rating: 2 of 5 stars
The plot of this book was entertaining, continuing to excite me about the direction of the “True Blood” series on HBO. However, Harris’ writing continues to leave much to be desired. A 300-page book simply should not use the phrase “that’s another word I learned from my Word-of-the-Day calendar” more than once, much less what was at least 6 times, and maybe up to a dozen by Harris in this book.



I also feel like she contradicts herself in her characterization of Sookie. On the one hand, you have the non-stop Word-of-the-Day references that make Sookie seem quite simple and relatively uneducated. On the other hand, Sookie immediately recognizes the bouncer at the bar as a goblin. C’mon…



I have to move on to a more well-written book next or I’ll lose my patience entirely with this box set.


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rating: 2 of 5 stars
Charlaine Harris’ writing improved a little from the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, but I still only rate the book as ‘ok’. There was very little mystery in the plot — most questions were answered almost immediately after they were presented. It also seems like this book was yet another attempt to introduce some characters for later usage in the series, without providing any real hints as to why they needed to be a part of this book.



On the plus side, this is a pretty darn quick read, and it gives me some hope about the 2nd season of True Blood.


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My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was definitely an entertaining read. I really liked Junot Diaz’ style. The story develops from the perspective of multiple different characters, and the writing is in a mix of English and Spanish (which I simply inferred the meanings of) that pulls you a little further into the world of the Dominican main characters. The biggest surprise and maybe even the overall point of the book, though, is that the book serves as a bit of history lesson about the Dominican Republic. I can certainly say that none of the historical elements discussed in this book were ever taught in my History classes.

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