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kay919's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
beckmstar's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.25
Didn't hit as well as the first. Plot dragged, pacing was off. Felt no chemistry with her and Bill. Found myself missing her and her grandmother/brother dynamic from the first book
agirlandherlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
My Youtube review of the Sookie Stackhouse Series of books can be found here:
https://youtu.be/ewjW6UdKLQU
https://youtu.be/ewjW6UdKLQU
brandys_reading_count's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
4.0
Characters: Sookie Stackhouse, Bill Compton, Eric Northman
Sookie discovers the dead body of Lafayette (a man who has cooked at the bar a time or two) in Andy Bellefleur’s car.
Andy was drunk the night before and his sister came to pick him up.
Sookie gets attacked by a creature in the woods where its claws have poison, to the point where it will paralyze the victim. Bill takes her to Eric and he gets a doctor to help Sookie. Eric asks Sookie to go to Dallas and look for Godric, who is Eric’s maker.
The differences between the book and the TV show:
1. Lafayette played a bigger role in the TV series, where in the beginning of this book (book two) his character is killed.
2. Tara is black in the TV series, where in the book Tara is Caucasian and owns a business, also Tara never grew up with Sookie in the books, and she was seeing Benedict (eggs).
3. Bill Compton doesn’t own a strip mall in the TV series, also he doesn’t turn Jessica into a vampire in the book series.
4. In the season two series her brother Jason gets involved with the fellowship, where in the book Sookie goes undercover and Jason has nothing to do with it.
5. Season two in the series had a whole plot line of a woman (Maryann Forrester) who is a maenad, where in the book there was a small plot line with Sookie getting scratched by a maenad named Callisto where Sookie needed to be helped by Eric and his doctor.
Sookie discovers the dead body of Lafayette (a man who has cooked at the bar a time or two) in Andy Bellefleur’s car.
Andy was drunk the night before and his sister came to pick him up.
Sookie gets attacked by a creature in the woods where its claws have poison, to the point where it will paralyze the victim. Bill takes her to Eric and he gets a doctor to help Sookie. Eric asks Sookie to go to Dallas and look for Godric, who is Eric’s maker.
The differences between the book and the TV show:
1. Lafayette played a bigger role in the TV series, where in the beginning of this book (book two) his character is killed.
2. Tara is black in the TV series, where in the book Tara is Caucasian and owns a business, also Tara never grew up with Sookie in the books, and she was seeing Benedict (eggs).
3. Bill Compton doesn’t own a strip mall in the TV series, also he doesn’t turn Jessica into a vampire in the book series.
4. In the season two series her brother Jason gets involved with the fellowship, where in the book Sookie goes undercover and Jason has nothing to do with it.
5. Season two in the series had a whole plot line of a woman (Maryann Forrester) who is a maenad, where in the book there was a small plot line with Sookie getting scratched by a maenad named Callisto where Sookie needed to be helped by Eric and his doctor.
adl2990's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
joanna1905's review against another edition
2.0
TW. This book contains references to homophobia, dubious sexual consent, rape and features an attempted rape.
So I will preface this review by saying that I did enjoy this book, and it was marginally better than book one; however, I struggle to understand how eight or nine years ago I genuinely loved this series (though I'll chalk it up to being 12 years old and obsessed with vampires).
The story and the narration style was better than in book one, however, It still felt vaguely sophomoric despite Sookie being an adult.
One of the main things I noticed is the fact that Sookie and Bill have literally no chemistry with one another, and In fact, Sookie even mentions that she's not sure she actually loves Bill (which I guess is fine but she tells him she loves him more than once so?). I get the distinct impression that the only reason Sookie is even dating Bill is that she can't hear his thoughts (making him one of few limited options) and the fact that she wanted a boyfriend.
She would be so much better suited with Eric, who she frequently banters with and has way more chemistry with or even Sam (who has feelings for her) and who she had admitted being attracted too and having sexual fantasies of. On top of this she can’t (really) hear either of their minds either - so they meet her only criteria for a boyfriend.
On multiple occasions, Sookie even kisses other men (JB, Sam, and Eric) and not only does she admit to enjoying kissing them she gets pretty miffed when Sam stops paying much attention to her now that he has his own lover. If she's so willing to go around kissing other guys while in a relationship (without feeling the smallest shred of remorse) then it's pretty clear that her relationship with Bill isn't that strong (which considering Bills motives that are revealed in future books I guess its fine - but at this point Sookie fully believes and trusts Bills desire to be with her).
And finally the problematic elements - namely homophobia - Jason (surprise, surprise the prince charming who hits his sister and thinks victims should just 'get over' being sexually assaulted a child). Jason freely admits that he's homophobic and dismisses it as a causal character flaw (as I might dismiss my tendency to overanalyze) and Sookie only seems vaguely miffed about this before saying that she basically didn't care since he was her only family.
There is also one sex scene between Bill and Sookie that has some pretty dubious consent issues - when she tells him she is too sore to have sex again she proceeds to do so anyway (which she does enjoy) HOWEVER, that doesn't excuse the fact that she said no, and he ignored her.
It really disappoints and frustrates me the way Harris treats these super serious issues, with such casual flippancy as if people aren't murdered for being gay every day as if victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault don't live in fear and shame every day of their lives. There's nothing wrong with including these issues in a book, but if you don't care enough to do right by these issues and victims then pick another plot point.
Like I said, I did enjoy this book - it's a nice quick read set in an interesting universe. However, it is by no means a glowing example of urban fantasy/paranormal fantasy/romance.
So I will preface this review by saying that I did enjoy this book, and it was marginally better than book one; however, I struggle to understand how eight or nine years ago I genuinely loved this series (though I'll chalk it up to being 12 years old and obsessed with vampires).
The story and the narration style was better than in book one, however, It still felt vaguely sophomoric despite Sookie being an adult.
One of the main things I noticed is the fact that Sookie and Bill have literally no chemistry with one another, and In fact, Sookie even mentions that she's not sure she actually loves Bill (which I guess is fine but she tells him she loves him more than once so?). I get the distinct impression that the only reason Sookie is even dating Bill is that she can't hear his thoughts (making him one of few limited options) and the fact that she wanted a boyfriend.
She would be so much better suited with Eric, who she frequently banters with and has way more chemistry with or even Sam (who has feelings for her) and who she had admitted being attracted too and having sexual fantasies of. On top of this she can’t (really) hear either of their minds either - so they meet her only criteria for a boyfriend.
On multiple occasions, Sookie even kisses other men (JB, Sam, and Eric) and not only does she admit to enjoying kissing them she gets pretty miffed when Sam stops paying much attention to her now that he has his own lover. If she's so willing to go around kissing other guys while in a relationship (without feeling the smallest shred of remorse) then it's pretty clear that her relationship with Bill isn't that strong (which considering Bills motives that are revealed in future books I guess its fine - but at this point Sookie fully believes and trusts Bills desire to be with her).
And finally the problematic elements - namely homophobia - Jason (surprise, surprise the prince charming who hits his sister and thinks victims should just 'get over' being sexually assaulted a child). Jason freely admits that he's homophobic and dismisses it as a causal character flaw (as I might dismiss my tendency to overanalyze) and Sookie only seems vaguely miffed about this before saying that she basically didn't care since he was her only family.
There is also one sex scene between Bill and Sookie that has some pretty dubious consent issues - when she tells him she is too sore to have sex again she proceeds to do so anyway (which she does enjoy) HOWEVER, that doesn't excuse the fact that she said no, and he ignored her.
It really disappoints and frustrates me the way Harris treats these super serious issues, with such casual flippancy as if people aren't murdered for being gay every day as if victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault don't live in fear and shame every day of their lives. There's nothing wrong with including these issues in a book, but if you don't care enough to do right by these issues and victims then pick another plot point.
Like I said, I did enjoy this book - it's a nice quick read set in an interesting universe. However, it is by no means a glowing example of urban fantasy/paranormal fantasy/romance.
gobqueen's review against another edition
5.0
I love the whole series, again Need the original covers.
magikspells's review against another edition
3.0
I'm surprised they changed they did a setting already, normally books don't do that until way later in the series. We'll see how it goes from here.