Deadlocked

Sookie is binding even more with her cousin Claude and Great Uncle Dermont. Sookie comes to love and respect Dermont daily and realizes that he is truly genuine and has been taken advantage of. Sookie is still unsure if Claude is trusthworthy and is starting to suspect that he is staying with her is do to other ulterior motives. So due to having a full house of guest Sookie decides to clean out her family attic and discovers she has some antiques. While having her antiques inspected a packet is discovered with a written letter for Sookie containing and cluviel dor. Sookie must learn about what a cluviel dor is and the significance that it will have in her life. Well written, quick and witty read. I wouldn’t change a thing about this book.

** Warning – this review contains MINOR spoilers of Deadlocked and previous Books in the series **

Let me just start off by saying that I love this series! I really enjoy Sookie’s point of view and adventures. I also really like that this is a different kind of Urban Fantasy, not so Urban after all, but set in a more bucolic and simple environment, giving a totally different feel to the series.

I love the mix of intricate and insane plots, right along side with everyday life ones. I totally believe that, that balance is one of the secrets that makes the Sookie books are so successful.

That being said, I was rather underwhelmed by Deadlocked. I liked that some smaller plots got their closure in a way, but it felt like a transition book overall and it lacked the emotional roller coaster I tend to expect from this series.

Eric and Sookie’s relationship is in a crash course and I did not feel much emotion from Sookie regarding that at all. My girl, Dani from ALPHA Reader, put it very well when she said:

“It’s safe to say that Eric and Sookie getting together was built up more in fan’s minds than what has come across on the page.”

That’s exactly how I felt too! I haven’t been so happy with their relationship and Deadlocked just put the nail in the coffin for me. A book with NO sexy time between the main couple, might be a huge red flag to where Charlaine is taking this series.

In my opinion, Dani hits the nail on the head when she says: “Sookie thinks a lot about whether or not Eric will choose Freyda – but isn’t really all that sad, it seems. She’s actually kind of resolute that Eric will most likely choose the path of more power. And if her mind ever veers towards a `woe is me, Eric won’t choose me’ thinking, she quickly squashes the thought.”

For me it felt like since apparently Eric is not her HEA, Charlaine is trying to dissuade Team Eric from rooting for it. It’s like she is preparing us for the real HEA and I for one am scared of who will it be, someone we already know or a brand new character.

All in all, Deadlocked was not even close to the best book in the series, but it was still great to get lost in Sookie’s world, it is just that I have come to expect so much more from Charlaine Harris.

Originally Posted at Welcome to Larissa’s Bookish Life {[…]}

**ALERT! SPOILERS AHEAD!** While number 12 (“DEADLOCKED”) in Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series draws mixed reactions, I thought it was pretty good. The book starts with an unanticipated murder just outside Eric Northman’s house, at a party to which Sookie Stackhouse has been invited, conveniently, just a little too late. The book is not exclusively devoted to “vampire politics,” though, which is fine with me. Sookie has to deal along with the way not only with vamps but with weres, shapeshifters, the fae and just about anyone else having trouble in Bon Temps, Louisiana — including Sookie’s human friend who’s about to bear twins. It’s this mixture of supernatural and everyday that makes me cheer for Sookie and admire her pluck in dealing with what her rather strange life has given her. I thought the series could very well have ended here, with perhaps a bit more plot neatening than we were given — however, the final volume 13, DEAD AFTER DEATH, still lies ahead for me.

I have been a long time fan of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries, but the last three books have been disappointing at best, with Deadlocked being among them. This review is geared toward readers that have followed the series and are familiar with it already.

I get the feeling that midway through the series, the author, Charlaine Harris, grew bored with the world she had created in Bon Temps, and didn’t much mind letting her readers in on that fact. While reading, I couldn’t help but think Harris was churning out books to meet her publishing obligations while her mind was elsewhere. This is very disconcerting to a fan of the books such as myself; I had a lot of time and money invested in the series, and always had the future releases pre-ordered.

I won’t go in to the story line of the book, as most readers that have reached this stage of the game are already familiar with it. What I will comment on is the lackluster effort that appears to have been invested in what started out as such an awesome, different genre with unlimited potential. Yes, the continuity issues are VERY distracting as well as the constant reminders of the outfits that Sookie chooses to wear each and every day. It gave me the feeling that Harris wasn’t invested enough to remember her storylines and needed fillers just to get through the book.

The reason for the two stars is based simply on nostalgia, not the quality of this book. I feel as though Harris put me through a wringer, and it seems that is the general consensus for the majority of Sookie Stackhouse lovers. What started out as a thrill ride, ended up being a child’s carousel, and as a reader, that really pisses me off. Just for that fact alone, even knowing Harris can be a great author, will keep me from branching out and trying her other books. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, then it’s shame on me. I don’t trust her as an author anymore.

When theres not really anything you liked about a book, theres a question that has to be asked, and that is: why finish it?
The answer is simple: Ive read the entire of the series and there are two books left, this one and one more, so I feel I have to read them. However, having said that, there really wasnt much I liked about this book.
It took me a while to read it, and very time I put it down, I s more than happy to let it sit and not bother with it for days. There was very little other than sheer boredom and some train rides that made me finish it. Had this been the start of the True Blood series, I wouldnt have ever bothered,
The pacing, yet again, was something that I didnt like, but Ive said that about all the books. Te chapter length another thing that Ive never liked.
One thing I have to say, though, is that I know whats coming in the last book. I know what happens, though I wont say anything here, and I can see how in this book the author is building up to it. But I think that 12 books into a 13 book series is a bit late to be building to something that big! For those of you further ahead in the series than I am, you know what I mean.
So will I be back to get the final book in this series? Yes. Would I recommend anyone buy the entire series in one go? No. Read book one. See if youre all right with the pacing and things first, and the get them one at a time and quit when you get to about book ten. Because really, the series is going from bad to worse, and Im happy to say I cant afford the last book for a little while yet, because then I do get it, I expect it will take me weeks to finish.
On the plus side, the series is almost over and I dont have to read them again if I dont want to.

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