Search - Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse, Bk 12)

3.5 Stars

What I liked:
-Many characters from previous books made an appearance
-Loose ends were finally tied up, especially with the local fae
-Some people/vamps/fae/shifters/etc. finally showed their true colors (though it had been obvious to readers for quite awhile)
-The ending seemed to solidly round out the story, while showing promise for the next and final book
-Sookie did NOT get her a$$ kicked constantly throughout the entire story (she needed a break)!

What I didn't like:
-I felt like the plot of the story was easily discerned within the first few chapters, but Sookie was clueless for most of the book.
-Sookie's friends (minus one), family, and lover treat her rather carelessly and still expect a lot in return (I know this isn't new, but it's still annoying).
-There wasn't much romance or passion. Without passion, the story lacked the derived emotional response needed to conceptualize the betrayal Sookie felt.
-While a lot of Sookie's friends and family were finding or have found their "happily ever afters" in Deadlocked, Sookie barely found reason to smile (about anything personal anyway). I know Sookie will not get her happy ending until Dead Ever After, but she should have given something because the story felt rather unbalanced in that aspect.
-The business with the Felipe, his vampires, and Eric was mostly left up in the air and unfinished.

Overall, I felt Deadlocked was significantly better than the previous two installments and a solid addition to the series. I didn't love it, but I did enjoy reading it. So, I'm looking forward to reading Sookie's final adventure in Dead Ever After next year.

Finally--an almost-decent Sookie installment! The last 2 books were TERRIBLE, so by comparison, this book totally rocked.

However, it completely lacks any & all ROMANCE!!! What happened to the hot & steamy with Sookie & Bill or Sookie & Eric or Sookie & Alcide or Sookie & Quinn?!?!

Harris now seems to write Sookie wandering aimlessly without any decent male-female interaction to fuel the plot.

I agree with Shannon--Harris wraps up some annoying loose ends, and writes a decent story. Unfortunately, her Sookie's-life-sucks endings really leave a lot to be desired.

If there's a finale to this series in the works, I really hope Charlaine Harris makes it a happy one--Sookie really deserves some happiness!

The Sookie Stackhouse series is great fun if you enjoy the paranormal (vampires, werewolves, fae) but I wish I had reread the previous book or two before diving into this one. It's enjoyable, but there is a lot going on with the different groups of characters and a refresher might have made it even better.

There are several things about this book that I really liked a lot, and several things that make me feel the series is past its prime and ready to come to a close. In all honesty the last several books didn't really deserve five stars, but I've kind of been reluctant to lower it without taking everything into account. I don't want to specify too much, since it'll give stuff away, but I will say that while a LOT of things are left up in the air and unresolved in the end, there are also some issues that do finally get resolved and many characters that finally get their happy endings. I'm actually feeling very optimistic for the next book, since this one managed to leave off in such a way that it should set things up for a lot to possibly happen. The issues that were left hanging are ones I certainly want to know about, so I'll definitely be looking forward to volume thirteen.

When will Sookie have a good book again? I have stuck it out now for 3 dull installments, and am waiting for some PASSION! Whether it be a great fight scene, or a great sex scene, I haven't been feeling anything from these books for a while now... And isn't that the reason we read these books? To have some fun, guilty pleasure while reading Sookie?

I was not a fan especially of how many side characters they kept throwing back in our faces. Every time they mentioned someone I really had to stop and mentally dig through the last 11 books. This was a bit exhausting, and took me out of the story. Also, I was so frusterated with Sookie for most of this book because she was so CLUELESS! I have always kept up with these books because Sookie is a good female role model. She is smart, savvy, confident, strong, and NOT a bimbo. She is what a female literary character should be this day in age. However, in this book she was just not the Sookie I wanted. Also, she wouldn't stand up for herself to Eric as much as she should have regarding Freyda. I was yelling at the book for her to just CALL him. Frusterating.

Finally, the story left me wanting. It wasn't really about anything particular. It was all over the place with tons of side characters, and it seems like Harris just had to quickly wrap up all these loose story ends she had introduced but never went anywhere with (Jannalyn, Claude, Niall, etc). It was without direction and conviction, and I was not impressed. I may give this series one more book.... but I may not.