Dead And Gone by Charlaine Harris

Dead And Gone
Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse mystery #9
Rating 5 stars

Read For:
What An Animal Challenge
42 Challenge


Synopsis:
A new Sookie Stackhouse book is always a treat! Sookie is a sexy, sassy cocktail waitress who works at Merlotte's Bar in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's just a regular gal, with all the normal hopes and fears, about dating, boys and life in general - oh, and she's telepathic. And her boyfriends have included Vampire Bill, her first love and the were-tiger Quinn. And Bon Temps is a pretty normal rural town, where murders are mercifully rare. Well, maybe not that rare, as Sookie keeps finding out in this award-winning, New York Times bestselling series! And this autumn Sookie comes to the small screen in True Blood, created by Alan Ball (Six feet Under) and starring Anna Paquin as the irrepressible heroine.

My Review:
My husband was able to get this newest Sookie book at our library so as you can see I had to play "catch up" and read All Together Dead and From Dead To Worse so I could read Dead and Gone before it had to be returned to the library. Of these three, Dead and Gone is hands down better than the previous two! My husband flew through the book first and stated that he felt was the best of the series so far, and I agree. The action, "hot" romance and mood of this story was very much "larger than life". The final "battle royale" put me very much in the mindset as when I read Harry Potter 7. Some semi-pivotal characters are "Xed" out of the story, one way or another.

The story is "almost" written, dare I say, that Charlaine could stop the series right here if she so chose-GASP! LOL. Now, I don't think that's the CASE, but Dead and Gone definitely has a "wrap up" feel.

Finally-without giving up too much: If you are on "Team Eric"-you MUST read Dead and Gone:)
5 stars!

From Dead To Worse by Charlaine Harris

From Dead To Worse
Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse Mystery #8
Rating 4 stars

Read For:
A To Z Challenge
What An Animal Challenge
42 Challenge

Synposis:

After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the manmade explosion at the vampire summit, everyone--human and otherwise--is stressed, including Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who is trying to cope with the fact that her boyfriend Quinn has gone missing.

It's clear that things are changing--whether the weres and vamps of her corner of Louisiana like it or not. And Sookie--Friend to the Pack and blood-bonded to Eric Northman, leader of the local vampire community--is caught up in the changes.

In the ensuing battles, Sookie faces danger, death, and once more, betrayal by someone she loves. And when the fur has finished flying and the cold blood finished flowing, her world will be forever altered.

My Review:
In some ways better than the last book but the story seemed more like a series of short storylines than a main theme. While that didn't upset this reader, as a "slice of life" in the Sookie world is always enjoyable, this book would be VERY confusing for anyone not aqquainted with the series.
I like that it appears that Quinn, the weretiger may be exiting Soookie's life as he's just become an increasingly annoying character, and I'm equally glad to see Sookie's relationship with Eric seeming to go to the front burner as well. All in all, not the best Sookie story but even a mediocre Sookie story is way better than most other Vampire books out there.
4 stars.

All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

All Together Dead
Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mystery #7
Rating 4.5 stars

Read For:
42 Challenge
What An Animal Reading Challenge
Read Your Name Challenge
Spring 09 Challenge


Synopsis:
Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has her hands full dealing with every sort of undead and paranormal creature imaginable. And after being betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Sookie must not only deal with a new man in her life-the shapeshifter Quinn-but also contend with the long-planned vampire summit.

The summit is a tense situation. The vampire queen of Louisiana is in a precarious position, her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans. And there are some vamps who would like to finish what nature started. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she'll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

My Review:
All Together Dead, to me, started out a bit slow. I don't particularly like the Quinn character so that may have been the problem. Fortunately about 80 pages in, when Sookie and Eric meet again, the books action ramps up and it's a great book after that.

Another fantastic book in the series! 4.5 stars.

Those Who Hunt The Night by Barbara Hambly

Those Who Hunt The Night
Barbara Hambly
Fantasy
Rating 5 stars
340 pages

Read For:
What's In A Name Challenge
Victorian Challenge
RYOB Challenge
42 Challenge
1st in A Series Challenge
Serial Readers Challenge

Synopsis: Someone - or something - is killing the vampires of London while they sleep during the day. Don Simon Ysidro, the oldest of the London vampires, hires Dr. James Asher, a retired member of the British Secret Service, to find this killer. Asher, who accepts this job for the price of his wife (Lydia)'s life, delves into the shadowy world of the vampires to find a killer that increasingly seems to be one of their number.

My Review: I loved this book. I only wish, A-I would have read this much earlier instead of letting it languish on my TBR shelf, and B-I would not have chosen to read it with my back in an uproar with a pinched nerve as I feel I would have enjoyed it even more:)

This Vampire fantasy slash historical mystery set in late Victorian (or early Edwardian-1906) England is a brilliant thinking man's Vampire novel. The three leads of the story-James Asher, his wife Lydia, and the Vampire Ysidro-are all mental giants, each brilliant in their own specialty. Asher, a former British agent, is sought out by centuries old Ysidro, a Spanish Vampire whose undead roots go back to Queen Elizabeth's time. Ysidro needs Asher's help in discovering who is killing off the vampires of London. To do so, he lets Asher know that not only his life, but Asher's brilliant wife Lydia's life hang in the balance if Asher cannot find the killer. Lydia, an unconventional Victorian Society woman is a great female lead. A woman who chose a career in medicine and Science over an advantageous Society marriage. Will her choice save or destroy her life?

Hambly's writing style is fast paced yet intelligent. Her knowledge of the period shines through and any aficionado of Victorian Fiction should try this book, even if they are not fantasy or Vampire fans.
I'm looking forward to reading the second book in the series, Traveling With The Dead, and Ms. Hambly's website states she's in talks for a third, long awaited book in the series.
Highly recommended-5 stars.

Golden Fleece by Robert Sawyer

Golden Fleece
Robert J. Sawyer
249 pages
Rating 2 stars.

Read For:
42 Challenge
RYOB Challenge
A to Z Challenge
Diversity Challenge

My Review:
A short review for a short book. Just your average sci fi novel. Vanilla storyline-nothing to endear or repel the reader. I wouldn't recommend it unless your a Sawyer fan who wants to read all his books

42 Challenge

This is a really unique challenge as it's not just books, but anything Sci Fi related-movies, TV, poetry, comics, graphic novels, etc. Wanna join? Click HERE:

THE INFO:
Officially starts January 1, 2009. Officially ends December 3, 2009. Giving you 42 weeks and 42 days. Unofficially, you can start whenever you join. (If that makes you feel better.) And unofficially you can finish whenever you can--early or late.

Your mission--if you choose to accept it--is to read, watch, listen, and review 42 sci-fi related items. (Items isn't the best word, but how else would you define all that this challenge could involve). What's acceptable? Practically everything: short stories, poetry (???), novellas, novels, episodes of TV shows, episodes of radio shows, movies, comic books, graphic novels, audio books, essays or articles about science fiction or science fiction writers, biographies of science fiction authors. This isn't quite as intimidating as it sounds. This is much more than a reading challenge. It would be intimidating (in all likelihood) to try to read that many books. But when you make each short story, each TV show episode count as individual items, then it is much more manageable I hope! (This challenge could be as easy as watching Season 1 and Season 2 of Stargate SG-1, for example.)

No lists are needed. Really. If you want to post about the challenge and talk about what you hope to get to that's fine, of course, but no one will hold you to it!

Save your list-making for later. Please make a post and list each item that you do read/watch/listen/whatever. You can link to your review there on that one post if you like.

Do you have to read anything? If you want to just watch TV shows and movies, that's fine. As long as you list/review them.

When you say review do you mean "review"? It can be completely casual. Think of it as a one-sided conversation you'd have with a friend. Talk about what you liked, disliked, if you'd recommend it, if you'd want to read/watch it again. You can get analytical if you like. But you don't have to get 'deep' unless you want to. The reviews aren't like writing for a grade. There is no judgement. :)

You can approach this in several ways. You could aim to do something A-Z ish. (Skipping the harder letters). Or you could go by decades and try to touch a little bit of everything. But really you make the rules when it comes to picking what you want this challenge to do for you.

To sign up for the challenge, leave a comment with your email address. Yes, there are ways to leave it where you won't be spammed. laney_po AT yahoo DOT com (for example). But if you feel really strongly about NOT leaving your email address at a stranger's blog...then send me an email. Why the need for an email address??? Well, I want to invite participants to join this blog. They can then post their lists/reviews on this site. (It's fine to also post the reviews on your own site as well.) This way everyone can keep up with everyone else's progress. It's always a good way to get recommendations too! OR you can just make one post where you list (see below) your 42 as you go. So obviously, you'll start out blank...but then the list will fill out as you go.

My List:
Items are reviewed on my blog click titles for reviews.

1.Book-Urban Shaman by C. E. Murphy

2.Beowulf DVD (animated starring voice talent: Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins-really very good, the artwork was astounding, very violent, not for little kids but my 12 YO had no problem with it-4 stars)

3.Book-Golden Fleece by Robert Sawyer-DONE-2 stars.

4.Book-Those Who Hunt The Night by Barbara Hambly-DONE-5 stars.

5. The Spirit DVD-starring Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Mendes-sorry to say but this was horrible! Sin City was bad, but this film made Sin City look like Shakesphere. Someone needs to stop letting Frank Miller write Dialog as he has ZERO talent for it. So glad I rented it for a buck ZERO stars.
6.Star Trek TNG "The Lost"-another overarching bratty Deanna Troi story: 2.5 stars
7.Star Trek TNG "Data's Day"-one of my favorites, gotta love Data and O'Brien's Wedding, and I believe the first appearance of Spot?-5 stars.
8. Star Trek TNG "The Wounded"-1st Cardassian's! Great story-5 stars
9.Star Trek TNG "The Devil's Due"-another fantastic story-a classic!-5 stars
10. Book: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

11.(Movie) Wolverine: Origins-starring Hugh Jackman-this "Old School" comic fan was very pleased with the movie. Lot's of action, Jackman obviously studied up on Wolvie mannerisms and character as he did a great job, and Liev Schribers Sabretooth was A+ as well-5 stars!
12. (Movie) Star Trek-starring Chris Pine and Zachery Quinto-I loved it, my husband not so much as the time travel aspect made him feel that the "altered universe" basically "wipes out" all previous Trek storylines. I disagree, though. All in all, I felt the cast was great and I'm looking forward to the next film. 5 stars!

13.Book: From Dead To Worse by Charlaine Harris
14. Book: Dead And Gone by Charlaine Harris
15.Star Trek TNG "Clues"-interesting story of the crews encounter with a highly xenophobic world and the drastic choice one crewmember must make to save the crew's lives-3.5 stars

16.Star Trek TNG "First Contact"-fantastic story of how the federation secretly goes undercover on a burgeoning world on the brink of space travel to "feel out" if they are ready for "first contact" with the federation-a classic Next Gen story-5 stars.

17.Star Trek TNG "Galaxy's Child-Geordi's fateful second meeting with his holo crush Dr Leah. Sparks fly as Geordi meets his crush in "the flesh". Very good and painful to watch for poor Geordi's sake:) 4 stars.

18.Star Trek TNG- "Night Terrors"-almost feels like a Halloween or "horror" episode. OK-definately not a favorite-2.5 stars.

19.Star Trek TNG-"Identity Crisis"-great Geordi storyline! 5 stars.

20.Star Trek TNG- "The Nth Degree"-BARCLAY! Enough said-5 stars.

21.Star Trek TNG-"Qpid"-a classic! Q, Vash, and the crew as Robin Hood and his merry men? What more could you want? LOL 5 stars.

22.Star Trek TNG- "The Drumhead"-another classic! Season 4 is the best. Jean Simmons is brilliant in her portrayal as Admiral Satie! 5 stars

23.Star Trek TNG "Half A Life"-Probably one of my top five TNG episodes! I always cry with this one-5 stars!

24.Star Trek TNG-"The Host"-a goody but Crusher and Riker kissing dis freak me out a bit. An interesting prespective on what "love" means-is it the physical or mental that we are most attached to? 4 stars.

25.Star Trek TNG-"The Mind's Eye"- another great Geordi storyline (which I don't think we see that much more of in following seasons)-the premise of brainwashing through his visor is intriguing-4 stars.

26.Star Trek TNG- "In Theory"-another of my favorites-great "Data in love" story. 5 stars.

27.Star Trek TNG-"Redemption, part I"-pivotal Worf story! 5 stars
28.Star Trek TNG- "Redemption, part II"- Season FIVE: loved getting Worf back on the Enterprise and of course Selah, Tasha's daughter! 5 stars.

29.Star Trek TNG- "Darmok"-love Paul Winfield but this is one of my least favorite episodes. 3 stars.
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