Dead Ever After
Ratings65
Average rating2.9
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I have to say I feel quite underwhelmed regarding the ending... I was expecting some closure that I didn't fully get. I have binge-read the last three books in the series, so I guess I have enjoyed them quite a bit, but as I said, I do feel somewhat underwhelmed. I will read more books by Charlaine Harris (I own the Harper Connelly series), and I have pretty high expectations :) All in all, Sookie Stackhouse was a 4-5 stars read.
What a poorly written ending! It felt rushed, simple and exhaustingly trite.
I'm thoroughly annoyed at myself for listening to this entire series while packing, moving to a new state, unpacking, and decorating my new house. Sure, it was mindless noise that required zero mental space to consume. My mind could wander and I wouldn't miss a single thing because everything gets repeated eventually anyway. But I regretfully didn't read anything else in between and was pretty sure I hated all books by the end. But that means I can tell you exactly how much of this series is comprised of repeated information Harris has already told the reader: 7 entire books. I'm serious. This entire 13 book series could be condensed into 6 books, easily, just by deleting every time Harris tells the same backstory or uses the same joke or descriptor. You could fill an entire book with references to Sookie's word-of-the-day calendar and another one with all the repeats of Bubba's backstory. I truly hoped Sookie would die at the end of this final book, but that was clearly wishful thinking on my part.
I'd give every book in this series two stars if the only problem was the horrible repetitiveness, but all of the characters are the worst, the writing is clunky and juvenile, there is no logic or consistency within the world (or with the characters' personalities and even names!), and there is serious misogyny and racism that is never challenged or called out. Sookie doesn't seem to like other women and is a classic religious hypocrite. With a series that has a fair amount of sex scenes, the main character sure isn't very sex positive when it comes to anyone but herself, and she seems to like slut-shaming. It was gross.
This book (and series) was bad, but hey, it got me through my move. And now I know who Sookie ends up with, which is apparently the only point of the series I guess.
Well.... there it is. I kinda saw it going this route and I gotta say, I guess I'm pretty happy with it, especially because of the ways other characters were portrayed :/
But, I'm glad to have read this series.
I'm also glad it is over :)
No spoilers. I knew how this finale would end long before starting this book. Sookie's life really ends up the way it should have, but the series doesn't. I felt disappointed after reading twelve prior books, and the whole thing going out with a fizzle, not a bang. Not that the ever present threat to Sookie's life isn't there - of course it is - but there was no genuine resolution to the most important romantic relationships that readers have been so long invested in. I still really enjoyed the murder plot and the coming together of the pro-Sookie team (Amelia, Cataliades, Diana, Tara etc.). I just wished that the final relationship/life decisions had come together with a lot more force and drama. I think it's clear that True Blood won't have the same ending since they've become two completely different stories, and at least we got an exciting final episode of season 6 that promises a new storyline for next season. It's super rare to say I'm happier with the tv version of a story.
The last Sookie Stackhouse book. sigh
Let me tell you first off that this review will have spoilers because I can't talk about this without talking about it. We do start off with a rant here, not necessarily about the book, but about the whiny naysayers out there.
After I finished the book I looked at some reviews on GoodReads and Shelfari and I was surprised to see so many one star reviews. I mean, it wasn't the best book in the series, but shit got tied up and that's good enough for me. Charlaine Harris isn't writing the Great American Novel. She's written a tacky romance series with bad sex scenes and for some reason it's incredibly appealing. So shut up already. One of the most common complaints was that Sookie didn't end up with Eric and wasn't turned. I'm sorry, but if you want to read a book where the ‘heroine' ends up a vampire and married to a vampire go read Twilight. This is a different story.
It's completely ridiculous the entitlement that readers have. You did not write this series. You did not create this world or give birth onto pages these characters. Sure, you invested money into the books and fell in love with characters, but come on. You don't get to say what happens to anyone and you shouldn't whine when it doesn't go the way you wanted it to. I get being disappointed, truly I do, but seriously, get over it. If you don't like it there's this thing called ‘fan fiction' - go write some. But I suppose like most, if you can't write, critique.
Oh, and to those people who said that the whole Sam thing was way out of left field? You're idiots. Plain and simple. Since the first book I knew that someday Sookie would end up with Sam. Good god people, Harris has been building that one up for YEARS. If you didn't see that coming I don't know what to tell you.
And all that above is the reason why so many gave the book one star reviews. Because they were being children who didn't get what they wanted.
That being said, the book was different. We were taken out of Sookie's head for the first time ever as she touched upon different characters. It was disconcerting and I truly didn't feel like I was reading a Sookie book until I was back with her. It wasn't bad, it was just different.
There was too much going on. I understand that she wanted to bring back as many characters as she could to tie up loose ends and to cement Sookie's life in place, but the whole devil/Copley thing was completely unnecessary. Didn't need it, didn't add anything to the story as a whole and ended up being pretty anticlimactic. And instead of having that business in there maybe she could've given more attention to the Eric/Sookie debacle. I mean, it has been this huge thing that's driven the entire series so maybe spend a little more than a couple chapters on the demise of the relationship. It was all so rushed. We're introduced to a major new character (Karin) and then just kind of, ‘well, see ya, bye.'
Everything did work out in the end and maybe that's what pissed people off? But like I said, this stuff is fluff. It was entertaining, but I don't need to sit and ponder about it. It did what it should have done and entertained me for a couple of hours.
I can't say I'm sad it's over. After probably the 5th book I was just kind of, ‘meh'. I was reading just because it was something to read. But I'm glad there's an ending and I don't have to read about Bill anymore.
