So, here we are in book three, in rapid success- here on the blog, I'm spacing out the reviews a bit, but in real time, I've read three of these books in about 12 days, and I'm halfway done book four. It's definitely time for a break, because though I love Harris' world building, and I love the world Sookie lives in, there's a lot to dislike in these books as well.

First of all, I had forgotten how much re-hashing Harris does. Yes, it's a series, yes, I'm re-reading them rapidly, and not spaced out over a year or two like she probably had intended, but it's just insane how much re-hashing there is, in the form of Sookie's internal dialogue with herself. Some of the rehashing is done well enough that I don't mind it, but even at the end of the book, there she is rehashing stuff that happened in prior books and how it relates to her current situation. The books aren't terribly long as it is, and I just feel like the rehashing is done not because Harris is trying to clarify things for the reader, but in order to stretch out her plot to novel length, not novella length (I'd prefer a shorter story then all the rehashing). This is why I started really hating her books, not the stupidity of the characters, but the rehashing/retelling. Ugh. And I forgot all of the clothes descriptions. Seriously mind boggling, long, boring, drawn out descriptions of clothes.

Next, I'd forgotten what a jerk Bill was. I had always rooted for him to win in the Sookie love department, and never understood why so many people hated him and thought he was so bad for her, but rereading the series, I realized what a jerk he was. And seriously, why does Sookie rescue him? Why? First of all, she spends the entire book complaining about how she always gets hurt when sucked into vampire crap, yet she basically volunteers to rescue Bill, who's cheating on her (whether or not that's his fault, whether or not he had a choice, he still cheats on her). And poor Alcide, really? Talk about using somebody.

So, why four stars? Well... Harris does a great job with world building. Even though Sookie's a blond idiot, she's so charming and real in her own way, you can't help liking her and routing for her, though you want to shake her. The writing style that a lot of people complain about, doesn't really bother me and honestly, I feel like it fits with the tone. It works for me.