Dead and Gone

 

Level: Explicit Lite

Genre: Fantasy/Horror > Vampires/Urban Fantasy

Obtained: Borrowed from library

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

About the Book:

We follow Sookie on another adventure of this ninth installment of Charlaine Harris' best selling series.   The vampires may have been "out of the coffin" for quite some time now, but now there is another supernatural group following in their footsteps: the Weres and other shifters. However, it's not after their revelation that a murder rears its ugly head. Crystal, a werepanther in a nearby community, is found outside Merlotte's crucified. Is it just coincidence that it is after the shifters' coming out or is Crystal's death part of a hate crime? Meanwhile, a war has started within the fairy world, and Sookie is dragged into the middle of it. Her great-grandfather's brother plans on killing those with human and fairy blood in them and eventually sealing off the world of Fairy from the human world for good.

Rating: 6/10

 Oh, what to say? Honestly, this is pretty much the same as the other Sookie books. It flows well, and it's a fun and easy read. The murder of Crystal was quite interesting and had me wondering who her murder(s) was/were. Most of this book seemed to be dedicated to the fairies though, and although I don't dislike them like quite a few others, I can't say they are exceedingly scary, especially compared to some of the myths. However, I do think Harris' fairies work for the tone of the Sookie books.

The thing that bothered me most with this book is when you find out some added information about Sookie's parents' deaths. For one, you can see it from a mile away, but the main thing I hated was how the information was given to us. There is apart where Sookie is captured by these two fairies, and they just start talking about it. With the way they say it, it just seems forced and out of place. 

The one thing I liked most about the fairy war was the introduction of a new villain: Sookie's grandfather's twin brother. He is a half human, half fairy who looks pretty much exactly like Sookie's brother, Jason. This could lead to some sneaky schemes in the future. Although we don't really get to see him too much in this book, he has the potential to be an interesting character. 

As to those who are interested in the romance department, it still exists. Eric is still her main squeeze, but, of course, someone else is introduced back in. Bill, in fact, so there is tension involving Bill once again, but so far it's not much. Honestly, it seems as if Harris does plan on having some sort of love triangle going again. I'm indifferent on the subject. I do like some tension is my romance, but how many love triangles of sorts have been in this book now?

So basically, it's the same general review of mine for this Sookie book as well. The plot is still decent, I don't want to kill most of the characters, and I am happy to say that there is romance but it doesn't take over the entire book.

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Hit List

 

Level: Explicit

Genre: Fantasy/Horror > Vampires/Urban Fantasy

Obtained: Borrowed from a friend

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

About the Book:

The 20th installation of the Anita Blake series has Anita on another out of town adventure. The Harlequin, a secret vampire police/assassin force, are murdering clanless tigers so Anita and other federal marshals are trying to put a stop to the killer. However, Edward and Anita quickly figure out that the Harlequin are only killing these tigers so that Anita is away from her power base in St. Louis. With Anita weaker, the Harlequin hope to capture her so that Mommy Dearest, the mother of all vampires and the night made alive, can possess Anita's body and live within her.

Rating: 3/10

I have to admit, as far as the later Anita books go, this one wasn't too bad. However, that is not saying much. First off, we are still stuck with are protagonist whining about how everyone thinks she is a skank and whatnot, but that is not likely to change any time soon, is it? Well, I guess we will start out with a few pros and cons. One pro is that there is less sex. Yes, there is only ONE sex scene in this entire Anita Blake book. Although that is amazing in itself, do not get too excited. Even though there is less sex, Hamilton still has not blessed us with more plot in its place. So what do we get instead of endless descriptions of mind dulling and repetitious sex? Dialogue. And not even good dialogue. I would say that, at least, 75% of this book is dialogue of "As you know, Bob" variety. First off, no one likes reading that crap. Plus, the characters in these dialogues already (or should know) what is being talked about so not only are we being fed boring drivel, but Hamilton has made her characters thick and/or forgetful. Or perhaps they just like having the same conversations over and over again. Also, most of the information that we are getting from these lines of dialogue is stuff we have known about from the early books. Now, I can see a little bit here and there from the last couple books, but there is a key phrase there: a little bit! We do not need an entire chapter of Edward and Anita telling us who and what the Harlequin are. A paragraph at most would do. Now, Hamilton does have a reason for giving us information from way back in books 1-4. According to her blog, she is trying to make sure new comers aren't confused. Uh... this is book twenty! If they are stupid enough to start that late in the series, it's their own fault. Don't make us suffer for their inability to read the series in the right order. Anyway, back to the review...

Another pro that we come across is Edward is back. Who couldn't love Edward as a character? He's a cold, mysterious assassin that hunts the deadliest of monsters and has not been sucked into Anita's doom crotch yet. Although Edward and Anita have not yet had kinky and extremely loud sex, but Edward is becoming worse and worse each book he is in since The Harlequin. He is constantly chiding over Anita, and honestly the old Edward would have killed the new Anita by now. Speaking of once cool characters, Olaf makes another appearance as well. I do like that he seems to be going back into his serial killer ways more, but I am sick of him. I do not see why he was in the book except that Hamilton could put him in it. Honestly, I think she just keeps spewing out books with Edward and Olaf because she knows people are more likely to buy those books.

The other pro/con I have is involves the Mother of all Darkness. The good news is that this exceedingly drawn out plot line finally comes to a close. The bad news is that it is summed up in about eight pages or less. Actually, it's worse than that, but that involves

Anita actually destroys the MoaD with love. I kid you not. While Anita is sucking the big bad vampire down, she is able to keep her in check because Marmee Noir never knew what it was like to be loved. And these are supposed to be dark and gritty books. They are so dark that no characters ever die except peons, and enemies are killed with freaking love! Argh!

END SPOILERS

Now, I will admit I did enjoy the scene where Edward and Anita are being chased by the Harlequin. Our heroes are in a car as the villains keep blocking them in, and Edward actually uses a tank gun. However, as far as cool bits, that's pretty much it. Meanwhile, Hamilton is still messing up the English language with her atrocious grammar, and she brings out more inconsistencies in her series. We are also forced to read pages upon pages of physical descriptions. Now, I like details like this, and even I think it is overboard. I swear we learn that Edward has blue eyes twenty times in the first chapter alone.

So all in all, this is a better than Hamilton's recent stuff, but still not good. There is more plot than Bullet and a lot less sex, but instead Hamilton decides to bore us to death with endless character descriptions, pointless dialogue, and chunky writing. The ending was rushed, as usual, and every character seems to be a moron while Anita wangsts. So basically, you have the same stuff she has written recently. All you have to do is exchange some of the sex for more boring dialogue. 

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From Dead to Worse

 

Level: Explicit Lite

Genre: Fantasy/Horror > Vampires/Urban Fantasy

Obtained: Borrowed from library

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

About the Book:

Sookie returns in the eight novel of this series. Things are amok in the supernatural world. First off, there seems to be a major feud going on in the local Were pack, causing women and children to be murdered, and Sookie also ends up becoming a target. To add onto that, the vampires receive visitors that are trying to take over the weakened regime, and that's not all. Quinn, Sookie's boyfriend, has also been missing since the explosion in Rhodes

Rating: 6/10

 Harris seems to have gone back to her general outline: two main plots, a few subplots, and a romance. Now, although there is romance in this book, it was lessened. This could be mainly due to the fact that Quinn is barely in the novel at all, but there is some Eric chemistry in there. Actually, I was expecting much more of the Quinn plot (since that's what's on the official blurb), but he isn't even mentioned for one fourth of the book. Now, I am not a Quinn fan so I was happy I didn't have to listen to a series of babes throughout the book, but it really bugs me when the blurb doesn't match the main plot of the book. 

I have to say the plots flowed well into one another, and they kept me quite interested. The problem I had with them is the two main plots only took up about half the book. The rest was little subplots I didn't care that much about (such as Sookie's family and Jason and Crystal's marriage). Speaking of Jason and Crystal, I find myself confused about the whole werepanther marriage bit. At first, I thought the the outside person would punish the person in the marriage that did wrong (such as Calvin would punish Crystal if she was unfaithful), but it turns out Sookie would punish Crystal if it happened and Calvin can take her place, or maybe Calvin automatically becomes the whipping boy. I honestly have no idea, and I really wish Harris would explain it better.

I was also a little disappointed by another subplot. Early on in the book, Sookie sees this aged yet beautiful man that the vampires act a little strangely toward. It turns out he is her great-grandfather and a fairy prince. I was like "That's it? Really?" but it turns out that he has powers that are pretty unheard of in fairies, such as being able to hide his scent from vampires so maybe there will something really cool there in a future book, but then I remember Quinn's backstory. I hope it's not a let down like that.

So, all in all, in was a nice and relaxing read, even if I wish there was less subplot (or at least more spread out). I, personally, wouldn't recommend this series to lots of people, but I wouldn't discourage anyone either. 

It's fun. It's not the best I have ever read, but it's still a good read.

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All Together Dead

 

Level: Explicit Lite

Genre: Fantasy/Horror > Vampires/Urban Fantasy

Obtained: Purchased at Borders

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

About the Book:

 Sookie is back in the seventh novel from the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series. This book holds a multitude of murder and vampire politics. Sophie-Anne, the queen of Louisana, has hired Sookie to "listen" to others at the upcoming vampire summit. Once there, a series of misfortunes occur, including vampire murders and bombs. Meanwhile, Sophie-Anne is also to be put on trial for the death of her husband, the king of Arkansas.

Rating: 7/10

The books keep getting better in this series (not including Definitely Dead) though I will not say they are spectacular yet. Harris has placed the action well. It's spaced out enough that you get relief from it, but it's not so far that you start to get bored. Also, it seems much more connected than some of her other books. Although the initial murders are incredibly easy to figure out who did it, you wonder which of the other murders are connected to what.

There is a subplot involving Quinn again, which left me disappointed. It seemed like such a let down from all the build up that Harris injected into her writing. I am glad I didn't have to read about Quinn during most of the book though. He still seems too perfect to me, and Sookie seems to be moving much too quickly with him. A new subplot is brought in involving Eric, and I must admit I am curious as to where that is going to lead.

The main thing I disliked about this book was the high character count. There seemed to be too many to keep track of, and half of those we barely met in the last book so half the time I was wondering who so and so was. Meanwhile, we are introduced to even more characters. Hopefully, they will be one time, or at least hardly mentioned, type characters.

Overall, I thought it was an excellent book, even if the characters were hard to keep track of. Hopefully, Harris will keep to a smaller cast for most of her books.

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These Hellish Happenings

 

Level: Explicit Lite

Genre: Fantasy> Vampires > Comedy

Obtained: Purchased on Amazon

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

About the Book:

In 1707, Jack Bently made a pact with the devil so that he could survive a vampire hunt. Three hundred years later, the devil has come to collect his due. So what is in store for Mr. Bently in Hell? An eternity of  working at the Registration Office of the Damned. Now, not only does Jack have to deal with such tedious repetition for an eternity,  but there is also a discrimination against supernatural types in Hell (such as werewolves and vampires). So Jack tries to survive Hell as best as he can which causes him to obtain some demonic allies and to become wrapped up in office politics of the Hellish variety. 

Rating: 6/10

I picked up this book, because it seemed like it would be a witty and original tale. Although I did not think it was the best book ever written, it was quite an original piece. It was nice to see vampires that weren't all about sex and Hell wasn't just fire and brimstone. The main reason I didn't give this book more stars was mostly because of the characters. I could not stand most of them, to be honest. I found them to be flat and a bit too generic. Jack especially grated me. I could not believe that he was a centuries old vampire from the way he acted. He just reminded me of some "punk" teenager such as listening to punk music (which is the only good music, according to Jack) and trying to get drunk all the time. Now, I could see why he may put up that type of character for humans, but he acts the same way among other vampires. I also could see him liking some more modern music, but not a single ounce of his habits, customs, or personality hinted at his original era. Also, any of the wit that comes from the characters (mostly Alex and Jack) is idiotic, and the villain is just as stupid. Then, the villain is evil, because he just happens to want to stay on top of the work chain. The author had to make him pathetic, of course, by making him greasy and cheesy and no one likes him. It just seems like the author tried too hard to make you dislike him. However, for what seems to be a first published work, it could have been much much worse. 

The other thing I strongly disliked is that Jack got off too easily. Seriously, he ends up in Hell, and he ends up not having to live in the Employment Housing, the shift he works is just like every day life: you get to go home and get weekends off, Jack gets a really rare job for vampires, and then Satan himself ends up going easy on Jack. Even though we are supposed to feel that his life is horrible, Jack has so gotten the large slice of the pie.

I have to admit I did not see the main relationship coming (mainly because Jack was poorly written), and it was sweet and pretty, and the reading was quick paced and made the book fairly enjoyable. All in all, it was a good plot and with some better editing and more defined characters, it could have really been something. This author definitely has some potential. 

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Stardust

 

Level: Adult

Genre: Fantasy

Obtained: Purchased at Borders

Reviewed by: Nic Echo

About the Book:

In England, there is a small town known as Wall, named because of the wall that separates it from a meadow, which is really part of the world of Faerie. Here a young lad by the name of Tristran Thorn is looking to win the heart of a beautiful girl by the name Victoria Forester. One night the two of them glimpse a falling star, and Victoria promises Tristran whatever he wants if he retrieves the star for her. So he crosses the wall and enters the world of Faerie, but when he does find the star, it is not what he is expecting. When stars fall in Faerie, they turn into girls. So Tristran and Yvaine, the star, end up in a series of troubles and adventures, involving witches, unicorns, and a series of brothers trying to kill each other for the throne.

Rating:8/10

Although I had heard and read some of Gaiman's stuff before seeing the Stardust film, I did read the book after. I did find the book fantastical, but I have to admit I found the movie more to my liking. Both follow the same storyline for the most part with only two major deviances: the end and the air ship. The movie also had a lot more humour in it, which just seemed to work wonders for Stardust. Book wise though, the writing flowed nicely, and although it was an easy and light read, it was interesting. The plot followed a fairly general fantasy adventure type, but the plot was unique. Even if you had seen the movie, you could still enjoy the book. Something you can't say about others. It is not my favourite of Gaiman's works, but it is still wonderful. Stardust is neither a waste of time or money.

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