Reading roundup: Extreme Sookie Stackhouse edition (and also some other stuff...)
49. Sarah Monette, Corambis -- umihebizanomiko promised Corambis would be shiny, and it was.
I was turned off by Kay's narration at first, and though I grew to appreciate his narrative voice, I still feel like the book could've done without his POV. Mostly, I'm glad it was there because it afforded me an inside look at Murtagh, whom I ended up liking a lot. I guess it's interesting to have a newly blind characterbe a narrator. The one way in which it did work very interestingly for me was meeting Vanessa -- first through Kay, who cannot see her, of course, and thus characterizes her by voice and perfume, and then getting to see her for the first time through Mildmay and Felix's eyes, thus getting a visual on her only once I already had a pretty solid impression of her character, and seeing how I did a mental double-take at that. But that aside, and growing to enjoy the Caloxan dialect, Kay didn't do much for me. Although I did find interesting the scene around the middle where, when he feels forced into a marriage by Murtagh, he reflects on having done the same thing to his sister without much thought.
I did enjoy Mildmay and Felix much MUCH more in this book than in Mirador. Mildmay just breathes so much easier as a character outside of the Mirador, it was a relief to be around him, even when he was really ill. And Felix was actually not only trying but succeeding in being decent to him, even though he still has those very Felix moments, like when he uses the obligation d'ame to make Mildmay slug him, or doesn't think to tell him that Thamuris is alive. But he actually apologizes, even though Mildmay has to coach him through it like you do with a little kid ("D'you know what it is you're osrry for, or are you just trying to get me to let it go?") So, this was pretty much the first time I actually liked Felix as a person for stretches at a time, rather than feeling sorry for him or being exasperated by him.
I was quite happy with his development in this book. I was relieved to see that he came to admit to himself, without hysteria or dwelling on how much of a horrible monster it made him, that sending Mildmay after Coruscant Vey was the worst thing he had done, because it was a premeditated act, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that her regretted what he did to Isaac Garamond as well. And I was very happy to see that while Malkar and Keeper and all those others still weighed on him, of course, he was able to grow past that rather than being paralyzed by his fear of turning into Malkar, when he took Corbie on as apprentice. And I really enjoyed his relationship with Corbie (and Corbie in her own right). It's interesting that Felix, who has no romantic interest in women, seems to get along with them better than with men -- Mehitabel and Corbie seemed to be his healthiest relationships over the tetralogy. It makes sense, I guess, when you think about the fact that the people who'd brutalized him were all men, and his happiest childhood memories (feeling "cherished" in the brothel, Jolene) were all of women. I did, also, walk away from this book believing, as I hadn't at the end of Mirador, that Felix had actually loved Gideon -- just, that he was too fucked up to have even a marginally healthy relationship even with a person he loved (not that Gideon was lacking for baggage of his own) -- and that was reassuring, too. And I really liked the conversation between Mildmay and Felix about Felix's perceptions of love and sex and how fucked up Felix is. And then him telling Mildmay "You help me be someone who can save himself." (Oh, I will say, though, that the gang rape scene, as narrated for Felix, didn't really work for me. It didn't have as much impact as I thought it was trying for, and it felt off to me, and I thought the scene where he explains to Mildmay what had happened was a lot more impactful.)
Anyway, I really liked Corbie, and regretted that there wasn't more of her once they left Bernatha. Her babbling is adorable, and I like that she is competent and clever alongside the babbling, and the moment she gets to tell Felix to shut up in her turn is wonderfully fulfilling. And I liked Murtagh, as previously mentioned, and Miss Leverick in her brief cameo on the train, and Hutch the virtuer ("It [the nullity] was my virtuer project, and I sometimes think they passed me just because none of them wanted to admit they didn't understand.")
And now I've talked about the side characters and I'm back to Mildmay, and I find I don't have a whole lot to say. I was glad to have his narration whenever it occurred, because he was back to being a fun narrator rather than a depressing one... Actually, the book on the whole, much more than Mirador or Virtu, had an undercurrent of humour in it, even when it was rather dark humour, and it helped. It was even there in the Kay sections, which helped a whole lot.
I liked the engineering magic of the Corambins, and the fact that they use it for a kind of carbon dating of the bog bodies and preserving mammoths. And I like the continued splintered view of magic as a whole, where everything is a metaphor, and things that are fundamental and elementary in one school of magic are unknown in another (Felix being more powerful than a virtuer with his magelight bolts but completely clueless about healing, and not knowing that the obligation d'ame could be removed). And I do like the continued feeling of magic as academia.
There were so many loose ends. Not that I expected any different at this point, but I do wish we had gotten another glimpse at what's going on with Mehitabel, and Stephen, and Shannon, especially after the revelation with the chain. But I do like how these books are built, with information like that cropping up at the very end, when it was there all along, and then... not really going anywhere. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not so fond of loose endings, but I can appreciate them aesthetically, and I realize they're good for me. :P
Quotes:
"'You're just gonna make fun of me,' [Mildmay] muttered [...]
'I swear to you I won't. [...] I swear it. On anything you like.'
[...] 'I don't know anything you care about enough for making promises on.'"
Corbie, giving up on finding logic in the world: "All right. It don't make sense. What does it do instead?" (I think this was the point where I went from merely liking Corbie to loving her kind of a lot :)
And:
"Corbie, I can't--"
"You keep saying that," she said. "But I think what you mean is, you're scared to. And that ain't the same thing."
Thamuris, after Felix returns to the nearly-choked Khloidanikos: "No, don't tell me. Dioletian has explained to you my tale of woe, and you are sorry. You feel terrible. You didn't mean to." [Felix gets told off a lot in this book. It does him good.]
"'Aether?" I said. I sorted through five different ways of saying, I have no idea what you're talking about, and settled for the most dignified: 'I'm not familiar with that term.'"
"The smell of lilies reached me first, and then Vanessa's sweet Corambin voice. 'Kay? Are you all right, darling?'
'Don't call me that,' I said, the words grating in my throat.
'Fine. Are you all right, bonehead?'"
"I must be the only person in the history of the world to be exiled from exile."
50. Jonathan Kellerman, Deception -- this was one of the funner ones to read, even though SPOILERS I do feel like it's kind of a cop-out that we don't meet the persons responsible -- or even hear about them -- until the very end. I did like the process of Alex and Milo ruling out the various suspects, and I was glad that Trey the chemical engineer/nerd didn't end up being the murderer. (On that note, though -- all the Caltech kids talking sounded really fake to me... also, their SAT scores sounded pretty low. Just sayin'.) I liked Charlie, the Chief's kid, and continue to like the foul-mouthed, un-PC Chief). One of the reasons I enjoy the Delaware books are the side characters, deftly drawn in cameo appearance and interestingly varied. Here my favorite was Adolph the octogenarian bartender, and to a lesser extent Mr. Vlevins, Bri's father.
Also, I'm puzzled by something. At one point Mary Jane Rollins says, "We've gone so far as to adapt Vanlight's moral dilemma training into our curriculum." I tried googling this, but the only relevant hits are for this book. So, what are they talking about? Something real?
51. Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon -- I heard a lot of good stuff about this book, and also knew about the big spoiler before I started reading. I was afraid I'd come away feeling I liked mistful's fanfic better, but no, I don't -- I liked the book a lot, and was impressed by what it managed to pull off, and am happy to agree that it deserves the accolades. I am, however, a bit apprehensive about the sequels, partly 'cos I don't even really feel like it needs sequels (and that hardly ever happens to me) and partly because it feels like the sequels will focus more on the stuff I care less about (magicians, the Goblin Market) and less on the stuff that I care about the most (Nick and Alan's relationship).
I liked Mae OK. From reading Sarah's LJ I know some readers dislike her, but I like her just fine. I like the fact that she ends up killing the magician to save Jaime and, even in the heat of battle and all the crazy revelations, is clearly affected by it. I don't really understand her attraction to Nick, except a sort of bad boy appeal, but I guess maybe the sequel will make that clearer. I do like it that, even though Alan is head over heels with her, she doesn't feel obligated to reciprocate (even though Alan is my favorite character -- was from the start -- and I have a hard time comprehending how someone could prefer Nick to him), and that she makes it clear she is not an object to be fought over or otherwise divided by them but will make her own decisions.
Jaime was fun, but I expected to like him more than I really did. He was very... I dunno, quippy, like a Joss Whedon character. And it's not that it felt less realistic than the others' reactions, because I get that he was seeking refuge in humour out of fear/stress. But it made him less interesting to me. I did like that Jaime and Mae were constantly protecting each other, rather than that protectiveness being a one-way thing, as it often seems to be in stories.
CENTRAL SPOILER starting here Nick, I thought, was very well done for what he was. Of course, I knew what he was when I started reading, so I got to enjoy the foreshadowing and stuff, but his alienness is clear and scary but not offputting, downright sympathetic at times. I loved the way Alan was the sole moral center of his world, the way that center crumbled through subsequent revelations of Alan's lies. I have to say, I don't find Nick a "cool" character -- I find him scary and sympathetic, but I can't say I actually like Nick. (And I'm a little bzuh at the fans who profess to have a crush on him...)
My favorite character, as already mentioned, was Alan. There are a lot of things I like about Alan. I'm a sucker for protective older brothers to begin with, and as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Alan is a protective older brother who is a Magnificent Bastard. And I love Magnificent Bastards, and I especially love that in this case he is a good guy. A good guy who is willing to lie to his brother his entire life, maneuver him to be trapped in a demon circle, and then set a demon free, on the strength of, basically, a hope. I love the fact that Alan is a good guy but does questionable things -- but for a good reason! -- but they're still questionable! -- but he knows they are! This is a really neat combination for me, and this is one character I'm looking forward to seeing more of. (I want to see how Nick navigates his new-found knowledge of what he is, but Alan I want to be around for himself.) One of my favorite Alan moments is when they have Gerald captured and Alan is prepared to torture him (I don't think this is in conflict with also planning to let him get free...) but not prepared to let Nick torture him because Nick doesn't feel it's wrong.
Actually, probably, my favorite character for true is Alan and Nick's relationship. I guess I kind of have a big kink for powerful people whose moral compass is external to them? I hadn't ever thought of it like that, but now that I do, two (or three) of my favorite relationships in the Magnum Opus and MORP have that as part of their core, so apparently I do. The way Nick tries to be human for Alan, the way, even though he knows just how good a liar Alan is, he thinks Alan would not lie to him, and is devastated to discover that Alan does, the easy banter at the beginning and the partnership at the end, when Alan is shooting people in the dark, and, of course, the ending. Yeah, this is pretty much the kind of relationship I would eat up with a spoon. I found especially affecting the scene where Nick literally (magically) gives Alan his voice so that Alan can speak for him -- and how that turns out.
I have to say, the magic/worldbuilding was kind of meh to me. Not a big fan of demons in general, which is probably a big part of why, and the Goblin Market and the dancers didn't feel like an integral part of the story (so... not especially looking forward to book 3, which seems like it will be dealing with all that even more heavily). The magicians... could be interesting, but still not feeling it so much.
I did like the way the big reveal was foreshadowed (especially Nick's sickness when crossing running water), and convoluted by the reveal of Alan's family vs Nick's, and red herringed by suggesting that Nick was Black Arthur's son. I mean, I was spoiled for it, so I knew what was coming, but I did think it was nicely done.
Quotes:
"'Look, please come in. I can explain everything.' || It was a testament to Alan's powers of persuasion that they did not laugh in his face. It was a testament to Alan's powers of looking nonthreatening that he could manage it with the door open on their destroyed kichen, with a corpse on the floor. [...] He let them see the limp: He used that the same way he used everything."
"The other kids avoided Nick, as if they could smell the violence on him. It didn't bother Nick; he could smell the weakness on them."
"'I don't want him to see me cry.'
'I don't want to see you cry either,' Nick said.
Her face softened slightly, and he realized she'd taken that the wrong way. Nick imagined spending the next five minutes explaining to her that actually she could cry all the time if she liked, he just didn't want to see it, and then shut his mouth."
Olivia: "That's the problem with wanting someone who will change the world for you. Choose a man with that much power over the world, and all he really wants is more power."
And there are a whole lot of moments, little scenes, not melodramatic at all as they might have been, that work really well at being creepy and twisting the knife. Like:
"The woman was suddenly breathing hard, in small gasps weighed by fear. 'Don't hurt me.'
[...]
Nick put his lips to her ear and whispered,'Why not?'"
After Nick told Alan that he knew about Alan's aunt and said "Too bad [...] She got dragged in."
"Alan's hand tightened on the gun, and for a moment Nick thought that he might use it. Then he lowered it, slowly, as if he thought that he might use it too."
"He felt for an instant like the assembled pieces of some weapon Black Arthur had built. || He turned away from his mother and toward the door. He should not have come.
'I'm not him, you know,' he said over his shulder.
'I know,' said Mum. 'I loved him.'
52. Charlaine Harris, All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse, book 7) -- I liked this one, one of my favorite in the series, even though it's pretty dark. Spoilers It probably helps that Eric is around for so much of it, and I like the broader look we get at the vampires, and also Sookie and Barry's actions when the hotel is attacked and during the rescue efforts (but also the fact that they don't just want to be co-opted by the government, that Sookie wants to keep her life and her job, which I can totally understand). I liked that you see both the familiar vamps being all cuddly and cute, like Russell and his new husband, and the ruthlessness of vamps nominally on Sookie's side, not just Andre, who's always been pretty scary, but also Sophie-Anne, who has all of the Arkansas vamps murdered.
I thought the attack and rescue, the strongest part of the book for me, were quite well done -- better than I was expecting from the series, I will admit. It is maybe a tad improbable that almost all the major players survived, but that's where the next book kicks in. I especially liked the description of Sookie finding Bill, who was apparently counting on her to do so. (I have to say, I'm very surprised, but I'm sort of warming up to Bill and his hopeless devotion to her, now that Sookie is quite certain she's over him.) And I liked the fact that Sookie wants Andre dead, but can't bring herself to kill him, but doesn't stop Quinn either... but that witnessing it changes their relationship, too.
Speaking of the relationships: Eric's meddling is great as always, the mix of lascivious and actually devoted, as when he offers to share blood with her instead of her having to go through it with Andre -- and then flaunts the wet spot. Him rubbing Bill's nose in it, like when he makes Bill stay at the book selling Vampire Facebook instead of coming up to Sookie when she is holding the bomb, is also highly amusing. But Quinn is boring, and their sex is sort of embarrassing, although I was glad to see that Sookie is actually serious about laying out the terms under which she will sleep with him, instead of going along with whatever as in the previous books. I'm actually pretty impressed with her growth as a person over the course of these books.
So, this was a good book. I liked seeing Mr Cataliades the demon lawyer again, and I liked the high stakes in this one (though I have to say, I have a hard time believing that anybody's security is this sucky), and I liked how Sookie behaved under pressure, and how resourceful she has become, and how justifiably unapologetic about a lot of the stuff she has to deal with. And I liked the fact that she and Barry are quite different in their attitudes towards what they do, but manage to work together, but not without friction -- that seemed realistic, more than what I was expecting.
As for minor details, it was great to see Pam and Amelia make each other's acquaintance, and find out that Pam loves Dear Abby. And also neat to find out Pam's backstory. And LOL at Eric being a priest. And I enjoyed a look at the vampire convention, and especially the goods sold there. Oh, and it was interesting to see Sookie out of the South for the first time, and ruminating on some of her prejudices against northerners while facing their prejudice against southerners, when she goes investigating with Barry.
So. Britlingens? Something Harris made up, or is this a bit of actual mythology? All the google links I can find seem to lead to True Blood and these books... but sometimes that's 'cos of a particular author's spelling...
Quotes:
Eric: "I didn't see it [the arrow] coming."
Sookie: "Oh, would you have flung yourself in front of me?"
"No," Eric said simply. "Because it might have hit me in the heart, and I would die. But I would have dived in and tackled you to take you out of the arrow's path if there had been time."
53. Charlaine Harris, From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse, book 8) -- This was a let-down for me after the last one. Major Spoilers! The only thing that impressed me was the way so many of the survivor vamps from the previous storyline get offed in this one -- it's unexpected, after the near-miraculous way they all came throught the bombing. Everything else was kind of meh.
I didn't find the Nevada vamps' takeover very interesting as a storyline and I find them boring as characters, though maybe that'll develop later. I find the shifter stuff rather random and am kind of tired of it. I mean, I like Calvin, but I'm sick and tired of Crystal (though I did think Sookie was judging Jason a bit too harshly; like, that was totally a douchey set-up, but I don't think he is more guilty than the cheating wife, unless he's cheating on her too and just managed to catch her first). The witches/Bob subplot and the Were pack shenanigans just sort of felt tacked on.The fairy great-grandfather, huh. It could be intriguing, but so far, not terribly interesting, though it did give rise to a ocuple of nice lines, like this exchange between Sookie and Claudine:
C: "The prince is my grandfather."
[...]
S: "So what do you call him? Granddaddy? Popsy?"
C: I call him 'my lord.'"
I'm glad to see the end of Quinn (and that Sookie concluded that sleeping with him had been a mistake) -- and was happy he wasn't around much in this book -- but I do feel like Sookie breaking up with him is authorial deus ex machina. She wants to be first in the life of the guy she's with... well, maybe she'd get that with Bill, but, seriously -- that seems kind of unlike Sookie, I have to say (I was happy to see Quinn actually calling her out on this in the next book, and I don't think she had much of a response...). And Eric conveniently remembering everything all of a sudden... yeah, really stretching my disbelief. I may have been happier about it if he hadn't started calling Sookie "lover" again -- oh god, make him STOP! I mean, Eric is my favorite character and Sookie/Eric is more interesting than anything else in these books... but apparently I really strongly prefer it as UST. And Bill's continued attempt to one-up Eric are quite amusing, too ("'Know this: I will die for her. If you harm her, I'll kill you.' Bill turned his dark eyes on Eric. 'Can you say the same?'" And I especially like the fact that Sookie is having none of it: "Apparently Bill was conducting a kind of stealth campaign to win back my regard. I wondered if he dreamed I could love him again. [...] I figured my regard would be the outer limits of what he could hope to earn. Trust, love? I couldn't see that happening.")
I am intrigued by the introduction of Hadley's son and am looking forward to see where the kid telepath thing with Hunter goes.
Small random things:
Once again I liked the little details that show Sookie is living in the real world, like the fact that the bridesmaid's shoes she has to borrow pinch. On a different "little details" note, I could've definitely done without Sookie referring to her ladybit stutteringly as "my, my, hootchie" (*groan*).
Ahaha, of course Eric has vanity plates on his car XD ("BLDSKR").
"I'm a terrible Christian and a decent survivalist."
54. Charlaine Harris, Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse, book 5, read out of order) -- I just really don't care for the Were/shifter heavy books as much. Spoilers And the sudden profusion of love interests for Sookie all intersecting was definitely a bit much. I do like Calvin Norris and liked him in this one. Quinn licking Sookie on first meeting and immediately starting to call her "babe" was just very WTF -- now I, retroactively, want to slap him even more than I did in Definitely Dead. Bill's continued moping after Sookie and her reactions to him (this is before Spoiler for next book Eric makes him tell her the queen had sent him) were pretty entertaining. Eric is always entertaining, and he mostly was in this book -- and I enjoyed the tension between him and Sookie over the days he doesn't remember. Sam is nice but I'm glad it went nowhere. And then there's Alcide, whom I liked in Club Dead but who turned into a total asshole in this one. Way too many guys panting after Sookie...
A couple of things I did like: Sookie realizing that even though she misses Bill, it's not like he is her one true love. Sookie and Alcide talking about what happened in the trunk of the car in Club Dead and calling it rape (well, "near-rape" is as close as Sookie comes, but that's already way better than glossing over it, and Alcide does call it rape outright). Sookie determined not to jump into things with another guy. A lot of the things that had bugged me about her and her relationships in previous books are turning out to be features rather than bugs, or at least being retroactively remedied, and I like that. And I thought the way the fire and Sookie's reaction to it were written well -- especially the way a little detail triggers her breakdown days later. A lot of those details and Sookie's thoughts felt more nuanced that much of the other writing; I liked that. And I liked that she fought off Mickey by herself.
I should also mention that one of the things that I'm starting to like about Sookie as a heroine is that she lives an everyday life and has to worry about everyday things -- making sure she has coverage when she takes off from work; keeping up an insurance policy on the house and paying hospital bills; going to the library to renew books. While a lot of urban fantasy protagonists seem to be strapped for cash, it's usually kind of an abstract thing, and with Sookie the mundane concerns are very concrete. I also find it interesting that Sookie remains largely law-abiding, and even reflects that she would be better off if, instead of getting rid of Debbie's body, she'd just let the police sort out that she had killed her in self-defense. That's also a refreshing attitude. And I liked her tallying of who stood where at owing whom -- it's such a, I don't know, plain and cold way of thinking about things that I think worked well here.
The central mystery was kind of meh, and the suspicion falling on Jason and the deadline of the next full moon especially felt artificial/illogical (given that shifters can change at other times, too). I suspected Sweetie, partly because I knew she wasn't going to be around in later books. For the same reason, I figured something was going to happen to Charles... but I was sorry to see him die. I liked the vampire pirate and his gallant ways. (But I don't think it counts as a lynching if he asked to be killed, rather than turned over to the police...)
Oh, but Pam's concern for Sookie and "don't get shot again" flowers were just delightful. As was Eric's lack of sweeping skills.
55. Charlaine Harris, Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, book 9) -- not one of my favorites, but not bad. Major spoilers for EVERYTHING
The shape-shifters are generally not of a whole lot of interest to me (but I was sad about Tray dying; he seemed like a decent sort). I do generally like the Hotshot crew. I can't say I like how Crystal's death was handled. Having wicked Fairies be responsible is kind of a cop-out, on the one hand; on the other hand, having Mel be killed for it (even though he sort of seemed to welcome the punishment) felt off, too. And also, that's two for two dead gay men... Not a very good track record :/ I liked Mel, too (had called him being in love with Jason; and of course it makes sense that Jason's fairy blood would be just as attractive to men who swing that way as to women). Also, I have a hard time seeing Arlene's progress from man-happy, not very smart woman to bigoted would-be murderer. So, yeah, this whole side of the story left me rather unsatisfied. The one thing I did find interesting about the weres coming out were the implications of those athletes and such who turned out to be weres.
The war of the Fairies angle was a bit better. I liked the way Sookie handled the fairy attack ("He was looking down at the blood seeping through his fingers with an expression of absolute amazement, as if he couldn't believe I'd ruined his ensemble"), and subsequently arming herself with supersoakers of lemonade. I liked the last stand, especially gravely wounded Bill being prepared to fight and Eric and company treating that as completely normal. I can't say that Harris's fairies are particularly interesting to me, but that's not what these books are about, so that's OK.
I am usually quite affected by scenes of torture, even brief or elided mentions of them... but in this case Sookie's torture didn't really have that effect on me. Not sure why, and not that I'd want it too, but it was just kind of weird that it didn't.
What's with all the babies/dead fetuses? Other than echoing pregnant Crystal and the loss of her unborn child. Claudine's announcement and death mirror it pretty closely (to the point of pointlessness...) And then there's Tara (which ought to be interesting).
The Sookie and Eric relationship... eh. I definitely find it more interesting when it's UST, but OK. I found the sex scene between them both somewhat cringeworthy and also kind of hilarious ("I am too big for some." Of course you'd need to mention that, Eric XD). I did like the point where Eric asks Sookie to bite him (just for fun) and she automatically wonders why, because she is so used to looking for ulterior motives in all his actions. And I liked the scene in Fangtasia where Sookie has the brief fantasy of Eric being all gallant to the girl with poor self-esteem, but of course Eric doesn't actually give a damn. One of the most interesting things in the book to me was Eric talking about his life before and just after he was turned: his wife and children, and also his relationship with his sire. I am fairly indifferent to the Eric/Sookie vampire marriage, apparently. But I am glad it was done the way it was done, with Sookie unknowing and subsequently ambivalent, but just too tired/harried by everything else to really get into yelling at Eric about it. And I liked Eric's line: "I always tell you the truth. [...] I may not tell you everything I know, but what I tell you... it's true." Because it's a far more realistic demarkation of "true love" (or whatever) for someone like Eric.
I continue to like Sookie's domesticity, little notes like the fact that her dry clean only pants were bought by mistake, and that she keeps having to go to the library, and that she goes around switching off the lights after Amelia because, unlike Amelia, she is used to worrying about the electric bill. It was interesting to see that her fondness for the sun is maybe also a heritage of her fairy blood -- but that she quickly got to the logical conclusion that it's not likely to save her from skin cancer. And I thought the revelation that the reason Sookie likes working in a bar is that she gets to brush along different minds all the time worked pretty well. And I thought her reasons for not wanting to work for the FBI were very solid, too. And I also like that this Sookie is much more independent, doesn't like feeling helpless even when faced with forces that clearly do overmatch her, like the fairies, and also does sensible things like checking that the Jason knocking on her door is actually Jason. I like to see how much she's grown.
Random things:
I was very amused by the idea of the vampire reality show.
Apparently Sookie finally found out the busboy's name?
Currently reading: Catch-22, of course. Still in the middle of various books: Firebird (by Mercedes Lackey), By the Mountain Bound (by EBear), a children's book I'm hoping to pass on to L, a vampire book that I like in theory but isn't keeping my attention very much. I am planning to read Best Served Cold and First Lord's Fury next, but I had the bad judgement to open The Lies of Locke Lamora today, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to put it down...
I was turned off by Kay's narration at first, and though I grew to appreciate his narrative voice, I still feel like the book could've done without his POV. Mostly, I'm glad it was there because it afforded me an inside look at Murtagh, whom I ended up liking a lot. I guess it's interesting to have a newly blind characterbe a narrator. The one way in which it did work very interestingly for me was meeting Vanessa -- first through Kay, who cannot see her, of course, and thus characterizes her by voice and perfume, and then getting to see her for the first time through Mildmay and Felix's eyes, thus getting a visual on her only once I already had a pretty solid impression of her character, and seeing how I did a mental double-take at that. But that aside, and growing to enjoy the Caloxan dialect, Kay didn't do much for me. Although I did find interesting the scene around the middle where, when he feels forced into a marriage by Murtagh, he reflects on having done the same thing to his sister without much thought.
I did enjoy Mildmay and Felix much MUCH more in this book than in Mirador. Mildmay just breathes so much easier as a character outside of the Mirador, it was a relief to be around him, even when he was really ill. And Felix was actually not only trying but succeeding in being decent to him, even though he still has those very Felix moments, like when he uses the obligation d'ame to make Mildmay slug him, or doesn't think to tell him that Thamuris is alive. But he actually apologizes, even though Mildmay has to coach him through it like you do with a little kid ("D'you know what it is you're osrry for, or are you just trying to get me to let it go?") So, this was pretty much the first time I actually liked Felix as a person for stretches at a time, rather than feeling sorry for him or being exasperated by him.
I was quite happy with his development in this book. I was relieved to see that he came to admit to himself, without hysteria or dwelling on how much of a horrible monster it made him, that sending Mildmay after Coruscant Vey was the worst thing he had done, because it was a premeditated act, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that her regretted what he did to Isaac Garamond as well. And I was very happy to see that while Malkar and Keeper and all those others still weighed on him, of course, he was able to grow past that rather than being paralyzed by his fear of turning into Malkar, when he took Corbie on as apprentice. And I really enjoyed his relationship with Corbie (and Corbie in her own right). It's interesting that Felix, who has no romantic interest in women, seems to get along with them better than with men -- Mehitabel and Corbie seemed to be his healthiest relationships over the tetralogy. It makes sense, I guess, when you think about the fact that the people who'd brutalized him were all men, and his happiest childhood memories (feeling "cherished" in the brothel, Jolene) were all of women. I did, also, walk away from this book believing, as I hadn't at the end of Mirador, that Felix had actually loved Gideon -- just, that he was too fucked up to have even a marginally healthy relationship even with a person he loved (not that Gideon was lacking for baggage of his own) -- and that was reassuring, too. And I really liked the conversation between Mildmay and Felix about Felix's perceptions of love and sex and how fucked up Felix is. And then him telling Mildmay "You help me be someone who can save himself." (Oh, I will say, though, that the gang rape scene, as narrated for Felix, didn't really work for me. It didn't have as much impact as I thought it was trying for, and it felt off to me, and I thought the scene where he explains to Mildmay what had happened was a lot more impactful.)
Anyway, I really liked Corbie, and regretted that there wasn't more of her once they left Bernatha. Her babbling is adorable, and I like that she is competent and clever alongside the babbling, and the moment she gets to tell Felix to shut up in her turn is wonderfully fulfilling. And I liked Murtagh, as previously mentioned, and Miss Leverick in her brief cameo on the train, and Hutch the virtuer ("It [the nullity] was my virtuer project, and I sometimes think they passed me just because none of them wanted to admit they didn't understand.")
And now I've talked about the side characters and I'm back to Mildmay, and I find I don't have a whole lot to say. I was glad to have his narration whenever it occurred, because he was back to being a fun narrator rather than a depressing one... Actually, the book on the whole, much more than Mirador or Virtu, had an undercurrent of humour in it, even when it was rather dark humour, and it helped. It was even there in the Kay sections, which helped a whole lot.
I liked the engineering magic of the Corambins, and the fact that they use it for a kind of carbon dating of the bog bodies and preserving mammoths. And I like the continued splintered view of magic as a whole, where everything is a metaphor, and things that are fundamental and elementary in one school of magic are unknown in another (Felix being more powerful than a virtuer with his magelight bolts but completely clueless about healing, and not knowing that the obligation d'ame could be removed). And I do like the continued feeling of magic as academia.
There were so many loose ends. Not that I expected any different at this point, but I do wish we had gotten another glimpse at what's going on with Mehitabel, and Stephen, and Shannon, especially after the revelation with the chain. But I do like how these books are built, with information like that cropping up at the very end, when it was there all along, and then... not really going anywhere. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not so fond of loose endings, but I can appreciate them aesthetically, and I realize they're good for me. :P
Quotes:
"'You're just gonna make fun of me,' [Mildmay] muttered [...]
'I swear to you I won't. [...] I swear it. On anything you like.'
[...] 'I don't know anything you care about enough for making promises on.'"
Corbie, giving up on finding logic in the world: "All right. It don't make sense. What does it do instead?" (I think this was the point where I went from merely liking Corbie to loving her kind of a lot :)
And:
"Corbie, I can't--"
"You keep saying that," she said. "But I think what you mean is, you're scared to. And that ain't the same thing."
Thamuris, after Felix returns to the nearly-choked Khloidanikos: "No, don't tell me. Dioletian has explained to you my tale of woe, and you are sorry. You feel terrible. You didn't mean to." [Felix gets told off a lot in this book. It does him good.]
"'Aether?" I said. I sorted through five different ways of saying, I have no idea what you're talking about, and settled for the most dignified: 'I'm not familiar with that term.'"
"The smell of lilies reached me first, and then Vanessa's sweet Corambin voice. 'Kay? Are you all right, darling?'
'Don't call me that,' I said, the words grating in my throat.
'Fine. Are you all right, bonehead?'"
"I must be the only person in the history of the world to be exiled from exile."
50. Jonathan Kellerman, Deception -- this was one of the funner ones to read, even though SPOILERS I do feel like it's kind of a cop-out that we don't meet the persons responsible -- or even hear about them -- until the very end. I did like the process of Alex and Milo ruling out the various suspects, and I was glad that Trey the chemical engineer/nerd didn't end up being the murderer. (On that note, though -- all the Caltech kids talking sounded really fake to me... also, their SAT scores sounded pretty low. Just sayin'.) I liked Charlie, the Chief's kid, and continue to like the foul-mouthed, un-PC Chief). One of the reasons I enjoy the Delaware books are the side characters, deftly drawn in cameo appearance and interestingly varied. Here my favorite was Adolph the octogenarian bartender, and to a lesser extent Mr. Vlevins, Bri's father.
Also, I'm puzzled by something. At one point Mary Jane Rollins says, "We've gone so far as to adapt Vanlight's moral dilemma training into our curriculum." I tried googling this, but the only relevant hits are for this book. So, what are they talking about? Something real?
51. Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon -- I heard a lot of good stuff about this book, and also knew about the big spoiler before I started reading. I was afraid I'd come away feeling I liked mistful's fanfic better, but no, I don't -- I liked the book a lot, and was impressed by what it managed to pull off, and am happy to agree that it deserves the accolades. I am, however, a bit apprehensive about the sequels, partly 'cos I don't even really feel like it needs sequels (and that hardly ever happens to me) and partly because it feels like the sequels will focus more on the stuff I care less about (magicians, the Goblin Market) and less on the stuff that I care about the most (Nick and Alan's relationship).
I liked Mae OK. From reading Sarah's LJ I know some readers dislike her, but I like her just fine. I like the fact that she ends up killing the magician to save Jaime and, even in the heat of battle and all the crazy revelations, is clearly affected by it. I don't really understand her attraction to Nick, except a sort of bad boy appeal, but I guess maybe the sequel will make that clearer. I do like it that, even though Alan is head over heels with her, she doesn't feel obligated to reciprocate (even though Alan is my favorite character -- was from the start -- and I have a hard time comprehending how someone could prefer Nick to him), and that she makes it clear she is not an object to be fought over or otherwise divided by them but will make her own decisions.
Jaime was fun, but I expected to like him more than I really did. He was very... I dunno, quippy, like a Joss Whedon character. And it's not that it felt less realistic than the others' reactions, because I get that he was seeking refuge in humour out of fear/stress. But it made him less interesting to me. I did like that Jaime and Mae were constantly protecting each other, rather than that protectiveness being a one-way thing, as it often seems to be in stories.
CENTRAL SPOILER starting here Nick, I thought, was very well done for what he was. Of course, I knew what he was when I started reading, so I got to enjoy the foreshadowing and stuff, but his alienness is clear and scary but not offputting, downright sympathetic at times. I loved the way Alan was the sole moral center of his world, the way that center crumbled through subsequent revelations of Alan's lies. I have to say, I don't find Nick a "cool" character -- I find him scary and sympathetic, but I can't say I actually like Nick. (And I'm a little bzuh at the fans who profess to have a crush on him...)
My favorite character, as already mentioned, was Alan. There are a lot of things I like about Alan. I'm a sucker for protective older brothers to begin with, and as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Alan is a protective older brother who is a Magnificent Bastard. And I love Magnificent Bastards, and I especially love that in this case he is a good guy. A good guy who is willing to lie to his brother his entire life, maneuver him to be trapped in a demon circle, and then set a demon free, on the strength of, basically, a hope. I love the fact that Alan is a good guy but does questionable things -- but for a good reason! -- but they're still questionable! -- but he knows they are! This is a really neat combination for me, and this is one character I'm looking forward to seeing more of. (I want to see how Nick navigates his new-found knowledge of what he is, but Alan I want to be around for himself.) One of my favorite Alan moments is when they have Gerald captured and Alan is prepared to torture him (I don't think this is in conflict with also planning to let him get free...) but not prepared to let Nick torture him because Nick doesn't feel it's wrong.
Actually, probably, my favorite character for true is Alan and Nick's relationship. I guess I kind of have a big kink for powerful people whose moral compass is external to them? I hadn't ever thought of it like that, but now that I do, two (or three) of my favorite relationships in the Magnum Opus and MORP have that as part of their core, so apparently I do. The way Nick tries to be human for Alan, the way, even though he knows just how good a liar Alan is, he thinks Alan would not lie to him, and is devastated to discover that Alan does, the easy banter at the beginning and the partnership at the end, when Alan is shooting people in the dark, and, of course, the ending. Yeah, this is pretty much the kind of relationship I would eat up with a spoon. I found especially affecting the scene where Nick literally (magically) gives Alan his voice so that Alan can speak for him -- and how that turns out.
I have to say, the magic/worldbuilding was kind of meh to me. Not a big fan of demons in general, which is probably a big part of why, and the Goblin Market and the dancers didn't feel like an integral part of the story (so... not especially looking forward to book 3, which seems like it will be dealing with all that even more heavily). The magicians... could be interesting, but still not feeling it so much.
I did like the way the big reveal was foreshadowed (especially Nick's sickness when crossing running water), and convoluted by the reveal of Alan's family vs Nick's, and red herringed by suggesting that Nick was Black Arthur's son. I mean, I was spoiled for it, so I knew what was coming, but I did think it was nicely done.
Quotes:
"'Look, please come in. I can explain everything.' || It was a testament to Alan's powers of persuasion that they did not laugh in his face. It was a testament to Alan's powers of looking nonthreatening that he could manage it with the door open on their destroyed kichen, with a corpse on the floor. [...] He let them see the limp: He used that the same way he used everything."
"The other kids avoided Nick, as if they could smell the violence on him. It didn't bother Nick; he could smell the weakness on them."
"'I don't want him to see me cry.'
'I don't want to see you cry either,' Nick said.
Her face softened slightly, and he realized she'd taken that the wrong way. Nick imagined spending the next five minutes explaining to her that actually she could cry all the time if she liked, he just didn't want to see it, and then shut his mouth."
Olivia: "That's the problem with wanting someone who will change the world for you. Choose a man with that much power over the world, and all he really wants is more power."
And there are a whole lot of moments, little scenes, not melodramatic at all as they might have been, that work really well at being creepy and twisting the knife. Like:
"The woman was suddenly breathing hard, in small gasps weighed by fear. 'Don't hurt me.'
[...]
Nick put his lips to her ear and whispered,'Why not?'"
After Nick told Alan that he knew about Alan's aunt and said "Too bad [...] She got dragged in."
"Alan's hand tightened on the gun, and for a moment Nick thought that he might use it. Then he lowered it, slowly, as if he thought that he might use it too."
"He felt for an instant like the assembled pieces of some weapon Black Arthur had built. || He turned away from his mother and toward the door. He should not have come.
'I'm not him, you know,' he said over his shulder.
'I know,' said Mum. 'I loved him.'
52. Charlaine Harris, All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse, book 7) -- I liked this one, one of my favorite in the series, even though it's pretty dark. Spoilers It probably helps that Eric is around for so much of it, and I like the broader look we get at the vampires, and also Sookie and Barry's actions when the hotel is attacked and during the rescue efforts (but also the fact that they don't just want to be co-opted by the government, that Sookie wants to keep her life and her job, which I can totally understand). I liked that you see both the familiar vamps being all cuddly and cute, like Russell and his new husband, and the ruthlessness of vamps nominally on Sookie's side, not just Andre, who's always been pretty scary, but also Sophie-Anne, who has all of the Arkansas vamps murdered.
I thought the attack and rescue, the strongest part of the book for me, were quite well done -- better than I was expecting from the series, I will admit. It is maybe a tad improbable that almost all the major players survived, but that's where the next book kicks in. I especially liked the description of Sookie finding Bill, who was apparently counting on her to do so. (I have to say, I'm very surprised, but I'm sort of warming up to Bill and his hopeless devotion to her, now that Sookie is quite certain she's over him.) And I liked the fact that Sookie wants Andre dead, but can't bring herself to kill him, but doesn't stop Quinn either... but that witnessing it changes their relationship, too.
Speaking of the relationships: Eric's meddling is great as always, the mix of lascivious and actually devoted, as when he offers to share blood with her instead of her having to go through it with Andre -- and then flaunts the wet spot. Him rubbing Bill's nose in it, like when he makes Bill stay at the book selling Vampire Facebook instead of coming up to Sookie when she is holding the bomb, is also highly amusing. But Quinn is boring, and their sex is sort of embarrassing, although I was glad to see that Sookie is actually serious about laying out the terms under which she will sleep with him, instead of going along with whatever as in the previous books. I'm actually pretty impressed with her growth as a person over the course of these books.
So, this was a good book. I liked seeing Mr Cataliades the demon lawyer again, and I liked the high stakes in this one (though I have to say, I have a hard time believing that anybody's security is this sucky), and I liked how Sookie behaved under pressure, and how resourceful she has become, and how justifiably unapologetic about a lot of the stuff she has to deal with. And I liked the fact that she and Barry are quite different in their attitudes towards what they do, but manage to work together, but not without friction -- that seemed realistic, more than what I was expecting.
As for minor details, it was great to see Pam and Amelia make each other's acquaintance, and find out that Pam loves Dear Abby. And also neat to find out Pam's backstory. And LOL at Eric being a priest. And I enjoyed a look at the vampire convention, and especially the goods sold there. Oh, and it was interesting to see Sookie out of the South for the first time, and ruminating on some of her prejudices against northerners while facing their prejudice against southerners, when she goes investigating with Barry.
So. Britlingens? Something Harris made up, or is this a bit of actual mythology? All the google links I can find seem to lead to True Blood and these books... but sometimes that's 'cos of a particular author's spelling...
Quotes:
Eric: "I didn't see it [the arrow] coming."
Sookie: "Oh, would you have flung yourself in front of me?"
"No," Eric said simply. "Because it might have hit me in the heart, and I would die. But I would have dived in and tackled you to take you out of the arrow's path if there had been time."
53. Charlaine Harris, From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse, book 8) -- This was a let-down for me after the last one. Major Spoilers! The only thing that impressed me was the way so many of the survivor vamps from the previous storyline get offed in this one -- it's unexpected, after the near-miraculous way they all came throught the bombing. Everything else was kind of meh.
I didn't find the Nevada vamps' takeover very interesting as a storyline and I find them boring as characters, though maybe that'll develop later. I find the shifter stuff rather random and am kind of tired of it. I mean, I like Calvin, but I'm sick and tired of Crystal (though I did think Sookie was judging Jason a bit too harshly; like, that was totally a douchey set-up, but I don't think he is more guilty than the cheating wife, unless he's cheating on her too and just managed to catch her first). The witches/Bob subplot and the Were pack shenanigans just sort of felt tacked on.The fairy great-grandfather, huh. It could be intriguing, but so far, not terribly interesting, though it did give rise to a ocuple of nice lines, like this exchange between Sookie and Claudine:
C: "The prince is my grandfather."
[...]
S: "So what do you call him? Granddaddy? Popsy?"
C: I call him 'my lord.'"
I'm glad to see the end of Quinn (and that Sookie concluded that sleeping with him had been a mistake) -- and was happy he wasn't around much in this book -- but I do feel like Sookie breaking up with him is authorial deus ex machina. She wants to be first in the life of the guy she's with... well, maybe she'd get that with Bill, but, seriously -- that seems kind of unlike Sookie, I have to say (I was happy to see Quinn actually calling her out on this in the next book, and I don't think she had much of a response...). And Eric conveniently remembering everything all of a sudden... yeah, really stretching my disbelief. I may have been happier about it if he hadn't started calling Sookie "lover" again -- oh god, make him STOP! I mean, Eric is my favorite character and Sookie/Eric is more interesting than anything else in these books... but apparently I really strongly prefer it as UST. And Bill's continued attempt to one-up Eric are quite amusing, too ("'Know this: I will die for her. If you harm her, I'll kill you.' Bill turned his dark eyes on Eric. 'Can you say the same?'" And I especially like the fact that Sookie is having none of it: "Apparently Bill was conducting a kind of stealth campaign to win back my regard. I wondered if he dreamed I could love him again. [...] I figured my regard would be the outer limits of what he could hope to earn. Trust, love? I couldn't see that happening.")
I am intrigued by the introduction of Hadley's son and am looking forward to see where the kid telepath thing with Hunter goes.
Small random things:
Once again I liked the little details that show Sookie is living in the real world, like the fact that the bridesmaid's shoes she has to borrow pinch. On a different "little details" note, I could've definitely done without Sookie referring to her ladybit stutteringly as "my, my, hootchie" (*groan*).
Ahaha, of course Eric has vanity plates on his car XD ("BLDSKR").
"I'm a terrible Christian and a decent survivalist."
54. Charlaine Harris, Dead as a Doornail (Sookie Stackhouse, book 5, read out of order) -- I just really don't care for the Were/shifter heavy books as much. Spoilers And the sudden profusion of love interests for Sookie all intersecting was definitely a bit much. I do like Calvin Norris and liked him in this one. Quinn licking Sookie on first meeting and immediately starting to call her "babe" was just very WTF -- now I, retroactively, want to slap him even more than I did in Definitely Dead. Bill's continued moping after Sookie and her reactions to him (this is before Spoiler for next book Eric makes him tell her the queen had sent him) were pretty entertaining. Eric is always entertaining, and he mostly was in this book -- and I enjoyed the tension between him and Sookie over the days he doesn't remember. Sam is nice but I'm glad it went nowhere. And then there's Alcide, whom I liked in Club Dead but who turned into a total asshole in this one. Way too many guys panting after Sookie...
A couple of things I did like: Sookie realizing that even though she misses Bill, it's not like he is her one true love. Sookie and Alcide talking about what happened in the trunk of the car in Club Dead and calling it rape (well, "near-rape" is as close as Sookie comes, but that's already way better than glossing over it, and Alcide does call it rape outright). Sookie determined not to jump into things with another guy. A lot of the things that had bugged me about her and her relationships in previous books are turning out to be features rather than bugs, or at least being retroactively remedied, and I like that. And I thought the way the fire and Sookie's reaction to it were written well -- especially the way a little detail triggers her breakdown days later. A lot of those details and Sookie's thoughts felt more nuanced that much of the other writing; I liked that. And I liked that she fought off Mickey by herself.
I should also mention that one of the things that I'm starting to like about Sookie as a heroine is that she lives an everyday life and has to worry about everyday things -- making sure she has coverage when she takes off from work; keeping up an insurance policy on the house and paying hospital bills; going to the library to renew books. While a lot of urban fantasy protagonists seem to be strapped for cash, it's usually kind of an abstract thing, and with Sookie the mundane concerns are very concrete. I also find it interesting that Sookie remains largely law-abiding, and even reflects that she would be better off if, instead of getting rid of Debbie's body, she'd just let the police sort out that she had killed her in self-defense. That's also a refreshing attitude. And I liked her tallying of who stood where at owing whom -- it's such a, I don't know, plain and cold way of thinking about things that I think worked well here.
The central mystery was kind of meh, and the suspicion falling on Jason and the deadline of the next full moon especially felt artificial/illogical (given that shifters can change at other times, too). I suspected Sweetie, partly because I knew she wasn't going to be around in later books. For the same reason, I figured something was going to happen to Charles... but I was sorry to see him die. I liked the vampire pirate and his gallant ways. (But I don't think it counts as a lynching if he asked to be killed, rather than turned over to the police...)
Oh, but Pam's concern for Sookie and "don't get shot again" flowers were just delightful. As was Eric's lack of sweeping skills.
55. Charlaine Harris, Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, book 9) -- not one of my favorites, but not bad. Major spoilers for EVERYTHING
The shape-shifters are generally not of a whole lot of interest to me (but I was sad about Tray dying; he seemed like a decent sort). I do generally like the Hotshot crew. I can't say I like how Crystal's death was handled. Having wicked Fairies be responsible is kind of a cop-out, on the one hand; on the other hand, having Mel be killed for it (even though he sort of seemed to welcome the punishment) felt off, too. And also, that's two for two dead gay men... Not a very good track record :/ I liked Mel, too (had called him being in love with Jason; and of course it makes sense that Jason's fairy blood would be just as attractive to men who swing that way as to women). Also, I have a hard time seeing Arlene's progress from man-happy, not very smart woman to bigoted would-be murderer. So, yeah, this whole side of the story left me rather unsatisfied. The one thing I did find interesting about the weres coming out were the implications of those athletes and such who turned out to be weres.
The war of the Fairies angle was a bit better. I liked the way Sookie handled the fairy attack ("He was looking down at the blood seeping through his fingers with an expression of absolute amazement, as if he couldn't believe I'd ruined his ensemble"), and subsequently arming herself with supersoakers of lemonade. I liked the last stand, especially gravely wounded Bill being prepared to fight and Eric and company treating that as completely normal. I can't say that Harris's fairies are particularly interesting to me, but that's not what these books are about, so that's OK.
I am usually quite affected by scenes of torture, even brief or elided mentions of them... but in this case Sookie's torture didn't really have that effect on me. Not sure why, and not that I'd want it too, but it was just kind of weird that it didn't.
What's with all the babies/dead fetuses? Other than echoing pregnant Crystal and the loss of her unborn child. Claudine's announcement and death mirror it pretty closely (to the point of pointlessness...) And then there's Tara (which ought to be interesting).
The Sookie and Eric relationship... eh. I definitely find it more interesting when it's UST, but OK. I found the sex scene between them both somewhat cringeworthy and also kind of hilarious ("I am too big for some." Of course you'd need to mention that, Eric XD). I did like the point where Eric asks Sookie to bite him (just for fun) and she automatically wonders why, because she is so used to looking for ulterior motives in all his actions. And I liked the scene in Fangtasia where Sookie has the brief fantasy of Eric being all gallant to the girl with poor self-esteem, but of course Eric doesn't actually give a damn. One of the most interesting things in the book to me was Eric talking about his life before and just after he was turned: his wife and children, and also his relationship with his sire. I am fairly indifferent to the Eric/Sookie vampire marriage, apparently. But I am glad it was done the way it was done, with Sookie unknowing and subsequently ambivalent, but just too tired/harried by everything else to really get into yelling at Eric about it. And I liked Eric's line: "I always tell you the truth. [...] I may not tell you everything I know, but what I tell you... it's true." Because it's a far more realistic demarkation of "true love" (or whatever) for someone like Eric.
I continue to like Sookie's domesticity, little notes like the fact that her dry clean only pants were bought by mistake, and that she keeps having to go to the library, and that she goes around switching off the lights after Amelia because, unlike Amelia, she is used to worrying about the electric bill. It was interesting to see that her fondness for the sun is maybe also a heritage of her fairy blood -- but that she quickly got to the logical conclusion that it's not likely to save her from skin cancer. And I thought the revelation that the reason Sookie likes working in a bar is that she gets to brush along different minds all the time worked pretty well. And I thought her reasons for not wanting to work for the FBI were very solid, too. And I also like that this Sookie is much more independent, doesn't like feeling helpless even when faced with forces that clearly do overmatch her, like the fairies, and also does sensible things like checking that the Jason knocking on her door is actually Jason. I like to see how much she's grown.
Random things:
I was very amused by the idea of the vampire reality show.
Apparently Sookie finally found out the busboy's name?
Currently reading: Catch-22, of course. Still in the middle of various books: Firebird (by Mercedes Lackey), By the Mountain Bound (by EBear), a children's book I'm hoping to pass on to L, a vampire book that I like in theory but isn't keeping my attention very much. I am planning to read Best Served Cold and First Lord's Fury next, but I had the bad judgement to open The Lies of Locke Lamora today, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to put it down...