Dead to the World

With every book in this romance-mystery-vampire series, Harris ups the ratio of supernaturals to humans, and yet, it doesn’t feel over the top. And in this book, in which we encounter both “good” and “evil” witches, the author uses her trademark humor tinged with pathos to emphasize the necessity for judging group members as individuals, rather than by resorting to stereotypes.

Dead to the World continues the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse, a 26-year-old hottie waitress/barmaid in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She has just broken up with her vampire boyfriend Bill, and she runs into Bill’s powerful boss Eric, who is disoriented and has lost his memory. It turns out that area witches put a hex on him. Moreoever, they want to drain show more his blood, since a vial of blood from a vampire as old as Eric can fetch up to $500 on the black market. (Drinkers of vampire blood gain strength, attractiveness, and healthiness, but the effects are temporary, so the practice quickly becomes addictive. Vampires victimized by “drainers” run the risk of being weakened and left to die when the sun comes up.) It takes a boatload of vampires, werewolves, witches, and even a fairy - plus Sookie, of course - to put the situation to rights.

Eric, whom we previously knew as “sinister and sexy” is now vulnerable and sexy, and he’s staying with Sookie who is protecting him. But she needs protection herself from her awakened sexuality, now lying dormant since her breakup with Bill.

Meanwhile, Sookie’s brother Jason has gone missing. Is he, too, a victim of the witches? One flips through the book with addicted bated breath! Will Sookie succumb to Eric? Will the hex be broken? Will Bill try to get Sookie back?

Favorite Anecdote: Sookie is being comforted by Alcide Herveaux, a big manly guy who is also a werewolf. Sookie reports:

"Since his shirt wasn’t buttoned, I found my face pressed against his warm chest, and I was glad to be there. The curly black hair did smell faintly of dog, true, but otherwise I was comforted at being hugged and cherished.”

Evaluation: Come on! You know you want to read these books! show less

Dead to the World
4.5 Stars

When small town waitress and closet telepath, Sookie Stackhouse stumbles across an amnesiac vampire wandering around in the woods, she immediately recognizes him as Eric Northman, the arrogant and domineering Sheriff of Area 5. After taking him home and cleaning him up, Sookie discovers that an Eric with no memory is sweet, vulnerable and oh so sexy. Unfortunately, the witches who cursed him are hot on his trail, and Sookie will have to pull out all the stops to keep him and those she cares about safe.

The Sookie Stackhouse series is not to be mistaken for serious literature in any shape or form. Nevertheless, the characters are engaging (aside from Bill the jerk) and the stories are fast-paced, action-packed show more and highly entertaining.

Dead to the World is the best book so far, and this is mainly due to the wonderful dynamics between Eric and Sookie. While Eric's charm and humor have been apparent from the start, and his deeper feelings for Sookie have been hinted at, these traits come to the fore in this installment as his amnesia allows Sookie to lower her guard and get to know the softer Eric beneath the smarmy façade.

In addition to Eric, Sookie's supernatural harem gains another member, Calvin Norris who joins Sam, Bill and Alcide in their affection for her. However, at this point, it remains unclear which of the "bachelors" will go home with the prize as each is problematic in their own way.

In terms of the story, there are two apparently connected threads - the witch coven's plot to usurp the Shreveport vamps and weres, and the disappearance of Sookie's incorrigible brother, Jason. Although rather predictable, both are well-developed with one or two compelling twists and turns that will have intriguing consequences going forward.

All in all, these books are light, fluffy and fun. However, readers expecting a written version of the TV show are going to be disappointed as any resemblance between the characters and the plot developments is superficial at best. Can't wait to see what is next for Sookie and her cohorts. show less

I love Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries. Sookie Stackhouse is down-to-earth and no nonsense and Harris creates such an engaging voice for her. And for someone like me, who likes a blend of genres, well this series is a fusion of romance, mystery, fantasy and humor. This is the fourth in the series, and you should really read the others first.

At the beginning of this novel, Sookie finds the vampire Eric Northman, naked and stripped not just of his clothes but his memory. This brings a very different Eric to the fore, and as the summary in the back of the book states, the vampires, weres and witches aren't as great a danger as this Eric is "to Sookie's heart--because this version of Eric is very difficult to resist..." And show more that, in a nutshell, is what makes this book in the series my favorite to date and made me an Eric fan and initiates a tension between Eric and Bill as rivals to Sookie's heart (and the readers) from here on end.

It's not just that romantic strand though which stands out in these books. I think one of the things that keeps me coming back to this series is all the recurring minor characters that create a sense of the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana as a community. There's this small moment toward the end of the book that encapsulates it for me. Sookie is a telepath and knows more of the secrets of this community than anyone--including Sookie--really wants to know. Two very minor characters that reappear from time to time are Kevin and Kenya. Kevin is white and Kenya black. And Sookie knows something they don't--that they both are in love with the other, but both their families would fiercely oppose an interracial union. It's a very small moment, a paragraph or two, but an example of how Harris bonds me to even characters with very short moments in these books--let alone major ones like the vampires Bill, Eric and Pam or Sookie's boss and friend Sam and her brother Jason. show less

Oh my Miss Stackhouse, aren't you just the coolest thing since sliced bread?
This one has been my favorite of the series so far. I'm a tad bias though because of all Sookie's male comrades, Eric is the crème de la crème. So what better than a book featuring him! Even without Eric, Harris really impressed me with this one. Her previous novels in the series seemed to be lacking a certain something that I never really could put my finger on, but in this book everything was spot on. My only consternation (word of the day) is with the cover. Isn't it just a little bit creepy that Sookie looks thirteen at the oldest in the artwork?

Resumo: Depois da festa de passagem de ano, Sookie dirige-se para casa e encontra Eric a correr sozinho na estrada que vai dar a sua casa. Está descalço, sem t-shirt, veste apenas umas jeans e, pior que tudo, está sem memória de quem é ou o que faz aí. Depois de o levar consigo para casa há que descobrir o que se passa com ele. Sookie, Pam e Chow decidem que é melhor que Eric fique escondido em sua casa até que se descubra o que aconteceu. Jason decide pedir um pagamento pelo "favor". Mas no dia seguinte Jason desaparece misteriosamente e a dúvida surge: será que o desaparecimento de Jason está relacionado com as bruxas que tentaram usurpar os negócios a Eric? Estas bruxas são um perigo para as várias comunidades de show more sobrenaturais existentes: São bruxas lobisomens que consomem sangue de vampiro. O confronto é inevitável e vai obrigar que as duas comunidades, vampiros e lobisomens se unam para as derrotarem. Mas mesmo depois da luta, descobrir quem levou Jason não vai ser tarefa fácil. Por outro lado, a amnésia de Eric permite que ele e Sookie se aproximem como antes não tinha sido possível e tudo parece ter sido um belo sonho quando este recupera a memória, pois não se lembra de nada do que aconteceu.

Crítica: Acho que tenho que deixar de minimizar a escrita da Charlaine Harris, por ser tão simples e acessível, porque ela consegue, com palavras simples e acessíveis escrever de uma forma que emociona e prende. Divertido (como os anteriores), comovente, cheio de clichés românticos mas deliciosos, tem momentos de grande intimidade entre personagens como já pouco se encontra nos livros. Eric está para a Sookie do lado oposto que Bill: eles conversam, ele ouve-a, não a pressiona. É o verdadeiro Eric? É o Eric sem ser vampiro? Ou o Eric antes de mil anos de vida? A honestidade é a qualidade que existe em ambos os Eric, mas o amnésico, talvez por não conseguir medir a extensão dos seus actos, demonstra o que sente de uma forma aberta e inocente, parecendo um adolescente apaixonado pela primeira vez.
Também outros pretendentes de Sookie marcam a sua presença: Sam, com o seu apoio incondicional e carinho constantes, Alcide com o seu calor e entusiasmo e um novo possível pretendente sobrenatural. Bill aparece pouco e só posso dizer que é um alívio, pois é um personagem desinteressante. No geral, o Clube de Sangue tinha um enredo de crime e mistério mais interessante mas este Sangue Oculto apresenta umas cenas de batalha muito mais excitantes de ler. Os vilões são mulheres e bastante mortíferas! Também foi o primeiro livro que fez o encadeamento entre o terceiro volume, fechando algumas dúvidas que tinham surgido (como é que Bubba conseguiu entrar no apartamento de Alcide sem ser convidado) e abrindo novos mistérios para resolver em livros seguintes.

Pontos Positivos: A cena do chuveiro!! A Pam que nunca desilude! Talvez a melhor vampira da saga. A promessa de Eric a Sookie antes da luta, é absolutamente de partir o coração aos bocadinhos.


Pontos Negativos: A Sookie lembrar-se constantemente de Bill. O pouco uso que a Sookie fez da sua telepatia neste livro.


Expectativa e estado de espírito: De todos os livros da saga Sangue Fresco, este era aquele que eu mais desejava ler. Sendo uma grande fã do Eric Northman, tanto nos livros como na série, e sabendo que as fãs americanas lhe chamavam O LIVRO, a expectativa era grande. Posso dizer que superou bastante a expectativa que dele tinha. Também é importante dizer isto: como é que a Charlaine Harris escreve um personagem assim: loiro, alto, belo, poderoso, viking, com mil anos de idade e "joie de vivre", apaixonado e bom amante, e depois dizer que não entende o fascínio dos fãs em relação a ele? Pena já não me lembrar onde é que ela disse isso... mas a sério, ela recentemente disse que iria fazer a releitura de toda a saga para se preparar para os 3 últimos volumes e espero que ela veja o que todos nós fãs vemos! Se há personagem que mereceria um spin-off, seria ele que eu gostaria de continuar a ler.

Fez-me reflectir sobre: Até que ponto seria complicado mudar-me para a Suécia para conhecer um "viking" como o Eric! A luta pelo poder que não olha a meios para atingir o fim. show less

Rating: 3.9* of five

The Publisher Says: In Sookie Stackhouse—a Southern cocktail waitress with a supernatural gift—Harris has a created a heroine like few others, and a series that puts the bite back in vampire fiction. Now the hit series launches into hardcover for Sookie's biggest twist-filled adventure yet.

When cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse sees a naked man on the side of the road, she doesn't just drive on by. Turns out the poor thing hasn't a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric the vampire—but now he's a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life.

My Review: Sookie's life isn't dull, is it? I'd hate to be a character written by Harris, because one thing would be show more sure and certain. I'd never get a single uncomplicated moment's peace.

Bill's the ex, Eric's the new boy, and Jason (Sookie's playa of a brother) has vanished. That right there, in a person's real life, would be enough for a Jamaican escape cruise and a year of therapy to be necessary. Sookie, she gets no rest. She's got a powerful ancient vampire living in her basement, bereft of his memories and therefore stripped to his essential nature. That he also happens to be a gigantic, gorgeous blond Viking with a millennium's-worth of sex secrets to share (the mind might forget but the body doesn't) makes Sookie's rebound from her breakup with Bill one heckuva lot of fun, in the sack at least.

It's that pesky out-of-bed world.

Eric's memory was taken from him for a reason. There's a new group in Shreveport with domination of the supernatural community on their minds, the witches. Some bad, bad witches. With some really nasty plans for Shreveport, and getting rid of Eric is step one. He's the supernatural law, after all.

Sookie struggles with the fear and grief of losing her brother, her one surviving blood relative, throughout the book. It just can't be good that Jason's vanished after starting a relationship with a werepanther girl. Calvin Norris, the leader of the bizarre werepanther community of Hot Shot (out at the ancient native trails crossroads near Bon Temps), adds to the complexity of the situation by getting a little bit of a Thing for blonde, busty bimbo-lookin' Sookie-with-the-special-powers.

Sookie's world, once devoid of companionship, now teems with people of both genders, all imaginable persuasions, and every conceivable level of bizarreness, all wanting a piece of the woman, and her special mind-reading powers. She was isolated, and now being left alone sounds awful good. She battles the dark witches, she finds her brother, she sacrifices the simplicity of loving for the honorable and dutiful complexity of restoring balance to as much of the world as she can reach.

It's a pretty darn spiffy, if jam-packed, episode in the Stackhouse Files.


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Oh. My. God. This series keeps getting better and better! I knew I loved Eric before, but WOW!

First off, I was highly disappointed to see that Alcide and Sookie didn't develop into a relationship. I'd make babies with that wolf guy, even if I had wolf babies in the process. The guy is walking perfection...minus his love for Debbie. But he abjured her, so he wins massive points in my book.

Debbie Pelt got EXACTLY WHAT SHE DESERVED! A shotgun is putting it mildly, and I get the sense that she won't disappear forever, or at least not in name. She's too evil to just die off....

And Eric....oh the hot Viking has a soft side. I pray that he remembers his love for Sookie eventually and she lets him back in, he'll treat her WAY better than Bill show more would. I appreciate that Bill cares for her and that Sookie loves him as anyone would love their first, but he doesn't deserve her.

I also loved that the books finally became more than just supes/vamps with this edition. The introduction of witches and fairies, as well as the implication that there is more than just the vampires to contend with, helps make the world that Charlaine Harris more plausible. If one thing that goes bump in the night exists, why wouldn't all the others?

Applause all around, these books are killer! show less