Sookie countdown #11... Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

                                                        

Well...  Dead Reckoning is a suitable title for book eleven in this series...  cause' I "reckon" we gotta' accept the fact that this series is definitely losing its stride.  There is a right way and a wrong way to end a series and this one is not ending on a positive note.  I think that sometimes it is best to leave fans wanting more instead of beating a dead horse and having us potentially dreading the outcome but that is how I feel about how Sookie's story is ending.  I can sum this book up in one phrase... OUT OF CHARACTER ...  in other words the characters that we have come to know and love and hate are all of a sudden different and unrecognizable.  Here are a few examples:

Eric and Pam beating each other up...  what???
Monkey sex and ice packs????...  what the hell???
Severed bonds...  okay I get why it was necessary but not the abrupt way it was done...
Sookie coming home to find Alcide asleep in her bed because...  he wants another chance...  why     would any self respecting alpha male do something like that?????????? 
Sookie pitching a hissy fit and throwing people out of her house...  she is far too "southern" for that kind of childish outburst and other people had done worse things to her in the past and all was forgiven. 
Eric bites Sookie to drink from her with intentions to hurt her...  our Eric is an ass but he would never deliberately hurt Sookie...  he loves her.
A whole chapter devoted to going with little Hunter to visit his school...  had absolutely no connection to the story at all...  just thrown in for filler space I suppose.

Here's the deal...  I've always been okay with the idea that Sookie may not end up with Eric...  and it's clear from this book that he is being abruptly cut out of Sookie's life because another path to happiness for her is being laid.  The problem is that we all wanted the hot and steamy love affair with the Viking...  but, we aren't getting that...  Why??  Perhaps if I'd had an opportunity to get Eric out of my system I could handle this better but we'd only just gotten started and now...  Poof!!!  Technically it's not over yet and who knows what will happen in the last book but that is definitely the feeling I am getting. 

The only part of this book that I really enjoyed was when Bill wakes up and finds a naked Sookie lying next to him in his hidey hole...  that was excellent!  Had a big smile on my face...  I won't tell you how she got there or why...  but it was funny.  I loved Bill's reaction...  priceless.

I also love the entrance of the Cluviel Dor into the story...  this opens up all kinds of possibilities.  It's kind of a you get one wish so be careful what you wish for gift from the fae.  The only catch is that the wish has to be justified as an act of love.  A little tricky... 

Well, despite my reservations and disappointments I will see this series to the end...  I have to finish what I start...  so now I'm moving on to my re-read of Deadlocked...  the last book will be released on May 7, 2013 so I guess I better hurry... we're almost there! 

K~

Click HERE to read my review of Deadlocked...