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Sookie Stackhouse

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A friend convinced me to revisit the Sookie Stackhouse series recently. I was going to read them all, but after discovering the audiobooks and really enjoying Johanna Parker’s portrayal of Sookie, I decided to listen to them. I’ve been a fan of Charlaine Harris for years, discovering her Sookie Stackhouse series when True Blood was being filmed then going back and reading her other series. I don’t think it’s any secret that the endings of most of her series are weak, but the stories themselves are still enjoyable. This series is no exception.

When True Blood was airing in 2008, I wanted to read the books before watching the show. I read the first one, then immediately went out and bought the box set of the first 7 books. I was hooked but didn’t read beyond the seventh book. Looking back, maybe that was the right call, minus the inconclusive ending. Around the ninth book the series begins to taper off and just drags along until the anticlimactic ending in book thirteen. You can tell when Harris suddenly lost interest in the series.

This is a stereotypical paranormal romance series: unremarkable girl is the paramour for multiple supernatural folks (vampires, a variety of were-creatures, fairies), gets herself in boatloads of trouble and needs the dashing supernaturals to rescue her. They’re fun, have minor romance scenes that don’t get terribly descriptive until about halfway through the series, lots of action, and a variety of supernatural characters. They’re cohesive within the series which I prefer over having each book able to be read individually. Perfect for the beach or if you don’t want something too involved.

I was coming off reading the Anita Blake series when I found Sookie Stackhouse; Sookie being quite tame by comparison. At the time, I thought they were quite similar; I was over the graphic descriptions in the later Anita books and wanted another bad ass human woman dealing with supernaturals. Looking back on these two series, that wasn’t the case. There’s really nothing bad ass about Sookie. She’s gentle, mild-mannered, polite, virginal, everything Anita is not, and I think in any other setting she wouldn’t stick out in the least. I often see these series listed together, but they are so different.

I found the men to be quite intriguing. Eric has quite a history that I would have loved to delve further into. Bill clings to his humanity more ardently than most vampires in literature. Sam is sweet despite his wild nature, and predictable to everyone except Sookie.

Also worth noting is the way Harris throws in nods to her other series. The characters are minor in the Sookie Stackhouse books, but it was fun seeing Lily Bard from the Shakespeare series again and revisiting Barry Bellboy who also makes an appearance in her Midnight, Texas and namedrops Sookie.

If you can get past the milquetoast protagonist and enjoy the supernatural element and action, this can be a really enjoyable series. And, hey, at least the vampires don’t sparkle.

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Legendborn

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I’m going to preface this review by stating that I don’t think Legendborn was a bad read and I do understand why it’s quite popular; however, a combination of things contributed to me feeling a little shorted by what this book could have been.

In Legendborn, Bree attends an early college program hoping to escape her feelings of loss at home after her mother’s death. Her first night on campus, she witnesses something she shouldn’t and is thrown headfirst into a campus organization straight out of Arthurian legend. She soon learns the organization may have had a hand in her mother’s death and infiltrates the group, hoping to find out what really happened. As she’s initiated, a mystical war is brewing in which she’ll have to pick a side – will she fight for the Legendborn or take them down to discover the truth?

Firstly, I love all the inclusion! Here we have a wonderfully fantastical storyline led by a black female protagonist who is joined by LGBTQ+ characters. Tracy Deonn didn’t gloss over black history and I truly appreciated the way she put us in Bree’s head as she encountered racially charged situations. Though we’ve seen other black protagonists, I have yet to read one that even comes close to touching on how this affects their day-to-day life. I would love to see this become more of a trend in literature; it can be uncomfortable, but it also helps us grow, particularly readers like me who haven’t experienced those situations first-hand. As for the LGBTQ+ characters, they had important relationships with Bree and were central to the story, so we saw they quite a bit, but nothing felt forced. They were real people who weren’t solely included for the sake of having a token LGBTQ+ character. Their genders and sexualities are part of the character development, but they aren’t questioned or explained in full, they just exist as they are which was really beautiful to see.

Speaking of character development, the characters central to the story were well-fleshed out. It was easy to understand their motivations and personalities and I loved seeing all their backstories unfold. Development is good; it’s just unfortunate they were all a bit annoying. I think the only people I didn’t find annoying were Greer and William. Bree was immature, which I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on seeing as she’s only 16, but she felt like a strange mixture of adult sexuality but childlike immaturity. Alice was selfish and, despite her intelligence, it took her ages to realize it’s ok for people to change but she still seemed to only be ok with it if they changed to suit her expectations. Sel was the stereotypical moody, bad boy with the complicated familial history. And Nick, oh Nick, willing to completely alter his life after knowing Bree for all of an hour, always having to be the knight when I would have loved to see her save herself. Greer on the other hand was mature, had a sense of humor, was honest about their situation and experiences while finding ways to combat prejudice against them.

I think a strong portion of my disappointment with Legendborn was all the hype surrounding it online. It’s very highly rated on GoodReads and I couldn’t go a day without seeing multiple posts raving about it on bookstagram. I don’t know that it’s one I would have normally gravitated towards if it weren’t for all the hype, but at no point did I feel like it lived up to it. The action sequences were solid, but they were split by long, drawn out sections of info dumping.

I love Arthurian lore, so seeing a retelling led by a BIPOC protagonist was so exciting! I’m hoping some of the hiccups were solely because Legendborn was a debut novel and will be sorted out in future books in the series because I think this storyline has amazing potential!

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Age of Republic: Heroes and Villains

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The Age of Republic graphic novel duo is a great place to start in Star Wars canon if you have little idea who any of the main players are or what drives them. If you’re even moderately versed in Star Wars lore, you can skip these two volumes and not miss anything.

The Heroes volume introduces us to Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, Mace Windu, Jar Jar Binks, and Captain Rex.  While I enjoyed getting a sampling of each of the main heroes, I was a little bored with the content and the illustrations didn’t wow me as they have in other Star Wars graphic novels. I did not learn anything new from this volume, but I did appreciate the articles between issues. These had interesting tidbits from the head of George Lucas, input from the actors, and examples of how roles carried over between different types of media.

I got a bit more out of the Villains volume and therefore enjoyed it a bit more as it wasn’t all information I already knew. In the Villains volume, we’re introduced to Darth Maul, Jango Fett, Count Dooku, General Grievous, and Asajj Ventress. I was introduced to villains I was only vaguely aware of, and it had the same types of articles between issues that go further into the depth of each character.

These volumes only covered the main characters of both the heroes and the villains and one or two supporting characters from each side, but it would be interesting to see another volume focused exclusively on other supporting characters that wouldn’t necessarily be considered part of the main cast but appear in several pieces of canon media.

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Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org. I may earn a commission from purchases made through any above links.

Interview with the Vampire

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I have picked up a few of Anne Rice’s books; this is the first I’ve completed, and it certainly won’t be the last. I cannot recommend this book enough for readers of romance, historical fiction, fantasy; I think there’s something here for nearly every reader. 

Rice utilizes such beautiful prose that fit so well with the periods and characters throughout Interview with the Vampire. The language is flowery, but not in a way that distracts from the storyline or seems over the top for the context. It reminded me of the way I felt reading Tolkien’s writing; I love flowery prose that flows effortlessly and doesn’t seem forced by the author.

I think part of what drew me into Interview with the Vampire is the incredible way Rice captured New Orleans. Her descriptions transcend time and, despite the many changes the city underwent between the beginning and end of the book, the character of the city remained the same as it still is today. This city has a life of its own that’s not easy to capture in writing and is meant to be experienced, but Rice made it its own character rather than merely a setting.

I was immediately attached to Louis, his pains, inner struggles, relationships, all felt very real to me. Some of the interactions between Claudia (and other children) and adults were a little cringe worthy, but when you consider that she was a mature mind trapped in a child’s body for eternity, it really complicated those relationships. I never felt there was anything but paternal love between her and Louis, but there were some questionable interactions between Lestat and other children that may be uncomfortable for some readers. Character development went deep throughout the novel and continued right through the last sentence with the interviewer. Rice was thorough without drudging up unnecessary details or distracting emotions that weren’t in line with what the reader had learned of each character. I can only imagine the complicated planning this must have required on her part to not contradict details later in book. Everything felt cohesive despite leaps in the timeline.

I was not expecting the complex themes explored here, such as loneliness in immortality, the blurred lines between good and evil, differences between love and adoration, and whether decisions are made for aesthetic or moral reasons. I’m trying to keep spoilers out of this review, so I’ll avoid delving into those descriptions too much, but if you’d like to have a discussion of any themes you found of interest, please comment below and I’d love to have a dialogue with you!

In the meantime, I will leave you this lovely depiction of New Orleans that made me swoon:

“New Orleans, though beautiful and desperately alive, was desperately fragile. There was something forever savage and primitive there, something that threatened the exotic and sophisticated life both from within and without. Not an inch of those wooden streets nor a brick of the crowded Spanish houses had not been bought from the fierce wilderness that forever surrounded the city, ready to engulf it. Hurricanes, floods, fevers, the plague—and the damp of the Louisiana climate itself worked tirelessly on every hewn plank or stone façade, so that New Orleans seemed at all times like a dream in the imagination of her striving populace, a dream held intact at every second by a tenacious, though unconscious, collective will.”

(Interview with the Vampire, p.203-204)

Interview with the Vampire is available through Bookshop.org in paperback or as a collection with The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned.

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Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org. I may earn a commission from purchases made through any above links.

The Silver Eyes

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I first heard about Five Nights at Freddy’s from my nephew when, at the age of 7, he created quite a family drama when it was discovered he was watching playthroughs on YouTube. Responsible Aunt that I am, I thought the entire situation was amusing and was thrilled he was enjoying something even tangentially related to the type of work I enjoy (for those who don’t know, I’m a costume designer for haunted houses). I expected nothing from the franchise and didn’t explore it further than what my nephew had shown me until December of last year. I stumbled on some playthroughs done by Markiplier and couldn’t stop watching. I have since watched all of Markiplier’s FNAF playthroughs as well as his playthroughs of some fan-made games. I was surprised by how deep the lore of the FNAF universe goes and how detailed the storyline is as it carries over from the games into graphic novels, novels, art, etc. I’m too much of a wuss to play the games myself, but I greatly appreciate the world Scott Cawthon has created.

I only discovered the FNAF books a couple weeks ago but knew immediately it was something I’d have to check out. I’ve been burned by novelizations of movies and games before, so I had low expectations for The Silver Eyes, but I was pleasantly surprised. The narrative from the games carried over really well. If you’re at all familiar with the scenes from the games, it’ll be easy to immerse yourself in the novels. The scenes, sounds, and characters are all seamlessly integrated.

The characters reached an acceptable level of development to not seem entirely superficial. Their backstories weren’t terribly detailed (aside from Charlie), but they didn’t fall flat as characters in novelizations often seem to. The action sequences were solid with a good creep factor that felt familiar from the games. This is young adult, so if you’re looking for an advanced, mature horror novel, this isn’t it. If you know what to expect going into it, I would be comfortable recommending this book to those who are already familiar with the FNAF universe; if you’re not, several of the little details in the book will likely not mean much to you.

Most of my issues with The Silver Eyes are technical in nature and things I usually take issue with in the young adult genre, but they don’t ruin the book as I believe it’s intended to be experienced. For example, inconsistent dialogue and behavior among the characters. The characters are 17, but from one page to another they may be acting and speaking like children to acting and speaking like adults much more mature than they are depicted.

I was particularly impressed with the depth of Charlie’s backstory and the realistic approach to her accumulated grief. There were also several twists that weren’t revealed until the last couple chapters. I enjoyed the plot twists and thought they were utilized well, but if you’ve thoroughly explored the FNAF lore more so than I have, theses twists may be explained elsewhere.

I read The Silver Eyes on my kindle and iPhone via the Libby app.

The Silver Eyes is available in English and Spanish through Bookshop.org, as is the graphic novel. Purchases made through Bookshop.org support local booksellers.

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Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org. I may earn a commission from purchases made through any above links.