Fully Caught up with the Sookie Stackhouse Series

Last week I read Dead in the Family and Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris and have finally caught up with the latest goings-on in Bon Temps.

I last read Sookie in 2010 so it took some time for me to get back into the swing of things. It would have really helped if each book had a short synopsis explaining where the story is at till now considering the large number of characters and diverse plot lines. I could also have used a short who’s who list at the end of the book :D.

Anyways, I managed to catch up with the plot thanks to wikipedia. And soon I got engrossed in Sookie’s little world again.

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
Dead in the Family is rather a weak story by itself. In this book, Sookie and her friends are recovering from the terrible fairy war in the last book. Sookie has changed significantly from how she used to be in the previous books. She’s lost her usual chirpiness and is a rather bitter, brooding, and vengeful person.

In this book, she and her friends face a lot of family troubles. Her friend Bill is very weak and needs care to recover from the terrible wounds he suffered in the last book when he rescued Sookie. Her vampire boyfriend Eric is also facing a lot of problems – his maker and his brother are in town causing trouble.

An intriguing event is Claude’s arrival into Sookie’s home and the general larger role he plays. He seems to have changed his colors, appearing nicer than he usually is…but is this true, or is he plotting something against Sookie? Time should tell.

Another interesting growth in Sookie’s character is that she seems to be considering where her relationship with Eric is going. She seems to feel her age now and contemplates whether she should become a vampire in order to be Eric’s consort, without being a weak link in their partnership. These are some idle thoughts as of now, but it looks like this is a plot point that may be taken up in later Sookie books.

However, no Sookie book can be complete without dead bodies. And when a dead body is discovered in Sookie’s backyard it takes everyone by surprise. The vamps don’t seem to know anything about it, neither do the weres, and neither does Sookie. Mystery! The only thing obvious is that Sookie is set to take the fall for the dead body. Soon Alcide and Eric are involved while they help Sookie clear herself and find out who is the murderer.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
I read Dead Reckoning immediately after finishing Dead in the Family and immediately felt the difference in the tone of the book. This is a book where everybody hits the ground running. Or maybe it felt that way to me because I didn’t spend time trying to figure out what was happening.

One of the exciting events in the book is the dissolution of Sookie’s blood bond with Eric. This finally closes a rather boring running plot point. Hopefully, it also means that something changes between Eric and Sookie. This has been a fairly long-running romance (considering Sookie’s rather promiscuous little world). And I had found Sookie and Eric’s domesticity in the previous book rather boring.

Another interesting event in their romance is that Eric’s maker had arranged a marriage between Eric and the Queen of Oklahoma, and it looks like Eric has no choice but to marry her. This should surely ring the death knell to Eric and Sookie’s romance.

The main plot is Sookie, Eric, and Pam’s plot to overthrow Victor and take back control of Area 5. This means a massive battle at Fangtasia, which was quite awesome in the level of violence. I also thought it was really cool the way Sookie’s planning of Victor’s overthrow is juxtaposed with her planning for the baby shower for her friend Tara. Sookie sure can multi-task with the best of them :D.

Can’t wait to see how the next novel in the Sookie series shapes up…

If you are interested, you can read my reviews of the previous Sookie books here:

4 comments

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  1. thandapani

    I really must read Sookie Stackhouse. I did try looking for her in the library, but could not find anything. I guess I have to buy!

  2. rohitaneja

    Hi, Nice review, The book seem equally interesting as twilight series, its interesting to read about vampires, life they lead, their dilemmas. Some times i feel there is overdose of vampire stories, vampire love stories. One day people would crave for vampires and want they could come and live as neighbours 🙂 maybe not.

    I also write blog which is http://fewrandomiterations.wordpress.com/

    Please check and comment on my posts, I would appreciate, Thanks, take care…:-)

    • Nish

      @Swati: The books are certainly very addictive. I used to watch True Blood on HBO, but dropped off after a while because my kids were around. I did enjoy the show as well.

      What time does it come these days? On which channel?

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