Archive for the ‘Charlaine Harris’ Category

Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel
Welllllll…..I dunno. It’s got Eric in it. So that’s good. I love Eric. Any book in the series I will read – and overall, enjoy by default – as long as it’s got Eric in it. Other than that, I was left a little bewildered. The magic…where did it go? I kept wondering, were all the books in the series like this? Did I just not realize it when I first read the series, because I was so new to the genre?

Sookie appears to have lost some emotion. Well not exactly, but when Sookie appeared to have emotion, I never “felt” it. She’s nonchalant about Eric, Bill, and anyone for that matter. She’s quick to muse about her sexual attraction, and how important her friends are to her, but not about truly loving any of them. While it makes sense that Sookie’s emotional distance might be attributed to the trauma she has recently escaped from, I’ve found Sookie, as of the last few books, to be annoyingly unaffected despite some very earnest moments.

Sookie’s thoughts, as usual, are airy and fleeting. Every little detail is described in her daily life, from where somebody went  to eat to the history of the restaurant they ate at. While this helps “set” the atmosphere of where she lives, I found there was too much extraneous detail.

In this book, she is supposedly in a “committed” relationship with Eric. Great right? What I’ve always wanted? So what’s my problem? Unfortunately I don’t know how that came to be. We really didn’t get to see much of how they finally got there. Oh – don’t get me wrong – she’s been on and off with Eric since book 3? 4? (and that’s been a wild ride – I loved the tension). Of course, this is what I’ve been waiting for. However, right up to the second last book, her emotional flip-flopping seemed unresolved. Yet in this one, it’s a given. They’re together and not just because of their “impromptu/political” marriage. They are together.

Eric eventually explains why he was missing in action during the attack on her life (at the time, he too was was being physically restrained).

My initial reaction to Eric’s explanation was bitter disappointment. I’d heard this story before. A vampire more powerful than me made me do it.

A sigh worthy moment:

“While you were with Neave and Lochlan, I suffered with you,” he said, meeting my eyes directly. “I hurt with you. I bled with you – not only because we’re bonded, but because of the love I have for you.”

Another beautiful part from this scene (however the last sentence, while quite “deep”, left me somewhat exasperated. I just can’t seem to relate yet, to Sookie’s relentless emotionally-guarded self):

Finally, something inside me relaxed at the logic of his story. I believed him in my heart, not just in my head.

A red tear fell on my bare shoulder and coursed down. I swept it up with my finger, putting my finger to his lips – offering his pain back to him. I had plenty of my own.

Eric is not his usual self in this one.  He was wonderful, but I was confused. In this one, his heart was always right out there for her to see. He was loving, funny, and even somewhat silly (at one point he has her run and jump into his arms for a wonderfully romantic embrace – sweet…but… Eric did this? Really?).

Again, I kept thinking that the series was missing a book, or a seriously *big* part out of this one. We went from a sexy, demanding, emotionally-guarded Eric to a tender and loving Eric in this book. Emotional, reaching out to Sookie, and always concerned about her well being, (holding her and even crying with her when she had nightmares). He repeatedly asked if she loved him, telling her when he missed her, freaking out when she was in danger…It was the Eric of “Dead to the World”. Loved him, but I almost felt sorry for him, and one must NEVER feel sorry for Eric. That’s just too weird. He’s too strong and powerful for that. And yet, I did. Sookie never really gave him that emotional intensity back.

“I think you know how I feel,” he said in a whisper. “We are bonded. Can you believe I’m not thinking of you while I work? When my eyes open, I think of you, of every part of you.” His fingers got busy, and I gasped. This was direct, even for Eric. “Do you love me?” he asked, his eyes fixing mine.

Her response:

“I love your body. I love what we do together. You make me laugh, and I love that. I like to watch you do anything.”

Huh? He’s fishing for you to finally tell him you love him, after his own recent tear-fest, holding you and easing you from your nightmares, and telling you how he felt about you, and THIS is your answer when he asks for it?

And then they “do it”. Ok. Whatever…*hrmph*

Ok one more favorite Eric moment:

“I love you,” Eric said in a drained voice. “And you are my wife, in the only way that matters to me.”

“Love you, too,” I said, passing on the last half of his closing statement because I didn’t know what it meant.

Oh come onnnnn Sookie!!! Give the guy a break! See!? See why I’m exasperated?? I think I need to step away from the book… lol!! Maybe to some, this is not considered a romance series, but the romantic aspect is undeniable, and I guess I’m still waiting…and hoping for that intensity.

So pretty much, this series starts off with Sookie mostly recovered from the physical damage the fairies did to her in the last book (emotionally, however, is another story). The fae war is over, but has left much damage in it’s wake.

After all the bloodshed, Niall concluded that peace among the fae and safety for humans could be reached only if the fae blocked themselves into their world. Brendan had achieved his ends by his own death. In my worst moment’s, I thought that Niall’s final decision had made the whole war unnecessary.

She misses Claudine but I began feeling uncomfortable when Sookie’s thoughts were mostly on the money Claudine left for her. Amelia moves out of Sookie’s house to deal with her punishment by the witches, and Claude (her gorgeous yet pretentious cousin) moves in with her. He was lonely, and felt the need to be near family. I liked that. It was an unexpected side of Claude, and getting to know him in this book was nice. Sookie also takes in her nephew for a sleep-over, and the three cousins appear to really bond. Sweet moment!

The “Weres” (and essentially all the two-natured) have issues with the government, and protestors. Stuff happens. Protestors protest, and laws are changing…As a result, there is some discord within their pacts.

Sookie is warned that there are fae that have been meeting on her property (and the smell indicates they are not Claude). Considering the fae were supposedly sealed back in their world, their are a few unknown “deserters” that are apparently still interested in Sookie.

Bill, well he’s still sad, and now ill too. Poisoned by fae in the last book, he is struggling to heal, and struggling even more with his will to live. And he still loves Sookie. A sweet moment there, but barely (as Sookie, again, shrugs him off). Which is fine with me, since Eric’s her man, but at some point, any passion from her would have been, I dunno..*something*. But we do get a little air time with Bill, and the results are nice, and something happens that left me slightly distracted, but I guess we’ll see in the next book.

Eric’s story is the best of all. While he is still struggling with the political power struggle of his position, he is suddenly faced with a more pressing issue to deal with. His maker has come back to see him (with a visitor in tow). That whole section is where I finally FELT something. Fear. It was…creepy.

I had a moment to look up at Eric, and I knew my face was asking, “What the hell is going on here?”  But he looked stunned, and helpless. Eric. Helpless. My head was whirling.

I had no clue where it was going, but I was tense the entire time. Eric’s world turns upside down, and while I may have felt sorry for him in regards to Sookie, I was scared for him once his family showed up.

So there’s the summary. There’s more to the story, and the wrap-up is interesting enough, but it felt somewhat “choppy”. In my opinion, too much going on and not enough intensity in any of it. Sometimes, conversations would start (mostly between Sookie and Eric), and it would take me a few seconds to catch up with the flow (or lack of flow) of it. Perhaps a longer book would have helped “better” this glossed-over installment. I LOVE it because of what it is…another installment in the Sookie Stackhouse series…but I want more!

Some new characters, a few scenes with the ever-sarcastic Pam (“You’re my favorite breather“), sweet Sam and even sexy Alcide, but Sookie? Grrrrrr!

As Claude puts it:

It’s an elusive sent. Most vamps would think, ‘She smells good,’ and they’d enjoy being close to you. That would be the extent of it. Once they know you have fairy blood, they can attribute that enjoyment to it.

It’s a good thing she’s got fairy blood in her…I’m just sayin’ 

I have managed to finish this novel in a day (it is a fairly easy read), however I found my attention span waning many times throughout.

The story involves a potential “fairy” war, with Sookie a possible target, a separate murder mystery that Bon Temps faces yet again, some FoS discrimination against the newly outed Weres, and of course the usual “who does Sookie sorta love” drama.

A scene featuring a (typical – yet fun) argument with Eric:

“Can you doubt that I want what’s best for you?”

“I don’t doubt that you want what you think is best for me,” I said. “And I don’t doubt that that marches right along with what you think is good for you.”

Victor laughed. “She knows you well, Eric,” he said and we both glared at him. “Ooops,” he said, and pretended to zip his mouth shut.

Perhaps I am jaded due to all the deeply passionate romance novels I have been reading lately, but this one simply left me discouraged. While there was a touch of romance, I found Sookie to be simply too fickle. While I understand the underlying reasoning (her apprehension towards what her true feelings are vs. what might be influenced by her blood bond with Eric), the whole situation left me annoyed. I do commend the “independence” of the character (not giving herself completely over to love), and insisting on complete honesty (without any underlying ploy). Her wariness cannot be completely avoided considering the past circumstances. However, there doesn’t seem to be enough emotional connection with Sookie. Instead, she mostly just toys with him. Considering how she felt in book 3, and how Eric now remembers their time together, why must it continue to be so challenging? She apparently still feels deeply for him, and Eric seems to be grasping at any possible way to forge a commitment, yet her continued resistance to him seems unjustified (as if the author might be creating the delay for the sake of stretching out the drama in the series).

“You’re mine,” he said. Then he noticed my frown and amended his words hastily. “You’re only my lover. not Quinn’s, not Sam’s, not Bill’s.” There was a long pause. “Aren’t you?” he said.

A relationship discussion initiated by a guy. This was different, if I went by stories I’d heard from the other barmaids.

The first half of the book bored me somewhat. It felt like a day to day list of Sookie’s activities (with the occasional bump in the road to shake things up a bit). Perhaps Ms. Harris had not exactly resolved where she wanted the book to go, but the feeling I got from the first part was that it was a writing warm-up session, by the way of a wordy day to day account of Sookie’s life.

She wakes up, she has coffee, she contemplates her roommates, she goes to work, someone gets in a fist fight, someone is drunk, she goes to bed (I was frequently disappointed here…as night time is the right time for surprise sexy vampire visitors, but alas, there was mostly no “nookie” for Sookie – tee hee!). Next day starts, she wakes up, tans, there’s a murder or two, some investigations, she goes to work, and on and on. Every once in awhile, Sookie has potentially meaningful conversations with other characters, but we are frequently left indifferent, as her erratic ruminations always seem to interrupt the flow between her and others.

By the middle of the book, I was somewhat satiated. I was not convinced, however, that Sookie’s apparent nonchalance towards Eric, suited the atmosphere of some of the scenes. 

“This is best,” he whispered, and his voice had that accent I caught occasionally, that hint of a time and place that were so far distant I could not imagine them. “This is the best,” he said again. “This is right.”

I will admit that I am partial to Eric. I suppose that Ms. Harris may have steered us towards rooting for him as Sookie’s true love. I do suspect that the author may be changing her stance on this, which given my affection towards these characters, and Eric himself, leaves me feeling frustrated.

Don’t get me wrong, I will always anxiously await, and eagerly read, any book continuing the Sookie Stackhouse series, however, after the anticipation of the release of this book, I have been left nonplussed (just as I was in the last book – more of the same). My favorite books in the series are 2 and 3, but as a whole, other than the last two installments, the series has been great! The flirtation was fun, the romance and even the love triangle was exhilarating. There was love, along with action and danger, and these books were THE guilty pleasure that I could not resist. I feel that the series is ebbing. While the danger is still intense, and the enemies still abound, Sookie’s casualness is starting to irritate me…

My favorite series so far!! I have read each one and can’t wait for the next one to come out in May 2009. Also known as the “True Blood” series and the “Sookie Stackhouse” series

•  Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, No. 1)
•  Living Dead in Dallas (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 2)
•  Club Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 3)
•  Dead to the World (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4)
• Dead as a Doornail (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 5)
• “One Word Answer” (a short story found in the “Bite” Anthology
•  Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 6)
•  All Together Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 7)
• Lucky (in the Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy anthology )
•  From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, No.
•  Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9)  
• Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood) (release date: May 4th, 2010)