard, though there is potential drama there since Sookie is uncertain he will be faithful to his new bride. As for Sam… we don’t see him much in this book and for that I was thankful. It’s not that I don’t like Sam, but in the last few books, Harris has been hinting at a possible relationship between him and Sookie and frankly, there are way too many men in Sookie’s life right now. Oh, and we also meet again Barry Bellboy, Sookie’s fellow telepath. I like Sookie’s friendship with him, even though he seems to serve as a measuring stick (and outraged party) of the morally ambiguous choices that Sookie is forced to make in this book. He’s the “OMGWTF you can’t do that! I don’t even know you anymore” guy.

The Final Word: As much as I like reading about Sookie and her ever developing character arc (and love life!), I was a little “meh” about this book because there is so much crap going on with the vampires and stuff. Sookie is a very strong character and what I liked about the previous books is her powerful narrative voice: I could always count on it to shine through. In this book, however, even Sookie herself seems lost in the shuffle, which is odd, since it’s a first-person narrative! There seems to be a disconnect between Sookie herself and all the vampire stuff going on. She doesn’t seem… involved. I was thrilled about the Eric and Sookie stuff, but I really, really hope we’re not heading off into a Richard-Jean Claude-Anita territory, which is entirely too possible since Quinn is a shapeshifter. The ending was a little “Umm… that’s it? But what about—” but I was strangely exhausted by the time I finished this book, that I didn’t mind that it ended. I wouldn’t recommend it to newbies, that’s for sure. It’s a little too involved and a little too you-should-read-the-earlier-books for the uninitiated.

Love, Peace, and Snarkage,

If you’re interested, you may buy this book here.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 9:40 am and is filed under Books, Grade: B, Sci-Fi/Fantasy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.