Date Started: 27-04-2025
Date Finished: 28-04-2025
Rating: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I can't remember the last time I read for pleasure. Not that I don't love my Classics, but I'm always looking for something in them, find myself analysing every line. Intellectualism is great, but lately I've been craving escapism. I usually turn my nose up at romance novels, especially fantasy romances, but well... I just finished True Blood for my dissertation and though it wasn't the best TV I've ever seen, frankly I'm just craving more Eric Northman. He, Pam and Jessica are probably the only interesting characters in that whole series. I'm not sure if I'll tackle the whole series or just the first book yet, but it'll be nice to use this to unwind regardless. Usually, I just post a quick review on Goodreads every time I finish a book, but I think intermittent check-ins might be more useful.
Notes:
- It's so very interesting seeing Sookie be called "cher" by Sam, when it was unique to Rene in the show (past episode 1). Sookie considering herself as disabled too. I do miss Tara.
- I cannot get over how goddamn BORING Bill and Sookie are.
Quotes:
- "It was one of God’s jokes that such a dumb mind had been put in such an eloquent body."
- I wondered who had taught him to drive a car. Henry Ford, probably.
- He was wearing blue jeans and Grateful Dead T-shirt, and suddenly I began to giggle.
- “Oh, I took some night school courses in psychology,” said Bill Compton, vampire.
And, I couldn’t help thinking, hunters always study their prey.
Review:
True Blood is by no means prestige television, but Alan Ball created miracles from this cardboard flavoured novel. Like I said, Sookie and Bill are BORING! And it takes a lot for me to find a vampire boring. I don't much like TV!Bill either, but at least he has something compelling about him. There's no chemistry between the two either, and I don't buy for a second that either of them love each other. The book feels so hollow, with not a single character fully fleshed out. I was really hoping for more focus into the urban fantasy aspect of the story with a focus on racial politics, but was sorely disappointed. In fact, her handling of it feels borderline offensive. Like yeah, I know Sookie is sheltered and naive but for her to keep referring to people as "blacks" in her narrative voice without any dissassembly of it in favour of awful sex scenes at inoportune times rubbed me the wrong way. Sookie barely reacts to anything either. She's barely even mad at Sam when she discovers how he's violated her trust. In fact, she feels nothing about anything at all it seems. She's at most, mildly inconvenienced by the death of the woman who raised her, and gets over it pretty quickly with more bad sex. Her telepathy is brought up repeatedly, but is rarely used for any plot-relevant purpose. I thought I could push through the series for Eric, but I'm not a masochist and honestly, I don't really want to know how dull Harris' version of him is. Dare I say Twilight was better written? Oh yeah, and Elvis is a brain-damaged vampire so half a star for that?