by Charlaine Harris
New York: Ace Books, 2009.
312 pages
ISBN: 978-0-441-01715-7
Summary: Set in swampy and supernatural Bon Temps,
Louisiana, young but strong-willed telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse tries
to solve the murder of her werepanther sister-in-law, watches the Were and
Shape-Shifters reveal their true selves to the world, connects with her grandfather
and cousins of fairy heritage who are preparing for an unprecedented paranormal
war, and continues her relationship with her charming but elusive vampire
boyfriend.
Series Information: This is the 9th book
of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels
series. The first book of the series is Dead Until Dark.
Genre: Fantasy/Mystery/Romance
Characteristics:
The plot is well-paced; there is an emphasis on the setting. The main
character’s purpose is to solve a crime with the help of supporting characters.
This Mystery novel has a conversational writing style and its mood changes from
grim to lighter scenes with witty banter. Sookie having a romantic relationship
creates an emotional tone for readers. There are creatures that do not exist in
real life (i.e., vampires, werewolves, fairies with magical characteristics)
which also makes this book a Fantasy.
Appeals:
- Good versus evil theme
- Strong female protagonist
- Use of satirical humor throughout book
Read-a-Likes:
Reader’s Advisory Online:
- Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole
- Bad Moon Rising by Sherrilyn Kenyon
- Playing with Fire by Katie MacAlister
- Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
- Dark Lover: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward
I stopped reading this series around book 5 or 6, did you like it?
ReplyDeleteI have read all 13 books....this book introduces new supporting characters who will play a larger role later in the series. I like the sarcasm and pacing of Harris's novels. I know there was controversy from the last book when Sookie chose her true love.
DeleteAmanda listed the book's genre as Fantasy/Mystery/Romance. I agree with her. Our library has the series shelved in Horror and I always thought that they belonged somewhere else. Can anybody tell me what genre their library uses to classify this series?
ReplyDeleteOurs has them in Mystery. I think some places put them in horror just because they have vampires in them. At my bookstore we had a special section for paranormal romance - which is where we kept this, even though some books are more "romancey" than others.
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DeleteI deleted the earlier comment as my spelling was atrocious and I realized I couldn't edit. Our library has this series under general Fiction. We don't have a Horror section, nor a Paranormal one. The split from general Fiction is Mystery, Westerns, and Scifi at my branch.
DeleteAs someone who hasn't read any of the Sookie Stackhouse series (yet!), I thought you did a great job giving me the exact information about the book that I would need as a readers' advisor. I appreciated that you included series data for the book, as well as the title of the first book in the series.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I loved that your summary is written in a tone that seems to match with the book itself -- very descriptive of the setting and satirically humorous with a few sinister undertones. (Did you do that on purpose or was it unconscious?) It's an awesome touch that helps give me a clear picture of the author's style and the reader's experience.
I think more people want to see the ISBN number as a search option. I have never watched the TV show True Blood that was based off of this series.
DeleteI hated the last couple of books ( especially the last one), but love Bubba ( the Elvis vampire). Big fan of True Blood, the first season sort falls the first book, the rest of the season stray from Harris. Will be curious how the series will end ( not like Deadly Ever After, I hope)
DeleteVery nice job on the annotation Amanda!
ReplyDeleteI love the fantasy/mystery/romance genre mix! At my home library we just have them under regular fiction, but since we're a small library, we don't have a lot of fancy labels or sections. Somewhere in your annotation I would add something about the tv show, since I notice an influx in check-outs whenever it's on. A friend in college made me watch the first season with her so I read the first few books. Not my usual thing, but I enjoyed them.
ReplyDelete