Well, this is it, the end of an era. I started reading this series when I was fourteen, right around the time True Blood came out. To finally finish it more than ten years later is quite an experience, but perhaps not a spectacular one.

I gotta say this series ended much more with a whimper than a bang.

This book doesn't even feel like an ending, a tying up of loose ends or a satisfactory send off to the characters. It just...ends, without any fanfare. I feel like the characters are now just in a lifeless limbo instead of reaching some kind of resolution.

And man, I really feel for the Sookie/Eric fans. That whole relationship was really just thrown under the bus here, wasn't it? I'm probably going to head into spoiler territory because, well, a lot of my gripes tie into some major elements.

You know, seeing as the whole Sookie and Eric relationship was built up for so long, it's so unsettling to see it dissolve so quickly. We barely see Eric in this book, a book that was meant to partly showcase the ending of that relationship. Honestly, I could never see it working out. Eric was too selfish, so self-absorbed to stay with Sookie. It could have worked out if Harris decided to give him any character development, but nah, his major sendoff in this series is being a controlling asshole.

Also the day is saved because homophobia? Uh? Um....Okay?

And god the worst thing is that I have been rooting for Sookie being with Sam since day one. Before Bill, before Eric, before Quinn, that was my main hope for the series. And now that it happened in the last 50 pages of the book, I feel cheated. Sookie got entire books dedicated to her relationships with these other men, but Sam only gets 50 pages? I get he's been there since the beginning and their relationship has always been growing in the background, but come on.

Also, Harris hasn't known what to do with Bill since Sookie broke up with him. His subplot in here could have been written out entirely and it would not have made a difference.

I don't know if I'm going to unhaul the entire series from my bookshelf. It takes up a lot of space, but I still have some love for the beginning novels and a few in the middle. I'd hate to get rid of only a couple and have an incomplete set.