Review: TRUEBLOOD Season 2

TrueBlood Season 2
DVD box set

Just like Season 1, the entire Season 2 is a serialization of the Sookie Stackhouse #2, Living Dead In Dallas book. Click here to go to my review of Living Dead In Dallas. And okey, Sookie, the main protagonist, is still annoyingly stupid... But this time around it's not just her, but the entire town is now TSTL (too stupid to live)!

The episodes tends to end in a cliffhanger, so I am so glad that I got the entire DVD of season2 box set. The finale episode is the climax of the book. I would therefore advise viewers to have all the episodes of season 2, i.e., all the DVDs, at hand before starting to watch this TV series to avoid frustrations resulting from cliffhanger endings.

The TV show differs slightly from the book, however that is expected. In fact I think it is what makes the show worth watching even though one might have read the book already. There are still surprises in store for the viewer to watch an alternate version of the series in the show. However the show aligned very closely with the book that as a Sookie Stackhouse series fan, I do not have real complaints about it.

I have to admit that the cinematographic presentation is great! The combination of 3D animation technique with live actors gave a very believable effects on the screen. Specially the supernatural scenes. That and Charlaine Harris' world building skills is what keeps me (possibly) coming back for more despite the TSTL characters.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries


True Blood Season2 Trailer:

Living Dead In Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Book 2 of the Sookie Stackhouse series

Genre: adult urban fantasy

About Living Dead In Dallas:

Waiting tables, sweeping floors, reading minds and solving mysteries for the undead. It's all in a day's work for Sookie...

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a streak of real bad luck. First, her co-worker gets murdered and no one seems to care. Then Sookie is attacked - and poisoned - late one night by some weird and apparently mythical beast. She only survives because the local vampires roll up and graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it). But in return the blood-suckers need a favor.

Which is why Sookie ends up in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire, on the condition that her undead friends don't do anything, well, vampiric while she's there. Easier said than done. All it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly...

Source: Info in the About Living Dead In Dallas was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/110494.Living_Dead_in_Dallas on 11/07/2011.

Books In This Series:

WW28: GEIST

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering : Geist by Philippa Ballantine

Page 28, 1st Sentence:

"Good." Sorcha nodded, daring another look.

Or do we only see what we want to see? That seems to be one human trait that this book got pat down...

About Geist:

Geists don’t always play by the rules.

Between the living and the dead is the Order of the Deacons, protectors of the Empire, guardians against possession, sentinels enlisted to ward off the malevolent haunting of the geists…

Among the most powerful of the Order is Sorcha, now thrust into partnership with the novice Deacon, Merrick Chambers. They have been dispatched to the isolated village of Ulrich to aide the Priory with a surge of violent geist activity. With them is Raed Rossin, Pretender to the throne that Sorcha is sworn to protect, and bearer of a terrible curse.

But what greets them in the strange settlement is something far more predatory and more horrifying than any mere haunting. And as she uncovers a tradition of twisted rituals passed down through the dark reaches of history, Sorcha will be forced to reconsider everything she thinks she knows.

And if she makes it out of Ulrich alive, what in Hell is she returning to?

Source: Info in the About Geist was taken from the author's website at http://www.booksoftheorder.com/?page_id=4 on 11/06/2011.

Review: MAGIC MOURNS

MAGIC MOURNS in the Must Love Hellhounds anthology by Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh, Charlaine Harris and Meljean Brook
Book 3.5 of the Kate Daniels series

Genre: urban fantasy

About Must Love Hellhounds:

From New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris and Nalini Singh and national bestselling authors Ilona Andrews and Meljean Brook, tales of man's worst friend...

In these hound-eat-hound worlds, anything goes... and everything bites. Follow paranormal bodyguards Clovache and Batanya into Lucifer's realm, where they encounter his fearsome four-legged pets, in Charlaine Harris's The Britlingens Go to Hell. Seek out a traitor in the midst of a guild of non- lethal vampire trackers, one that intends to eradicate the entire species of bloodsuckers, in Nalini Singh's Angels' Judgment. Find out why the giant three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades has left the underworld for the real world-and whose scent he's following-in Ilona Andrews's Magic Mourns. Embark on a perilous search for the kidnapped niece of a powerful vampire alongside her blind- and damn sexy-companion and a hellhound in Meljean Brook's Blind Spot. These four novellas by today's hottest paranormal authors will have hellhound lovers everywhere howling.

Source: Info in the About Must Love Hellhounds was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6286042-must-love-hellhounds on 05/06/2011.

Review:
This review is only going to talk about Magic Mourns by Ilona Andrews out of the four stories in this anthology. For the hound part which is the theme of this book, Ceberus made a nice appearance in the story. This being a short story, it is also a very quick read. It actually felt like a 2-minute read! Despite the space constraints of a short story, Magic Mourns managed to be well structured with an introduction, a central dilemma and a satisfying ending. Something that I found a lot of short stories fail to achieve. Having said that, I am a long-time Kate Daniels fan, therefore, I might have taken for granted all the cultural nuances of the story which might confuse those reading into the world of Kate Daniels for the first time. In other words, I am biased. I therefore suggest that you do not read this short story if you haven't read the first three books in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews yet. Besides, you'll be cheating yourself out of a wonderful reading experience if you skip straight to this short story!

The openning salvo sees Andrea rescuing Raphael from Ceberus which is comically drawn in this picture by chibi. And it's action after action until the end. Awesome!!

My favouritest part about this short story is when it explained the "apples" to me. I wondered about those "apples" when it got mentioned in another Kate Daniels installment, not sure which book it was now. And I really liked it that, that mystery was explained in this short story! Magic Mourns also gave insight into the nature of one of the characters which I also really liked! Another kudos to the Kate Daniels series! However, it also spewed a whole slew of questions!

Empirical Evaluation:
Character Development = 5
World Building = 5
Plot = 4
Story = 4
Pace = 5
Ending = 4.5
Story Telling Quality = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Wishlist: Darker Still

WISHLIST:
Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber
Magic Most Foul series #1

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 25 Oct 2011

Desription:

The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Pride and Prejudice, with a dash of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

New York City, 1882. Seventeen-year-old Natalie Stewart's latest obsession is a painting of the handsome British Lord Denbury. Something in his striking blue eyes calls to her. As his incredibly life-like gaze seems to follow her, Natalie gets the uneasy feeling that details of the painting keep changing...

Jonathan Denbury's soul is trapped in the gilded painting by dark magic while his possessed body commits unspeakable crimes in the city slums. He must lure Natalie into the painting, for only together can they reverse the curse and free his damaged soul.

Source: Info in the Description was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10841336-darker-still on 08/07/2011.

Review: Dresden Files DVD

Dresden Files TV series
A TV adaptation of the Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher.

This series never made it to the UK so I had to buy it as DVD. Now, I am a long-time Harry Dresden fan. The key word there is "longtime", meaning, it has been a long time since I've read the books. Yes, yes, that means I'm old... Anyway, as I watched a marathon Harry Dresden, of course I can't help comparing it to the books. Like Susan is brunnette and Murphy is blond in the books, but in the film, it's the other way around. It's irritating. For one, I like Murphy. And I like her blond. That's how I first came to know her. Then all of a sudden this series screws it all up. And for some reason I always saw Warden Morgan as a modern-day Boromir. Never a suave Conrad Coates. Coates played well, it just did not quite fit the book's description of Warden Morgan as I envisioned him. A tough, hardened, disillusioned wizard-fighter in the modern world. There are about 4 episodes in one DVD. There are 4 DVDs in the set I bought. After the first DVD, I had to stop watching as opposed to my planned marathon because it was just irritating. It took another month before I continued watching on to DVD 2. By then I've gotten over my irritation and actually enjoyed DVD 3. Since I was not planning on marathons anymore, I did not have enough time to watch DVD 4. Still planning on watching #4 but probably not straight away.

The series is actually good. However, if you are a longtime Harry Dresden book fan (with all your preconceptions), you might find this series slightly irritating like I did. I guess it is the unavoidable comaparison between the books and the TV series that happens there. In which case I can see where this series was cut after the first season only despite it's very good combination of 3D animation, human actors, and film effects. Had I seen this series before I'd read the books, I might have enjoyed it a whole lot more. I would give this series a score of 3.5 out of 5.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Trailer:

WW28: TAKEN

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

WW28 book offering : Taken by Lilith Saintcrow

Page 28, 1st Sentence:

It shouldn't have happened.

There sure seems to be a lot of "denial" going around in this book...

About Taken:

Sophie Wilson never believed she was special. Avoiding a violent ex, she can’t remember the last time she felt truly safe. Then vampires murder her best friend and Sophie is kidnapped by a dangerously sexy shapeshifter.

Zach insists Sophie is a shaman–someone with a rare gift for taming a shifter’s savage side–and he needs her to help him save his pack. Now, with a malevolent enemy closing in, Sophie and Zach must risk everything on a bond that may be their only salvation…

Source: Info in the About Taken was taken from the author's website at http://www.lilithsaintcrow.com/journal/the-books/taken/ on 21/06/2011.

Review: THE IRON DAUGHTER

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
Book 2 of the Iron Fey Series

Genre: YA, urban fantasy

About The Iron Daughter:

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.
Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's stuck in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Source: Info in the About The Iron Daughter was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7747064-the-iron-daughter on 24/08/2011.

Review:

The way the writer painted the story to life is quite breathtaking in this second book, The Iron Daughter. The surroundings and new characters was really imaginative. I also like the inner message of the story. The reality of the past fading and modernisation taking over. That's so true.

Meghan Chase was still not my cup off tea in this book but I pushed through, because the story did it for me, it kept me from wanting to find out more and explore Nevernever further.

I have to say I thought I would not enjoy this book as much, but I was wrong. It had everything in it. War (well 2 wars intertwined into 1), deseat, cheat, crimson and so mush more. And the twists.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Can't wait for the third book. Its got this book to contend with.

Books In The Iron Fey Series:


Thank you to Mira Ink for the review copy of The Iron King by Julie Kagawa received!