Harris, Charlaine: Definitely Dead
Definitely Dead
Writer: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 324
And this book has finally brought me to the point of frustration, for several reasons, which I'll discuss behind the cut. However, there is one reason I can discuss here: I'm missing a huge chunk of story. If I didn't know better, I'd think I'd skipped one of the books in the series. But I do know better, which makes me remember that Harris has Sookie Stackhouse short stories/novellas floating around out there and I'll just have to track down the right one. If you know which story features Hadley's murder, or at least it'll feature Sookie's discovery of Hadley's murder, let me know, okay?
The premise: book 6 is supposed to be about Sookie going to New Orleans to claim her inheritance that someone doesn't want Sookie to have. And to make matters worse, there's a pack of Weres that are intent on bringing Sookie down, quite possibly killing her, and she doesn't know why.
Notice how these premises get slimmer and slimmer?
Spoilers ahead.
For starters, I want to bitch and moan about feeling left out of a major part of the story, the murder of Hadley and how it affects Sookie. Harris doesn't do a horrible job in catching me up, but it takes a while for that to happen, and every reference felt like someone was jumping up and down screaming at me. YOU MISSED SOMETHING!!! HA HA!!! Maybe it wouldn't have been quite so obvious if I'd been reading these books a year apart like most readers, but I'm reading them back to back and up until this point, and been in the loop. Now I'm not, through no fault of my own.
It annoys me, to say it mildly. Not only does Harris's website lack a decent bibliography (and by decent I mean in layout, content, and order--read this before you read this!, and summary), but there's something shifty to me to write stories about your main character that has great import to the series that forces your readers to dig for the material you need. Oh, yes, it makes the authors money and it gives readers a chance to check your stuff out if they've never read your work. But come on! You undermine the actual series when it's something THIS BIG (look at Patricia Brigg's "Alpha and Omega" in On the Prowl compared to the launch of the series, Cry Wolf). Readers are not only put at a disadvantage, but writers end up undermining their own ability because they're counting on the previous story to do the work for them. Previous stories that potential readers may not have heard about, or may not be able to get their hands on. And for that matter, those previous stories might be in anthologies that just simply aren't worth the cash.
So, this gets a big fat THUMBS DOWN from me, even though I've taken a chance and ordered a couple of those anthologies, hoping they'll be the right ones. We'll see.
And I should point this out: if the story/novella in question is truly self-contained but still features the main character of the series, that's okay. The stories should, IMHO, ENHANCE your understanding of the character/world, but NOT be a critical juncture in the series. Clear as mud? Good.
Now let's get to the book: the actual story of Sookie going to New Orleans to handle her cousin's affairs really doesn't get started until 130+ pages into the book. It's mentioned at the start, but dropped, and filled in with all kinds of clutter: the Pelt family questioning Sookie personally about Debbie's murder, Jason's girlfriend Crystal having a miscarriage, Sookie closing the door on a chance with Carlton, and then her getting to know Quinn. It's not that I minded some of these subplots, but they didn't blend in very well to what should've been the central mystery, which had be thrown for a loop because there were so many details Harris had to TELL me about, due to said details being in another story.
Anyway.
The Pelts: responsible for the attack on Sookie while on a date with Quinn, and responsible for kidnapping her and Quinn in New Orleans. It makes sense, though while reading, especially when she met them for the first time, I almost wanted her to take the family aside once she knew they were all Weres and tell them the absolute truth like she does at the end. After all, angry as they might be (like Sandra), they understood. Just get those damn pesky humans out of the way and speak frankly. Granted, that wouldn't have been very exciting, but I think it could've been more powerful had Sookie been able to tell them the full truth up front, then the same attacks kept happening, only led by Sandra alone, which would've seriously raised the consequences when her parents found out. Also, I hated that this subplot had to introduce a Were who decides to finger (through her spandex pants, that is) Sookie while she's tied up. Enough of this shit already! It seems like the only reason it's there is to 1) piss off the guy she's with and 2) give Sookie a reason to not feel bad when she has to act against the bastard. As if getting beaten and kidnapped isn't ENOUGH of a reason to jab a screwdriver in the guy's face? PLEASE. Cut it out Harris: this is starting to piss me off.
I like Quinn, but I'm not sold on the two of them as a couple. Not yet anyway. I'm not really rooting for Sookie to hook up with anyone. Bill's revelation about why he really came to Bon Temps was good, a solid punch, and a twist that made sense, because I even said in my review of Dead Until Dark that it seemed odd that Bill fell for her so quickly after having what appeared to be an aversion to her when they first met. I do believe he came to love her, but I don't blame Sookie for being pissed. I like how everything between her and Eric is out in the open and he doesn't have that power over her anymore, but I'm not sure how I feel about them either. I like Eric as a character, but something's got to change before I can root for them as a couple.
The fairy blood, how perfect. No wonder Sookie's got a fairy godmother! And it makes sense in light of why these supernatural creatures are attracted to her. I like how Sookie ruminates over this instead of taking it in stride. She's right to feel miffed that it's her blood that draws them, not HER, and I loved especially Quinn stating he didn't give a rat's ass about the blood (though he did find that her blood tasted interesting in Dead as a Doornail).
Meeting the Louisiana Queen was interesting, but I felt pretty overwhelmed with all the details surrounding that plot. I figured out pretty quick Jade had something to do with the murder once we saw her sword, and the whole vampire political marriage thing was a yawn. I might've been more invested had I read THE STUPID SHORT STORY, but I hadn't, and I wasn't, so there. :)
My Rating
Worth the Cash: but it's close to "give it away," especially if you're like me and have missed the short story that supplied so many of this novel's important plot points. Boo to Harris for that, so if you can get your hands on that short story (once I find out the name and anthology it's in, I'll post it in my LJ in this review), read that first. You'll save yourself a lot of whiplash. As far as the plot goes, it's weak, mostly because of the missing information that Harris can only cram in here, and over all, it's just not interesting. Again, it's because I'm not invested in the Louisiana Queen storyline, but because of that, the mystery didn't feel like a mystery at all, but more of a series of events that just happened. Oh well. One more to go. Hopefully that one will be a little stronger.
Next up:
All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris