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Book Review: Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (Series, #12) (Audiobook narrated by Johanna Parker)
Summary:
Sookie now has to deal with the fall-out of her, Eric, and Pam’s successful plot to kill Victor. And that means entertaining the vampire King of Louisiana. The very first party they host for the King ends with a dead half-shifter girl on the lawn. Meanwhile, Sookie finds out just why Eric has been seeming distant lately, and it might be too much for them to overcome. On top of all this, Sookie has to keep track of and protect the fairie present given to her grandmother, the cluviel dor.
Review:
The penultimate book in the Sookie Stackhouse series has a lot of big reveals, as one would expect. The big reveals at the heart of Sookie’s overarching story make sense and are well-played, although the central mystery of this entry feels a bit ho-hum.
The cluviel dor felt a bit like a deus ex machina from the instant the concept was introduced in book 11. To a certain extent, a powerful magical object that grants one wish will always feel like a deus ex machina, no matter how it is ultimately used. However, of the many options for the use of the wish, I think that how Sooie ultimately uses it is the least like a deus ex machina that it could be. The world is not torn asunder. The events of prior books aren’t canceled out. The instant in which she uses it makes sense, feels real, and is understandable. It reveals a plot point that may irritate some readers, particularly big fans of Eric, but it’s not a development that doesn’t fit in with the characters and world. Meaning that the cluviel dor is not used as a love spell or to undo the existence of vampires or some such nonsense. Those nervous about what would happen with it should rest easy and continue reading the series. You won’t have the rug pulled out from under you.
The central mystery feels kind of repetitive. There’s a dead body, and everyone must figure out what happened. Similarly, Sookie continues to refuse to learn anything from the multiple supernatural situations she has found herself in. She continues to make incredibly dumb mistakes that make it hard to root for her.
The depiction of the vampires, fairies, and werewolves continues on an ever more negative spiral. The good supes are few and far between, whereas humanity is depicted as something to strive for. For instance, having mercy on someone is seen as having humanity, as opposed to just having mercy. One of the things I liked at the beginning of the series was the ambiguity of the supes. Having Sookie feel increasingly negative toward them all is a bit sad.
That said, the book definitely moves the plot forward in a logical way. Many loose ends are addressed and answers given. Plus there is at least one big final question left for the last book in the series.
Overall, if you’ve stuck with the series this far, you should definitely keep reading. The penultimate book answers some question and continues to flesh out the version of Bon Temps in Harris’s mind.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Previous Books in Series:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead To The World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead And Gone
Dead in the Family
Dead Reckoning
Book Review: Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (Series, #11) (Audiobook narrated by Johanna Parker)
Summary:
When Merlotte’s is firebombed, no one is sure if it’s because the shifters just came out and folks are angry that Sam is one or if it’s a more personal vendetta. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Eric’s vampire boss, Victor, has just opened a new human bar that’s stealing business from Merlotte’s. Sookie knows it’s a direct jab against her, as Eric’s wife. And Victor isn’t just stealing business. He’s punishing Eric via Pam, preventing Pam from turning her dying lover. Eric, Pam, and Sookie all know that Victor has got to go, and with the plotting going on, Sookie can’t be bothered to think too much about the firebombing.
Review:
This time it took me less than a year to return to Sookie, instead of the three year break I took last time. I’ve read so much of the 13 book series; I just have to know how it ends. The Sookie Stackhouse series is utterly ridiculous. But it’s a comfortable kind of ridiculous that’s just right to ease into while you’re cooking dinner. That’s why, when I listened to a sample and realized how perfect the audiobook narrator is for the books, I decided to listen to the end of the series. The warmth and ease of Sookie Stackhouse is perfect for combating cabin fever. This entry in the series has a bit more happen than in book 10, although the resolution to the big mystery feels repetitive.
Most of the ideas and plots in this book will ring familiar to any reader of the series. There might be hate against a newly out group (the shifters this time), some vampire higher ups are causing problems and need to be dealt with, and Sookie is just shocked that someone wants her dead. How she continues to be shocked by everyone hating her or wanting her out of the picture is beyond me, but Sookie isn’t exactly smart. Because many of the plots feel like previously visited territory, in spite of the fact that they’re well-written and active, they’re a bit boring. Something truly new really needs to happen to Sookie. The one plot point that is new, of course, is her interactions with the fae that were left behind when Niall closed off fairy. That plot was very interesting, and I’m glad it’s in the book, as it kept my interest up.
There really isn’t very much sex at this point. I honestly felt like that was a mercy since listening to someone read the awkward sex scene out loud was almost too cringe-inducing to bear. We all know Harris’s sex scenes are a bit….awkward. There’s not much new to say about that except that there’s really only one, and that feels like a good thing. Although Sookie does mention rather frequently Eric’s prowess in bed.
Sookie continues to be a self-righteous hypocrite, but someone close to her finally (finally!) calls her out on it. It happens toward the end of the book, after a lot of build-up of Sookie continuing to think she’s better than everyone else and has more morals than the rest of the supe world. The call-out is written with a perfect amount of ambiguity in the narration, leaving it up to the reader to decide if they agree with Sookie that she’s just holding onto her human morals or with the one who calls her out that she’s committing the acts and refusing to admit this is who she is. I’m not sure what camp Harris falls into, but I appreciated the finesse with which she leaves it open-ended for the reader to form their own opinion of Sookie.
The audiobook narrator, Johanna Parker, does a wonderful job. She truly makes Sookie and Bon Temps her own. There is a clear delineation in my head when listening to her that this is the book Bon Temps, not the True Blood one. She and Anna Paquin (who plays Sookie on tv) each bring their own interpretation, and they are both good and well-suited to the book and tv series, respectively.
Overall, this entry in the series is a bit repetitive. Two of the three main plots are similar versions of things we have seen before. However, Sookie finally gets called out for her hypocrisy and self-righteousness, and the third plot is new enough to keep interest up. Fans of the series will be a bit disappointed but will still find it a moderately interesting, quick read.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Previous Books in Series:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead To The World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead And Gone
Dead in the Family
Series Review: The Georgina Kincaid Series by Richelle Mead
Introduction:
I post series reviews after completing reading an entire series of books. It gives me a chance to reflect on and analyze the series as a whole. These series reviews are designed to also be useful for people who: A) have read the series too and would like to read other thoughts on it or discuss it with others OR B) have not read the series yet but would like a full idea of what the series is like, including possible spoilers, prior to reading it themselves or buying it for another. Please be aware that series reviews necessarily contain some spoilers.
Summary:
Georgina Kincaid loves her job managing a bookstore in Seattle. She’s not so sure about her job as Seattle’s only succubus, but she doesn’t have much choice about that one since she sold her soul to Hell back when she was mortal in ancient Greece. After hundreds of years of being a succubus, Georgina has started to feel guilty about stealing the life energy of good-souled men. So she’s switched to stealing the less high-quality life energy of bad-souled men. Her demon boss, Jerome, is none too happy about this. Things take an even more interesting turn when famous author, Seth Mortensen, moves to Seattle and chooses Georgina’s bookstore as his base of operations. Georgina quickly finds herself falling for him. Her first time falling for a man since WWII. Nobody seems to like the idea of Georgina dating Seth, except for Seth, but Georgina doesn’t have much time to wonder why as supernatural life carries on. Everything from an incubus plot to attempts at overthrowing her demonic boss (by another demon of course) to an escaped ancient supernatural power who feeds on dreams come Georgina’s way. Georgina starts to notice that Seattle seems to be facing more than the normal level of supernatural upheaval, and she starts to wonder why.
Review:
A tightly told, sexy, humorous series featuring an overarching plot that ties into all of the smaller plots and lends the series as a whole a greater meaning makes this urban fantasy stand out above the rest.
The series ostensibly focuses on the bad guys of the supernatural world, not something that is seen very often in urban fantasy. Yes, Georgina is a succubus with a guilt complex, but she is still a succubus, and she still goes out and does her succubus thing. She is not out trying to save the world. She’s just trying to get by day by day in the role she has chosen for herself–fighting on the bad guy side of the battle. But Mead does not let the series fall easily into clear good versus evil. It soon becomes evident that good guys can be on the bad guy side and bad guys on the good guy side. In most cases, one decision or the fault of birth decides where they land. Just because someone is a vampire doesn’t mean he can’t desire to help out his friends. Just because someone is an angel doesn’t mean they can’t make mistakes. And the rules aren’t always fair and sometimes incomprehensible. This gray complexity lends a lot of interesting notes to the series that otherwise wouldn’t be there, not least of 
which is the fact that the characters are able to be three-dimensional in this world Mead has created.
The characters, even the minor ones, are indeed three-dimensional. They sometimes make stupid choices, big mistakes, and are annoying. But they also make tough good choices, ones that aren’t easy but still happen. They fall in genuine love. They accidentally hurt each other but also sacrifice themselves for each other. They worry about having a bad hair day. They cry. They have great sex and bad sex. And they come to life in the reader’s mind.
The sex scenes, a key element of an urban fantasy series about a succubus, are never repetitive. They are tantalizing and sexy, except for a few which are aiming to show that sex can be bad. They range from the intense love making of a couple madly in love to a fun night out having sex in public at a public sex bar. And many positions and types of sex are covered as well. The sex scenes walk the line between barely mentioned and extremely explicit quite well. They are fully fleshed-out sex scenes without being extremely explicit.
The overarching plot, though, is what really made me fall in love with the series. Georgina became a succubus in exchange for her husband and all those who knew her forgetting all about her. She cheated on her husband, and she felt so much guilt at both the act and the pain it caused that she felt this was the best solution. At first, she goes into being a succubus with enthusiasm but over time her feelings change. Her hurt starts to heal, and she begins to see the good side of both humanity and life. She is in the throes of this complex situation of wanting to be good but having already signed a contract for the bad side of the fight when Seth shows up and everything starts going haywire in the supernatural world in Seattle. Eventually, she finds out that Seth is the reincarnation of her original husband, Kiriakos. He lived his life thinking he must have a soul mate but never meeting her, so when he died he struck a bargain to get more chances at meeting her. He has a limited number of reincarnations (10, I believe), that will occur in the same vicinity as his soul mate. His soul mate is Georgina, and she has met him multiple times throughout her life as as a succubus. This reincarnation as Seth is his last chance. From here, the story takes a hard look at what makes people soul mates, that being soul mates doesn’t mean no mistakes will be made, that love 
and a relationship aren’t an easy cakewalk and sacrifices and compromises must be made. It delves into the idea of redemption, and that being a good person and having a good life aren’t just something innate in you. It’s a beautiful love story, spanning many centuries, that takes a hard look at what makes relationships work. It also ties in nicely with the questions established earlier about good versus evil and if being good or evil is a one-time choice or something that happens over time. I never would have guessed that I could end up feeling so positively about a love story that begins with betrayal but that’s where Mead uses the supernatural with great skill. The story works because the betrayal is treated so seriously. Georgina’s betrayal of her husband (and soul mate) leads them both to centuries of pain. It is not something that can be just brushed off. It’s a mistake she made, yes, but just because it was a mistake doesn’t mean she can just say sorry and make it all right. On that note, Kiriakos/Seth also made mistakes when they were first together that he also has to work through. They both learn through time that you can’t just sit back and let the marriage happen. You have to pay attention, invest, and work at growing together.
The fun setting, tantalizing sex scenes, three-dimensional characters, and unexpected yet beautiful overarching plot about the nature of good and evil and love and redemption makes this series a stunner in urban fantasy. Highly recommended to urban fantasy and romance fans alike, although those who are irritated at the concept of soul mates might not enjoy it as much.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap, library, gift, Audible
Books in Series:
Succubus Blues
Succubus On Top
Succubus Dreams
Succubus Heat
Succubus Shadows
Succubus Revealed
Book Review: Succubus Revealed by Richelle Mead (Series, #6) (Audiobook narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers)
Summary:
Seattle’s succubus, Georgina Kincaid, is incredibly happy to be back together with her previously ex boyfriend, Seth Mortensen. But getting back together with him came at the price of hurting his once-fiancee and having to leave her previously loved position managing the bookstore. It’s all worth it to be with Seth, though. But then a transfer notice comes in, sending her to her dream job in Las Vegas. It’d be a dream come true, except Seth can’t come with her because his sister-in-law has cancer. Georgina starts to wonder just why so many elements seem to keep coming together to try to drive her and Seth apart.
Review:
A breathtaking conclusion to the series that reveals not just Georgina’s entire life story but also that the series itself is more than originally meets the eye.
It was obvious in the prior book that a much larger overarching plot was going to be revealed in the final entry in the series. Mead reveals this plot through an artful combination of the characters investigating, flashbacks, and a court case. Normally, I’m not a fan of courtroom drama, but Mead pulls it off beautifully, really playing up the supernatural elements and keeping it moving along at a rapid pace. While I had pretty much already figured out what the big reveal would be, how it was revealed and how the characters reacted was unexpected and complex.
A running theme in the series has been that the characters are not perfect and life doesn’t hand out easy answers or resolutions. The resolutions to the various problems and questions in the plot and in Georgina’s life follow these guidelines as well. It is not a simple reveal that places perfection into Georgina’s life. She has to address her issues, how she has dealt with herself and other people, and she must face the supernatural community as well. It was refreshing to see characters in an urban fantasy have to work toward resolution instead of having it handed to them by virtue of just being lucky or having the right powers.
The romance is in full-swing in this book. Georgina is much more focused on her love life than on being on a succubus. Thus, most of the sex scenes we get are hot in an entirely romantic way. Once again, though, I was more focused on the quality of the plot and characters than on the quality of the sex scenes. The story of Georgina overpowered the juicy bits, and that’s a sign of a great urban fantasy.
The book brings to light the questions of good versus evil, love and what it takes to make a relationship work, soul mates, and the qualities of humanity. And it does it with humor, brightly written characters, sexy sex scenes, and creative settings. An ending to the series as satisfying as a rich dessert that will leave the reader wanting to re-read the series as soon as possible.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Previous Books in Series:
Succubus Blues
Succubus On Top
Succubus Dreams
Succubus Heat
Succubus Shadows
Book Review: Succubus Shadows by Richelle Mead (Series, #5) (Audiobook narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers)
Summary:
Seattle’s succubus, Georgina Kincaid, cannot believe she has been roped into helping plan her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. It’s enough to make anyone depressed. But she can’t afford to be depressed, because every time she starts to feel down, a mysterious force tries to lure her away to what must be a dangerous place. Georgina is fed up with all of these mysterious attacks on Seattle. It just doesn’t make sense. What is making them target Seattle? And seem to be maybe targeting her?
Review:
An excellent penultimate series book that both reveals more of the main character’s past and drives the plot forward.
At first it seems that this book is returning to familiar territory. Weird, dreamy things are happening to Georgina. She and Seth are broken up. Her demon boss is irritated at her. But then Georgina gets kidnapped and forced to relive her past and spy on the present in a dreamlike state, and everything changes. We learn tons more about Georgina’s long succubus life. We also see what happens when Georgina is the one who needs saving for once. It’s an unexpected plot change that plays perfectly in this penultimate book in the series.
In spite of Georgina being kidnapped, there are still plenty of sex scenes via reliving her succubus past. They are well-written and titillating but sex is really not the focus of the book. It says a lot for the plot and how much I came to care for the characters that I barely noticed the relative lack of exciting sex in this entry.
The characters continue to grow and change in a well-rounded, three-dimensional way. Mead handles the multiple characters adeptly and with soul. Similarly, the audiobook narrator continues to read Georgina perfectly.
This entry in the series moves the series firmly from urban fantasy about a sexy succubus to a romance spanning multiple centuries and a greater battle of good versus evil and humans versus the supernatural. It is stunningly satisfying and all-engrossing. I immediately reached for the final book in the series. Fans will not be disappointed.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Previous Books in Series:
Succubus Blues
Succubus On Top
Succubus Dreams
Succubus Heat
Book Review: Succubus Heat by Richelle Mead (Series, #4) (Audiobook narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers)
Summary:
Georgina Kincaid, Seattle’s best succubus, has been a foul mood ever since her break-up with author mortal, Seth Mortensen. Her demon boss, Jerome, has had enough of it and decides to outsource her to Vancouver for a job investigating a group of Canadian Satanists who are drawing the wrong type of attention to Hell. But when Jerome is kidnapped and all the Seattle area hellions lose their powers at the same time as the Satanists do a stunt in Seattle, Georgina starts to wonder if the Satanist group are more than just an annoyance. Maybe they’re part of some bigger plot. Oh, and also, she can now have sex with mortals without stealing any of their life force. Very interesting indeed.
Review:
A tight, intricate plot that links back to the previous books, steamy sex scenes, and an ever-expanding cast of diversely entertaining characters make this entry in the Georgina Kincaid series a delight.
Georgina’s whinyness after her break-up with Seth could get on the reader’s nerves if it wasn’t for the fact that her own friends and colleagues eventually call her out on it. Georgina is a well-rounded character with flaws, and being bad at break-ups is one of them. This book sees her go through the stages of a break-up in an interesting way, from rebounding to whining to anger to finally trying to come to terms with it and remain friends with Seth. The fact that Georgina then gets the ability to have sex with Seth without stealing his life force is a serious temptation. How she and Seth respond might rub some readers the wrong way, but Mead presents it in a very I understand how this could happen way. What happens makes sense within the context both of the story and of who Georgina and Seth are as characters. How they go on to deal with the consequences is also realistic. People don’t get away with things without consequences in Mead’s world, but they also aren’t perfect. Mead strikes the balance well.
The plot is complex and yet is a different problem from the previous books. Taking away powers and having the most powerful demon in Seattle gives the characters an interesting problem to address. Additionally, having Georgina travel to close-by Canada provides some great scenery changes, as well as some good laughs at the expense of the inept Satanist group.
The sex scenes range from brief one-offs with random men for feeding to unfulfilling sex with her bad-hearted rebound boyfriend to guilt-inducing passionate love-making with Seth. Some of the sex scenes are steamy, others a bit dull, and others heart-wrenching. It’s a realistic variety, although the reader does have to wait a while for the most passionate scenes.
One thing that bothered me a bit is that Georgina gets slut-shamed some for one of her brief hook-up choices. Yes, she makes the choice out of her heartbreak, but it’s her body her choice, and I don’t like that even a succubus, apparently, can get slut shamed. I also have to admit that I had figured out the final plot twist long before it happened, so although the plot is a bit complex, the big bad is predictable.
The overarching plot of the whole series, however, continues to grow in unexpected ways. I finished the book intrigued to continue on immediately to the next entry.
The audiobook narrator brings Georgina to life quite willingly, although she does pronounce a couple words, such as “panang,” rather oddly. However, she brings a perfect flow to the story. She also reads the sex scenes beautifully.
Overall, this is an engaging and rewarding entry in the series. Fans will welcome the new plot, variety of sex scenes, and growth of the overarching series plot.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Previous Books in Series:
Succubus Blues
Succubus On Top
Succubus Dreams
Counts For:
Book Review: Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig (Series, #2)
Summary:
Miriam hasn’t touched a person and seen a new death in months. She’s settled down in Jersey with Louis, and part of the deal is no touching. But her fingers are twitching for a vision, and quickly a regular afternoon turns into a horrifying one. Still. Louis suggests a way for her to use her gift for the good. Prove to a hypochondria that she isn’t dying. But this hypochondriac happens to work at a problem girls boarding school, and when Miriam touches one of the girls, all hell breaks loose.
Review:
I was so glad to jump back into Miriam’s gritty world that is so unique in urban fantasy, although at first I was surprised by how settled down she seemed to be. Thankfully, that quickly changes, and a disturbing, rollicking plot comes into play.
What makes this series is the characterization of Miriam. She is not a nice girl. And she’s not bad in some fake-ass way designed to appeal to a hormonal teenage boy. She doesn’t run around in tight leather pants proclaiming her badness while batting her eyes and tossing her hair. Miriam is dark and brutally honest. She has a delightfully foul mouth. She wears what she wants to wear whether or not people like it or it’s in fashion. She doesn’t care if she’s attractive. She can be bitingly mean. But she still works as a heroine because she truly has a good heart and is willing to inconvenience her entire life to help other people. Reading Miriam is deeply refreshing to me, as a woman reader. She’s allowed to be precisely who she is without any restraints of gender norms by the author. Here is just a sampling of Miriam’s voice in the book:
Home Again, Home Again, Fuckity-Fuck (location 259)
A tattoo is an expression of your inner self inked on your outer self. It’s some deeply spiritual shit. (location 2143)
The plot this time at first appears to be purely about who is killing young girls, but slowly it becomes apparent that we’re learning more about Fate or what I think of as the crazy birds that control Miriam’s life. It appears that Fate is displeased that Miriam fucked with it by saving Louis, and now it’s out to get her. Although this addresses some of the issues I had in the first book about how confusing Fate is and what exactly the rules for this universe are, I must admit, I still found a lot of the information revealed to be a bit fuzzy, albeit wonderfully creepy. The fantasy information was better than in the first book, but it was still a bit too at arm’s length. I don’t want to have to wait out the whole series to finally understand even one significant aspect of what is up with Miriam.
One plot issue to do with the murders bothered me. Spoiler ahead!
*spoilers* I have a very hard time believing that after being fooled once by the killer who can imitate other people’s voices like a mockingbird that Miriam would fall for it a second time. She’s smarter than that, and it felt like a very clunky plot device to me. *end spoilers*
That said, the mystery was dark, gritty, and nail-biting. A lot happened, and Miriam’s story definitely moved forward. There is a self-contained mystery within this book, but the overarching plot got more traction as well.
The writing continues to be a mix of beautiful and grotesque that would keep me coming back even if the characterization of Miriam wasn’t so strong. Wendig’s description powers are truly stellar.
Her mouth brimming with foulness the way a soup can bulges with botulism. (location 2460)
They invited her to move back home but she’s not going to do that, oh hell no, she’d much rather snap her tits in a bear-trap than go back to that hell. (location 1633)
She gets on her tippy-toes and kisses him. Long, slow, deep. The kind of kiss where you can feel little pieces of your soul trading places as mouths open and breath mingles. (location 3722)
How can you not read a book with writing like that?
Overall, fans of the first book in the Miriam Black series will not be disappointed by this entry. Everything that made the first book unique in the urban fantasy genre has returned with strength, particularly the writing style and the characterization of Miriam. The overarching plot moves forward at a pace fast enough to maintain interest, although not enough about the rules of the fantasy world is revealed. The self-contained plot is gritty, dark, and sufficiently mysterious, although one moment detracts from it a bit. Miriam and the writing more than make up for it, though. Wendig fans will not be disappointed.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Gift
Previous Books in Series:
Blackbirds
Book Review: Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris (Series, #10) (Bottom of TBR Pile Challenge)
Summary:
With the Fae war at an end, Sookie tries to return to some semblance of normal, working on both physical and emotional rehab. Although she has feelings for Eric, she is uncomfortable with his insistence that she is his wife, even if she technically is by vampire law. Plus, his maker and his new vampire-brother show up, putting a strain on the relationship. Meanwhile, the ramifications of the shifters coming out are beginning to be felt, and Sookie’s fae cousin, Claude, moves in with her, missing the presence of other fairies.
Review:
I just need to take a moment to point out two things. 1) The last time I read/reviewed a Sookie Stackhouse book was in October of 2010. This is why I started the Bottom of TBR Pile Challenge for myself. Books (even series books!) were getting lost in the pile! 2) Every time I look at that cover I think for a brief moment that Eric is bald. Something is just off in that painting. Now, on to the book.
Even though I read it almost three years ago (seriously, holy shit), I still clearly remember really enjoying the ninth book of the series. It was action-packed with lots of development of both plot and character. It reinvigorated the series for me so much so that even this much later, I was excited to pick up the next book. I should have known it would fizzle some after the action of the last book. It’s not easy to keep that much tension and action going, and it’s not like there weren’t any lulls earlier in the series. What I can mostly say about this book is that nothing much happens. Seriously. It’s longer than some of the books but less happens. I suppose technically things do happen. Eric’s maker shows up with a new vampire-brother for Eric, the hemophiliac Romanov brother, who is just not quite right in the head. This leads to some interesting development of Eric’s background, but not a ton. And it just isn’t all that intriguing. Similarly, even though logically it should be very interesting that Claude shows up at Sookie’s and the weres sniff out two fairies around, but it just isn’t. They sound interesting on the surface, but when you’re reading the book it mostly feels like you’re hanging out at Sookie’s house eating a cookie and wondering if the calories are worth it to listen to her yammer on.
I think the crux of the problem might be that neither Sookie nor Harris is comfortable with Sookie being with Eric, in spite of the reader liking Sookie being with Eric. If it’s not within the character for her to be with Eric, then a break-up needs to happen, regardless of what the readers like seeing. It’s important to keep characters acting within character. Interestingly, Sookie has started to notice that she is aging and thinking about what it will be like to slowly grow old and die. She seems to be seriously considering her vampire options. But we all know Sookie doesn’t want to be a vampire. Sookie wants children. If she gives that up to be a vampire, it will make the series take an incredibly dark turn. The next book will be an important one. It’s basically a shit or get off the pot moment for character development, and in spite of the ho hum nature of this entry in the series, I am interested to see if things pick up in the next book in this regard. They tend not to slump for long in Sookie Stackhouse-land.
There’s not too terribly much else to say about the book. Weaknesses that are there earlier in the series are still there. Sookie isn’t very smart and is kind of annoying. The sex scenes continue to be cringe-inducing. But the world is complex and fun to visit, even when not much is happening there. Sookie does need to start taking some agency soon though, or being stuck with her first person narration may become a bit too much to handle. Readers of the series will be disappointed by this dull entry, although it won’t come as a surprise since lulls happen earlier in the series. Enough happens to keep some interest up to keep going with it though.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Previous Books in Series:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead To The World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead And Gone
Book Review: Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead (Series, #3)
Summary:
Seattle’s succubus, Georgina Kincaid, has a lot on her hands between dating her human author boyfriend, Seth, (and not sleeping with him to protect his life energy), adjusting to her new managerial position at the bookstore, and her usual succubus requirement of stealing good men’s life energy by sleeping with them. So the last thing she needs is another new assignment from hell, but that’s what she’s getting. Seattle is getting a second succubus, a newbie she has to mentor. When she starts having dreams about having a normal, human life and waking up with her energy drained, it all turns into almost too much for one succubus to handle.
Review:
I don’t tend to expect urban fantasy series to improve as they go on, but I do hope they’ll at least maintain the quality I got in the first few books. Color me surprised then when I tackled the third book in the Georgina Kincaid series and discovered it actually got better. It got amazing in fact.
The premise of this series is already unique in urban fantasy. Our heroine is one of the “bad guys.” It of course is deeper than that. Mead presents the battle of good versus evil as far fuzzier and gray than many urban fantasy series do. I really enjoy those gray areas, and the moments where it’s easy to see and understand various viewpoints and sides. Because Georgina is a richly developed character and a conflicted succubus, she grows and changes over the course of the books, but her growth is not oversimplified to some direct trajectory out of being a succubus. If anything as Georgina comes to slowly, painfully understand the world around her and her own strengths and shortcomings, things become more convoluted and difficult for the reader to predict. This plot complexity in addition to getting the bad guy’s perspective is a large part of what keeps me coming back to the series, and it just is even better in this book. We learn more about what makes Georgina tick and see more glimpses of her past. It’s truly engaging.
Of course the other part that makes this series so addictive and readable is the super-hot and frequent sex scenes. Georgina is a succubus after all, and a girl’s gotta eat. Every scene manages to be erotic without being over-the-top, and they never become repetitive or boring. Some of them are simply sensual without any “official” sex happening. (Georgina has to give the man an orgasm for it to count). In this book alone we cover a performance at an exhibitionist club, a sensual foot massage, lap dances, bent over a desk as a school girl, and a standing session in a ritzy apartment in front of large windows (and I’m probably missing a couple that stood out to me less). And every single one of those has something going for it. In addition to the scenes there’s the added factor that, since Georgina is a succubus, she can shapeshift. Let’s just say, Mead uses this to the fullest of its potential.
The part of the plot that takes part only within this book, as opposed to the overarching series plot, is good. It brings in new elements of the underworld (and Heaven), without failing to revisit old ideas and characters. It is different enough from the previous plots to be engaging without being so different as to seem out of place in Georgina’s world.
This entry in the series is a hot read with an engaging plot. I could not put it down, and I was sorely tempted to run right out and buy the next book. Fans of the first two books will not be disappointed with the third and should continue on to it as soon as possible.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Gift
Previous Books in Series:
Succubus Blues
Succubus On Top
Counts For:
Book Review: Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig (Series, #1)
Summary:
Miriam Black is an early 20-something drifter with bleach blonde hair and a surprising ability to hold her own in a fight. She also knows when and precisely how you’re going to die. Only if you touch her skin-on-skin though. And it’s because of this skill that Miriam became a drifter. You try dealing with seeing that every time you touch someone. But when a kind trucker gives her a lift and in her vision of his death she hears him speak her name, her entire crazy life takes an even crazier turn.
Review:
This is one of those books that is very difficult to categorize. I want to call it urban fantasy, but it doesn’t have much supernatural about it, except for the ability to see deaths. The world isn’t swimming in vampires or werewolves of goblins. I also want to call it a thriller what with the whole try to stop the trucker from dying bit but it’s so much more than chills and whodunit (or in this case, who will do it). Its dark, gritty style reminds me of Palahniuk, so I suppose what might come the closest would be a Palahniuk-esque urban fantasy lite thriller. What I think sums it up best, though, is a quote from Miriam herself:
It starts with my mother….Boys get fucked up by their fathers, right? That’s why so many tales are really Daddy Issue stories at their core, because men run the world, and men get to tell their stories first. If women told most of the stories, though, then all the best stories would be about Mommy Problems. (location 1656)
So, yes, it is all of those things, but it’s also a Mommy Problems story, and that is just a really nice change of pace. Mommy Problems wrapped in violence and questioning of fate.
The tone of the entire book is spot on for the type of story it’s telling. Dark and raw with a definite dead-pan, tongue-in-cheek style sense of humor. For instance, each chapter has an actual title, and these give you a hint of what is to come within that chapter, yet you will still somehow manage to be surprised. The story is broken up by an interview with Miriam at some other point in time, and how this comes into play with the rest of the storyline is incredibly well-handled. It’s some of the best story structuring I’ve seen in a while, and it’s also a breath of fresh air.
Miriam is also delightful because she is unapologetically ribald and violent. This is so rare to find in heroines.
We’re not talking zombie sex; he didn’t come lurching out of the grave dirt to fill my living body with his undead baby batter. (location 2195)
As a female reader who loves this style, it was just delightful to read something featuring a character of this style who is also a woman. It’s hard to find them, and I like that Wendig went there.
While I enjoyed the plot structure, tone, and characters, the extreme focus on fate was a bit iffy to me. There were passages discussing fate that just fell flat for me. I’m also not sure of how I feel about the resolution. However, I’m also well aware that this is the beginning of a series, so perhaps it’s just that the overarching world rules are still a bit too unclear for me to really appreciate precisely what it is that Miriam is dealing with. This is definitely the first book in the series in that while some plot lines are resolved, the main one is not. If I’d had the second book to jump right into I would have. I certainly hope that the series ultimately addresses the fate question in a satisfactory way, but at this point it is still unclear if it will.
Overall, this is a dark, gritty tale that literally takes urban fantasy on a hitchhiking trip down the American highway. Readers who enjoy a ribald sense of humor and violence will quickly latch on to this new series. Particularly recommended to readers looking for strong, realistic female leads.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Netgalley
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Opinions of a Wolf 