Please Exit the Ride and Beware Fangirl Unfairness

[peppermintyrose]

Oh man, it was absolutely fantastic! I'm also just a little bit sad that it's over, but as per usual, I adored it. 5 out of 5, many more re-reads coming.

Comments

[peppermintyrose]

I've died down with the new fics - and now I probably won't read anything but what I'm already reading. Although I confess that some of my favourite authors could probably lure me. You did well to avoid the whole suicide fangirl though. They've been kamikazeing all over the place with their spoilers. :D

Oh Mr. Cataliades was absolutely a joy - he was both amusing and a god-send. I loved his weirdo statements about the Devil - I've read the Britlingens short story - the man would draw crowds. I did like Sookie critiquing the orange jumpsuits and how they go well with various hair colours. And Sookie saying that she would never try bondage. :D

I think waiting for the anvil to drop that Sookie doesn't know about was kind of interesting. I wonder just how much longer the books would be if we got this every time, instead of all of a sudden, stuff happens and we have to figure it out. Sadly, she didn't either nuke the Long Tooth wolves, or kick Alcide in the balls. But I can live with that. :D

I would have loved that too - but I don't feel it was a bad change. I didn't realise how much I liked the fact that Sookie fell into bed with Sam without having to worry about what that meant, or what the future of their relationship was. It was just simple and direct, and I loved it. I hadn't realised how much angst was tied in with her scenes with Eric.

I do still like Eric for all his joie de mort (as Sookie calls it), and I'm less mad at him than I thought he'd be. Yes, he was 12. But then, 12 year olds ban Quinns from their area, and try to get around deals they make with Comptons. So Eric was just so fucking predictable. The spiteful, prideful bugger. His assertions that "It's still good, it's still good" was like 'Oh man. Give. Up.'

Oh! It totally does. After I read the spoilers, I relistened to IHAH - and it's pretty damn seamless.

[tigerjan110]

Oh! You know what I erroneously expected to be more of a thing…when the devil (*a* devil!) is talking to Copley about the cluviel dor…he comments that he’d managed to enter the body of someone standing behind Sookie, but she used the cluviel dor before he could take it (Loc 267 on Kindle.) Then Sam said he remembered Eric standing behind Sookie looking like he hated them (Loc 864 on Kindle). Obviously we already know that Eric was mad that Sookie used the cluviel dor on Sam, so I realize it’s not the reason for that, but the way it was mentioned these two times made me think the possession was going to become a plot point of its own. It didn’t, and it doesn’t matter that it didn’t, but it did throw me off a bit, expecting it to come up again and then not.

I’m sure someone will latch on to it and write a fic where Eric was actually possessed all through DEA, and once he’s back to his normal, romantic, loving, perfect self, they’ll get back together and bang a lot.

There really was a lot of angst for them in the end, and realizing that Sookie could now be at least slightly less enmeshed in supernatural plotting made me breathe a sigh of relief for her. In spite of all the previous drama, this book was the first time I was really thinking “Just get out of all this. Leave them to their blood and scheming, and go pick your tomatoes and get the house sprayed for bugs.” Hell, it’s the first chance she’s really HAD to get some distance, without worrying about dying.

Eric’s final actions in the story were really him in a nutshell. Help Sookie, but try to take all the credit, threaten the potential suitor, and leave town. He’s such a great personality, but he’s such an anti-hero.

[peppermintyrose]

Lol - I figured when I read the prologue online that it wouldn't be a thing. After all, anything that Eric did wouldn't be Eric. But I really enjoyed the ("a") devil and the discussion of souls.

You could write that fanfic yourself and beat the rush. And then a thousand fangirls would come tell you you're better than CH. I mean, obviously you must be, if you agree with them. And then 15 chapters of boning, and you're a superstar! Include some BDB and you have a possible pulled-to-publish fanfic.

I wholeheartedly agree there. It seems freaking endless, and finally I think Sookie came to the conclusion that she'd had enough excitement and being killed. I could go on at length here, but I think it was the key turning point of the book.

It was! Everyone else is talking about how this was not Eric? Dude, in what way is this not Eric? I still assert that they never liked Eric in the first place. I mean, this is the man who ignored her friend's rape and slaughter until he could use it to get information off Sookie about his time without a memory - and then gloated that she'd bargained all that away for a two minute phonecall that cost him nothing. He's a tricksy fellow, and he always has been.

[tigerjan110]

The soul/lack of soul is something that didn't really come up much in SVM until now, isn't it. (at least as compared to, say, Twilight (*shudder) with all the angst of whether or not vampires have one.) I liked that the ward on the house that only affected people withs souls, worked on vampires. I'll assume that SVM vampires have souls, Twilight vampires do not, and Edward can literally go to hell, if he believes in that sort of thing.

Oh gosh, can I?! It'll be the next 50 Shades and everyone can say they knew me when. I actually haven't read BDB, but there's no way it's nearly as entertaining as your review/breakdown of it, and I'm pretty sure I've got the plot well enough to just run with it.

Well, it certainly wasn't Saint Eric. But it was absolutely 100% Real Eric. I don't doubt he loves Sookie as much as he's capable of, but he's had 1000 years to work on being self-serving and he's REALLY good at that. And frankly, it was realistic. Most relationships don't end due to someone acting really out of character, they end because someone acted really IN character, and the other person is done with it. Eric acted about as Ericish as he possibly could, and Sookie found her limit, both with him and with a lot of the supernatural world.

[peppermintyrose]

Bill floated the idea in Book 1, and of course, Sookie's always worried about her own. I don't think Eric gave much of a shit either way. But no - not much of a discussion about what is the spiritual makeup of things.

You'll be a motherfucking superstar. Do it now while all the angry fangirls are still raging - you'll get a blowback of hatred for CH love. They're all ranting in each other's reviews now. BDB is really only entertaining if you have someone else to tell the stuff to. I was buoyed by thoughts of sharing that shit with the rest of you.

Ha! That's pretty profound. He was in character, and so was she. I think it's a good way to break them up, and considering the stuff he's said to her before, I think it was tempered with his care for her. Eric said about Victor that it is better to ask forgiveness than permission, and he stayed true to form with this. He's been like this all the way through the books - doing first, and then checking it out with Sookie later.