Reading Reflection #7

Living Dead in Dallas

Charlaine Harris

Pgs.  #1-180

I’ve just recently started this book. It’s the next of the True Blood series and it’s going pretty well. I’ve even had to take it into my band class because I just couldn’t put it down. I’ve had quite a few questions, but only some are main questions that refer mostly to the entire book and won’t be answered until the end.

My very first question was who killed Lafayette? It happened in the beginning of the story and it has yet to be answered. I actually for once have no ideas on who it could be. He wasn’t completely associated with vampires so I’m for once clueless. I hope to have this answered soon. I also wondered was a maenad was and what she wanted with Eric? Maenads are a creature of Greek mythology and were the female followers of Dionysus and members of the god’s retinue. They have been known through myths to devour men and children in frenzy. I have yet to find out what she wanted from Eric, but hopefully this will also be answered. I wondered what they wanted Sookie for in Texas and this was answered quickly. They needed a mind reader to help them find their “brother” Farrell who had disappeared from the “nest”. The fellowship intrigues me. I’ve often wondered through the story why they have such a strong hatred for vampires and why they would go to such extremes to have them killed. I can’t pretend I’m able to think like a fanatic so I’m hoping a character will shed some light for me.

This book isn’t as easy to predict as the first one, though the big scenes have been the most predictable. In the middle of this story, Sookie and Hugo, both vampire lovers, are masquerading as boyfriend and girlfriend so they may enter the fellowship. Before they even entered, Sookie was having thoughts of how she didn’t trust Hugo very much. This should have set off an alarm in Sookie’s head. The author showed lots of foreshadowing before this scene. Every time Sookie read Hugo’s mind, it only projected one thing, confidence or arrogance or distaste for Sookie. This made it obvious that he was a traitor and not to be trusted. It almost got Sookie killed. A Lesson from this would be to always trust your instincts from the beginning.

I must continue to comment on the growth of Sookie’s character. The amount of hardship she is willing to endure is incredible. Through the being poisoned by the maenad, to using her mind reading power to help out the unknown vampires, to almost being killed in the basement of the fellowship. I didn’t like her at the beginning for sure, she seemed too innocent, but she has grown for sure and so has my opinion of her. I’d also like to comment on the author’s creation of the fellowship. Did she ever have me freaked out by these characters, even when they were all smiles. I think that makes them even more eerie. They for sure gave me the chills during my reading.

I didn’t make many connections, but one I did make was the fellowship. In every single vampire book you will ever read, there are always some sort of group that is out to destroy them. For example in the Carpathian series, it’s an entire family that hunts them. They even kill them in the traditional way of beheading, using garlic and a stake through the heart. The fellowship reminded me of these other factions and they both have the same eerie level.

Read on xoxo