Because several people have asked where I came by my spoiled knowledge, I decided to put it over here. I’m going to literally cut and paste what I grabbed off of Reddit, so keep in mind this is NOT my shit. And remember, you can’t unsee it.
So consider yourself warned.
(The other DEA thread was marked “no spoilers” — this is the opposite. Spoil away! As per this subreddit’s spoiler policy, the title is marked, so you don’t need tags in your posts. If you’ve got information, spill!)
(the original Amazon thread, now >50 pages)
• Eric becomes a sex slave. Dress it up all you like, this is what it boils down to. He is unable to find a way out of marriage to Freyda and is doomed to spend not 100, but 200 years as her consort. The breakup with Sookie is outrageous and ridiculously OOC. He has his child (whom we’ve never heard from prior to this) summon Sookie to Fangtasia for a humiliating public divorce.
This is particularly cruel since Eric spent at least his first hundred years as sex slave to Ocella (and likely more.)
10.8
“You may call me Appius Livius,” he said, “since you are Eric’s wife. It took Eric a hundred years to earn the right to call me Appius, rather than Master. Then centuries to be able to call me Ocella.”
So only Eric got to call him Ocella. Fine with me. I noticed Alexei was still at the “Master” stage. Alexei was sitting as still as if he’d taken a huge tranquilizer, his synthetic blood sitting on the coffee table in front of him with only a sip missing.
Ocella has three name stages. He’s had Alexei since the Russian Revolution, and he’s only at Master stage. Sookie as Eric’s wife got skipped ahead to Appius Livius. Eric is at stage three, Ocella. If it takes as long to earn the right to call him Ocella as it does to get out of the Master stage, that means Eric was Ocella’s sex slave for at least three hundred years.
And now he’s enslaved himself to Oklahoma for an additional 200. And let’s be clear, this is a slave relationship. He is not a King, he is a consort. Freyda holds all the power. Eric must ask her permission before he can do anything (which comes into play below.) While it’s unlikely that he’s being raped as sadistically as he was with Ocella, he is still being coerced into sex under contract.
Coming from CH, a rape victim herself, this is beyond cruel.
• It’s Sam. Many of us have been predicting that for a while now, based on the use of the cluviel dor, (which I believe CH created solely to prop up Sam as an HEA) and the painfully obvious gesture of having Sam bring Sookie to his brother’s wedding, and introduce her as his girlfriend. CH even goes so far as to have one of Sam’s nephews call her “Aunt Sookie.”
Small-Town Wedding 10A.2:
While Sam and I ate in the living room, sitting side by side on the couch, Mason brought me a glass of sweet tea, carrying it very carefully. “Here, Aunt Sookie,” he said proudly, and though I opened my mouth to correct the title, I just said, “Thank you, darlin’.” Mason grinned, looked instantly bashful, and dashed away.
Sam put his arm around me and kissed me on the cheek.
I took a sip of the tea because I didn’t know what else to do. I thought Sam was getting a
little too into his role-playing.
There’s also this part back in From Dead To Worse, when Sookie introduces Sam to Niall, the closest thing she can offer to meeting the folks:
8.16:
I became aware of Sam standing by my side.
“Who is that?” he breathed.
“That’s my, ah, my great-granddad,” I said. He was right there in front of me. I had to explain.
“Oh,” he said, his voice was full of amazement.
“I just found out,” I said apologetically.
Niall stopped soaking up the moonlight and his eyes opened. “My great-granddaughter,” he said, as if my presence in the Merlotte’s parking lot was a pleasant surprise. “Who is your friend?”
“Niall, this is Sam Merlotte, who owns this bar,” I said.
Sam extended his hand cautiously, and after a good look at it, Niall touched it with his own. I could feel Sam give a slight jerk, as if my great-grandfather had had a buzzer in his hand.
…
“Thank you for not thinking I’m defective,” I said.
“Other humans think you’re defective?” Niall sounded genuinely outraged.
“They can’t be comfortable sometimes,” Sam said unexpectedly. “Knowing she can read their minds.”
“But you, shapeshifter?”
“I think she’s great,” Sam said. And I could tell he was absolutely sincere.
And again in 11.4:
“You’d be out of a job,” and closed his mouth, as if that had sparked a chain of thoughts.
Everyone was mighty interested in what I’d be doing if Merlotte’s closed. “Sam would be out of his living,” I pointed out, as I half-turned to go to the kitchen to get another cup of coffee.
“Which is way more important than my job. I can find another place to work.”
“He could run a bar somewhere else,” Claude said, shrugging.
“He’d have to leave Bon Temps,” I said sharply.
“That wouldn’t suit you, would it?” Claude looked thoughtful in a way that made me distinctly uneasy.
“He’s my best friend,” I said. “You know that.” Maybe that was the first time I had said that aloud, but I guess I’d known it for quite a while.
And again in 12.9:
“It’s because we were talking about involving Sam,” Bill told Eric. “That’s the stumbling block.”
Suddenly they were on the same side, and that side was not mine.
“You’re sweet on him?” Eric said. He couldn’t have been more surprised if I’d said I had a crush on Terry’s Catahoula.
“He’s my boss,” I said. “We’ve been friends for years. Of course I’m fond of him.”
Subtle, CH is not.
Many readers didn’t believe CH would actually do it, as despite these passages, Sam has been a largely ancillary character for the majority of the series, and any demonstrable indication of a romantic connection (i.e., a passionate kiss) has been long gone from their relationship since Dead as a Doornail (Book 5). That’s the last time Sam kisses her with any passion, as opposed to the pecks and friendly hugs in the later books. On Sookie’s part, she has occasionally commented on his body, but hardly exclusively. She sizes up just about every man she meets: Bill, Eric, Quinn, Alcide, take your pick.
• CH created the character of Karin the Slaughterer as a prize in a contest. (She’s named after Karin Slaughter, an author apparently.) This is Eric’s Other Child, who was first mentioned in passing back in 7. But this is not some grand plan. Karin, as was once speculated, is not a reference to Eric’s Viking background. No, she’s just the contest winner, and this was just a promotional gimmick. Karin is nothing more than a plot device, she kills the token baddie (Copley Carmichael) and Eric tells her to watch Sookie for a year after they divorce.
• The other terms of the divorce are that Sookie is banned from Fangtasia, and banned from the state of Oklahoma, on penalty of death. No vampires are allowed to feed on her, and Eric is not allowed to be alone with her. Pam is also banned from seeing Eric for the duration of the marriage (as is Karin, but seriously, who gives a shit about Karin.)
• Despite this, after the divorce, Eric approaches her afterwards and asks her to be his mistress. He also says that he should have turned her against her will, spitting in the face of everything that we’ve learned about his character and this specific passage from 9.10:
“But that’s not going to happen to me. And you won’t ever turn me.” I was absolutely serious.
“No. I won’t ever force you into subservience. And I will never turn you, since you don’t want it.”
“Even if I’m going to die, don’t turn me. I would hate that more than anything.”
“I agree to that. No matter how much I may want to keep you.”
And even earlier than that, in 9.6:
“It’s a compulsion. It’s impossible to resist, even when you want to… even when you’re desperate to get away.” His white face was closed and brooding.
I couldn’t imagine Eric doing something he didn’t want to do, being in a subservient position. Of course, he had a boss now; he wasn’t autonomous. But he didn’t have to bow and scrape, and he made most of his own decisions.
“I can’t imagine it,” I said.
“I wouldn’t want you to.”
• Even Pam is dragged through the mud. She breaks off all contact with Sookie and tells her that Eric only negotiated with Freyda for Sookie’s protection to demonstrate his power and loyalty to that which used to be his.
• Sookie is arrested in a tedious B-plot involving Arlene, Copley Carmichael (Amelia’s father) and the devil, of all things. Sam goes to Eric for $30k in bail money. Eric has to ask Freyda for permission first, and then only gives Sam the money with the stipulation that Sam can never pursue Sookie romantically. Bill later gleefully tells Sookie this, as “retribution” for Eric revealing Bill seducing Sookie to bring her to Sophie-Anne in 6.
• Sam and Sookie have sex, but Sookie won’t let him spend the night, wanting to take things slowly. She says that she thinks they’ll be together by Christmas, possibly forever.
• Claude is pointlessly dragged into the story again. Despite what Niall’s been saying for three books now (since the end of 9) about avoiding contact with humans for the humans’ sake, he opens up the portal again to allow Claude to escape so he can flush out the remaining “bad fae” in the world. Awesome continuity once again, CH.
• And just for kicks, CH contradicts herself again by saying that Cataliades can now remove telepathy from Sookie and any eventual children with Sam.
11.17
“Can I use it to take away the telepathy?”
“No, my dear, it would be like wishing away your spleen or your kidneys. But an interesting thought.”
So I couldn’t help Hunter with it. Or myself, either. Damn.
The fact that shifter children are usually miscarried has also apparently slipped CH’s mind.
3.4:
“So how come America’s not full of werewolves and shapeshifters?” I asked, after I’d considered his statement.
“Like must marry like to produce another, which is not always doable. And each union only produces one child with the trait. Infant mortality is high.”
On the leak:
• CH and her apologists have demonized the German source for the leak, insinuating that the book was illegally obtained and maliciously spoiled. In reality, the book was legally purchased at a German bookstore that mistakenly sold it before the scheduled release date. That person then shared their reactions with a few friends, and it spread from there. The parties at fault are CH’s publishing company, agents, and booksellers, for botching the release.
I know there are a few items that I’ve forgotten, so if I’ve left something out or you have additional info, please do share.
ETA: Someone linked this graph up on the boards. It charts how often each male character has been mentioned, in any context, in all the books through 11.
Someone asked a question about the coda CH has been promoting, scheduled to come out this fall. Her answer:
3818 Maker 2013-04-28 09:15 Coastiegurl, AFTER DEAD is just a listing of characters who appeared in the books with a little taste of what happens to them after the books are over. DEAD EVER AFTER is the final word on the course of Sookie’s life. Charlaine Harris
Wonder how that one will sell…
HERE IS THE FULL “SPOILER” PM THAT WAS SENT. I DID NOT WRITE IT, JUST REPOSTED. “ENJOY”
HEA The HEA is Sam but it is not really romantic. They do discuss their prospective future together and to me this whole conversation was odd. She wants to be sure Sam is not a rebound. There is one Sam/Sookie sex scene very late into the book but it is pretty short and feels somewhat detached and reminded me of Bill’s earlier scenes with Sookie. Even though Sookie calls it “best making love ever” and states she is happy there are no real emotions coming across.
Eric/Sookie According to Bill, Eric was mighty mad (or to quote Bill, Eric was “in a towering rage”) when he returned to Fangtasia the night Sookie used the Cluviel Dor (CD). Eric wouldn’t tell his vamps what happened, so the area 5 vamps contacted a were to find out the details and are now convinced that Sookie loves Sam more than Eric.
We meet Karin “The Slaughterer”, Eric’s other child. She seems pretty weird but there are hardly any further details about her.
Eric and Sookie don’t talk really about the CD incident and what it means in regards of their love/future. Sookie tries to talk to Eric at Fangtasia but is being sent as FDC’s vamps were around.
Sookie and Eric publicly divorce in Fangtasia in front of FDC and Freyda. Sookie is summoned to Fangtasia by Karin for the divorce.
Eric visits Sookie the night before the divorce ceremony but she was asleep and as very typical for her, she is not really interested in what he had to say. He told her that whatever happens in public she should not doubt that he loves her and cares for her. Sookie does not ask what will happen publicly and seems to be surprised and humiliated by the turn of events although I thought it was pretty clear where this was heading.
Eric goes to see Sookie at her house after the divorce but it turns ugly. Sookie greets him with “What the fuck are you doing here?” and from there it turns into a shouting match in which Eric is basically a total bastard. He wants to keep her (as his little secret from Freyda) and on top of this he expresses his regrets for not having turned Sookie against her will. Sookie rightfully rescinds Eric’s invitation.
It is not really explained why Eric marries Freyda in the end. It is mentioned several times how beautiful, powerful and rich the queen is but to me it sounds that Eric will be quite out of control of his own life. He is now a consort (not king) and Eric seems to be inseparable from Freyda (if by choice or not is unclear).
Apparently the marriage contract was dealt out with Freyda, Eric and FDC. Eric made a wish list and some details on the agreement are revealed to Sookie by Bill and Pam: – Sookie is never to be harmed, harassed, tasted, killed or made servant by any vampire. – Karina will guard Sookie’s house from her woods, every night for a year. – In return for Sookie’s protection, the marriage will last 200 instead of the customary 100 years. – Eric is not allowed to ever be alone with Sookie again. – Pam will be the new area 5 sheriff (FDC agreed surprisingly) – Both of Erics children are not allowed to follow him to Oklahoma – Sookie is banned from Fangtasia – Sookie is forbidden to ever enter Oklahoma (death penalty)
Now before you swoon over Eric’s protective measures towards Sookie, this is what Pam has to say: “Sookie, take my advice. I’m going to give it to you for free. This was not ‘nice’ of Eric. This was Eric protecting what used to be his, to show Freyda that he is loyal and protects his own. This is not a sentimental gesture.”
Sookie is arrested for Arlene’s murder and Eric bails Sookie (his then ex-wife) out of jail but only because Sam goes to Eric/Freyda for financial help ($ 30k). Eric agrees but only if Sookie will never learn that Sam was the moving force behind bailing her out and to add to this ugly tidbit, Sam had to swear to stay away from Sookie, i.e. to never try to court her in the future.
Of course, it is Bill who has the “intense pleasure” (his own words) to tell Sookie about Eric’s deviousness towards Sam. Bill starts this conversation with “Do you remember what Eric did to me in New Orleans?” and enjoys himself greatly… why Bill would know about this is not explained.
It really bugged me that E/S never in this whole book had a “normal” conversation or at least a heartfelt moment. There is no goodbye, no making peace, nothing. Sookie does not seem heartbroken at all and Eric even sends Mustapha in the daytime to pick up his stuff from Sookie’s house and just like that Eric is gone.
Bill Bill is alive and kicking until the end. He remains in Bon Temps and is probably roaming the night with Karin in Sookie’s woods. There are some “neighbourly” visits throughout the book and Bill is Sookie’s main source on the vamp gossip and soundboard.
Sookie discusses with Bill of all people why Niall has told Eric about the Cluviel Dor at all. To Bill’s credit (hate to say this), he believes that Eric never intended Sookie to use it on the Freyda situation but that Eric was hoping she would at least be “willing” to use it on his behalf.
Sookie believes this was a test of their love in Niall’s eyes. To either see if Eric pressured her to use it or if she would love him enough to use it to keep him. Sookie thinks they both have failed, although I cannot remember Eric pressuring her on this…
Other stuff Prologue is intriguing but the devil means Sookie no harm and he himself is of no further importance for the main plot. Just the fact of being soulless. At least we learn that vamps do have souls.
There are multiple POVs. Most of it is still Sookie’s 1st person narration but there are also 3rd person views whenever Sookie is not around in some scenes. This basically threw me off but then again Sookie’s POV lacks the emotions, fun and depth. She continues to compartmentalize to the end so we really don’t learn how she feels about the important matters or her future.
Chapter 1 sets off the next day after Sookie used the CD.
Mr. C, Diantha, Barry, Amelia & Bob move into Sookie’s house to help her in the murder investigation. Quinn appears to help as well but has to leave to stage Eric and Freyda’s marriage ceremony in Oklahoma. Alcide has a short scene which seems to be there just for the heck of it.
Mr. C. informs Sookie that he arranged for a monthly annuity for the rest of her life on Niall’s orders by selling the fae’s human assets. So Sookie at least will never ever have to worry on this front again.
For whatever reason that escapes me, Barry is not to learn that Mr. C. is his family although I wonder why he did not pick it up from Sookie’s thoughts.
Claude is back and has vengeance on his mind although his reasoning is as well as his “evil plan” is pretty poor/lame. Apparently Niall arranged for him to escape after extensive torture (his face is unrecognizable) to flush out the rest of the fae traitors.
The big bads next to Claude are Amelia’s dad & his bodyguard as well as Steve Newlin and Johan Glassport (QSA’s former lawyer and sadist). Again I felt it was lacking real reasons why they all went after Sookie and so amateurish.
Sookie is shot once (declines Eric’s healing blood) but other than that hardly harmed.
There are no vampire deaths and no other major player is killed off.
Jason marries Michele and fortunately also proves to be a very supportive brother to Sookie.
I think the most lovely and positive aspect to me was that Terry was given a sweet HEA.
Sookie’s final words: “I enjoyed my arms around him (Sam), the sense of him next to me. And if you were to ask me, I would confess that I thought Sam and I would be together, maybe by Christmas, maybe for always. I couldn’t imagine a future without him. But I also knew that if he turned away from me at this moment, somehow I would survive that and I would find a way to flourish like the yard that still bloomed and grew around my family home. I’m Sookie Stackhouse. I belong here.”
ewww. It’s like Charlaine Harris spat at all her fans with a big “FUCK YOU” sign against everyone who liked Eric. WTF kinda ending is this? It’s always been Eric for many many books, and now it’s not. I’m not sure if I’ll be reading this book.
I am disgusted by the way the series wraps up. It makes me feel like the whole series had no direction – each book seemed to be moving toward Sookie growing as a person (lots of personal reflection, learning about herself, etc) and finding happiness and her place in the world. Frankly, to have her end up with Sam when nothing really pointed towards it is ridiculous.
I would rather have had Sookie die (meeting up with her grandmother in the afterlife) and then seen from the other characters how the loss of her would profoundly change them and their lives than see her just end up with a token non-vampire boyfriend.
We all know (because she said it many times) that she couldn’t be with a human or a twoey because of the lack of privacy in reading their thoughts. All of a sudden that doesn’t matter anymore? I call BS.
Absolutely right. She says way back in Book 1 that it’s harder to read Sam than most people, but he has to actively work to block her out of his thoughts. It is not like a vampire’s natural silence (and even that is not perfect, as she read Eric’s mind a couple times, as well as Area Four Sheriff Gervaise and Jennifer Cater mook Henrik Feith in Rhodes.)
Minds are most open when the person is unguarded, e.g., during sex, and that was the stumbling block that prevented her from forming any romantic relationships before Bill. But like so much of her canon, CH has chose to ignore what won’t fit her preordained HEA.
Kjwrit Fanfiction 
and this is why I haven’t read any of the last books…this is bullshit.
Such bullshit. Not buying and even more pissed that I now know. Luckily the FF and WordPress universe allows for REALISTIC HEAs. I’m actually excited for the various new endings I’m going to read.
I apreciate the leak. You just saved me some money. I was pissed at the last book. This book would have been a total waste of money. I don’t have much. So yeah. Saved myself some money. She doesnt end with eric. not worth reading at all.
This book was a big FU to her Eric loving fans. No one gets an HEA. How sad.
I’ve lost a lot of respect for CH and not just for the shittastic ending, but for how she’s handled the spoiler and her “malicious” readers.
In the word of my students EPIC FAIL! I can’t remember the last time I felt so utterly disappointed and let down. I wish I could bleach my brain and unread them. They only good they did was help me discover some wonderful fan fiction writers, like yourself. Other than that, a complete waste of time and energy.
Wow this sucks. I am not buying the book.
Linda
I wonder if this could be some sort of publicity stunt. Cause she has everyone worked up in a frenzy. It just seems to me to be too perfect that the week before it is released (The order is messed up).I just seems so connvienent. I do agree her character by the sound of it seems so out of focus as if she doesn’t want a HEA. I wonder if then it might all be tied up in a pretty bow in the A-Z book. I honestly thought her last act of the book would be a hand gesture and her walking through the portal. I think she might have a slightly longer life span. PArt of me did think she would be a ghost or be an other (evolved into something else) I think she and Ms harris had endless possibilities for her especially involving the devil. But then Who knows What the next series of books will be we read We might get our happy ever after.
I had the same thought that maybe she would evolve into something else. Like an angel, just like Claudine was trying to achieve.
OMG As if I didnt already hate CH, this just reinforces it. Wish I could get my money back for the whole series.
I kind of figured she wouldn’t end up with Eric. After book 8 the books went down hill fast. If anything Sookie is just a female version of Eric, because as much as CH tries to say that Eric is all about Eric, Sookie was all about Sookie and what she wanted. For the most part if it were not for Eric Sookie would have died a long time ago and the people she needs to blame for her lot in life are not the vamps, but those she called family. The person she should blame for her sad life is Gran, because she kept so much from Sookie and left her unprepared to face the SUPE world. I stopped reading after book 10 DITF, I wish I hadn’t read that. I like fanfic where authors actually give Sookie a brain and help her remove her head out of her ass. I ignore everything that comes out if CH’s mouth because everything she says is opposite of what’s on paper and if you point out on her blog post they will get mad and tell you that you are wrong or you miss understood what was being said or she doesn’t have an answer to a question as how old her characters actually are. I asked how old Eric was and they told me how old SA was.
I have had a feeling it would be Sam since Eric didn’t/couldn’t come to her rescue when she was being tortured by the fairies. I thought this was very telling that there would always be something keeping him from her.
I just don’t see the point of ending the series like this. If she wanted Sam and Sookie to be together at the end, it could have at least been done in a way that didn’t destroy characters and erase any character growth in the series. It could have been done in a way that makes sense. Yes, there would still be unhappy fans but there are always unhappy fans. There could have at least been some sort of closure for character that have been ‘developed,’ and I use that term loosely over the course of the 12 previous books. Instead it sounds like most of the characters are miserable or settling for their lives.
The only thing good that came out of it was Eric and fan fiction. CH just can’t write HEA and have it be descriptive. I read the Harper Connely series it was really good to the end. Then it just sucked. It was such a let down. Like you were right on the edge of a good orgasm then she ruined it. I felt so jilted. The Auro Rose series I don’t think was ever finished. I guess I have be violated again by her. I was hoping not. I guess I will not become involved in another series she has written. I do think the book have lasted about 4 too long. The last 3 have been not very meaningful ramblings and inconsistent as to her earlier books. Oh well.
“Like you were right on the edge of a good orgasm then she ruined it.” Best. Description. Ever. Thank you!
I haven’t actually finished the Harper Connelly series yet, but I did read the Aurora Teagarden and it prepared me for the possibility of how SVM would end because of the (realistic but depressing) choice she made there. The woman simply does not WRITE happy endings in the traditional genre sense, at least not as far as I can tell and I feel foolish for hoping.
I think my biggest frustration is that I’ve felt like the writing had gone down hill significantly the last few books and yet I kept reading them to get to the payoff with Sookie and Eric’s relationship that I hoped was coming. CH has a right to do it that way, but I have a right to say I don’t think it’s compelling or interesting (and while I haven’t read it, probably as poorly written as all the other recent books), and I sure as hell don’t have to pay for the privilege of being disappointed by it.
Yup…it all still makes me ill. As much as I love Eric, I would have been fine with him not being the HEA if any of it made any sense. As anal as I am about having a whole set, there is no way I’m buying this book. I think I’ll just try to sell the crap cheep on ebay.
Since the 24th I’ve kept hoping this mess was just a seriously sick late April Fools joke..Would that it were true. Thank God for the talented writers of fan fiction who will be true to these characters and continue creating stories that capture the imagination of their fans. And a nod of thanks to the fan in Germany who got the book early and let the cat out of the bag, saving many of us from the pain of paying to find out how horribly this series was ended. As so many others have stated so much better than I can, the issue isn’t that she didn’t end up with Eric, it’s the way it was done. Couldn’t Sookie and Eric have been allowed to talk to each other and say good bye? Did she have to gut their relationship with a dull silver knife? And after all the angst about the blood bond and Sookie thinking it was causing her feelings for Eric, we get the CD being used for essentially the same thing (only for real, not in Sookie head). Okay, starting to get upset again so I’ll stop. Thanks for putting this in one place so anyone who wants to know the way things ended can do so.
thank you for posting the spoilers!
It’s really fucked up and I definitely won’t read the last book! I’m too disappointed…
And as the other say, we hopefully have wonderful writers for us to give the best from our favorite characters!!
My issue is that out of all the men Sookue is left with the shifter who has always been controlling, very opinionated about her life, has told her that shes pretty much stupid for getting involved in sup shit.
To me Sam was always the more cruel one with all the jibes he threw at her vocally and non.
All I wanted was for it to make sense and why couldn’t E/S part ways at least on friendly terms
BS is what this book will be
I read last night that Sookie learned that because she used the CD on Sam it changed her feelings toward him and she didn’t care! WTF?!?! She hated the blood bond because she thought it influenced her feelings toward Eric and now all of a sudden she doesn’t care?! Bullshit. The whole book is BS.
That is exactly why I stopped reading the series after the last book. It’s like everything changed and there was no continunity anymore!!
Send me your address so I can send you my $12 or whatever….So sad. Thank you for the heads up. I will not be purchasing. I plan to live happy and stupid here on your site! Thank you for every word you have ever written! (and every picture posted, can’t forget those!!!)
Glad I never brought the last few books. What a bunch of bull crap! I had already heard of most of these spoilers already. So, none of it was a surprise, but very disappointing to say the least…
I haven’t read the last few books as she completely destroyed the character of Eric. She, at times, turned him into something almost unrecognizable. Of course, she has never liked his character. CH said so on numerous occasions that she did not understand the fuss over Eric Northman because he was at heart, a very bad man. So, how could we expect her “sweet Sookie” to end up with who she considered to be a bad man? The HEA was Sam was too predictable. Her inconsistencies were troubling for readers who have been with her the entire series. I will be the first to say that ANY author has the perfect right to write their characters the way that they choose. The author has “birthed” them so to speak, and should be able to envision them to a logical conclusion as they see fit. However, I will say it seems that when an author has characters as popular as CH has created, it would seem that you would want to at least consider the fanbase. I’m in no way saying that she should have written an HEA for Sookie and Eric. To me that would have been her turned, and happy about it and with Eric til ad infinitum. I would have been satisfied with an alternative HEA of Eric with her for the duration of her mortal life raising Hunter as their own. I just could not deal with her destroying character after character, so, no I certainly will not be buying her book either. Not when I can get better quality reading in the fan fiction world where everything may not be rosy all the time, but these authors at least try to be true to their characters.
Thank you for posting…I’ve been so disappointed in the last few books. I won’t bother to buy this one. Thank God for fan fiction and ASkars. 🙂
When the spoilers came out, I was so upset It’s like God had kicked puppies and kitties, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, you name it, it died. I have never mourned YES MOURNED a fictional character (or characters in this case until now).
1) I immediately ceased and desisted any pending orders for the last book and audiobook.
2) I posted a polite message on CH’s FB page but what I really wanted to say is WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO WHAT YOU DID, YOU FUCKING TWAT! (but…my grandmother taught me to be a lady and although it chafes my patootie sometimes, I try to listen to my grandma).
After much thought, I came to the conclusion that CH hates her characters. If you look at Sookie through the entire series, loss after loss plus terror and fairies and craziness. And, Eric and my fabulous queen Pam.
I guess I do not understand the author’s mentality. Yes, it’s her world, yes, they are her babies but shit…why make these babies and then put them through so much only to make the protagonist jump back to square one. You know fuck it. I cannot even get wordy about this.
She fucking killed my love for Eric and Sookie and Pam with this last book and i truly hope that her sales drop down to the gates of hell for this fuckery. She won’t get another penny out of me.
In short: xishtpdtpdje;ejtlle!!!! gAHHHH!!
Omg you are so funny. I am still laughing.
My manners..eluded me.
Thank you for posting the spoilers here. And, THANK YOU for posting that new story yesterday. I totally love you now more than ever. and you really should write original fiction.
Thank for this now I can stop trying to find all the info all over the web. I cancelled my order the day the spoilers came out. I don’t know what CH was thinking. She went against so many things. She wanted us to hate Eric but all it did was make me hate this stupid Sookie and CH. She ruins the whole series. I’m not reading DEA but am happy to read the stories that are being written to correct her mistake.
I’m so glad I didn’t buy the last few books … This is just so fucked up …I really hate what she did to sookie…I also hate that she made me fall in love with this whole series and the Eric/Sookie love and just to end it like that .. Like the last however many years ment nothing to Sookie .. Ugh just horrible .
Done with CH ..
After DAG, I was so excited about the next books. However, with each book my interest has been dwindling. Now with these spoliers, I decided not buy the book. I will continue to live my FF, wordpress and personal blogs that encourage HEA with Sookie and Eric.
Add me to the list of people that are terribly disappointed by CH! Thanks for posting all the spoilers. I haven’t read since DitF because I saw the writing on the wall. I’m choosing to ignore canon after the pledging and pretend it ended with “This is best, this is right.” It’s ok because there are authors like you, All About Eric, etc. that write much more satisfying stories 🙂
Thanks for posting the spoilers. I was on the fence about reading the last book. However, if this is the ending I am not interested.
Also, I recently discovered your wordpress account and reading through all your stories – they are great!! I really enjoy your writing!!
Besides the monstrous heap of DEA fuckity fuck fuck that pissed me off, this had me seeing red:
”Would we have ended up making the best love ever if we both hadn’t been altered by the magic of the cluviel dor, if Sam had never died and I had never brought him back?
I don’t know and I don’t care.”
Dead Ever After, page 311
Say what? Now she doesn’t care if her love life is dictated by a magical force?
I also seem to remember Sookie saying something ridiculously close to that in DAG right after the tussle with the tiger. She told Eric she didn’t think they would’ve made love if he had not given her blood.
Cluviel Dor…Blood Bond…Cluviel Dor…Blood Bond….Niall/Preston magical whammy sex…Cluviel Dor…Blood Bond.
Gourmet Sex vs Making best love ever…
Lazy Lazy Lazy. *blows raspberry at CH*
And now just to be a bitch:
Sookie can add another stop to her long list of errands….Petco!
Shifter Parenting = Electric fences, Advantage, shock collars…..Alpo
I will not be reading the last book or any other CH books…. boycott…. Grrrr
Thank the Goddess for FanFic….
I stopped reading the books once I found out that Eric was supposed to marry OK and was keeping that fact from Sookie. I have no desire to read this last book, and I’m glad I didn’t bother to buy the last book because I couldn’t stand to wait a year to find out what happens. Now with the way CH has ended things, I will be getting rid of the 11 books that I’ve already bought in the series since I will not be re-reading any of them again. This also worries me in terms of the direction that True Blood will take as well. I’m already disappointed with the way Alan Ball has handled the story so far. Knowing how CH has ended things, how will that affect True Blood? I’m such a big Eric fan, it really pisses me off that she just blew off all her Eric fans. It’s sad, I’ve never really been much of a fan of Sookie, it was always Eric and Pam that made me keep going back for more. The whole thing is such a disappointment. CH has definitely lost me as a reader of any of her books. Sookie series was the first I started reading and I have no desire to read any of her other series.
I am absolutely disgusted by these spoilers/the book. CH has concluded this story so unreasonably it’s horrible. It’s so obvious, how she didn’t expect or want most fans to love Eric so much and thus began to completely destroy Eric as a character that we had known for about TEN (or more?) books and idolize Sam, with whom she wanted Sookie to end up with, which is also ridiculous. Her and Eric’s relationship has lasted the longest and hooking Sookie up with a character, who has been mostly on the sidelines and with whom Sookie hasn’t even been in a relationship before IN THE LAST BOOK makes us question whether it’s truly a HEA or not. Just illogical. And Eric is so completely out of the character he has been for most of the series. It’s frankly appalling how she has spit in the face of Eric fans, how she dislikes Eric so much she gave him such an unhappy ending (a slave for 200 YEARS, in which he can’t see Pam, Karin, or Sookie). It just seems so cruel it’s unnatural. Of course Sookie doesn’t have to end up with Eric (however logical it may seem) if that’s the writer’s decision, but to do it in such an awful way is very disappointing. Her double standards are also quite enraging when it comes to Sam and Eric. Sookie hated the blood bond and the magic of it, which she suspected was influencing her feelings for Eric, but when it’s revealed, that the Cluviel Dor’s magic influenced her feelings for Sam, she’s completely okay with it.
Unbelievable. Extremely disappointing.
Thanks a lot, Charlaine Harris
I did not know exactly where write this message and I’m no use for internet so I leave it here.
I will not talk too much about spoilers, just say this: it seems that Sookie is planning to have sex with Bill for revenge. in any case, she thinks.
to summarize how I feel … I read a review on Volume 13 of the site sookieverse who said:
“Worst of all, she shamelessly used Eric to keep us (the vermin) enthralled and the cash flow going.”
I think that summarizes everything I feel
but enough talk about unpleasant things!
I want to wish you a happy birthday and I sincerely hope that prices fangreaders 2013 you have won for lafayette price and all others will continue to feed your muse.
continues to make us dream
and thank you.
Ok, finally read it.
I avoided all bar the first half paragraph of this page before I read it, but I did get that Eric was marrying Freyda for 200 instead of 100 years.
I am quite literally scratching my head in bewilderment.
Just to clear the air. Sookie does NOT have reveng sex with Bill, although her inner narrative mentions a spilt second impulse to do that.
13 books. Over two years in the life of Sookie, and it seems that there really was no real character development. Ok, she isn’t jumping straight into a relationship with Sam… After jumping into bed with him to have sex… Yeah real character development.
I completely Agee that her whole acceptance of the cluviel dor’s magical influence on what happened with Sam was just mind boggling!
Look, unfortunately I am not surprised about the whole Sam thing. Since book two CH has made a point of Sookie being uncomfortable about Sam’s dates/girlfriends. And not to mention the many many times that she mentions how comfortable she is with him, trusts him more than anyone etc. He has always been floating around as the reliable extra. The way she did it though was bull dust.
I agree that as a writer, she can do what she wants with her characters. However as a GOOD writer, she is bound by the things she has already created. She wrote herself into a corner with Eric. It seems she wrote him as a plot device that we all believed, but she should not have ignored the things that she had already created. The conversation above about the blood bond was really really important.
Gah, it’s all been said before. But yes. Everything in the spoiler at the top of this page is true, and it completely sucks!
So FanFic or me. I just hate that she brought in the extra ‘child’… She was a plot device for my big HEA I am plotting. Lol oh well, I think I might just go canon from book 12 and forget this book exists.
Also is it weird that I am frustrated that she ‘stole’ some of the other plot devises I was going to use? Lol
I don’t see the man as the HEA. The HEA is Sookie’s evolution and how she comes out on the other side of all of this still untainted, still remaining herself. If there’s a message at all, that’s what CH is conveying – Sookie will survive on her own, with or without Eric, Sam, or any of the others she was involved with. Sad that she’s not with Eric though.
Shame on her for stealing your plot devices!! Use them anyway!
Thank you for saving me some bucks. I would have been SO pissed off. I already won’t read the series Chicagoland Vampires because of what Ms. Neill did to Ethan.
What the fu is this? It seams like i am seeing true blood and not reading a book, and right now i hate Charlaine Harris, oh and of course that i am not gonna buy her book. ’cause i don’t wanna spend my money on shit.
I get that everyone is disappointed about Sooric; so am I. All the hate & venom spewing? CH doesn’t care. Some of this is libel though I don’t think she’ll waste her time sueing anyone. The hate is just too much. I can’t apologize for this; I’m not able to hate – anyone or anything, especially a book when it hasn’t even been read. I did read it; while I’m disappointed with in the way Sookie & Eric ended their relationship, I enjoyed the book and took it for what it was. Just another book, and I moved on to my favorite FF authors as well as adding to my collection of favorite published fiction authors. The SVM’s were fun while they lasted (except for DR). Hate is such a useless emotion and makes me so sad people are truly feeling this way. Vent away, but please move on.
unfortunately everything here is true. total waste of time + money. will never read CH ever again. unfuckingbelievable.
Good description that’s how I thought of it as well a big middle finger to a larger group of a fandom following specific characters. But in fairness CH isn’t obligated to write what I want anymore than I am obligated to give her money for a book about characters I’m not interested in the direction their going and was the only reason I continued to read her in the first place… Yes I forced myself to continue on solely for S&E when she gave them the screw you express I was done cause I never liked her writing style anyway it was her characters I enjoyed. So we are even and the stuff I read here frankly entertained me more than her last four books..I missed nothing from CH thanks to the FF here.. Thank you..
Just for something fun
http://ifcharlaineharrishadwritten.tumblr.com/
Can’t believe CH’s line “I wanted Sookie to have a chance at happiness”
And despite the screenshot being taken 17 hours after her comment was posted, there was only 1 ‘like’. That says a lot I think!
And like post mentions, does this mean Sookie couldn’t have been happy unless she had kids?
Dang. I love fanfiction, the impossible and improbable haopen everyday, and very beautifully done too 🙂
I’m convinced CH typed the entire manuscript with her middle finders.
Equally convinced she was maniacly muttering “I’ll show ’em” during said middle finger bonanza.
Bwahahahaha…BEST. IMAGERY. EVER.
*Hands you your GP shaped award*
I wonder if her spending time with Alan Ball influenced her as he has said he takes great delight in denying his audience of what they want – so if he knows most people are pulling for one pairing, he will deliberately break them up – what an ass. I mean, I don’t agree that public opinion should sway an artist to give them what they want. Writers write their stories and should. But he IS being swayed by public opinion – just in the opposite way. Either way it isn’t helping the story – and so characters act out of character and the story suffers. They may have had some conversations about this – and while he still seems to enjoy a good reputation despite this, she is suffering for her choice. But you are right – it does seem deliberate.
Ohhhh..thank you so much. Oscar smoscar…I’ll take a GP award anytime 😉
I just wish I was able to make an introduction….
Annie Wilkes meet Charlaine Harris
Oops, my ‘entitlement’ is showing!
what makes me so mad about all of this. . .is that CH talked about entitled readers. I should be entitled as a reader. Not because it didn’t end the way I wanted it to. But this is sort of like when your favorite show gets cancelled before they have a chance to really wrap it up! If Sam were thrown in, it should have been WAY before Eric and Sookie became the main couple for the whole series. From the beginning he wanted her, and once he had her, he wasn’t letting her go. He was almost always the hero. I would rather have not had a last book at all than this crap. And I would have rather had the AFTER DEAD or whatever alone and no ending to Sookie. I get it. She got burnt out. But boy, you’d think she would care. The very tone of the book, by switched POVs, my kindle said it was 7% into the book before Sookie is even mentioned. 1/10 of a book. A final book. Why not give that voice to Eric. Pam. Jason. Tara. Terry. Sam. Bill. Anybody but unknown idiots. And if people had to come in and take time, why not Hunter? Quinn was sort of ok, but I would have liked more of the “Happy Birthday” call that happened in DL than this. And Amelia should have been DONE once she pulled that Alcide stunt. And Alcide too. It’s like she wanted Sookie to end up as a victim to those who had victimized her. Why not bring ghosts in and have her fight all the ghosts of those she had killed? Would have made for more enjoyment. Anyway, I am entitled as a reader because I pay for the product. I invested hundreds in books over the course of 13 years, and more than money, time. Thought. conversation with others. Dreams. Obsession, even. If this were a mattress with a 20 year warranty, I’d be calling to have it replaced. This is crap. And I hated it. And it’s not even all about the ending, but the entire series that misled me. You led me to love Eric and Sookie. Now I don’t like you.
Well, I bought the book, even though I had heard bad things beforehand. I can’t believe what I read. It’s like, after all these years, Charlaine Harris believed that Eric and Sookie DID NOT deserve a happy ever after together. That to me is just wrong. Nuff said.
the way ch wrote it it sounds like eric didnt care at all for sookie all through the books you knew he loved her he wouldnt stand for what his maker and freyda where doing it was the first series in book fourm that i read ch runed it for me thank god for all the wonderful writers on wordpress and ff that will keep sookie and erics love going strong they will get there hea so take that ch
Tot agree. I put a big review on my good reads page too that brought up some of the things you and the other reviewer did too. Just pathetic cash grab for this and the “diary” she put out after.
After reading and thinking about DEA, I figured CH thought of herself as Sookie, and couldn’t imagine someone like herself ever ending up with someone like Eric – courageous, loyal, loving, outrageously sexy etc. So Sookie had to end up with someone barely out of the friend zone. Someone who would not challenge her to be better, tell her the truth, give her opportunities beyond the small parameters of Bon Temps and accept her for who and what she was. In other words, settle for mediocre! Imo it was, in the end, CH’s opinion of herself. Lebelling Eric as a ‘bad man’ was simply one more contributing lie, given she’d never written anything that pictured him as ‘bad’.
I had a similar thought – Sookie is her and Eric is the good looking guy she lusted after who treated her poorly – only in the writing she doesn’t show his bad side and he is someone else to all of us. She feels attacked when Sookie is attacked for being an idiot, etc. She may have settled with a safe choice – someone she felt would never leave her – maybe she felt her own Eric was too pretty to be trusted or maybe he actually wasn’t trustworthy. She doesn’t seem to realize that the man she created in Eric is much different than the man she based the character on – maybe some wishful thinking or rewriting history for her or just bad writing in that she never got her intent across regarding who Eric is. And the ending of the series seems to be about CH defending her life – and choices.
I did buy all the books. I am not unhappy about that but……..I tend to reread book series. If I do reread this one I will not reread the last 2 books. It feels like to me that CH was tired of all of her charecters and the SVM story line but had a contract to fulfill. So they were not well done. What really made me pissed off is that she made Eric very different than all the previous books. Eric in previous books has always been happy being just the Sheriff. Has never wanted to be King and already had wealth. But in the last 2 books she made Eric come across as totally mercenary and about power and position. Why did his core personality traits change dramatically over 2 years when he is 1,000 years old? I also do not understand why after the take over, that Eric basically left Sookie alone for months. DeCastro and Victor knew they were blood bonded and hell he married Sookie by the Knife in front of Victor. Lets see…..show your protection by lack of attention. Is it any wonder that Sookie did not feel the marriage was “real” because she never saw Eric after unless it was a booty call. Also Sookie is only 1/8 fae. So that means she is 7/8 human. Why was Eric’s marriage by the knife more important that a human marriage. I am sure for Sookie it felt like vamp bull shit. I get that Eric was bound by the marriage contract with Freyda because His maker pulled a fast one on him. I think that CH could have handled that whole story line better. She could have given Eric and Sookie closure. The whole Cluvial Dor thing could have been better. I get that using it on Sam was an Impulsive thing. To save his life. I would have done the same thing. Eric being mad she did not use it to free him from the marriage to Freyda. That is stupid. Since Eric with held information on the whole Freyda thing It kind of seemed like he was already moved on in his head. Niall telling him about it was just thrown in there and just a way to merit discord. They had enough going on that could have been left out. Every one misused Sookie but she allowed it. I would have been happy if the books had ended with Sookie giving them all the middle finger and her riding off into the sunset a stronger woman. But her hea was Sam Who lied to her for years about himself and looked down on her with her involvement in the Supe world even though she is a supe. The only redeam quality to the last few books is that all the lovely fanfiction writers can ignore them.
I totally agree with everything you said. it seems like every single person who was pissed at sookie about got to dump on her at the end.
I was so disappointed with “dead in the family” that I couldn’t bring myself to read any others. I could see that after all the time and pain and love that eric and sookie had shared that it was going to end. ch created great characters and then do anything with them; maybe her own life was such a disappointment to her that she couldn’t bear to give eric and sookie a hea. sookie learned nothing from the life of her gran and and went right along with all the people of bon temps who thought she was stupid and crazy. why she would care what people who didn’t respect or care about her thought did prove she was crazy. some people are toxic and if you have any smarts at all you stay the hell away from them. letting Arlene and sam question her choices of romantic relationships was the weirdest thing ever. like they made such brilliant ones. anyway, thank you god for fan fiction. there are so many writers out there who have so much to say, and are saying it much better, that we don’t have to put up with the mediocre writings of the hack known as ch. thanks for stating so clearly what all of the dedicated fans were thinking.