Club Dead

After breezing through the first books in the Southern Vampire series, I started Club Dead with rather low expectations. While I though the ideas behind the previous book were excellent and innovative, the actual writing left quite a lot to be desired. At times, they greatly resembled porn written by a pubescent girl- not really the most appealing style.

This book really started to turn the tables for me. Perhaps it was because for once, we get to see a character actually care about Sookie. Perhaps because there was little to no Bill (who I adore/d on the show but am very annoyed with in the books- even when Sookie is head over heels). Maybe it's just that Charlene Harris is finally improving her writing style. At any rate, I actually genuinely enjoyed this book, and I'm incredibly excited to read the next one. I can barely wait for it to come up off the hold list at my library.

This book marked a great change from the previous in that there was little to no graphic romance scenes, which frankly, made me quite uncomfortable in the previous novels- more because they were poorly written than because I'm a prude. This book neglected that aspect of the story, for which I'm really glad. It also helped flesh out more of Eric's character, and gave more backstory in terms of the universe Sookie is living. I loved that the solution to the problem plaguing Sookie for the second half of the book had a surprising end. Even though it was incredibly obvious, I didn't see it coming. I also loved the introduction of Alcide- it was nice seeing more supernatural beings. I was a bit disappointed that the show seemed to go more in depth with the various vampire courts, but I do recognize that delving into such things in that book would have significantly deviated from the overall plot. Finally, I think the best part of this book was that Sookie did step up for herself. Not only did she do the primary ass-kicking in this book, but she also stood up for herself in her relationship. Despite the fact that she's clearly still in love, she at least grew a backbone and acknowledged that she wasn't being treated as well as she should of.

This book really made me start to recognize the potential in the series- and not just for the ideas. While little aspects of Harris' writing style still annoy me (really? Word of the day calendar?), she's definitely improving in technique. I can't wait to read more- though the next book is when I stopped watching the show- spoilers, eep!

(4/5 stars)