Read by Johanna Parker
Book 2 of the Sookie Stackhouse series
Format: audiobook
Genre: adult urban fantasy
About Living Dead In Dallas:
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.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...
My Thoughts:
What do I like most about this book? I have to say, it's the world building. The author has a masterful flair when painting the world of Sookie Stackhouse for the reader. It's so believable that it is soooo easy to suspend disbelief... it's so easy, that it's effortless! I would give the world building a 5 out of 5.
Now, the pace... it is quite difficult to rate the pace when it comes to audiobooks because a listener can only go so fast as the reader in the audiobook. A listener simply can't go faster than the reader. So if the tape or CD says 10 hours worth of listening, then that is a 10-hour-paced book. Thus I say that rating the pace of a book in audio format is not applicable (N/A).
I know that Sookie, the main protaognist, can be annoyingly stupid at times from book 1. But I didn't know that it's going to be a persistent characteristic which is going to carry into book 2 and possibly the entire series. And that is my biggest pet peeve
with this series thus far. Now, if you are a more forgiving reader than me, then you might just be able to overlook this, and if you do, I promise you you'd have a wonderful reading time! (Or listening time, as the case may be.) Because really, this book is a good read!!
Now I can understand why this series has a lot of following. By the time I finished the audiobook, I wanted another one, despite promising that I would never ever buy another Sookie Stackhouse book ever again at the start of this audiobook. Gotta give the story telling quality a lot of kudos for being able to convince me to change my mind at the end of the book.
And of course, I simply cannot review this book without mentioning Eric Northman in a momentous costume... because this is the book which gave us Eric Northman in purple spandex! This image here is HBO's version of it
.
Now, the pace... it is quite difficult to rate the pace when it comes to audiobooks because a listener can only go so fast as the reader in the audiobook. A listener simply can't go faster than the reader. So if the tape or CD says 10 hours worth of listening, then that is a 10-hour-paced book. Thus I say that rating the pace of a book in audio format is not applicable (N/A).
I know that Sookie, the main protaognist, can be annoyingly stupid at times from book 1. But I didn't know that it's going to be a persistent characteristic which is going to carry into book 2 and possibly the entire series. And that is my biggest pet peeve
with this series thus far. Now, if you are a more forgiving reader than me, then you might just be able to overlook this, and if you do, I promise you you'd have a wonderful reading time! (Or listening time, as the case may be.) Because really, this book is a good read!! 
Now I can understand why this series has a lot of following. By the time I finished the audiobook, I wanted another one, despite promising that I would never ever buy another Sookie Stackhouse book ever again at the start of this audiobook. Gotta give the story telling quality a lot of kudos for being able to convince me to change my mind at the end of the book. And of course, I simply cannot review this book without mentioning Eric Northman in a momentous costume... because this is the book which gave us Eric Northman in purple spandex! This image here is HBO's version of it.Empirical Evaluation:
Story Telling Quality = 5
World Building = 5
Character Development = 4
Plot = 3.5
Pace = N/A
Story Itself = 4.5
Ending = 4
Narration = 4.5
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries
Books In This Series:
Wow. Good to know.
ReplyDeleteBut I must admit, that picture scares me a bit ;)
Great review!
I'm a casual fan of Trueblood, but I'm sorry to say I can't get into the books at all! I read the first four, including this one, and I just found Sookie way too annoying. Good review though.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a big fan of the series but haven't been keeping up with some of the recent books. I'll probably read it one day, if not then I'll watch the TV show since I like that as well.
ReplyDeleteo_O That pic of Eric is disturbing, lol
ReplyDeleteJuju at Tales of Whimsy.com - Thanks Ju! :)
ReplyDeletefairypenguin - Darn! I was kinda hoping that Sookie's annoying stupidity wouldn't last too long... into book 4 as well, huh?
Jenny N. - Like you, I probably wouldn't read the books anymore, I'll just watch the shows.
Blodeuedd - As far as I've read so far, Eric IS a disturbing kind of vampire...
I have only read the first four books in this series but I'm afraid Sookie's annoying stupidity does continue (at least it does in the books I've read so far)! But I'm still hoping to read more soon.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of Eric's but I must admit that that pic scares me!
Thanks for visiting my blog earlier and for entering the giveaway/becoming a follower :)
It's disheartening to know that Sookie's TSTL (too stupid to live) act extends as far as book4 :(
ReplyDeleteIt is kinda difficult to wrap my brain around a purple Eric...
Pleasure is all mine Chrissie! :)
Wonderful review, and thank you for the picture! lol. I have to say I have not started this series yet. I've heard great things of it and would like ot give it a try one day. :) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by Mel! :)
ReplyDeleteOut of all the books in this series this one is my favorite. I thought a lot happened in this one. Great breakdown of your review!
ReplyDeleteHezzi-D - This is also the first book which tantalized readers with the possibility of a love triangle between Sookie, Bill and Eric... have to admit the intrigue is very interesting :)
ReplyDelete