Rating: Summary: Elvis the Vampire??? Review: Elvis the Vampire???This is the third volume in Charlaine Harris's series about Sookie, a rural Southern telepath and her vampire boyfriend Bill. At the start of this series Harris started out by breaking several vampire story taboos. For one thing, Sookie is just-plain-folks, who happens to have an inconvenient talent and an odd boyfriend. In Harris' alternate reality the invention of artificial blood has enables vampires to come out of the coffin. In the U.S. especially, they are trying to enter mainstream society - with mixed success. Sookie's wry, humorous story-telling shows us what happens to someone who has one foot in both the human and the supernatural world. Vampires and werewolves traipse thought this story with all the grace of a road crew - frequently leaving Sookie upset, angry, and just a little bit trashed. Not all vampires are willing to give up their old ways, and the conflicts this creates are the meat of Harris' stories. This time, Bill has disappeared while working on a vampire data base for the Queen of Louisiana. She discovers that Bill left to start up an affair with an old vampire lover, who then sold him out to a competing vampire clan. Sookie sets out to rescue Bill with the aid of Alcide - a werewolve in the construction business. The interplay between Sookie's anger at Bill and her attraction to Alcide (and Eric, yet another vampire) make this a romantically complicated story. While there is plenty of action, it clearly takes second place to the emotional content, and suffers from a bit of discontinuity as a result. While the story is quite enjoyable, it is a far cry from standard vampire fare. In addition, the complex relationship between a human, a werewolf, and a vampire - with the required graphic bits - echoes Laurell Hamilton's plots a bit too much. Although no one would mistake Hamilton's writing style for Harris'. They are differnet, but there are moments when I think that someone may be trying to convince Harris to to make Sookie Stackhaouse a bit too much like Anita Blake. I hope not - Club Dead is a delightful confection. It provides some needed light entertainment in the usually dark morass of vampire fiction.
Rating: Summary: Fun and Exciting Review: As usual, Harris has delivered an imaginative and funny book about vampires, werewolves, and everyday normal folks like Sookie Stackhouse. Well, she's almost normal. Except for being able to read minds. Harris has littered this book with really scrumptious men (or whatever) who want Sookie. Which is a good thing, because her boyfriend, Bill the Vampire, has dumped her. Of course, he never actually told her it was over, he just was working behind the scenes to "Pay Her Off" (for services rendered, I guess), when he dissappeared. Sookie has the pleasure of finding out about his infidelity (and his intentions in her regard) when she is asked by another local vampire, Eric, to find Bill. And the rest is an exciting and funny look at the strange underworld Sookie is just beginning to discover. Werewolves, shapechangers, and the night clubs that cater to them. Not to mention the politics! As usual, there have been many comparisons made to Anita Blake's series. Why? Because of the central vampiric characters? Let me tell you, Blake didn't invent that plotline (far from it!) and as far as I'm concerned she comes off the loser in any comparison. Harris doesn't leave you with a nasty aftertaste, as Blake does. I do have one concern, and that is that Sookie may be too soft on Bill. I have hope tho, that Harris won't cram that down our throats. Please, Charlaine, make him suffer!
Rating: Summary: Not bad, but not as good as the first 2 Review: After reading the first 2 Southern Vampires books, I was excited to see a 3rd one out so soon. I was very disappointed. At the end of book 2, Sookie and Bill were fine romance wise, but all of a sudden in this book they are having problems with no development of any previous tension. All of a sudden he leaves town and it was like the author decided, they need to break up so let's see what I can come up with. The scenes with Sookie and Eric are great, but the parts with Bill are boring and the scene in the trunk of the car is just awful. Not to ruin things for anyone, read no further if you don't want a spoiler, but Bill rapes Sookie and she crawls back to him. It was a slap in the face to all women! Then we find out what the big mystery was that Bill had to keep secret. All that for a stupid computer program. This was not a well developed book, and the author just destroyed the heroine's credibility as a sane woman in one paragraph. Poorly done.
Rating: Summary: Bad Bill Review: I enjoyed this the 3rd book in the Southern Vampire series. Sookie has her feeling hurt by Vampire Bill, the jerk. Still Sookie risks her life to save him. What a friend! Along the way she meets Alcide. I'm hoping for a future between the two. My favorite part of the book is the ending when Sookie kicks two of the men in her life out of her life. If you're looking for a fun read the Southern Vampire series is for you.
Rating: Summary: A Great Read! Review: This is the 3rd installment in a truly fantastic series. A must read. Start with "Dead Until Dark" then "Living Dead in Dallas" before reading "Club Dead", otherwise you'll be completely lost. All 3 books are a funny, witty and quick read. Wait until you get load of Bubba. You'll love it!!! I wish Charlaine Harris could pump them out faster.
Rating: Summary: Has good points, and a few dissappointing ones... Review: This is the third book in the Southern Vampire series. Although you don't need to read the other two to know what is going on, I have to say it is probably not my favorite. Main character, Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress in a bar with a "disability" - she can read minds. Which instead of making her some sort of comic book hero, is really a problem for her. Ms. Harris writes about the south, with authority, her characters are interesting and funny. She tells a good story. This is not a heavy duty vampire story dripping with gothic atmosphere (which has it's place). I would highly recommend her two other books, but this one is a little inconistent. For instance, there is a problem with Sookie's boyfriend, Bill (vampire Bill), but what actually causes Bill to act the way he does is not fully explained (either by the character or in the course of the book). As result the reader is dissatisfied with the overlaying plot line. Unfortunately I have noticed that similar to another (non-supernatural) series Ms Harris writes, she likes to damage her heroine's main romantic relationship. Personally, this type of story detail does not work for me and in the case of Club Dead just doesn't make sense. The book is still interesting and has Ms. Harris' wonderful brand of humor, so I did enjoy the book, but wouldn't whole heartedly recommend it as I did her first two.
Rating: Summary: Sookie and Anita shouldn't be so similar!!! Review: Sookie Stackhouse's adventures in northern Louisiana as the telepathic girlfriend of a vampire left me slightly flat in this novel. I like her because she's so very different from Anita Blake and other vampire books: she's small town southern, a barmaid, ***normal***, except when she's not. But to my taste this novel gives her too many similarities to Anita Blake. Bill, her vampire boyfriend, betrays her, Bill's sexy vampire boss makes a play for her, as does a handsome and wealthy werewolf. Her response to all these men is also similar to Anita's. I like the humor, the sense of place, the surprises of these books. After six or eight of these books I may just get tired of Sookie if she continues her Anita Blake reflection.
Rating: Summary: Fun & Sexy - A Must Read for Vampire-Lovers! Review: Sookie Stackhouse had noticed a change in her boyfriend, Bill, a vampire. Instead of spending his evenings with her, he has been spending them alone in his home working on something that he refuses to share with Sookie. More than a little hurt that Bill doesn't completely trust her after all she has done for him, Sookie is less than pleased to find out that Bill has disappeared while on his "business trip" to Jackson, MI and that he has supposedly reunited with his ex, the lovely vampire Lorena. Eric, Bill's sexy and oh-so-interested-in-taking-Bill's-place-in-Sookie's-life vampire boss, arranges for Sookie to go to Jackson and to find out what has happened to Bill. Knowing that he cannot go along to protect her himself, Eric sends the very attractive werewolf, Alcide, to act as her bodyguard. When Sookie gets to Jackson, Alcide helps her get into Josephine's, affectionately nicknamed "Club Dead" by regulars. The club attracts a unique mixture of vampires, were-creatures and other supernaturals who don't always get along together. Of course, Sookie attracts some unwanted attention and makes some new friends and enemies right off the bat. She also finds out that Bill is in Jackson and that he is with Lorena. Sookie is unsure if she even wants to keep looking for him after that piece of news, but she knows that she has to get Bill back so that Eric can get whatever information out of him that he needs. So Sookie plunges into the fray and uses all of her considerable wiles to locate Bill, free him and then decide what she is going to do from there... Club Dead is the third book in the Southern Vampire series and it is a great continuation of the hilarious and sexy world of Sookie Stackhouse. The more books I read about Sookie, the more I like her. She is a wonderful character and Harris portrays her very well. She is much more complex than she seems and she always makes me laugh. The plot was a little more convoluted than it needed to be, but it was all in good fun and it was such a fast, fun read that the book was over long before I was ready for it to end anyway. Harris does leave the reader with a bit of a cliffhanger ending and so she leaves us panting for more and wondering what Sookie is going to do next! A must read for Harris or vampire lovers - you won't be disappointed!
Rating: Summary: Left Me Cold Review: I read books one and two of this series and really liked them. This third one left me cold. It was slow, garbled, inconsistent with previous books and completely out of character for Sookie and Bill. I was so disappointed with the ending that I thought I would just try another series by a different author. This book makes almost no sense on its own, so if you don't continue reading the next in the series you will have not idea if what happened in this book means the end for Sookie and Bill. Unlikely, I suppose since this is a Romance novel series, but I never heard of one that ends with such a cliffhanger. Completely unsatisfying novel.
Rating: Summary: Read all three in this series in three days! Review: I bought these books for my 15 year old daughter, but couldn't put them down myself. I was extremely surprised, because I've been burned out on the romance/mystery/supernatural genre for a long time. It was just the right mix of of all of the above, but with characters that were extremely likeable and believable. It was extremely interesting how the different species interact. I think what hooked me was that the heroine is someone who, like many of us, has suffered from feeling different and out of the loop, but has not allowed her suffering to embitter her, and never wallows in self pity, but instead always finds the strength to keep on keeping on, doing what needs to be done, doing the decent thing. Even though she goes from someone who never had a date to someone who is attractive to a multitude of men, she doesn't let it go to her head and retains her sense of autonomy. No simpering, fainting heroine, this one. A really enjoyable read on many levels.
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