PennyG

I feel incredibly uncool for liking this book when so many of my GR friends think it's one of the worst Sookie books ever. But what can I say? I like it a lot more then books 9 & 10. In my humble opinion, Dead in the Family was the series low, and I gave that book three stars because the majority of the silly fairy storyline was brought to an end. Or so it seemed.

Unfortunately, because Sookie's Fae cousin and uncle are living with her, it was necessary to bring up her jacked-up family tree. Again. Fortunately that stayed in the background, for the most part. I mean, yeah, clearly something weird is going on with what's left of the Fae community on this side of the now-sealed portal to Fae, but thankfully it wasn't the main storyline in Dead Reckoning.

Though it was made clear--to me, at least--that storyline isn't going away anytime soon. Especially because Sookie discovered she has a powerful Fae object in her possession. Wanna know what? (Do not click unless you really want to know what Sookie has) Something called a Cluviel Dor. Sookie discovered it while cleaning out her attic. Turns out it was given to her Grandmother by her half-fae (biological) grandfather. It's a very rare and very powerful gift the fae sometimes give to those they really love. Apparently they take an entire year to make. Wanna know what it does? It gives the person welding it the opportunity to change one thing. Like, Sookie could remove her "disability" if she wanted.

moving on...

So. Eric and Sookie. What to say? Honestly there really isn't anything I can say without it being all spoiler-y. All sorts of drama going on for Sookie and Eric. Sookie keeps getting attacked, and through the bond Eric can sense the danger Sookie is in. He hates that he never seems to be around when Sookie's life is in danger, and it's causing him a great deal of turmoil. He wants Sookie to move in with him and work at his bar. Of course Sookie declines his offer. Also, it becomes apparent that Eric is keeping a huge secret from Sookie. Pam knows what it is, even starts to (sort of) bring it up, but Eric forbids her to speak of it. Then Eric and Pam get into a fight over the whole thing and Sookie kicks them both out of her house.

Amelia shows up and tells Sookie that she thinks she's discoverd a way to magically sever the blood bond between Eric and Sookie. Sookie decides to give it a try. It works. And yes Eric becomes unhinged because of it. (For the record: I dislike this part of the story because: 1) the bond is easily broken using hardly any effort; turns out all Sookie had to do is burn some candles and mumble a few incantations, and 2) Sookie just does it without giving Eric any sort of warning). Eric comes to terms with the fact that the bond is broken and even apologizes to Sookie for not telling her there is actually a vampire ceremony that breaks the bond, then explains that he only wanted to keep the bond in place so he could keep Sookie safe. Sex happens. It's pretty unsexy, considering Sookie describes it as 'monkey sex' and has to apply an ice pack on her hoo-ha afterward.

Eventually Sookie figures out what Eric is keeping from her. He's supposed to marry some vampire queen. In fact, he's duty-bound to do so, regardless of the fact he's already married to Sookie. Turns out his maker set up the whole thing before he was killed in Dead in the Family. Throughout this book Eric is trying to stop it from going down, hoping the fact that his maker is now dead will nullify the deal. It doesn't

I love love love Eric. Love him. I liked him way back in book 1, was desperate for Sookie to dump vampire Bill on his depressingly boring butt in book 2--because Eric had me (laughing) at "Angelic Sookie, vision of love and beauty, I am prostrate that the wicked evil maenad violated your smooth and voluptuous body, in an attempt to deliver a message to me."

I Died of excitement when Eric became her lover in book 4. Was grinding my teeth in frustration when that came to an end. Died again when Eric remembered their time together. And admitted it. Did a happy dance when the bond was in place and celebrated their (vampire) marriage and official couple status.

That said, I realized a few books back their relationship could not possibly last. Sookie is never going to become a vampire. At least not voluntarily. And sure, Eric seems to genuinely love her enough that he would stick with her till her dying day, though it would pain him to see her grow old and not be able to do anything about it--The guy has a savior complex when it comes to Sookie. But I could never see Charlaine Harris taking this story in that direction. So the only real options are these: 1) Eric dies, or--and I think this is most likely, especially now given the circumstances--2) Eric is forced to leave Sookie.

For me, realizing the inevitable was pretty depressing. Sookie and Eric are probably my favorite fictional coupling ever, but I've come to accept it. You could say that I'm already at peace with it even though I'd prefer them to stay together.

That said, I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, though I don't imagine it will continue on much longer. So sad.

I have more to say but, as is what always happens when I sit down to write a review, I've been interrupted. I'll get back to this later. Hopefully.