Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Product Details
Pub. Date: October 2004
Series: Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series , #4
ISBN-13: 9780786548750
ISBN: 0786548754



Synopsis
When cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse sees a naked man on the side of the road, she doesn't just drive on by. Turns out the poor thing hasn't a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric the vampire--but now he's a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life




My thoughts:
With going back to work my time for reading has really shrunk. When I read book three I finished it in two days, this book took me closer to two weeks! Hopefully as I adjust to my new schedule and get better at planning my time I will be able to carve out more time to read.

This story brought in some more supernatural elements. Along with the shape shifters there are now Weres and witches and a fairy. I do not have HBO but last night was one of our free preview nights so I saw the last episode of season three of True Blood. It looks like they have incorporated some elements from book four into this season, since I don’t recall them meeting the Hotshot Weres until this book. Then again a lot is changed from the books. I’ve noticed the same thing with The Vampire Diaries. It seems that the series are only loosely based on the books. I wonder how the authors feel about the changes, if they would have rather things stayed the same or if it doesn’t bother them.

I really liked Eric without his arrogance. Honestly I like him as a character normally as well, but found him more likeable when he was vulnerable. It was nice to see Sookie being taken care of by someone who was really focused on her. I’ve never been totally sold on Bill. He relies on her a lot and asks a lot of her and doesn’t always seem to see how he could also be helping her in return. My heart broke for her a bit at one point in the story.

The witches and fairies were not what I was expecting. In book one we met vampires and shape shifters, in two there was the maenad and more shifters, then in three were the Weres and in four fairies and witches. It makes me wonder what is coming next and if having so many supernatural creatures together might get to be too much. I think I thought based on the covers and premise that Harris would be sticking to vampires and whatever Sookie turns out to be. True Blood seems to be saying she is a fairy but so far in the stories that hasn’t really come into play. The fairy in Merlotte’s is so attractive to all the vampires and Sookie doesn’t seem to have quite that much of a hold on them all. Perhaps because she isn’t a full fairy. It will be interesting to read the rest of the series but I am still frustrated by how slowly it looks like I will be getting to them.