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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Book Review (but not really) Dead After Dark by Charlaine Harris

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris 
There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart... 

Sookie Stackhouse finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough.


I have been putting off writing this because everyone, for one reason or another, pretty much feels the same way I do: disappointed. I’m not disappointed with the outcome. I didn’t care who she ended up with; as long as Sookie got what she wanted I was fine, even though it did seem kind of abrupt. My opinion might be colored by the fact that Harris said she was just tired of these characters, but I felt it showed in the book. It was anticlimactic, lacking passion, hurried, and the book story arc was uninspiring. Two of the major players' endings weren’t brought to a satisfying conclusion and many of the secondary ones weren't either. I’m not that hard to please; killing them off would have been better because it would give me some emotional closure for these people! At least I would know how things turned out for them. But to be fair, Harris is releasing a book at the end of the year to let us know what happened to all the other characters. And let’s not forget she has a new series coming out and she has said some characters from her other novels will be popping up in that one. So that might be a reason for leaving some endings open. 
Now it sounds like I am bashing this book, but I’m not! I adore Sookie. Sometimes an author can write a character that you connect to on many levels. This is what I love about first person POV, the character’s emotions are more real to me. Harris’s writing style made me feel so comfortable in Sookie’s head. The way she thinks and her outlook on life is a lot like mine. So this wasn’t my favorite book of the series, so what? The series as a whole has brought me a lot of reading pleasure and I can’t thank Harris enough for that.


Open letter to Ms. Charlaine Harris:


Dear Ms. Harris,


Thank you.


Sincerely,
Sharon Stogner


4 comments:

  1. As a writer, I can see the difficulty in bringing such a long-lived and much-loved series to a satisfying end. I don't envy Ms. Harris the task! I agree with you totally Sharon ---- I appreciate the creation of this terrific world and these characters that have come to mean a lot to me. Maybe the last book wasn't sensational but I sure enjoyed the ride getting to it!

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  2. You summed it up perfectly. My sentiments exactly, about the book and the series.

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  3. Don't hate me....I've yet to read one of her books. *hangs head*

    But I will! She's on my TBR list :)

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  4. I stopped reading this series a while ago. The books started taking a weird turn for me and weren't as good as the first ones in the series. Now that the last book is out I may have to finish the series.

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