 "Had trouble finishing this book" | 2009-04-07 |
| - Reviewed By The only certainty in life is death from W. Springfield, MA |
I had real trouble finishing this book. It drags on in more than one place. The fights with the bad guys are drab and repeated. Chap seems to engage fights the same way each time, it becomes predictable.
I love the premise of this storyline, it is just taking forever to reveal new plot twists. We know Leesil comes from a bad background, and the authors just keep repeating the same things over in over in this book and also Thief of Lives. Never really revealing anything new, just repeating the same things.
Most readers seem to dislike Wynn, I really enjoy her though. The relationship with her and Chane is a nice refreshment from the relationship Leesil and Magiere have. It was good to finally have more about the mysterious Welstiel revealed as well.
This book was surely not my favorite in the series, I am about 4 chapters into Traitor to the Blood and I am hoping it begins to pick up. I had to force myself to finish Sister of the Dead, and if the next book is anything like this I am sad to say I may never come to find out how this series plays out. |
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 "Weakest of the series so far . . . ." | 2009-03-25 |
| - Reviewed By Patrick J. Callahan from La Crosse, WI USA |
I was disappointed in Sister of the Dead, although it was not devoid of some good writing and some good scenes.
Let's start with the down side. This novel lacks unity. It could almost be several novelettes linked together by a journey. There's no central development that provides a beginning and leads to an end. One problem may be that it is a "mid" book in a longer series. Whether the Hendees are writing a trilogy or a tetrology, this is one of those "in between" books that often prove the weakest in a series.
Few if any new characters are introduced. This is my fourth read in the Noble Dead series, and I would like something new once and a while, or even some development and change in the existing characters.
As another negative, I found a certain amount of entirely gratuitous gore that was troubling to me. Children, especially. The vampires not only kill children, but we are "treated" to detailed accounts of their throats being ripped out. In one instance, after a vampire has "drained" and killed a boy of about eight he throws the body some distance into the woods like a sack of trash. Pre-teen girls also prove to be "delectable" victims. I suppose if one is psychopathic, this is really great material. Chane, one of the "sympathetic" characters, who twice saves Wynn's life, nonetheless feeds on children, and we are given every detail.
A few scenes are rather preposterous. One aristocratic vampire carries a pack with chef's pans and gourmet utensils. He even carries a small tripod table. He drains the victim's blood in a pan, heats it, mixes it with some liquor, and then "sups" with a bib to protect his laced shirt. Great writing, or "nuts" -- ? This particular vampire only needs to have a long mustache to twirl -- he's a cardboard cut-out villain.
Now for the plus side. If one just treats the book as a series of novelettes, even so these stories can be very interesting and entertaining. The action scenes are great. The young woman Wynn again steals the show, seeming more real and interesting than the title character or her beau.
Once this "interim" novel is completed, it appears we are headed for a showdown in the Arctic that might be considerably more intense and interesting. I hope so.
Not all that bad, but structurally flawed. Almost as though the authors had to get some material out of the way before moving on to a stirring conclusion to the series.
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 "Dead Boring" | 2008-12-05 |
| - Reviewed By kazza from Pittsburgh, PA United States |
After reading the first 2 novels in this series I guess I was expecting more. First of all, this is not a stand-alone book by any means. I didn't expect it to be, but if someone were to pick this up as a first introduction, I doubt they would waste their time on the far better- crafted others to date. I agree with some of the reviews mentioning the character development with Chap and insight into Magiere's past, but in general I felt like questions weren't really answered; they were just addressed and left hanging without any meaningful resolution. I don't typically skim through passages, but I found myself doing that frequently. I felt there were only a couple of really good action scenes.
Having said that, I am looking forward to the next installment and have already purchased it, in fact. I just hope there is more to sink my fangs into than there was in this one. Sorry, fans! |
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| "Best in the series so far" | 2008-06-02 |
| - Reviewed By Kenneth Simon from Los Angeles, CA USA |
Sister of the Dead is a notable improvement over the preceding two books in the Noble Dead series. While the earlier books did a good job of establishing intriguing characters in Magiere and Leesil, they tended to be a bit repetitive and inconsistently paced.
Here, the character development that came before pays off. In Sister of the Dead we learn quite a bit about Magiere and the mysterious Welsteil, and yes, about Chap as well. Leesil plays an integral part in this book, but one senses that the next entry in the series will bring him to the fore.
A book about vampires should be at least a little bit scary. The earlier Noble Dead books were sporadically suspenseful, perhaps, but never gave me the creepy-crawlies. I was pleased that, at times, while reading Sister of the Dead, I found myself looking nervously into dark corners of the room, or wondering if I really wanted to turn out that light and go to sleep.
So: nicely scary, well paced, and just enough revelation about our characters to keep things interesting and prepare us for the next book. Well done! |
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 "Vampires without the Urban" | 2007-07-17 |
| - Reviewed By Book Hound from Broken Arrow, OK USA |
| For those looking for vampires without the urban twists and turns, here is the book for you. It is filled with lots of fantasy and is rated with authors like Jim Butcher and Naomi Novik. Great read, but definitely start with number one...Dhampir. |
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| "Informative; Not as Entertaining" | 2006-05-06 |
| - Reviewed By bookaholic from Vernon, CT United States |
Although this was easily the least interesting of the first three books in the series, this is the one you need to read to understand how Magiere came to be a Dhampir. The story itself seems like it was added afterwards to give the story a narrative flow, and has the weakest plot of all the books. There are fewer fights, fewer interchanges between the main characters, and many of the fight scenes seem to be here solely to have fight scenes. Chap is given a more prominent role than Leesil, which is unfortunate because Chap simply doesn't have the personality that Leesil has.
A step down from the previous entries, but I'm still ready and eager to move on the fourth installment. |
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