ARC Review: Dust by Joan Frances Turner

Title: Dust
Author: Joan Frances Turner
Release Date: 9/7/2010
Publisher: Ace
Number of pages: 384
Reading level: Adult


4.5 out of 5 Stars


Thanks Book it Forward Tours for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.






Description from Goodreads:

Nine years ago, Jessie had a family. Now, she has a gang.

Nine years ago, Jessie was a vegetarian. Now, she eats very fresh meat.

Nine years ago, Jessie was in a car crash and died. Nine years ago, Jessie was human.

Now, she’s not.

After she was buried, Jessie awoke and tore through the earth to arise, reborn, as a zombie. Jessie’s gang is the Fly-by-Nights. She loves the ancient, skeletal Florian and his memories of time gone by. She’s in love with Joe, a maggot-infested corpse. They fight, hunt, dance together as one—something humans can never understand. There are dark places humans have learned to avoid, lest they run into the zombie gangs.

But now, Jessie and the Fly-by-Nights have seen new creatures in the woods—things not human and not zombie. A strange new illness has flamed up out of nowhere, causing the undeads to become more alive and the living to exist on the brink of death. As bits and pieces of the truth fall around Jessie, like the flesh off her bones, she’ll have to choose between looking away or staring down the madness—and hanging onto everything she has come to know as life…

First Line:

My right arm fell off today. Lucky for me, I’m left-handed.

My thoughts:

With a first line like that I knew I was in for an interesting read. Jessie is a teen girl who was killed by a drunk driver. Her parents also perished in the accident leaving behind her two older siblings. Months later she dug her way from her grave, and joined the ranks of the undead.  

As a self-proclaimed zombie sympathizer I knew this book was a must read. FYI they prefer the term undead ;) Dust is one of those books that you can’t get out of your head. It has been days since I finished and I’m still thinking about it. 

Dust is a fresh and exciting addition to zombie culture. Jessie was an excellent narrator and seemed to embrace her new life. I love books with a strong female lead, dead or not. I was drawn in by the idea that they retain their memories and even some emotions. I loved the idea that they have the ability to understand the speech of humans as well as communicate amongst themselves. Their behavior was similar to pack animals, and the bonds they formed were fascinating. This book will make you forget everything you thought you knew about zombies. An engaging plot combined with an almost poetic writing style made for late nights of reading. I don’t want to give too much away because there is so much to be discovered in this novel. It’s about time the undead told their side of the story. 

This book does contain violence as well as adult language. The squeamish may want to proceed with caution. Lots of talk of decay and the likes. I must say I’ve never had the description of maggots and rot presented in such beautifully worded sentences. The author’s writing style drags you in and makes you feel like you’re experiencing it first hand. I’m thrilled to learn there will be a sequel.

Dust Trailer:

Joan Frances Turner on the web:

Website

Pre-order from Amazon:

Dust (Ace)

Review: Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

Title: Dead In The Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace
Available: Now
Number of pages: 320
Reading Level: Adult

I purchased my copy

**SPOILERS FOR THE PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THIS SERIES BELOW**

Description from Goodreads:


Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place... or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives...


My thoughts:


In Dead in the Family we catch up with Sookie who is still healing physically and emotionally from the trauma she endured in Dead and Gone. She is with Eric and possibly in love, her witch roommate has been replaced by a faery, and it seems womanizer Jason might be turning over a new leaf. The book started off on a depressing note which worried me. The level of angst in the last book was hard to handle and I was not up for a repeat performance. Things did start to lighten up but the bubbly Sookie I’ve come to know and love was consistently absent. Instead we have a cynical Sookie who reminds me an awful lot of the drop dead (pun intended) gorgeous vampire Eric. I don’t know if her new attitude is a result of the violence she has encountered or the blood bond with Eric. Maybe both? 


The story does delve back into life for the Weres after the great reveal. Things aren’t going as smoothly for the two natured as they had hoped. The government wants to force them to register like the vampires. Alcide returns with a favor to ask of Sookie and she is a gracious hostess as always. He has changed so much from the werewolf we met in Club Dead but still only seems to show up when he wants something. I guess some things never change. I really liked him initially but he has progressed into a character I don’t care for. We also meet the newest members of the Long Tooth Pack. Sam is also around and trying to be a good friend to Sookie.  I would consider him her safest friend.  I’m "Team Eric" but I’ll admit I have a soft spot in my heart for the shapeshifter.


I can’t forget the undead citizens of Louisiana. Bill is suffering from silver poisoning and has Sookie concerned enough to do a little breaking and entering. We also have the opportunity to spend time with Pam! She just happens to be my favorite Louisiana vamp (why yes, I do have a total girl crush on the fictional vamp). She didn’t get much page time in Dead and Gone so I was thrilled to see her back and as snarky as ever.  All the Eric fangirls won’t be thrilled by the lack of the viking vampire. Yes, he is around but not nearly as much as I was hoping for. Mrs. Harris has also thrown some new vampires into the mix including minions of Victor and Eric’s maker and “little brother”. Can you say awkward?


I did enjoy this book. It was better than Dead and Gone which I found horribly depressing but not as exciting as earlier books in the series. Honestly compared to earlier books this one was (do I dare say it) boring. The entire plot was slow paced with the exception of one action scene early in the book and I felt the conclusion fell flat. Will this stop me from reading the next book? It sure won’t! This is one of my favorite series and I hope this isn’t a sign of it losing it’s mojo. 

Charlaine Harris on the web:

Website | Blog