Saturday, May 21, 2011

Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse #4) by Charlaine Harris

Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse, #4)SUMMARY (from Goodreads): When cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse sees a naked man on the side of the road, she doesn't just drive on by. Turns out the poor thing hasn't a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric the vampire – but now he's a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life.

MY OPINION:

There are two mysteries in this book that keep the book fast paced. The culprit for Eric’s amnesia and the solution of the problem is quickly known but it takes the whole book to resolve. Another, even more efficient attention keeper is a mysterious disappearance of Sookie’s brother Jason, which has a surprising explanation in the end.

It is enjoyable to observe the new, fragile and frightened Eric. His usual and his new personalities are well combined. The relationship between Sookie and Eric turns a new page and I am already looking forward to its development further in the series.

I find two things somewhat annoying in this book. Firstly, Sookie gets a little too repetitive with her oh-I’m-poor-uneducated-telepathic waitress who wants to avoid danger and be a good Christian girl but can’t really do anything about it. Certainly, she can not avoid everything that happens to her, but she could change some things, otherwise she should stop complaining.

Secondly, the writing is not really good from time to time. I am speculating Harris may do this intentionally since she is writing from Sookie’s first person P. O. V., because some places are really well written and funny. However, in some places descriptions get in the way of the action. Additionally, the use of personal pronouns is sometimes confusing. Harris talks about one person in one sentence and about another person in the following sentence, using the same pronoun in both sentences, which makes it hard to figure out who she means. This slows reading down.

Overall, apart from the above, Dead to the World is a fast, entertaining read. It provides mystery, romance and some new data about supernatural world. It ends perfectly, inviting you to grab the next book in the series as fast as you can.

RECOMMENDATION: Dead to the World continues Sookie Stackhouse series in an expected style together with plenty of suspense and novelties. If you are looking for a relaxing and gripping paranormal read, this is the kind of book you would like to read. 

1 comment:

  1. I agree about the writing. It tends to become clumsy at times, and for a pretty brave girl, Sookie whines too much sometimes.:) However, this book remains my favourite one in the series so far. I hope you'll enjoy the other books in the series!

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