Amazon.com summary
Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place . . . or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives . . .
Review (warning spoilers!)
I waited a year for this book. Am I satisfied? Not so much. There was no plot. Halfway through the book I found myself bored. I have never been bored with a Sookie Stackhouse book before. I usually treasured every word and savored every moment of it. With this book, I was shocked to see that after 7 chapters (out of 14), nothing was happening. The story picked up only after chapter 9. I did love the beginning (before the actual chapters started) when Sookie was shown recovering from the events of "Dead and Gone". I loved the fact that a lot of things that were left unanswered in book 9 which probably kept a lot of Sookie fans awake at night for a year were answered. After that the book became blah.
The story was all over the place. Sometimes I didn't see the point of a storyline. For example, I really didn't see the point of Eric's lecture about vampire politics. That was so boring, out of place and unnecessary. Even Sookie thought it was useless. Weird. All the characters were just hanging around doing nothing. There was no binding element. There were a lot of plots that were started but left unresolved. It's like Charlaine Harris had a story in mind when she started writing the book, then changed her mind in the middle about what she wanted to write. The book felt so incomplete like it's missing half the pages.
Sookie was so aggressive in this book. She was in a very murderous mood. She wanted all her enemies dead. I read a comment in Amazon saying that Sookie was channeling Anita Blake. I agree. In fact, Eric was also channeling Jean-Claude. He was a little bit out of it. I guess it's only apt that Sookie will evolve as a person considering she has been through a lot but Eric should be more true to his Viking/Vampire self.
What I did love is the fact that Sookie and Eric are finally together (hayy, swoon). I love that they are communicating, sharing, and loving each other. Even if the dynamic of their relationship was a little bit off in this book, it was good enough to fill my heart with joy. In the next book, I would love to see them defeating Victor Madden making Eric the King of Louisiana.
The happy ending for Bill seemed so forced, so unnatural. Charlaine Harris is cleaning up her overpopulated fantasy land again. Maybe happy endings are better than killing everyone as in "Dead and Gone.
There were also some inconsistencies. In the other books it was said that fairy blood is toxic to vampires even if it is so irresistible to them. The last scene of the book have Eric drinking fairy blood without any side effects.
Rating:****
Sookie Stackhouse Charlaine Harris Dead in the family
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