Review: Dead Reckoning & Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris
I am so bad with finishing series that I'm still
behind in the Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire) series by Charlaine
Harris. I decided a few days ago that I would do my best to catch up. I
had three books left and managed to listen to two and have already
started on the last.
It's my understanding that there
will be only one more Sookie book, which is sad, but I think the series
has lost some of its initial charm. I still love Sookie; she's cute,
funny, and spunky and has surprising strengths. On the other hand, how
many times can she be beaten up by life?
I can barely
remember the problems in just the last two books: She was almost burned
to death; she was betrayed by loved ones; she was kidnapped; she was the
target of jealous women; she was almost murdered; she was tricked and
bullied; and she was pursued by men she didn't want. Okay, so some good
things happened to her too, but the premise of Sookie being at the
center of violence in every single book is getting old.
Because
these are the eleventh and twelfth installments in the series, I'm not
going to try to avoid spoilers to the earlier books. And, frankly,
there's not much to review here anyway.
In Dead Reckoning and Deadlocked,
Sookie, Eric, and the gang get involved in the affairs of other
creatures, which leads to murder, revenge, and some tricky schemes to
try to set things right. Meanwhile, vampire law and politics are
threatening Sookie and Eric's relationship, and Sookie was forced to
decide what to do with a few things she had inherited.
At the end of Deadlocked,
it appears that Sookie's life is going to change drastically. I think
this is a good thing and likely foreshadows how Sookie's story will
ultimately end. If I'm right, then I'm pretty happy where things could
end up. That said, though, I kind of wish Sookie had done something
different with a gift her grandmother left her. It's not that Sookie
squandered her inheritance, but she could have used it in a way that
would been more directly beneficial to her well being.
The
plotting of both books followed Harris's usual style. There is a ton of
action played out against Sookie's personal life and the doings of her
family and friends in Bon Temps, Louisiana. As always, Harris's sense of
humor comes shining through, and her world of humans, weres, fairies,
vampires, and more is complex and well developed.
As
you can tell, I have mixed feelings about the series. I'm still
interested in the characters, but I'm not going to be too sad to say
good-bye when Harris writes the last page of Sookie's story.
What I will
miss, however, is Johanna Parker's stellar performances on the
audiobook editions (produced by Recorded Books). I can't imagine a
better narrator for the series. Parker has nailed the characters'
personalities and is amazingly consistent both with a single book and
across the entire series. She has added greatly to my enjoyment of
Sookie's adventures.
Penguin USA / Ace
Dead Reckoning, ISBN-13: 9781937007355, 2012
Deadlocked, ISBN-13: 9781937007447, 2012
Source: Review (both print and audio) (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).
7 comments:
It has been a long time since I've read a good mystery series. I pick up and read all the Janet Evanovich books, mainly because I've been nudged to do so by a friend. And Sue Grafton, probably because she was the first real mystery series that I followed. But nothing else. And that's a shame because there is something nice about a mystery series.
Here's my It's Monday.
I've actually stopped reading these myself. They are okay, but they haven't been enough of a priority for me to actually go out and find them to read, nor can I remember which book I was on! I should catch up now that the series is over, though, just to resolve everything.
i read only the first two books then i lost interest .. i have however been watching True Blood, the HBO series adapted from the books, and until this season i was a big fan ... this season not so much but i am hoping that what i read about next season will bring me back to enjoying the show.
Totally got old!
I still have this series in my TBR - I'm pretty sure I have the first two books in audio. I'm unsure about reading the entire series, but I should at least read the first few. It sounds like it's good in audio!
As you know, I tried this series but it wasn't for me.
I love the narrator of this series, too, but I think I stopped after the second or third, realizing I was probably never going to catch up!
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