Fully Caught up with the Sookie Stackhouse Series

Last week, I read Charlaine Harris’s Dead in the Family and Dead Reckoning and have finally caught up with the latest happenings in Bon Temps.

I last read the Sookie Stackhouse series in 2010, so it took me some time 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, 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.

Anyway, thanks to Wikipedia, I managed to catch up with the plot, and soon, I was engrossed in Sookie’s little world again.

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 was in the previous books. She’s lost her usual chirpiness and is rather bitter, brooding, and vengeful.

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 also faces many problems – his maker and his brother are in town, causing trouble.

An intriguing event is Claude’s arrival at Sookie’s home and his generally larger role. 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 considers where her relationship with Eric is going. She seems to feel her age now and contemplates whether she should become a vampire to be Eric’s consort without being a weak link in their partnership. These are some idle thoughts, 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 nor 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 the murderer is.

I read Dead Reckoning immediately after finishing Dead in the Family and felt the difference in the book’s tone. This is a book where everybody hits the ground running. Or maybe it felt that way because I didn’t spend time determining 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 romance has been fairly long (considering Sookie’s rather promiscuous little world). I also found Sookie and Eric’s domesticity in the previous book 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 terms of the level of violence. I also thought it was really cool how 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.

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:

• My Thoughts On Books 1-4 Of the Sookie Stackhouse Series
• Reviews of Books 5 and 6 in the Sookie Stackhouse Series
• A Touch of Dead – Book Review
• Review of Books 7-9 of the Sookie Stackhouse Series