Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I may have had my own issues with the series, but after seeing all of the really nasty comments from previous fans, I had to sit down with my own thoughts and really have a heart-to-heart with them. I didn't dislike the last Sookie book. It felt, rightly so, like a gently methodical loose-end tie-up. Sure, there was a little bit of contrived tension, but I had no issues with it. This was a novel, after all, and not a post-mortem compendium.
I always liked the man she ended with, and while Eric and Bill had their charms, there was just way too much baggage to let them have a happy ever after with Sookie. The books were always relatively light, despite the blood, gore, mayhem, explosions, and torture. It was their charm that kept me as a reader, and this last book kept the charm strong. I had to remind myself that this was a southern-vampire series, after all, and a Line-Dance at the end was not only appropriate, but also fitting. A wedding at the end capitalized the idea that the series was a traditional comedy, not a tragedy. I was charmed and relaxed through the entire reading and it felt good, like any good lazy read about people you've known and loved for years.

I wasn't in it for the Eric-Sookie romance, either. Perhaps that's why I enjoyed it so much. Granted, I was fully charmed when Eric had lost his memory and the man he used to be charmed the pants from Sookie's hips, but I was also charmed by the witch sequence and the fairy sequence.

Maybe I happen to enjoy the grown-up ending and the almost complete release of character tension without having to worry about just killing the dog at the end. It's not a spectacular hollywood ending, after all, but it was very satisfying.

I will continue to read Charlaine Harris. :)


Update July 16, 2015:

So I haven't read any more of Charlaine Harris. Honestly, I feel kinda blah about trying to pick up her new series or any of the short stories, so much so that I haven't even bothered to read the reviews of them to see if they might have been worth while. Hell. I haven't even read the blurb on those books.

Does this mean that the passion is gone?

Looks like it. I might just round this book down to a 3 star because I'm so thoroughly underwhelmed by even an attempt to keep on going. I'll just keep my memories of the good times. You know, like TV Dexter before the last episode.



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