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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
This is the first time I've ever thought a TV Show/Movie was better than the books! This book was a little better since the TV show hasn't been developed around it yet. The writing of these books is pretty horendous, but for some reason I'm still totally addicted. It's like it's so bad I can't stop :)
Book four, and the addition of the hackneyed ‘amnesia’ device and some blood drinking were-witches does nothing to help Harris’s lazy characters and poor plot development skills.
This series is so consistently and repetitively poor that it’s hard to know how to express my disgust. I’ve resorted to highlighting a few points of particular chagrin to me:
Most nonsensical point:
States Sookie. Fair enough. Crystal is odd. Sookie is judgemental. Why would it surprise Sookie that Crystal is from a nearby centre of oddness? Except that Sookie hasn’t yet met Crystal, and has no idea she’s a bit odd. All she knows about her is her name, and that she’s been seen with Jason. Either a continuity error or an indication that all Jason’s sexual conquests have mental health problems by default, due to some as-yet undiscussed predilection of his.
Most notable inconsistency:
So far in the series Vampires are the only “Supes” to have made their existence public knowledge. I know this to be the case because Harris restates it in full at least twice per book. So when Sookie goes to visit a fellow waitress who specifically stated she hardly knows Sookie, why do they immediately begin chatting about werewolves without even a vestige of tact or concealment? Not a very effective means of keeping the secrets of a group of potentially deadly monsters. Possibly it was ill-advised of so many “Supes” to have trusted the most air-headed idiot in the Western Hemisphere with the knowledge of their existence. Then again, they are all sexually obsessed with her, so I suppose it was inevitable. Not sure how the other waitress knows though. Perhaps werewolves are an open secret in the service industry?
Stupidest assumption:
That becoming a Wiccan entails immediately dying your hair “matte black and spiked.” having four piercings in each ear, becoming anorexic and having cheap jeans. I think Harris is thinking of goths. Unfortunately she has apparently never met any, and has to base her description of them on a “Freak to Chic” episode of Ricki Lake she vaguely remembers from a few years back. Either that or she’s just an idiot.
Worst Lines:
Most of the sex scene in Chapter 6, particularly:
Not appropriate in a sex scene. Or indeed ever.
No. No, no, no, no.
Easily discarded, suddenly lamented, immediately forgotten again. Not only hypocritical, but a bizarrely old-fashioned concept to raise in the first place.
There is summat seriously wrong with Harris if she considers this an acceptable sentence.
Finally the scene is topped-off with Sookie reassuring Eric about his penis size. An insecurity you would have thought he’d have been able to overcome in 1000+ years, but it appears not.
All-in-all, appalling.
Worst Compliment
From Eric. Whilst he has amnesia. Making Sookie’s effectively the only breasts he has ever seen, and his schoolboy flirting pretty poorly thought-through.
Least self-aware statement:
Strange, since Sookie has found herself in exactly this predicament at least three times per book so far in the series. Even if she has no knowledge of the world whatsoever, you would assume she could remember her own life experiences. Particularly since random bursts of pathetic and unrealistic lust are the only emotions Sookie experiences other than self-pity, cute annoyance, and deep pain when her hair or clothing is disarranged.
Greatest Display of Social Ignorance:
1. Religion
Nobody at all Sookie? Bearing in mind that you have met countless vampires including one who is a 1000+ year old Viking, werewolves, shape-shifters, several serial killer, a maenad and a goblin? All of whom you are absolutely sure are Christians? Even though at least one of them is specifically a follower of a pre-Christian god? Gods, you’re stupid.
To add to this, Sookie is the kind of selfish, canting Christian who can disapprove of sex outside marriage and/or with numerous partners whilst excusing herself because:
Fair enough Sookie. You are special and no one has ever suffered like you. On no account rethink your prescriptive moral beliefs when you find them to be unliveable. Just continue judging everyone else for not abiding by them whilst assigning yourself a convenient get-out clause.
2. Gender Politics
Sookie is the kind of modern, post-feminist woman who considers an offer from a middle-aged stranger to physically protect her in return for sexual favours and the right to own her as being pretty gentlemanly and “not something to get all snitty about”. After all, he didn’t use any bad language or innuendo when making the offer. How chivalrous of him.
3. International Politics and History
“bad should be overcome. That's the American model.”
Not just ignorant, but also massively offensive.
Stupidest conceptual opposition
versus
Two clearly defined and obviously contrasting groups if you have a low IQ and fail to grasp the concept of Political Correctness almost completely.
Least imaginative description:
Thanks Sookie. You really evoked the experience of seeing a hog shot. Smelly, like pig and blood. Brilliant.
Recurring elements of which I am bored:
In each Sookie Stackhouse book so much previous plot and so many old characters are re-described in terms almost identical to the last occasion(s) they were mentioned, that I can only assume that Harris’s main writing tool is the copy-paste shortcut. Some of the numerous examples include:
• Bubba. Just stop.
• Sookie continuously sexually harassed as a form of courtship.
• Weirdly-detailed description of the lay-out of Sookie’s house, and which parts she lives in to keep her utility bills low. Why does Harris feel the need to keep telling me this?
• Sookie pulling her hair back into a pony tail over and over again. Thanks Sookie, but I’m now more than aware of your favourite hairstyle. Plus it’s not adding a great deal to my enjoyment of the book.
• Sookie reiterating that she has had any number of sexual fantasies about Sam, or Alcide, or Eric, or whichever other man has just entered the room.
• Sookie describing in mind-numbing detail the clothes and hair of everyone she meets, plus the dullest items of furniture and architecture in any room she enters, no matter how many times she has already done so. With all this listing and obsession with detail, I’m beginning to wonder if Sookie is borderline autistic.
• Sookie stating that she is on a learning-curve. If that’s the case Sookie, then why in 4 books have you learnt nothing whatsoever? Other than new vocabulary from your oddly-appropriate word-of-the-day calendar, obviously.
• Sookie stating “I’m not educated, but I’m not dumb.” Yes you are Sookie. Spectacularly dumb. As well as being extremely defensive. Hence your constant insistence that you couldn’t get on at school purely because of your telepathy, even though working in a crowded bar gives you little or no trouble.
And finally, how can any writer be as unimaginative and stupid as to call the main Wiccan character Hallow?
I would like to think that these books can’t get any worse, but if this is the best Harris can manage four books in then I guess there’s not much hope of improvement.
This series is so consistently and repetitively poor that it’s hard to know how to express my disgust. I’ve resorted to highlighting a few points of particular chagrin to me:
Most nonsensical point:
“The Hotshot kids who attended the Bon Temps school always stuck together,and they were all a smidge . . . different.
It didn't surprise me at all that Crystal lived in Hotshot.”
States Sookie. Fair enough. Crystal is odd. Sookie is judgemental. Why would it surprise Sookie that Crystal is from a nearby centre of oddness? Except that Sookie hasn’t yet met Crystal, and has no idea she’s a bit odd. All she knows about her is her name, and that she’s been seen with Jason. Either a continuity error or an indication that all Jason’s sexual conquests have mental health problems by default, due to some as-yet undiscussed predilection of his.
Most notable inconsistency:
So far in the series Vampires are the only “Supes” to have made their existence public knowledge. I know this to be the case because Harris restates it in full at least twice per book. So when Sookie goes to visit a fellow waitress who specifically stated she hardly knows Sookie, why do they immediately begin chatting about werewolves without even a vestige of tact or concealment? Not a very effective means of keeping the secrets of a group of potentially deadly monsters. Possibly it was ill-advised of so many “Supes” to have trusted the most air-headed idiot in the Western Hemisphere with the knowledge of their existence. Then again, they are all sexually obsessed with her, so I suppose it was inevitable. Not sure how the other waitress knows though. Perhaps werewolves are an open secret in the service industry?
Stupidest assumption:
That becoming a Wiccan entails immediately dying your hair “matte black and spiked.” having four piercings in each ear, becoming anorexic and having cheap jeans. I think Harris is thinking of goths. Unfortunately she has apparently never met any, and has to base her description of them on a “Freak to Chic” episode of Ricki Lake she vaguely remembers from a few years back. Either that or she’s just an idiot.
Worst Lines:
Most of the sex scene in Chapter 6, particularly:
“Yikes. Yahoo. Yum”
Not appropriate in a sex scene. Or indeed ever.
“I kind of folded Mr. Happy up against Eric's stomach, so I could reach around him and get my fingers on that absolutely gorgeous butt.”
No. No, no, no, no.
“the truth was it hurt to remember my previous one-man status, now gone for good.”
Easily discarded, suddenly lamented, immediately forgotten again. Not only hypocritical, but a bizarrely old-fashioned concept to raise in the first place.
“my breasts, which were practically quivering like puppies who wanted to be petted.”
There is summat seriously wrong with Harris if she considers this an acceptable sentence.
Finally the scene is topped-off with Sookie reassuring Eric about his penis size. An insecurity you would have thought he’d have been able to overcome in 1000+ years, but it appears not.
All-in-all, appalling.
Worst Compliment
"You have the most beautiful breasts I've ever seen.”
From Eric. Whilst he has amnesia. Making Sookie’s effectively the only breasts he has ever seen, and his schoolboy flirting pretty poorly thought-through.
Least self-aware statement:
“I had never realized a woman could have to struggle to keep her hands off a man.”
Strange, since Sookie has found herself in exactly this predicament at least three times per book so far in the series. Even if she has no knowledge of the world whatsoever, you would assume she could remember her own life experiences. Particularly since random bursts of pathetic and unrealistic lust are the only emotions Sookie experiences other than self-pity, cute annoyance, and deep pain when her hair or clothing is disarranged.
Greatest Display of Social Ignorance:
1. Religion
“Oddly, my first feeling was one of embarrassment, when I heard Holly tell me that she was a non-Christian. I'd never met anyone who didn't at least pretend to be a Christian or who didn't give lip-service to the basic Christian precepts.”
Nobody at all Sookie? Bearing in mind that you have met countless vampires including one who is a 1000+ year old Viking, werewolves, shape-shifters, several serial killer, a maenad and a goblin? All of whom you are absolutely sure are Christians? Even though at least one of them is specifically a follower of a pre-Christian god? Gods, you’re stupid.
To add to this, Sookie is the kind of selfish, canting Christian who can disapprove of sex outside marriage and/or with numerous partners whilst excusing herself because:
“I figured God had made me with the disability of telepathy, and he could cut me a little slack on the sex thing”
Fair enough Sookie. You are special and no one has ever suffered like you. On no account rethink your prescriptive moral beliefs when you find them to be unliveable. Just continue judging everyone else for not abiding by them whilst assigning yourself a convenient get-out clause.
2. Gender Politics
Sookie is the kind of modern, post-feminist woman who considers an offer from a middle-aged stranger to physically protect her in return for sexual favours and the right to own her as being pretty gentlemanly and “not something to get all snitty about”. After all, he didn’t use any bad language or innuendo when making the offer. How chivalrous of him.
3. International Politics and History
“bad should be overcome. That's the American model.”
Not just ignorant, but also massively offensive.
Stupidest conceptual opposition
“Any red-blooded male who'd ever gone hunting,”
versus
“any P.C. guy who photographed nature”
Two clearly defined and obviously contrasting groups if you have a low IQ and fail to grasp the concept of Political Correctness almost completely.
Least imaginative description:
“the sow collapsed and died. She reeked of pig and blood.”
Thanks Sookie. You really evoked the experience of seeing a hog shot. Smelly, like pig and blood. Brilliant.
Recurring elements of which I am bored:
In each Sookie Stackhouse book so much previous plot and so many old characters are re-described in terms almost identical to the last occasion(s) they were mentioned, that I can only assume that Harris’s main writing tool is the copy-paste shortcut. Some of the numerous examples include:
• Bubba. Just stop.
• Sookie continuously sexually harassed as a form of courtship.
• Weirdly-detailed description of the lay-out of Sookie’s house, and which parts she lives in to keep her utility bills low. Why does Harris feel the need to keep telling me this?
• Sookie pulling her hair back into a pony tail over and over again. Thanks Sookie, but I’m now more than aware of your favourite hairstyle. Plus it’s not adding a great deal to my enjoyment of the book.
• Sookie reiterating that she has had any number of sexual fantasies about Sam, or Alcide, or Eric, or whichever other man has just entered the room.
• Sookie describing in mind-numbing detail the clothes and hair of everyone she meets, plus the dullest items of furniture and architecture in any room she enters, no matter how many times she has already done so. With all this listing and obsession with detail, I’m beginning to wonder if Sookie is borderline autistic.
• Sookie stating that she is on a learning-curve. If that’s the case Sookie, then why in 4 books have you learnt nothing whatsoever? Other than new vocabulary from your oddly-appropriate word-of-the-day calendar, obviously.
• Sookie stating “I’m not educated, but I’m not dumb.” Yes you are Sookie. Spectacularly dumb. As well as being extremely defensive. Hence your constant insistence that you couldn’t get on at school purely because of your telepathy, even though working in a crowded bar gives you little or no trouble.
And finally, how can any writer be as unimaginative and stupid as to call the main Wiccan character Hallow?
I would like to think that these books can’t get any worse, but if this is the best Harris can manage four books in then I guess there’s not much hope of improvement.
Another quick, entertaining read. I do wish she had developed the relationship with Eric a bit more.
Same as the rest of this series. It's bad, but it's good. I skimmed through the last bit cuz I knew how it ended and kind of just wanna get on with the next book cuz it's taken me over 2 years to finish this one...
Again another lovely Sooky Stackhouse novel. It was just as exciting and cozy as the other books in the series. And the new Eric was such a fun twist. I was surprised, however, by Bill's absence - both from the plot and from Sooky's mind. It'll be fun reading the next book and learning what will happen to the two...
Sookie decides to revaluate her life choices and decides she doesn't want to be involved with vampires anymore since it always results in her being hurt. That is, until she sees Eric running naked down with no clue of who he is or what happened for him to end up like that.
This is my favourite from the series and I guess that is set in stone since it started going downhill shortly after. Eric is the best character and gets totally developed in this book, while Sookie falls a bit into a whiney character. However, she always does what's right and that's what it is all about.There is a lot of humour here and that's probably why I like this one so much.
This is my favourite from the series and I guess that is set in stone since it started going downhill shortly after. Eric is the best character and gets totally developed in this book, while Sookie falls a bit into a whiney character. However, she always does what's right and that's what it is all about.There is a lot of humour here and that's probably why I like this one so much.
Or "The Further Sexual Exploits of Sookie Stackhouse." It seems like each book is just an excuse for Sookie to find a new man to lust after. Not that I mind really, it's just a bit funny to me. I liked this one because they mentioned Buffy! And also, it was an interesting twist on things. One thing I wish was explained slightly better is why Sookie is so seemingly irresistible to every sort of supernatural creature that exists. But I don't really care too much. I'll still keep reading them. They're fun.
Tre stelle solo perché finalmente non c'è Bill.
Certo, potessimo liberarci anche di Mary Sooki sarebbe meglio.
Certo, potessimo liberarci anche di Mary Sooki sarebbe meglio.