Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

Sookie Stackhouse, Books 1-7 by Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse is just your average telepathic waitress in Bon Temps, New Orleans. Until a vampire comes into the bar– Bill, who, like many other vampires, is attempting to “mainstream” now that the Japanese have developed a synthetic blood that makes feeding off of humans unnecessary. And that’s when her life changes drastically. She soon finds herself in the midst of a world full of supernatural creatures: werewolves, shapeshifters, maenads, witches, fairies, and more. And with each new adventure comes another brush with death.

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
Having barely survived a catastrophic vampire hotel explosion, Sookie’s back at work in Bon Temps, La., serving vintage blood and waiting tables at Merlotte’s, a vampire bar. Participating in a friend’s wedding and fending off the advances of her vampire ex-lover, Bill, and her blood-bonded pal, Eric, leaves Sookie chafing over the recent lack of communication from Quinn, her weretiger boyfriend. When a violent Were power struggle erupts as Vegas vampires attempt to take over Louisiana from disgraced queen Sophie-Anne, Sookie dives into the middle of it, determined to help her shape-changing, blood-drinking friends. Harris provides many fun twists, most significantly Sookie’s meeting with her fae great-grandfather, Niall Brigant, which paves the way for a shock ending that will delight longtime fans.

Terra Incognita: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie
A judicious use of humor and a memorable protagonist lift Downie’s sequel to her bestselling debut, Medicus (2007). Toward the beginning of Hadrian’s reign in A.D. 118, Gaius Petreius Ruso, a doctor originally from Gaul, has attached himself to a contingent of the Roman army, the 10th Batavians, en route to the northern edge of the Roman Empire in Britannia. When Felix, a soldier, is found beheaded, the prefect of the 10th Batavians, Decianus, assigns Ruso to investigate, despite a confession to the murder by Thessalus, retiring medic to the Tenth Batavians Bedbugs. Decianus is concerned that the attack presages further unrest from the locals, who ascribe the killing to their antlered god, Cernunnos. Reluctantly, Ruso probes Thessalus’s motives for admitting the crime and finds that many others also had an interest in seeing Felix dead. This well-researched novel places Downie alongside such established masters of the Roman historical as Steven Saylor and Rosemary Rowe.

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