KayKay #CRB5 Review #35 Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

 

 

**SPOILER ALERT**

 

My book reviews are written as a discussion of a book, and not as an advertisement.  Please be aware that there may be information that some would consider spoilers.  Continue on at your own risk!

 

This was book 3/6 of my beach vacation reads.  I bought this book when it was released, and purposely held it for my vacation.  This is the last installment of the Sookie Stakehouse series (not counting the ‘where are they now’ book coming in the fall)   Did the series go out with a bang?  Did Sookie finally pick a mate?  Could I keep up with all the characters without referring to a cheat sheet?  Here is what I thought…

Dead Ever After

Alli’s #CBR5 Review #4 – Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

 

I had forgotten to look out for this book until I read Malin’s review so I downloaded the book post haste. I didn’t get a chance to read it right away but once I did I jammed through the book fairly fast. I know that many people have issues with the documentation of mundane events in the books. I also do not really care about Sookie’s trip to Walmart but it is pretty cute that she goes shopping with a bunch of supes and divvies up the list to everyone. I don’t mind those aspects as much because Harris writes the characters in such a way that I don’t mind tagging along with them on errands and such. And often when on a random errand, something else does occur

Read the rest on my blog

Rachie3879’s #CBR5 Review #17: Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Dead Ever After is the final entry in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries series, otherwise known as the Sookie Stackhouse series on which the HBO show “True Blood” is based. Since this is the thirteenth book, I am going to proceed under the assumption that if you’re reading this review, you know the gist of what’s gone down in Bon Temps, LA, and you don’t need me to tell you. Also, I imagine some of the review may spoil earlier books, so read at your own risk.

Dead Ever After finds Sookie still reeling from the events that forced her to use her prized ‘cluviel dor’ in order to bring Sam back to life. Since she could have used this magic lamp-like fairy tool to save her boyfriend Eric from an arranged marriage to the vampire queen of Oklahoma and chose to save Sam instead, Eric’s a little distant, to say the least. To top off all the awkwardness she now feels at work with Sam and in life with Eric (when she actually gets to see him), her former frenemy Arlene walks back into Merlotte’s – looking for a job. Naturally Sookie refuses – Arlene DID try to have her killed – and Arlene storms out. As is typical in Bon Temps, nothing is as it seems and when Arlene is discovered dead in the Merlotte’s dumpster the following morning (with Sookie’s scarf tied around her neck), no one is particularly surprised. Sookie must strive to prove she’s innocent of this crime she’s admittedly not sorry happened, all the while managing Sam’s recent weirdness and her quickly-dissolving love affair with Eric.

I’ve been a fan of the Southern Vampire Mysteries since the first season of True Blood made me pick them up. Some of the early entries are really entertaining; they have humor, mystery, romance, supernatural creatures, and a hot and steamy Louisiana setting. I think it’s common in long-running series, however, that at some point, the material begins to feel repetitive. I’ve felt that way over the last few books. We’ve seen quite a bit of Sookie’s runs to the library, cleaning her house, making dinner, or lying out in her backyard with a tiny bikini and some country music blasting. It often fills like Harris is trying to just fill pages so her books meet a minimum word requirement in her contract. This isn’t to say I haven’t really liked the books. They’re ok. I enjoy the world and I’ve loved the vampire genre long before Twilight came along.

Malin’s #CBR5 Review #52: Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

I complete my Cannonball Read this year (yay!) with the final book about Sookie Stackhouse. While the book 12 in the series was in the top three worst books I read in 2012, this one wasn’t great, but it wasn’t awful either. It probably helps to have low expectations. Be warned, it does contain a spoiler about the end of Deadlocked (book 12), so if you haven’t read it (and if this is the case, do yourself a favour and DON’T), you may want to skip the first bit of my review. Enough talk, right? Go forth, to my blog, and read for yourself.

Kira’s #CBR5 Review #17: Dead Ever After, by Charlaine Harris

Well, the time has come. After 10 years and a whopping 13 books, Charlaine Harris last week released the final novel in the long-running Sookie Stackhouse series, the literary impetus for hit HBO show True Blood.

People always ask me if they should bother reading these books, and the answer is: It depends. Do you like absurd plots and a murder-to-novel ratio of approximately 24:1? Do you enjoy a narration style that feels only a few degrees shy of a fifth-grade diary? Do you like sexy vampires? If the answer to any of the above is yes, then by all means, read the Sookie books. They’re like cotton candy–saccharine, fluffy, and delicious.

But if you’ve got something pesky like “standards,” or simply don’t have the time, worry not: I’ve got you covered. Here’s everything that happens in the Sookie Stackhouse world. [SPOILERS SPOILERS LIKE LITERALLY A BILLION SPOILERS]:

bonnie’s #CBR5 Review #11: From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

As has been my CBR5 MO, I follow up a serious, intellectual choice with Sookie Stackhouse. Mostly it’s an effort to pace myself, because I really don’t want to run out of Sookie novels. But seriously, after some of the reading I’m doing this semester, it’s a real treat not to have to engage with some dense theory.

This novel finds Sookie worried about her missing boyfriend, Quinn the weretiger, while trying to sort out Jason’s relationship with Crystal, and her own status as “friend of the pack,” especially when an attempt is made on her life. Business as usual. Me? I wasn’t too sad about Quinn’s disappearance, since his continual use of the word “babe” as a term of endearment is a major dealbreaker.

I’m starting to wish that Sookie and Eric would just figure out their baggage and just hook up forever. I realize that Eric is not the most ethical of people, but he sure is delightful. And he beats that old sad-sack Bill. Gah, Bill annoys me. And let’s not even get into how emo Alcide is becoming.

The changing world of the vampires and werewolves has also been quite enjoyable to read about, and I hope that Ms. Harris keeps developing the aspects of the Bon Temps world and beyond. Clearly, I am a fan of the series, so I enjoyed myself.

You can also read this review on my personal blog, The Universe Disturbed.

bonnie’s #CBR5 Review #8: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

After an intense reading experience, it was time to run back to Sookie Stackhouse and take refuge in her shenanigans. I’ve been enjoying the series as they continue, for Ms. Harris has done a lot to the character of Sookie, making her a well-rounded and complex character, but ultimately an independent, hard-working woman (I know I’ve said this before, but really, Sookie is kind of a neat lady, and I admire her resourcefulness).

In this novel, Sookie finds herself employed for Sophie-Anne, queen of Louisiana, at the Vampire Summitt in Rhodes, a fictional representation of Chicago. Here, she is trying to sort out her relationship with Quinn the weretiger, while also processing Jason’s relationship with Crystal, and her new relationships (or lack thereof) with both Eric and Bill. Of course, that pesky Fellowship of the Sun won’t go away, so we get drama on that front.

This was probably my favorite of the novels, because Ms. Harris develops an intense and suspenseful action sequence that endangers many of the well-known characters. I won’t say anything on that front, but I wonder if this plotline will be carried out in the TV series. I certainly hope so.

If you’re a fan of the novels, you’ll probably like this one, too. It’s par for the course, and it’s not a bad thing.

You can also read this review on my personal blog, The Universe Disturbed.

bonnie’s #CBR5 Review #6: Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse novel, Charlaine Harris, etc, etc, etc. The series is not exactly deviating from a pattern in the writing or the style, but that’s okay by me. I just started studying in earnest for my looming doctoral exam, and escaping to Bon Temps was exactly what I needed to get through the first week of school.

In Definitely Dead, Sookie (or in the voice of Bill, Sookehhhh) travels to New Orleans to take care of her dead vampire cousin’s apartment and belongings, while beginning a new romance with Quinn, a weretiger. She also meets witch Amelia, and Sophie-Anne Leclerq, the vampire queen of New Orleans. She’s also trying to avoid Bill, the Pelt family, and Jason’s romance with Crystal and the werepanthers of Hotshot.

I greatly enjoyed the original incarnation of Sophie-Anne, who is a much classier lady than she is portrayed on True Blood (I blame Evan Rachel Wood’s acting for that). I less enjoyed the “sex” scene with Quinn, which was just ludicrous. It reminded me of Betty Draper and the washing machine from Season 1 of Mad Men.

All complaints aside, I’m still enjoying the Sookie novels, and I’m going to start the next one ASAP.

You can also read this review on my personal blog, The Universe Disturbed.

bonnie’s #CBRV Review #1: Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

I’ll confess: I didn’t expect to get sucked in to the Sookie Stackhouse series. I’m not really into the vampire craze (I tried to read Twilight and HATED it), so when someone told me I’d enjoy the HBO series True Blood, as well as the novels, I laughed it off. But then, my husband and I watched the first episode out of curiosity, and we were both interested enough to continue. I started to read the books, and here I am, at book #5.

In short: Sookie, having housed and bedded Eric in Dead to the World, is now dealing with the repercussions of shooting and killing Debbie Pelt out of self-defense, worrying about her brother Jason turning into a werepanther, and trying to solve the mystery of who is shooting shapeshifters in Bon Temps. Of course, the entanglements with Eric, Bill, Alcide, Sam, and possibly newcomer Quinn, all come into play.

Don’t get me wrong, the Sookie Stackhouse novels are not exactly highbrow reading, and it seems like Ms. Harris is well aware of it. But as a stressed-out doctoral student, I find the books to be a quick and easy read, sort of like candy. Sookie is an energetic, independent young woman, who, in spite of her bad taste in Bill (I’ll be honest: Bill’s mopey attitude drives me nuts), is an interesting character with a lot of amusing asides to share with readers. If you like a quick read that doesn’t require a lot of thought and some suspension of disbelief, then you might enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse series. Definitely worth a one-time read for me.

This review is also posted on my blog, The Universe Disturbed.