Many Bloody Returns

If you don't know already I am in love with vampires. Above all other mythical creatures in fact. Sure elves are sexy. Something about those pointy ears do turn me on, but vampires have my heart. I actually think I fell in love with them when I saw Dracula with Gary Oldman for the first time. Admittedly he was scary as hell in that film and I never, ever want to meet Dracula I did fall in love with vampire lore.

Here is a small list of my favorite vampires.

Black Dagger Brotherhood 

These warriors take the top spot because not only are they all drop dead gorgeous and incredible sexy they are the defenders of their race. The love hard and fight with fury. There is something about a male that knows what he is and accepts it that is admirably. Too often I run into vampire series with vamps who either hate who they are and mop left and right or they are total brutes trying to drain the human world dry. The fact that vampires can only drink from other vampires is nice. It takes the fear out vampires being among. Well just a little bit. The Brotherhood has no qualms about killing humans if they threaten or get in the way of the Brotherhood or the vampire race.

The story is told from the point of the view of the men. Well there are chapters that feature their shellans (wives) but the plots are about the evolution of the brothers. I like that.

Each male is a tortured soul. Damaged beyond all reason. Zdasist was kidnapped as a baby and made a blood slave. Raped till he had no soul Bella was able to bring him back from the brink of destruction. Vishous was turned over into the hands of the Bloodletter and his warrior camp. Rhage pissed off the Scribe Virgin and she cursed him. Wrath had to endure the slaughter of his family while he had been powerless to do anything. Butch watched his sister get into the car of her rapist and killers. Phury had to live without his twin for a hundred years only to find a hollowed out body where Zadaist used to be on top of fighting against his own raging drug addiction. Tohrment had to deal with the suicide of a woman he went through hell to rescue only to turn around and deal with the murder of his shellan and unborn young. John Matthews was born in the bathroom stall of a bus station without a voice only to be raped by a human in a dirty stairwell. Qhuinn born with one blue eye and one green eye in a world where a wrinkled shirt earns you a lifetime of scorn. Blaylock, the perfect male and the perfect son, except for the fact that he is gay.

Nothing nice and rosy for these males, and yet over the course of the series each of them finds the capacity to love and be loved. While kicking a lot of tail and taking names.

Blade Series 

Though Blade is a comic book hero I love him to death. First of all there aren't that many black superheroes to choose from so Blade holds a special place in my heart.

Blade is one sexy vampire. Well daywalker as they like to call him. I love his devotion to the cause. It is all consuming for him. His everything. His reason for living. There is not compromising with him. If you drink blood to live you have to die. And I love that the vampires in this series like being vampires. No one is crying about living forever.

Blade, born after a vampire attacked his mother was gifted with all the strengths of the vampires and none of their weaknesses. Well except for the thirst which he quenches with a serum. He is super strong, self healing, extremely fast, ages at a slower rate and he isn't allergic to silver and garlic and can walk in daylight. Which makes hunting vampires all the easier.

Southern Vampire Series

I love the fact that the vampires live out in the open. I think that it one of the biggest things that I love about the series. These vampires are a proper cultural and subculture. Its not just a gang of blood thirty animals running around. They have structure, rules, rituals and customs. I do think having kings and queens then sheriffs is a bit confusing, but not to the point where its distracting.

In the beginning I did like Sookie though she is only a human, but as the series has progress I've grown to really hate her. I think Harris really lost Sookie's voice somewhere between Dead in the Family and Dead Reckoning. Good thing this post isn't about her. Its about the vampires.

Each vampire is a very different creature. Sure they are all blood sucking predators. We know that, but they are still different from one another. Eric is one of the oldest in the series. He was turned before the known world was created. His surname is Northman for a reason. The vamp started life out as a Viking. Bill Compton was turned during the Civil War, Pam was an aristocrat during Victorian times. It gives each vampire a personality.

House of Night

I started off really liking this series. Anything that has women on top is good for me. I liked this series in spite of its protagonist. I just couldn't keep reading it. Its like the never ending story. There has been 11 books so far and the story arc is till going. I just can't keeping reading through Zoey's eyes anymore. She is one of the most annoying characters ever, and that is saying something since I read all four Twilight books.

The reason I like these vampires is one because its a matriarchal system. The women are on top. They run things and have all the power. The men do what they do best. Look good and beat up things.

In this series no one is born a vampire or turned. you either have the vampire gene or you don't. Even then there isn't a guarantee that you will survive the change over to become a vampire. And the goddess Nyx is the start of all vampires. I love the inclusion of the mythical in this series.

I tip my hat to the Casts for the inclusion of characters of color. We need more of that in the fantasy genre and I love that vampires are getting the color treatment.

The Dresden Files 

I love Harry Dresden. Absolutely love him. What's more I love the supernatural creatures in the Dresdenverse. Since this is a vampire post we will focus on the vampires in the Dresdenverse.

No two vampires are alike. There are several different courts of vampires each with their own powers and abilities. White court vampires suck on the emotions of their victims. Some white vampires suck on sexual tension, others suck on the fear. Little is know about Jade court vampires. They seemed to be highly secretive and cult like. Red court vampires wear skin suits to look more human, but when they are feeding their true selves are reveled and there is nothing sexy about it.

Butcher created this awesome world of magic, fae, demons, shifters and the like to delight and titillate his readers. I wholly appreciate his efforts and I look forward to many bloody returns from Harry Dresden.

The Vampire Chronicles

Who can say they love vampires without loving Louis de Pointe du Lac. The vampiric son of the infamous Lestat. Usually I hate vampires how hate being vampires. I mean you either like who you are or you end it all and save us listening to you whine, but I love Louie. I mean I think he was my first vampire crush to be sure.

Louie though looking to die was turned against his will. He wanted to die not live forever. Especially living on the blood of the living. What I liked most was his fatherly instincts toward Claudia. Though he was responsible for her death, its a better way to die than she would have gotten with the plague. He takes responsibility for her in a way that any father would have. Lestat was more concerned with turning her into the perfect killer. Louie just wants her to be happy. Her death scene tore at my heart.

With Rice we get back to the quintessential vampire. Tall, dark and deadly. These vampires aren't looking to mainstream or come out of the coffin. They like living in the night, pretending to be human while draining the world dry. They suave predators that I am sure many men and women would love to be lying under as they died. When I think of the classic vampire I think of Anne Rice. 

Book Babblings *contains spoilers*

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris 

**Contains Spoilers**

The Nitty Gritty:  Never a dull moment if you happen to be a telepathic barmaid in Bon Temps. Sookie has to deal with the vampire fallout after using her fairy grant a wish to save her friend and boss/partner Sam Merlotte.

You would think life would slow down for Sookie, but Arlene turns up strangled on the dumpster outside of Merlottes and Sookie is suspect #1.

Opening Line: "The New Orleans businessman, whose gray hair put him in his fifties, was accompanied by his much younger and taller bodyguard/chauffeur on the night he met the devil in the French Quarter." 

What's the 411: We finally say good-bye to Sookie Stackhouse. though for me its been more like a beloved family member that has been in and out of hospice and I've just been waiting for the call informing me about the funeral arrangements. Sookie has been dying since Dead in the Family.

Is it just me or was she grasping at straws dragging up Amelie's dad? I mean who the hell even remembered the man!? I envisioned some Eric swiftness and a hostil takeover of Oklahoma and Nevada to kill two birds with one stone. Getting rid of Freya and Felipe. I mean I can't be the only one who that would have made for a blockbuster ending to this series. Instead we get Arlene's murder, as if anyone cared about her in the first place, even when he was just a dizzy barmaid at Merlottes.

I mean I was picturing Eric calling in all his chips, his favors, his children and staging a complete vampire/supe shakeup. Then I open up the book and I get Steve Newline (didn't give a damn about him during Living Dead in Dallas) so I certainly did not want to see him again. If she wanted to really bring the fairies back into play that would have been awesome I mean the little scuff up with Sookie's kidnapping it wasn't a successful resolution if you asked me in the first place. So there could have been some spillover with Eric's takeover as well. And Sookie still could have ended up with Sam at the end.

This plot was just so amateurish! It might have worked eight books ago, but not now. Not after everything we've been through with Sookie.

I mean she picked several characters that no one cared about in the first place and she chose to put them in the last book. The last Sookie novel that will be written, and after this I hope its the last. Harris lost Sookie in the shuffle of True Blood and fame and its a shame.

The Good: I can't believe that its hard for me to find something good to say about this book, but I am struggling for sure. Ok well the relationship between Sookie and Bill has gone into the friend zone comfortable. Yeah I know that's pretty lame but there isn't much I liked about this book and frankly I only read it because I couldn't not read it. I haven't bought the last two books in the series because they had been so bad.

So I guess another good thing could be that it has ended.

The Bad: Shepherd of Judah where should I start. I've got a bone to pick with Harris and her portrayal of black people in her books. I'm sorry but I'm a southern black woman and I find it a tad offensive how she writes black people. You got the singing chef at Merlottes, you got the angry at Sookie, Alcee who happens to be a dirty cop, then you got the Blade wanna-be and then the lesbian barmaid, then you gor the silent menace, but I dig skinny white boys Kenya. Oh and let's not forger the gay whore by nature first fry cook, Lafayette (who happens to be my favorite on True Blood).

Its like instead of asking questions or observing black people she took every negative stereotype she could think of and threw it into her books. Alcee is a cop that;s great, but he's a dirty cop. Well damn but wait a minute he only harasses other black people so we are supposed to forgive him for that, but then he hates Sookie because he know's she has dirty on her and the fact that she almost got his wife shot, but still we have to dislike him because he dislikes Sookie for no good reason.

People have been applauding Harris for her Rockwellesque southern towns that she had been able to create in all of her novels, but I say she does the black community a gave injustice and we make up nearly 50% of the southern population. We deserved better than what she gave us.

Ok *climbs off soapvox* Well first off let's start with the damn plot! Of all the people that Sookie has actually killed or hand a hand in their killing she gets arrested for a murder she didn't commit and the only reason being because Alcee was betwitched. Are you fricking kidding me?! Was that seriously the best she could come up with?! That is your whole plot for the last book of a series that launched paranormal romance back into mainstream and sparked a nerdgasm of a TV show with sexier than should be allowed vampires and enough sex to make the Pope salivate.

Next let's talk about the resolution of Sookie's love life. Well scratch that, her bed hopping. Now don't get me wrong I understand that in this sexual revolution we are going through that I should be celebrating Sookie screwing anything that smiles at her but I just can't get with that party. Sam even alludes to the fact that Sookie is selective in whom she takes to bed....where the hell did he get that from? I stopped being a Sookie shipper after Quinn. I mean seriously how many men was she going to go through? I frankly didn't want to see her end up with anyone. One minute she was upset that Bill had acted high handed by trying to buy things for her and take care of her, but then she gets pissed when he started lavishing money onto his family and buying them things without offering to take care of her. Are you serious? You're a barmaid and the man that you loved wanted to do something nice for you and you turned your nose up at him. Excuse me while I check back into reality.

Shippers wanted to see her end up with Eric and I ask why? When has Eric ever done or said anything that didn't first benefit Eric? Does Eric understand what love truly is? I serious doubt it. Yes he understand the mechanics of love. He;s has centuries to watch humans fall in and out of love, but I think in the end Eric only really loves Eric. Everyone else is just a prop on his stage. Eric wanted her to use the fairy Make A Wish because he didn't like being ordered about like he was a common vampire, not because he wanted to be with Sookie forever. He was going to change her against her will just as he had doen to Pam. That is not love. That is control.

The Bill ship had sailed a long time ago. Bill was just her introduction to the supe world. He was never going to be more than that and I actually liked his exit from her love life. It closed the door forever and he turned out to be a really good friend when she needed one.

I'm so glad Quinn had better things to think about than Sookie's honeypot. I didn't like how she thought Quinn should have chosen her over his family. If you love the man you take his family and you can't expect someone to just cut themselves out of their families lives because you are feeling possessive  Let's not forget that she was sucking on Eric in  a back hallway of a hotel and she expected Quinn to be alright with that. Harris never gave Quinn the proper chance to be the awesome character that he is and I hate that in the end she made him another background. I mean he snooped around her yard for a night before rushing off to do Eric wedding. Further reminding us that Eric is the star or the show.

And Alcide was another throwaway as well. Which was a shame, he was just a central figure in the earlier books that you would have that Harris would have spared him at least a whole chapter, but again he got to get naked in front of Sookie, whoopie, then he gets to sniff around her bedroom before leaving. What the hell was that! Was this not the man that hosted Sookie at his apartment, invited her to a packmaster selection, introduced her to his sister, took her to a werebar and protected her and all he gets is a snoop at her rug!

Now I am not saying that Sookie should have ended up with all of them, but what I am saying is that Harris could have done better by these characters.

Hell I forget all about Arlene and I'm upset that she got more screen time than Quinn and Alicide.

And though the sexual tention between Sam and Sookie has been building since Dead Until Dark their first sex scene was fade to black!!! Again what the holy hell!!! Really after all the sex scenes we've been through you can't even give Sam a proper sex scene? He's been there since day one. through the crazy girlfriends, grandma's murder, deaths, hospital visits, breakups and he gets a bikini and an orgasm with nothing in between?

Harris simply dialed in this book.

Final thoughts: I wish Harris had resisted when the publishers pushed her for more books than she had been planning. It through her off and made her scramble for things to write about, and it shows. I didn't expect this to knock my socks off but I did expect better....gotta give this