Did you remember that The Sookie Stackhouse Companion written by Charlaine Harris, came out today? Did you buy your copy?
If not, and you’re planning to read it – please don’t read this post! We have a great review of it here! WARNING: This post contains SPOILERS!!
For those who want to be spoiled, this is just a portion of what this reviewer had to say…again, we warn you, there are a lot of spoilers involved!
Now on with the review…
Let’s start with the good stuff. I was always a fan of John Quinn, the big, family-challenged weretiger Sookie met in Dead as a Doornail and finally hooked up with in Definitely Dead. Their relationship floundered badly, as Sookie forced Quinn to choose between her and his family, setting off an explosive argument and an unresolved ending. Before you knew it, Sook was back in Eric’s capable arms and Quinn was just… gone.
I always felt the Quinn situation hadn’t been resolved, so it was fun to see an all-new novella here, “Small-Town Wedding,” in which Sookie goes with Sam to Texas to attend his brother’s wedding. There’s lots of tension between the townspeople and Sam’s two-natured family (remember, his stepfather shot his mother after she “came out” as a shifter) — and who shows up but Quinn. I won’t go so spoilerific here as to say how Quinn’s status with Sookie was resolved. But it was resolved, and since we have only two more novels before the series ends, it needed to be.
As a longtime series reader, one of the most fun things in the Companion for me was the “Secret Dialogues of Bill and Eric.” There’s a long, fairly snooze-inducing synopsis of each novel, at the end of which we find these secret correspondences between the two vampires in Sookie’s life.
My favorite secret correpondence exchange came after the synopsis of book four, Dead to the World, when Bill’s and Eric’s competition over Sookie is still at a peak, and Bill’s work for Queen Sophie-Anne has come to light. First, Eric sends Bill a letter that he has helped arrange some vampire meetings for Bill in South America, at the queen’s orders, then wishes Bill a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, archly expressing surprise Bill is not spending the holidays with Sookie.
Bill responds in a letter that since Eric’s never celebrated Christian holidays, he is surprised by the well-wishes.
Eric congratulates Bill on being a “bona fide computer whatever-you-are” (“good to see those night classes paid off”), and says he’ll have to stop in and make sure Sookie’s not spending the holidays alone.
Bill’s letter in response: “Dear Eric, f** off. Bill”
By the seventh or eighth book, Bill and Eric are emailing and texting although, not surprisingly, Eric dislikes texting immensely.
To read more of this review, click here!
This review makes me want to read this book more than ever! It leaves more questions than answers, IMO.
I’m glad the Quinn storyline is put to rest. I wonder what happens though? I’m guessing that Quinn is eliminated from Sookie’s list of suitors…
And the messages between Eric and Bill seem hilariously witty and insightful!
What do you think? Share your thoughts below!
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