Review: DEAD RECKONING

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Read by Johanna Parker
Book 11 of the Sookie Stackhouse series
Format: audiobook
Genre: adult urban fantasy

About Dead Reckoning:

With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. But Sookie suspects otherwise and she and Sam work together to uncover the culprit - and the twisted motive for the attack. But her attention is divided. Though she can't 'read' vampires, Sookie knows her lover Eric Northman and his 'child' Pam well - and she realises that they are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, she is drawn into the plot -which is much more complicated than she knows. Caught up in the politics of the vampire world, Sookie will learn that she is as much of a pawn as any ordinary human - and that there is a new Queen on board . . .

Source: Info in the About Dead Reckoning was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7981206-dead-reckoning on 24/09/2011.

My Thoughts:

In this book, Sookie's ponytail caught fire thus her hair needed to be pruned... do you think her blond curls would be as short as Cassie's in the pic here? One thing remains the same... the main protagonist, Sookie Stackhouse, is still too stupid to live... *sigh*... however she seems to be improving, or I'm getting used to it and more tolerant... either way, I find this book a whole lot less annoying than the rest of the books in this series thus far. The ending resolved the story's main dilemma, however, it was sort of an anticlimactic after all the build up tension towards it in the plot. In other words, Ms. Harris seems to have improved in the plot development and story structure department but it seems that her story telling quality has slagged a little bit with this book.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story Telling Quality = 3
World Building = 5
Character Development = 3
Plot = 4
Pace = N/A
Story Itself = 3
Ending = 2.5
Narration = 4

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Sookie Stackhouse series:

Review: DYING BITES

Dying Bites by DD Barant
Read by Johanna Parker
Book 1 of The Bloodhound Files series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback & audiobook

About Dying Bites:

Her job description is the “tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers.” What this really means in FBI profiler Jace Valchek’s brave new world—one in which only one percent of the population is human—is that a woman’s work is never done. And real is getting stranger every day…

Jace has been ripped from her reality by David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA. He knows that she’s the best there in the business, and David needs her help in solving a series of gruesome murders of vampires and werewolves. David’s world—one that also includes lycanthropes and golems—is one with little knowledge of mental illness. An insane serial killer is a threat the NSA has no experience with. But Jace does. Stranded in a reality where Bela Lugosi is a bigger box office draw than Bruce Willis and every full moon is Mardi Gras, Jace must now hunt down a fellow human before he brings the entire planet to the brink of madness. Or she may never see her own world again…

Source: Info in the About Dying Bites was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6295913-dying-bites on 26/09/2012.

Narrative Evaluation:

I decided to pick this series up just because I won Book 3 from a blog contest and thus sits in my TBR shelf occupying space I am fast running out of. But me being me, I cannot read a series by jumping to Book 3. I have to start from Book 1, thus this book got read. Plus the fact that I am an old Johanna Parker fan, so when I learned that she is the narrator for this audiobook, it got bought. This would also be the first Johanna Parker audiobook I've listened to which is not a Sookie Stackhouse book. And after listening to 11 Sookie Stackhouse books, Johanna Parker's voice is now associated with Sookie in my head. So much so that when I first listened to this audiobook I had a bit of a disorientation and Sookie's world merged for a time with Jace's world that DD Barant has created. Or maybe it is just a warning telling me maybe I ought to ease up on the urban fantasy books... Nah!!! Anyway the world building is wonderful and I would love to see more of this alternate universe of lycanthropes and pires!

It was interesting in the beginning and I was excited to listen to it. Then it kind of slowed down a bit in the middle and didn't pick up again until the very end. If I was reading this paperback without listening to the audiobook format, I would say that it was alright, but wasn't very fast.

At the end of it, I enjoyed this book and have the next book on request at the library already. So I would say, it's a good start to a promising series!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4
World building = 4
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 3 (9 hours of listening time)
Plot = 3.5
Narrator = 5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries


Thank you to the RCT Library for letting me borrow this book!!

FTC Disclosure:
The audiobook format was purchased with personal funds. The paperback was borrowed from the library. No money received for this review.

Review: MEAN SPIRITS

Mean Spirits by Meg Cabot
Book 3 of The Mediator series
Narrated by Johanna Parker
Format: paperback & unabridged playaway audiobook
Genre: YA, urban fantasy

About Mean Spirits:

Meet Susannah Simon: she's a typical teenage girl who just happens to be a ghost-hunter ...oh, and she's also dead-over-heels for Jesse - the sexiest spook ever! But can this girl get her ghost? In "Mean Spirits", Suze is all set to spend a relaxing summer on the beach, until she runs into the vengeful ghosts of four high-school students. She must use her mediating skills to guide these ghouls through the afterlife and stop them wreaking havoc in the present. In "Young Blood", Suze is heartbroken when gorgeous ghost Jesse doesn't seem to love her back. When his 150-year-old grave is unearthed in her backyard, she is determined to discover how and why he died. But one thing's for sure - digging up the past can be a deadly business...

Source: Info in the About Mean Spirits was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7704978-mean-spirits-young-blood on 19/10/2012.

Review:

I obviously like Johanna Parker so the narrator rating is of course a 5 out of 5. And I think the narration is the best part of this book. In book 1, Love You To Death, Susannah (the main protagonist) made mistakes but she hadn't been out and out stupid. For somebody who'd survived "mediating" and dealing with all kinds of souls including powerful vengeful ones, for years, she sure does not display an ounce of self preservation. Never mind sense. So Jesse tells her to run because these angry ghosts will kill her and she LAUGHS and dares the ghosts to "bring it on". When said ghosts beats the shit out of her, she whines. WTF! At which point not only do I want the ghosts to beat Susannah to a pulp but kill her as well because not only is she just too stupid to live and survived only by sheer dumb luck, but she was just asking for it! Would I recommend this book/series to anybody? No. The world building and story telling quality are not bad but the heroine is just too unbelievably moronic.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3
Character development = 1.5
Story itself = 2.5
Ending = 1.5
World building = 3
Cover art = 2
Pace = N/A (6 hours and 15 mins listening time)
Plot = 1.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries

Thank you to the RCT Library for letting me borrow this audiobook.

FTC Disclosure:
The audiobook format was borrowed from the library. The paperback omnibus was purchased from Tesco with personal funds. No money received for this review.

Review: LOVE YOU TO DEATH

Love You To Death by Meg Cabot
Book 1 of The Mediator series
Narrated by Johanna Parker
Format: paperback, audiobook
Genre: YA, urban fantasy

About Love You To Death:

Meet Susannah Simon: she's a typical teenage girl, who just happens to be a ghost-hunter ...oh, and she's also dead-over-heels for Jesse - the sexiest spook ever! But can this girl get her ghost? In "Love You to Death", Suze arrives in California and has barely unpacked when her mediator skills are put to the test. A vicious spirit in her new school is hell-bent on making her life a complete nightmare, but Suze is more than ready to kick some serious ghost butt if she has to. In "High Stakes", Suze's new life is looking up - cool friends, pool parties and getting to know Jesse (swoon), but then a desperate spirit asks for her help. Suddenly she's on the trail of a creepy local businessman, who just might be a vampire. Life just got dead complicated. Again.

Source: Info in the About Love You To Death was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7704979-love-you-to-death-high-stakes on 13/10/2012.

Review:

I've never tried Meg Cabot before so I decided to start with this one. Another reason for picking up this book is that, I already have the book. Bought it on sale at Tesco and had been sitting in my TBR pile for the longest time! Third reason is that it's in my genre, urban fantasy. Fourth reason is that the audio format is free from the Library. And last but not the least, I love listening to Johanna Parker! So the moment I knew that there is an audio format of this book by Johanna Parker, I would have bought it if it wasn't free from the library. But good thing for my budget, I didn't have to. So, biased as I am with Johanna Parker, it goes without saying that the narrator is going to rate a 5 out of 5 even before I started listening to this audiobook!

What I love the most about this book, though, is the character development. This is a young adult (YA) book right? But there isn't any of that too stupid to live (TSTL) characteristics that some authors think that they must endow their characters if they are YA to make them YA. WTF! Thank god Meg Cabot is not one of them! Anyway, Suze, our main protagonist, still make mistakes as one expects of a young person but somehow the author manages to make it so that it does not feel like our young protagonist is TSTL. Instead it makes a reader relate to the character. It makes Suze endearing instead of annoying.

This is the shortest audiobook I've ever listened to, giving it the impression that this book is a whole lot quicker than the 6 hours it is suppose to be. I imagine that if I was reading the paperback (without listening to the audiobook format at the same time), I would say that this book is a quick little read!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 3
Pace = (5 hours & 59 minutes listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries

Thank you to the RCT Library for letting me borrow this audiobook.

FTC Disclosure:
The audiobook format was borrowed from the library. The paperback omnibus was purchased from Tesco with personal funds. No money received for this review.