Dead Ever After

A Sookie Stackhouse Novel, Book 13

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris has won numerous awards for her Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series, which has been adapted into the hit HBO show True Blood. In this 13th and final book, a murder rocks the town of Bon Temps and Sookie is arrested for the crime. After making bail, she sets out to clear her name - but her investigation only leads to more deaths.

©2013 Charlaine Harris, Inc. (P)2013 Recorded Books

Reseñas de la Crítica

"The Sookie Stackhouse series seamlessly mixes sensuality, violence, and humor." ( Boulder Weekly)

"Harris’s creation offers a magical and mysterious twist on traditional vampire stories." ( Houston Chronicle)

"What sucked me in? Definitely the books’ oddly charming, often funny mix of the mundane and the absurd. And the chills and thrills in boudoirs and various locales around the South aren’t too bad either." ( The Seattle Times)

Series finale with a resigned whimper

This book was a little more upbeat than the previous two books with Sookie showing some of her old optimistic personality, which I was glad for, however I felt her emotional responses to her love life was stagnant and un-heartfelt. Most of the loose ends were tied up neatly with no real feelings of satisfaction for me.

After finishing this book, and I thought about everything that had transpired in this last Sookie Stackhouse book, my overall feelings are that this series ending with a resigned whimper. I was hoping for so much more in this last book and was left with a unsatisfactory feeling of being let down.

The narrator Johanna Parker did superb job as usual with the different characters voices and accents. I think she nails Sookie voice to a T.

Guy perspective.... Flawed but still a good story

The biggest mistake CH Harris made was to set the expectations beginning with Dead to the World. That book created a perception that Eric/Sookie was meant to be and all of the rest was headed in that direction. What didn't help was the some of the same audience was reading and dreaming about the epic, irreversible love between Edward/Bellla (or Rob/Kristen) and these people wanted a similar ending with this series.

But it's not like Eric was ever the selfless vampire who wanted only Sookie. She was right to not use the Cluviel Dor (last book) to make Eric choose. If he couldn't live without Sookie then he should have put up a bigger fight.

Also, throughout the entire series, Sookie never stopped imagining sex with all of the respective suitors. Hardly a woman devoted to one man only.

I'm still going to enjoy two or three listens.

Sookie will forever be my southern gal!

Listened for Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 4.25
Story Rating: 3.75
Character Rating: 4.75

Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)

NO SPOILERS

First Thought When Finished: Thank you Bon Temps and Charlaine Harris for all the good times over the years! You will be missed!


NOTE: I realize I am probably in the minority but I actually like how the end scene worked. I thought it held very true to who Sookie Stackhouse was from the beginning. She never wanted to be owned, controlled, or a side character in her own life. Even half way through the series, she was repeating that mantra.....

“I want to be first. I know that’s selfish, and maybe unattainable, and maybe shallow. But I just want to come first with someone. If that’s wrong of me, so be it. I’ll be wrong. But that’s the way I feel.” (Sookie Stackhouse)”― Charlaine Harris, From Dead to Worse



Story Thoughts: I have always read the Sookie Stackhouse series as a cozy mystery series with urban fantasy elements. She dated far to many men in 13 books for me to ever think of this as an Urban Fantasy with a romance end game. I think maybe that is the reason I had less problems with how the whole "romance" side of the story worked. I don't want to post spoilers (though I am pretty sure anyone not living under a rock knows) so I will just say that I always wanted her with someone who would put her first, love her for being Sookie (not her blood), and would respect her wishes. There were very few men in this series that actually held any of these attributes but gosh darn it she got to hook up with some hotties. Sookie's dating life had some awesome moments and if she was a scrapbooker--that would be one heck of a colorful memory book! That being said, I did think the mystery element in this entry was lacking and that was disappointing (aka the 3.75 for Story). It had some moments that were great but on a whole it was pretty predictable. I do think it tied up things nicely so that Sookie's life should be able to move forward on her own terms but it wasn't my favorite mystery in this series.

Character Thoughts: I love the characters in this series! Not a single one of them is perfect. They all have flaws. They all have humor. They all have loyalties. They all have unlikable character traits. Life experience had an impact on each of them, made them grow, made them more of themselves, and made them all interesting. I adore Bon Temps even when I wasn't quite impressed with the mysteries in certain books, I was always impressed with the people. I am sad to see their journeys come to an end (or at least the ones that I see) but I am glad I got to spend time with them in the first place! In other words, I will miss them but I do think it was time for them to ride off into the sunset, moonlight, or ever after!

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated by Johanna Parker/Running Time 10 hrs and 11 mins



I really like Johanna Parker's narration of this series. She has a good amount of southern in her (from timing, slow talking, emotion) narration and that just sells me. I will admit that this particular trait will make the narration not work for others. I have listened to the last few of these on audio and wish I would have done so from the beginning.

Final Thought: I realize that a LOT (judging by goodreads)of people will whole heartily disagree with me liking this book and in the end that is most wonderful thing about stories. They may never make everyone happy but they will make someone happy. I guess this time it was me :)

Read the spoiler if you want to know why this worked for me...

[Finally the quote that I think sums up why I didn't get mad when she didn't end up with Eric...

“Though I was having a blissful moment of being happy and content, I had one of those stray ideas you get at odd moments. I thought,How nice it would be if Eric were here with me in the car. He'd look so good with the wind blowing his hair, and he'd enjoy the moment . Well, yeah, before he burned to a crisp.
But I realized I'd thought of Eric because it was the kind of day you wanted to share with the person you cared about, the person whose company you enjoyed the most. And that would be Eric as he'd been while he was cursed by a witch: the Eric who hadn't been hardened by centuries of vampire politics, the Eric who had no contempt for humans and their affairs, the Eric who was not in charge of many financial enterprises and responsible for the lives and incomes of quite a few humans and vampires. In other words, Eric as he would never be again.” ― Charlaine Harris, Definitely Dead

I called it about book 6 that she would either end up with Sam or start a relationship with him. He was the only man through out the whole series that pretty much stuck by her no matter what. They were best friends and I am a sucker for friends to lovers storylines. I don't think it was the most romantic of endings and I am not sure if it will work out forever. Her relationship with Eric was HAWT (when it worked), ANNOYING (when he would lord over her), and UNPREDICTABLE (when he battled centuries of wanting power/control and she was being independent). Quinn was probably the only other guy I could have seen her with long term but even then I thought he might be to Alpha for Sookie too. She was very independent (stubbornly so) and long term I just didn't see her staying with someone that would challenge her every single day. Do I think Sam is Beta? In some ways, YES. I do think he has Alpha qualities (he is a provider, business owner, loyal, dependable) but he doesn't feel the need to control everything. I think his lone shifter mode perhaps made his personality more compatible long term with Sookie. At least in my mind. Will it be her hottest relationship? Nope that will always be Eric. Will it be her most stable one? I think so. I am sure that I was more #TeamStableGuy for long term Sookie because he could be with her in the sun. That was her favorite place to be and something none of her vampires could do. In the end, I didn't want anyone to change who they were. If Sookie gave in to Eric wanting to make her vampire--it would change her. If Eric gave in to her wanting him out of Vampire politics---it would have changed him. This is why this story worked for me but probably not for others that wanted the romantic ending that love will conquer all. I am sad that it was so disappointing for others and that the backlash has been so big. Though it is a huge investment and I can understand the passion behind the outcry. Books are made to bring out emotions and this one did that even if it wasn't an outpouring of love. Our time with Bon Temps is over (at least in print) but maybe for those that didn't get the ending you wanted here---you might get it on the show (where I am not rooting for Sam at all--talk about a character they have changed). There is always hope for you there :)

I could have told you that...

Would you try another book from Charlaine Harris and/or Johanna Parker?

Yes, I am a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse series and enjoyed Johanna's voice overs.

Would you ever listen to anything by Charlaine Harris again?

Possibly.

Have you listened to any of Johanna Parker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No; I'm a bit of a novice to the audiobook world.

Was Dead Ever After worth the listening time?

Yes, if only because I'd read all the other 12 books and had to see how the series concluded.

Any additional comments?

Yes. I was a bit disappointed in the series conclusion (story-wise). It seems to have left some loose ends (Sookie had been around a bit and some of those recurring men-folk were left unresolved) and several of the plot points were cumbersome and almost ridiculous (Hunter, really?!). At one point, there was too much happening and not for good reason. So many characters started out promising (Karen) and just dwindled into wasted potential (Hello?! Backstory please?!). Even more than that, it was really the loose ends that really irked me; considering this was the last book, I'd really expected a better, more succinct wrap-up. At least a fav got a truly happy ending (no spoilers from me about who it was though, — let's just say there's a new ------ in town!).

Disappointed

What about Johanna Parker’s performance did you like?

Narrater great as usual...!!!

Any additional comments?

Its seem like Charlaine Harris run out of ideas.....the story was pretty boring and I love her other books about Soookie.....