(no subject)
Sep. 29th, 2004 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflydreamingStolen from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
primal_shout and Ladybug, too. Ares, huh?
I finished Living Dead in Dallas, and I've just started Bitten, which has a nicely grabbing opening. This is Kelley Armstrong's first book, if I remember right, but she has an instantly professional style. I've heard good things about Bitten; I'm hoping I'll like it.
So, what looked like a mystery turned out to be one of those distraction-style mysteries, that opens with a dead body, then follows another storyline that isn't related, then goes back and solves the whodunnit very quickly, without any suspense. Too bad. But,dkellis, I wouldn't have recommended this author to you anyway.
There was enough to the storytelling that I may pick up the next book, keeping the series on probation for a little longer. It's something of a fluff read. At first, the sex scenes are descrete, but then -- wham! And the all out bodice-ripping that goes on 3/4 in was probably more fun for the author to write than it was for me to read. Ho-hum. A couple of snappy moments with the not-boyfriend, but my overall feeling was that Sookie gets entirely too much attention. What's the appeal? She locks lips with 3 different males inside of 262 pages, and is the object of interest of several more. I didn't buy it.
The maenad thing kind of works out, even satisfyingly. But the book is peppered with WTF moments, where character motivations are muddled or unbelievable. And I don't think that I'm missing something because I didn't read the first book.
The most interesting characters, by far, are Eric and Stan, the two top-banana vamps for their "nests" (for, respectively, Louisiana and Texas). Eric is a big, blonde, former Viking, and if he's not just a walking libido, then he might be enigmatic enough to be a lovely character. (Or maybe I'm just partial to blondes.) Stan is of questionable age, and looks like a nerd, even unto the taped glasses. He's one thing on the surface and another beneath. (Or maybe I'm just partial to brainy-looking types.) I'm guessing that there is going to be more of Stan, due to the thread of a storyline that has been left dangling.
The thing with this book is that it is very much part of a series. Like a majority of mystery novels (even though this sidesteps the genre), if your in for a lamb, your in for a sheep. They don't work very well as stand-alone.
I said that this is a fluff read, but there are also some moments that are very violent, though not explicit. Violent rape/murder, attempted rape, mass killing, mass retaliation killing, and an ugly little scene at the end. The contrast of what is implied and Sookie's "by golly"s bothers me, because the tones don't match.
primal_shout and Ladybug, too. Ares, huh?I finished Living Dead in Dallas, and I've just started Bitten, which has a nicely grabbing opening. This is Kelley Armstrong's first book, if I remember right, but she has an instantly professional style. I've heard good things about Bitten; I'm hoping I'll like it.
So, what looked like a mystery turned out to be one of those distraction-style mysteries, that opens with a dead body, then follows another storyline that isn't related, then goes back and solves the whodunnit very quickly, without any suspense. Too bad. But,
dkellis, I wouldn't have recommended this author to you anyway. There was enough to the storytelling that I may pick up the next book, keeping the series on probation for a little longer. It's something of a fluff read. At first, the sex scenes are descrete, but then -- wham! And the all out bodice-ripping that goes on 3/4 in was probably more fun for the author to write than it was for me to read. Ho-hum. A couple of snappy moments with the not-boyfriend, but my overall feeling was that Sookie gets entirely too much attention. What's the appeal? She locks lips with 3 different males inside of 262 pages, and is the object of interest of several more. I didn't buy it.
The maenad thing kind of works out, even satisfyingly. But the book is peppered with WTF moments, where character motivations are muddled or unbelievable. And I don't think that I'm missing something because I didn't read the first book.
The most interesting characters, by far, are Eric and Stan, the two top-banana vamps for their "nests" (for, respectively, Louisiana and Texas). Eric is a big, blonde, former Viking, and if he's not just a walking libido, then he might be enigmatic enough to be a lovely character. (Or maybe I'm just partial to blondes.) Stan is of questionable age, and looks like a nerd, even unto the taped glasses. He's one thing on the surface and another beneath. (Or maybe I'm just partial to brainy-looking types.) I'm guessing that there is going to be more of Stan, due to the thread of a storyline that has been left dangling.
The thing with this book is that it is very much part of a series. Like a majority of mystery novels (even though this sidesteps the genre), if your in for a lamb, your in for a sheep. They don't work very well as stand-alone.
I said that this is a fluff read, but there are also some moments that are very violent, though not explicit. Violent rape/murder, attempted rape, mass killing, mass retaliation killing, and an ugly little scene at the end. The contrast of what is implied and Sookie's "by golly"s bothers me, because the tones don't match.