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Thursday, October 31, 2013

145) After Dead by Charlaine Harris

The Blurb :

Dead Ever After marked the end of the Sookie Stackhouse novels—a series that garnered millions of fans and spawned the hit HBO television show True Blood. It also stoked a hunger that will never die…a hunger to know what happened next.

With characters arranged alphabetically—from the Ancient Pythoness to Bethany Zanelli—bestselling author Charlaine Harris takes fans into the future of their favorite residents of Bon Temps and environs. You’ll learn how Michele and Jason’s marriage fared, what happened to Sookie’s cousin Hunter, and whether Tara and JB’s twins grew up to be solid citizens.

This coda provides the answers to your lingering questions—including details of Sookie’s own happily-ever-after…

The book will feature extensive interior art by acclaimed Sookie artist Lisa Desimini, including a Sookieverse Alphabet, color endpapers, and several full-page black and white interior illustrations.

My Thoughts

The last Sookie Stackhouse novel got some very mixed reviews.  Where some loved it and were sad to see it all come to an end, others hated it and attacked the author for her decisions regarding Sookie and the 'Happily Ever After' she ended the book with.  I actually am one of those people who liked the last book and was sad to see it go but was happy with how it ended.  I don't think many share my opinion.

Anyway, for all those questions left unanswered there is now 'After Dead'.  What I expected was a nice bunch of short stories tying up/explaining what happened to some of the main characters in the series.  What I got was an over priced book which took me about 15 minutes to read.  As I started reading and saw what was really in this book I was quite mad.  A fan for all these years and this is what I get?

Every page was reserved for a different character from the series.  Some of the characters were very obscure, met them once and can't remember who they are people.  While some of the characters got a nice paragraph explaining what happened to them others only got one sentence.  Yes on each page there was only a few lines giving a short, brief and sometimes frustrating account of how the characters life played out after Sookie 'retired'.

While some of the characters were nice to read about, for example Sookie herself, Tara, Bill, Eric and Pam, the others were boring and unnecessary.  Characters that I didn't care about had long write ups with an interesting story while characters I really liked and appeared more frequently only got a short mention. There were some that I wanted to know more about and there were some that could have done with a few more lines.  It was all quite disappointing.

What added insult to injury was the 'And he/she had many more adventures' line that the author had added to some of the notes.  What??? Isn't this the book to tell us about them?  Too lazy to think of something cool?  Will there be spin-off books?  This sentence appeared a couple of times and not for characters who meant nothing.  It hurt to read this.  It felt like I was being teased and tested.  If I give you more tasty treats will you stick around and read them?

To not be completely negative about this book I will say that the artwork was really nice.  I appreciated it very much and even though I only read this on my Kindle I was impressed with the thought and work that had gone into it.  If only the author had also put that much effort into this book.

I don't think I have ever said anything bad against this author before but this time I can only shake my head in disgust.  After all these years I expected more and am really upset that I pre-ordered this and paid so much for it. So if you are a Sookie fan and have been looking forward to this book, you have been warned.  Yes it is nice to find out what happens to all those characters you came to know and love over the years but No it isn't worth buying it right now.  Wait until it is reduced or put it on your wishlist and let someone else buy it for you.  Maybe pool your money together with some other Sookie lovers you know and sit down for coffee and all of you can read a few out loud and be done within about half an hour.   Review over, I am off to see if I can get a refund for this book.





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4 comments:

Anne said...

I pretty much knew what After Dead was going to be, so I planned to get it from the library. Haven't gotten it yet.

I, too, was happy with the last book and felt that Sookie stayed true to what she said in all the previous books. Who she ended up with was the only choice based on her past statements and desires for the future. For that 5 star review (really 4.5), I got accused of being a paid reviewer.

Aurian said...

I am sorry you are so disappointed in this extra book Amber. The premises sounds so good, catching up.

Unknown said...

My happiness has been restored! I did something I have never done before and requested a Kindle refund. I got my money back no questions asked and the book has been removed my Kindle and Kindle library. Maybe one day when it is cheap I will buy a copy for my collection but at the moment I am extremely happy to have my money back!

Aurian said...

O that is amazing! For me, I can send a book back to England for a refund, but those costs are higher than the book itself, so not worth it.