The Plot Points:
- Sookie is forced to accompany the vampire Queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne, at the vampire summit.
Sookie is asked to stand on trial as a witness for Sophie-Anne to use her telepathic abilities to help keep the vampires of Louisiana safe.
- Sookie finds out more about her boyfriend, the shapeshifting weretiger, Quinn.
Quinn is popular and highly respected in the supernatural world, but Sookie never knew why… until now.
- Sookie is now bonded with Eric.
Sookie was forced to drink Eric’s blood for the third time and is now bonded with him. Their blood connection has become so strong that Sookie can now read the thoughts of vampires. Sookie’s starting to wonder if this is due to her becoming closer to vampire than human at this point.
How could an author (especially a female one) make a male character bald?
The Tolerable:
- Sookie’s relatable moments part two.
Sookie is slowly turning into a more likable character. She’s still annoying, but her character has become easier to relate to.
While Sookie was working, Selah, Bill’s new lover, came in to pester her. Sookie, fed up with Selah’s tormenting, thought about lifting her hand “and raising it to slap the sh*t out of [Selah]” (59). Sometimes people just need a little discipline with the back of a hand. However, Sookie was able to control her impulses, making it more relatable since most know better than to act on impulse, no matter how rewarding it might feel.
Similarly, another incident, having to do with Bill (or Nameless), also gives more incident to Sookie’s better qualities.
Sookie states that she “might hate every molecule in [Bill’s] body”, but he is “undeniably there”, forcing her to put up with him (148). Having to put up with someone you hate in difficult situations is not an easy task, making Sookie seem that much more resilient when she does.
Sookie is written to be very violent and aggressive in this book, but who doesn’t have these kinds of thoughts every once in a while?
When Sookie is asking the werevampire for information on Quinn, she quickly becomes irritated when he starts making stupid comments about how she should “know” about Quinn since they’re dating. However, Sookie wouldn’t be asking if she knew, so she thought about “jump[ing] on his back and beat[ing] him around the head with something heavy” (163). Honestly, her reaction was valid.
People (or supernatural beings) who say irritating things that have common sense answers should have repercussions so they can know better.
- ‘Merica!
It’s always funny to see the author incorporate these “American” statements into Sookie’s thoughts, and they do well to add a little light-heartedness to the series.
In this book, Sookie brings up the fact that she had “grown up a free United States human citizen” and, “wasn’t used to [her] fate being in question” (210). It’s ironic reading the difference in how America was viewed when this book was published in 2007 compared to the present day. Typically now America is seen in a more negative light where there’s no consideration of the citizens, whereas in this series Sookie is a proud American.
The Rage Fuel:
- The annoyingly bad grammar and wording.
Harris has the tendency to include a lot of awkward wording and weird sayings throughout the book.
The first case of this weird wording is when Sookie is being thanked for helping a friend and she responds with “no big” (24). The phrase should be “no biggie” or “no big deal”. Stopping it at “big” leaves the sentence hanging and makes it awkward to read.
Later on, Sookie is excited to finally see Quinn after he has been gone working. When she sees him, she wraps her arms around him and “strop[s]” herself to him (92). In this context, it’s easy to assume that the author was trying to give the reader a better visual of how Sookie wrapped herself around Quinn. But that understanding doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable to read.
There are also multiple times Sookie will use middle-school-like wording instead of saying an actual cuss word.
For example, she thinks to herself “who [is] dog poop now?” after finding out the Queen’s lawyer murdered someone in Mexico, because he was acting snobby and stuck-up before this secret came out. The other time she does this is when she is complaining about her day and out loud says that her day is “effing complete” (190). Considering that this series has multiple “sexual” scenarios with perverted men, the author can afford to use a couple of “bad words”. It takes the reader out of the situation and they don’t really fit into the context given.
The “dog poop” comment is more similar to an understatement considering Sookie just found out that the aforementioned lawyer murdered a prostitute in Mexico, and yet Sookie is more focused on the fact that she can be seen as a better person than him.
Similarly, with the “effing” situation, Sookie is acting full of herself and loves to be over-the-top sarcastic.
Harris does this again when she has Sookie tell someone to save their “drama for their mama” (127). This isn’t funny and is instead gross to read. Sookie keeps trying to come off as a “cool independent woman” when she’s just ruining it for those who actually are.
- Quinn is bald.
This may seem like a stupid or unnecessary section, but it’s not. How could an author (especially a female one) make a male character bald? Of course men should not have unrealistic expectations on how they should look and they should love themselves especially for things they can’t help (male pattern baldness), but Charlaine Harris seems to disregard what her readers may prefer to visualize or even give them the ability to come up with their own image of Quinn.
To add on to this shock, when it was mentioned in the book that he was bald it was a complete “jumpscare” that also did him dirty. Harris adds into the book that Quinn’s “shaved head shone in the sunlight” (29). She could have eased into it a little bit better, so the readers don’t visualize Quinn’s baldness as this bright beacon.
Also he’s a tiger? He is said to have plenty of hair when he shifts into a tiger, so why can’t he have hair when he’s a human?
There are already too many bald white men in this world, we could at least be spared from reading about them in books.
The Overview:
- Tolerability: 3 out of 5 “good enough”s
- Jumpscares: 4 out of 5 heart-drops (solely because of the Quinn thing)
- Ickiness: 4 out of 5 icks
- Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
