Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Laura's Review of Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse Series #13) by Charlaine Harris

Basic Summary:  After the past couple of years of craziness in Sookie Stackhouse’s life she is finally coming into her own as an adult figuring out what she wants in life.  Not before Arlene Fuller is let out of jail and comes to Merlotte’s looking for a job, after Sookie refuses to hire her, Arlene turns up dead.  When some of the evidence starts to point towards Sookie almost everyone in town has her back, except for her boyfriend Vampire Eric.  He hasn’t been around much lately and when Sookie finds out she is heartbroken and devastated.  This book gives a nice ending to a long story but not without a mystery to solve and secrets to dig up.


Since this book is a little controversial and a lot of people who read the series refuse to read this book I’m going to do this one a little differently.  I will say that there will be spoilers ahead!! Just warning you now!
          I get why people don’t like this book, or the last three books in this series for that matter.  They have definitely taken on a different tone then the other books and for some that’s not okay.  I totally get that because I feel the same way, the first I’d say 10 books were just full of love, heartache, murder, blood, tears, laughter, happiness, sadness, and I can go on and on.  The last three book were more even and sometimes a little depressing and we as readers weren’t used to that when it came to this series. 
          For the first three books we were salivating for book four waiting and waiting for Eric and Sookie to finally hook up and when they finally did it was glorious.  Seriously one of the best scenes in the entire series is the shower scene in book four and there are millions out there that agree with me.  People who are fans of this series knew how amazing Eric was and were defending him when True Blood started and he came off as a total asshole in season one because we were all head over heels in love with him.  Then it’s all ripped away because Eric can’t remember and he’s all mad and frustrated and we have to wait till book nine for them to be together for real.   Through all this Eric and Sookie saved each other’s life numerous times and we craved scenes they were in together.  It became obvious though towards the end of book 11 and into book 12 that things were not looking up for Eric and Sookie.  And that sucked big time!!!
          Not only that but the way the stories were written were kind of negative, and Sookie’s view on the world seemed very bleak compared to book one.  I get that it was the natural evolution of a girl who started out wide eyed and innocent and ended a little jaded with serious bumps and bruises along the way.  But the last couple books didn’t share the same appeal they earlier ones did and that made people very angry.
          Now for this book, I get why people are upset with Charlaine Harris and it sucks that as an author she couldn’t continue her public tour of the book like she could for others because were so upset about the ending but I think you have to look at the big picture.  She put a warning in the book before you start reading that the ending she wrote is true to Sookie and can’t please everyone, so going into this you have to keep this in mind.  Obviously this series isn’t the real world, but in order to love Sookie as much as we all do there are things about her we can all relate to and as a person who has been beat up and almost killed as much as she has we would all just want a drama free life at the end the day.  Sookie’s life changes in book thirteen and in some ways for the better but in other ways for the worse.  You don’t just mourn the end of this series; you mourn the end of Eric and Sookie’s relationship and the end of Fangtasia as we know it.  It’s not just sad that her relationship is over, it’s also sad that everything we have become familiar with in this series changes as well.  Eric is forced to move away and live a not happy existence for a very long time, Pam has now become Sheriff, Quinn has moved on and is ready to become a father, Jason is starting a new marriage and new life, Claude is pure evil, Bill has met someone new, and Sookie is just looking for some peace. 
          Realistically Eric and Sookie’s relationship would never have lasted anyway, as much as we would’ve all loved to see Sookie become a vampire and live forever with Eric that wasn’t going to happen.  This isn’t Twilight people!!!!!! Charlaine Harris said over and over again Sookie would live out a human existence so you can’t be surprised when she actually does!   Eric had a delusional future in his mind, and didn’t really take Sookie’s needs into consideration and that is what ultimately broke them up.  Am I happy with whom Sookie chose to be with at the end?  No way, but I get it.  It’s what needed to happen to bring and ending to this series witch peace not with chaos. 
          Charlaine wrote this book beautifully bringing in old characters that haven’t been around for a long time back in a way that it isn’t too “this is the finale so everyone has to be included no matter if it ruins the storyline”.  Arlene’s murder is a good mystery for the last book because it wasn’t too hard to solve, so it didn’t take up the entire plot of the book.  I also like in this book the point of views change from chapter to chapter; it adds a new twist a long series that keeps you interested. 
          I get why people don’t want to read this book, but do it at least just for the closure.  I want to thank Charlaine for creating this crazy world in Bon Temps of Vampires, Shifters, and Werewolves.  Thank you for creating amazing characters like Sookie, Eric, Quinn, Bill, Alcide, Sam, Arlene, and so many more.  We have all fallen so much in love with this series that we take it very personally and I guess that is the positive side of all these people getting so mad.  They’re mad because they love these books so much.  It’s sad its over but I think the end of the series was done beautifully and I will probably re-read these books several times for years to come

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