Fantasy Fiction

[smockery]

Carol Nelson Douglas is another author that has started writing a series containing vampires/werewolves/other beasties.

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I'm a supernatural politics/mystery reader, although the politics are not really my favorite thing. Maybe just because almost everyone in the series I have read does it where the vampires have a vaguely naughty Dangerous Liaisons royal court drama situation going on, and the werewolves of course have a pack hierarchy where they do it like the animals do it, and sometimes there are some sexy fairies around who also usually have a royal court structure. I do enjoy Kim Harrison, because although politics come into play the books just focus more heavily on the exploits of the cast and the problems they face from being supernatural beings. And I like Charlaine Harris, but not for the politics (I've said that I think Charlaine Harris is what Laurell K Hamilton would be if she had talent, charm and a sense of humor, but I do think that the structure of her supernatural world relies really heavily on Hamilton's, although maybe that's because I read Hamilton first, more's the pity. But Harris also read Hamilton first. But, like I said, it seems hard to structure the world of vampire and werewolf hierarchy in a way that hasn't been done before). I personally don't really dig vampires being all organized, it messes with their whole loner persona.

I'd be up for a separate thread for that subgenre, or maybe just a thread for Charlaine Harris since she doesn't have one here. With discussion on the books and their tie-in to the TV series I think we'd have enough to keep it alive. Every week I'm all, "huh, that's so different from the book" or "hey, that was done a lot better than in the book."

I haven't even heard of some of the people on LurkerNan's list, so I'm kind of excited to check some of those out. If anybody has a specific recommendation I'd appreciate it!

[comfortablynumb]

Oct 24, 2008 21:52:56 GMT -4 @marchingpenguin said:

I'd be up for a separate thread for that subgenre, or maybe just a thread for Charlaine Harris since she doesn't have one here. With discussion on the books and their tie-in to the TV series I think we'd have enough to keep it alive. Every week I'm all, "huh, that's so different from the book" or "hey, that was done a lot better than in the book."

I haven't even heard of some of the people on LurkerNan's list, so I'm kind of excited to check some of those out. If anybody has a specific recommendation I'd appreciate it!

Emphasis mine. I would love for her to have a thread. There's all kinds of things in the books I'd love to discuss.

[LurkerNan]

I'm hooked on True Blood, so I finally read the Sookie books all in one long string. It seems clear to me that Harris intended to seperate Vampire Bill from Sookie in order to write more books with Sookie "interacting" with other supernatural beefcake. So Bill became weak and submissive to his creator and inattentive to Sookie's financial stresses while giving huge amounts of money to his descendents, among other betrayals.

But HBO's Bill so far is so dang noble and protective, I don't think he'll ever get to the point where he's just some background character selling software to vampires. Plus... you know... The Hotness of Stephen Moyer.

[comfortablynumb]

Yeah, that's true. I don't hardly care for Book Bill, but TV Bill- rowr!

Let me ask you something. In the book where Sookie goes to New Orleans to sort out her cousin Hadley's affairs, did it seem to you that we were already supposed to know that she was dead. It did to me. In fact, while I was reading it, I kept looking to make sure I didn't skip a book. The way they talked about how the queen was at her house before and that she had witnessed Waldo dying for killing Hadley seemed like it happened in a previous book. Did you get that vibe as well?

I love the books, and can't wait until the new one comes out in March. I also like the show. I like how Tara and Lafayette are so fleshed out. I do feel like the books are trying to push Sookie and Sam together. I don't like that, but it may be because he and Tara are tied together in my head from the show.

[Deleted]

I actually went Googling because I was so sure I'd missed a book. I had no idea who Hadley even was. Apparently there was a short story in a collection somewhere that happened between the New Orleans book and the previous one where all that stuff went on. So if you're not that up on Harris's publishing you basically had no choice but to miss it. I never tracked the collection down because I didn't care that much, which is why I think publishing parts of your story in places other than your novels is silly. I mean, unrelated short stories about the characters are game, but scattering tie-ins around is sort of a pain.

Here's one that bugs me. In one of the books (I can look for it, but I don't remember which one, sorry - it's number 4 or 5, not one of the most recent ones) Sookie says that she has only read one vampire's mind twice, and that's Eric's. I only remember her reading his mind once, in the first book.

Speaking of supernatural beefcake, I think we've got enough and hope that Harris doesn't add any more suitors to Sookie's stable. By the time Quinn came around I felt like it was getting a little silly, with every guy that showed up being all buff and manly and then Quinn was like the baddest rarest shifter ever to shift. Bill and Sam are on the cute but regular-cute scale, I guess, although Bill was still described as pretty preternaturally sexy in the early books. (And I said in the other thread I find Book Bill whiny and passive-aggressive...can I just say I hate that exchange in Fangtasia in book 1 where he's cranky that Eric's checking Sookie out and says "Eric's much more handsome than I am." It just does not strike me as something a guy would ever say. I think it was intended as a matter-of-fact statement but I can't help but read it as petulant. And how he's heard sex with Eric is amazing. Really? Thanks for sharing.)

I like the guy that plays Sam, but I'm a little eh on how possessive and jealous the show is making him. He is, sometimes, in the books, but he also went over to Sookie's and had her clean all day to take her mind off worrying about Bill when she didn't know if he was burned up or not. It doesn't look like he's going to do that in the show, based on his behavior in the bar in the last ep. What makes him a genuinely good guy, IMO, is that he's there for her even though he doesn't get to be with her. He seems to take not getting to be with her out on her a bit more in the series. But I guess they're setting him up as a red herring killer.

That's a lot of geeking out for one post

[LurkerNan]

Oh, there was a HUGE hole in the plot continuity between the fifth and sixth book.

I read the teaser chapter at the end of the fifth, and it wasn't the first chapter of the sixth book, so I think Harris must have taken a left turn there in plot development. I thought it might have been the short story included in the Christmas anthology, because it's the only one I haven't read yet.

They had only ever mentioned her cousin as being wild and wilful, and not heard from in a while, and the next thin we know is she's going to clean out her cousin's apartment... which led to what she found out about Bill's Ultimate Betrayal...

But I'm still holding out for their ultimately getting back together again. The last book I read was the convention carastrophe, and Bill's "I knew you'd come" rescue by Sookie seemed to indicate to me that Harris hasn't given up on Bill altogether.

[Coffeecakes]

Here's one that bugs me. In one of the books (I can look for it, but I don't remember which one, sorry - it's number 4 or 5, not one of the most recent ones) Sookie says that she has only read one vampire's mind twice, and that's Eric's. I only remember her reading his mind once, in the first book

It did happen twice, at least I'm pretty darn sure of it. I think the second time happened in book 2.

[comfortablynumb]

Wow, I am lovin' this geeking out. I'm also glad to know that I wasn't the only one wondering "WTF" when it came to her cousin dying. I don't know why, if it's the romantic in me, but I'm kind of hoping that Sookie and BookBill find their way back together. I know the whole betrayal was pretty viscious, but I just can't help but root for those zany kids.

On another list, a reader said that they would never want them back together because his betrayal led to her rape. That's a pretty good point as well, but I thought she snapped him out of it before he raped her. It's been so long since I read them, I've forgotten a lot. I'm not saying an almost-rape isn't as horrifying, but Debbie was really to blame for that.

And this has totally nothing to do with anything, but I think they miscast the Sheriff. When I read the part of Calvin in the books, I picture him, and I picture him introducing his family, "I'm Calvin, and this is my brother Darryl, and my other brother Darryl...". I don't know why, it was just they first thing that popped in my mind.

I LOVE this thread!

[LurkerNan]

I do too! it's nice to know I'm not the only one burning out my eyes reading supernatural mysteries... or whatever they are called.

Harris seems to be on the fence about making Bill a bad guy. First he fools around with his ex, but you find out later the parent/child relationship forced him to do it, he had no choice. He almost rapes her in the trunk, but later she's present at a new vampire's rising and finds out starved vampires basically run on instinct, so that would apply to Bill when he was tortured. She find out their meeting was a big setup... but he had no idea she couldn't read vampire minds, so yes - he sought her out but would have to assume she'd find out he was sent by reading his mind... That doesn't mean he loved her any less.

He's repeatedly tried to come to her aid, only to be cock-blocked by Eric at every turn. I don't see how Bill could be the bad guy here... I'm hoping after the convention she realized she's in over her head with the high-powered vamps, and sticks to her local home-grown computer-nerdish variety. I haven't read the newest book, but I'm optimistic.