!!Spoilers!! True Blood Book 13

[mmack]

I read True Blood series up to book 11 but the quality of the writing was dropping rapidly. I don't know if I'll ever read the last two but I'm very nosey and I want to know who Sookie ended up with. Anyone know? Google seems to think it is a big surprise but won't tell me any more and I'm too lazy to keep trawling.

[EricIsMine]

I know.... I'll message you!

[FromGirders]

It says spoilers in the thread title, so just tell us!
(hadn't even realised the last book was out!)

[EricIsMine]

Ok, Sookie sort of ends up with Sam (or along the road to a lasting relationship with him).. Eric toddles off to Oklahoma with his new vampire wife, Bill stays in Bon Temps and Pam takes over as sheriff

Ta Da!

[mmack]

Thanks EricIsMine. I wouldn't have guessed that at all. TV Sam maybe but book Sam isn't even a major character. Now I think I will have to read them to see how she makes that happen. I think Charlaine Harris lost interest in Sookie herself as time went on because the Harper Connelly books are much stonger.
I've only seen to series 4 of the TV show. I am a big Eric fan myself but was very drawn to bad Bill in series 4. Going to preorder season 5 from amazon soon and watch it as my guilty pleasure.

[mmack]

Thanks EricIsMine. I wouldn't have guessed that at all. TV Sam maybe but book Sam isn't even a major character. Now I think I will have to read them to see how she makes that happen. I think Charlaine Harris lost interest in Sookie herself as time went on because the Harper Connelly books are much stonger.
I've only seen to series 4 of the TV show. I am a big Eric fan myself but was very drawn to bad Bill in series 4. Going to preorder season 5 from amazon soon and watch it as my guilty pleasure.

[EricIsMine]

She starts settting up the Sam thing in book 12 so I wasn't surprised, but there is some furious backlash on the web against Ms Harris. The writing got a bit sloppy as you say, so the story didn't hold together as well as the earlier books.

Sookie finds out that Eric would have turned her without her permission at some point if she had stayed with him, which is what she always stressed she didn't want, so I think the ending pretty much wraps stuff up with a happy ending for Sookie

[mmack]

I didn't like Quinn or the dragged out fairy bits in the later books. The bits about the cousin and New Orleans were good though. The writers of the TV series do a great job of running with her better ideas. Sorry about the double post-internet acting up today.

[tillyfernackerpants]

Not sure what book I've read up to as they've kind of all blurred into one! I'm sure I've read the latest one but none of what Eric has said is ringing any bells

The writing has definitely got worse in the later books. I read a review which suggested that CH was pretty much writing the books for the TV series now, knowing that the writers will pick up the main storylines and do a much better job!

[mmack]

I think the naked Eric book was about book 4 and up to then they were very good. The Quinn and New Orleans ones were next and were still readable. The last few fairy ones, probably 9 to 11, could have been condensed into one book because they didn't move the plot along at all. The fairyland stuff is also the weak point of the TV shows I think.

If Charlaine Harris was dragging it out to cash in I wouldn't hold it against her at all-she has kept me very entertained for the last few years.

[CrabbyBigbottom]

I think that the Sam thing has been signposted right through the series to be honest - in almost every book they've almost got it on but been disturbed, or had a 'moment'. He was her most loyal and steadfast friend throughout, and always had her best interests at heart, as opposed to the vampires who by their nature are twisty, manipulative, possessive and self-serving.

I hadn't enjoyed the last two or three nearly as much as the early ones but I thought that this one was quite good. Let's face it, the series was never high literature, was it! Still, I think Sookie was a fantastic character and it's been really interesting to see how she's matured and changed through the series, especially how all the violence has hardened her but not eroded her goodness.

I loved all the vampire characters and especially enjoyed it when she got it on with Eric, but it was the will-they-won't-they that was a lot more exciting than the actual relationship. i always saw that coming to an end. I also think that it would have been going against everything Sookie believed in and held dear for her to have become a vampire. And if she didn't - how was that relationship going to turn out?? Sookie wanted children, family, sunshine, humanity.

I think that the people getting hysterical over her not ending up with Eric are a bit bonkers, frankly - as if they have the right to control what an author writes just because they like (are obsessed by, in some cases) the series.

[CrabbyBigbottom]

I wasn't aiming that last comment at people on here, btw - I mean the people who have been slagging of Charlaine Harris everywhere, in the most vicious way, up to and including threats of death and suicide!

[EricIsMine]

craggybigbottom I couldn't agree more, it's the author's story to tell after all and she's told it in her own way! As much as I "admire" (ahem!) Eric, he was certainly wrong for Sookie, and Sam was always there for her, right from the start.

[EricIsMine]

Nothing like an over-reaction from the crazy fans to spoil the ending of a book! But now, what to read next?

[EricIsMine]

crabby

[mmack]

I only found out there was a book 13 because amazon emailed me to remind me to pre-order season 5. And I thought that putting season 5 on my wish-list made me a super-fan. I don't spend enough time online at all.

[CrabbyBigbottom]

my big bottom is craggy as well as craggy!

I read a recommendation for the Night Huntress series but I know absolutely nothing about them. I might just start the Sookie series again after a while - I've read the early ones many times - they're so easy to read and the book equivalent of a horlicks, all warm and comforting! The later ones lack the humour of the early ones, I think.

I love Harris' Lily Bard books too, although I never really clicked with the Harper Connelly series. I wonder what she'll write next. This is the first book she's not doing a tour for, as she knows how much hostility she's provoked from her more crazed fans! I wonder if it's the fantasy genre that provokes such obsession - was talking to DP this evening and he said that the Game of Thrones author got death threats whilst writing his last book because he wasn't getting it out fast enough. Hurry up and write what we want or we'll kill you!! Madness!

[CrabbyBigbottom]

Crabby, even.

[tillyfernackerpants]

Crabby, you could be right. Stephen King got similar for his Dark Tower series, especially when he ended one book on a real cliffhanger!

But I agree that the Sookie books are quite comforting to go back to, especially the earlier ones. Yy to merging the fairy storyline, or scrapping it altogether.

I didn't really like the Harper Connelly or the Lily Bard series and yet I still read them all - CH is strangely compelling.

I've just checked, have read Deadlocked but not the latest one. And now I can't wait to get a copy, I want to see how it all ends!

[CrabbyBigbottom]

Didn't Stephen King write the book about the crazed fan - the film had Kathy Bates in it, tilly?

[tillyfernackerpants]

Yes, Misery! While she had him, she found out he'd killed off her favourite character and made him revive her, "you dirty birdie" [grn]

[tillyfernackerpants]

even

[CrabbyBigbottom]

Misery, that's the one! I did see the film, a long time ago. I might start calling DH "you dirty birdy"!

[Blending]

It was definitely a case of lets give Sookie her "Happy Ever After" ending. So whilst I enjoyed it it did feel contrived and lets tie up all the loose ends.


*The real baddies conviently all kill each other, removing the possible threats there- from Claude to Steve Newland and Johan Glassport

*Eric moves away to marry the Queen, but not before making demands that Sookie is guaranteed not to be used/hurt/abused by other Vampires

• Bridges are burnt as Sookie learns Eric planned to turn her at some point regardless of what she wanted. Also a convient message about Sookie not going to Oklahoma or face death would scupper any thoughts there.
  
  
• Pam becomes Sheriff, thus we know that some power hungry upstart is going to come in and make life difficult for her
  
  
• Sam declares his feelings and they have mind blowing sex, but then they slow down and we see them having normal fun on a date (OK she ends up kidnapped later but its straight forward, non-supernatural fun)
  
  *Quinn adds nothing to the plot, but turns up with baby scan pictures and talks about how he wants to be part of raising his cub. Again this removes him as a potential suitor, and shows that they are just friends
  
  
• Ditto Alcide has a brief appearance to make it clear he's not the one for Sookie
  
  *Bill got a small amount of revenge by telling tales on Eric, as he had done to him previously. Also seemed to be starting a relationship with Karin, again taking himself out of the running
  
  *Tara comes good admitting she hadn't been there for her but swears she will now
  
  
• All her other friends rally around to show her support, first in the court room, then by the likes of Amelia visiting. She now has mended bridges and knows she's loved, by both regular people as well as Supes
  
  The one person I missed was Bubba!

[tillyfernackerpants]

Craggy

Tbh, when Sookie was given the cluviel dor I really thought she was going to use it to turn Bill human so pleased that didn't happen!

[MrsMaryCooper]

Yes, everyone got to take their bow. It didn't exactly go out with a bang.