The Sookie Stackhouse Companion [Hardcover]

Like most fans I have read every Sookie Stackhouse novel and short story, and religiously watch True Blood every Sunday. I kept my own list on the order of the novels and short stories, and had lots of questions on how Charlaine Harris created the Sookie Universe and its characters. This book answered all my questions and then some.

First and foremost, I want to give a special shout out to Beverly Battillo and Victoria Koski who both appear to have provided a lot of information to make this companion a keeper.

Here is a quick rundown of what is in the book based on the Kindle version:

1) A map of Bon Temps (which is microscopic in the Kindle version.)

2) A four chapter short story called Small Town Wedding by Charlaine Harris

3) Life in Bon Temps by Victoria Koski - great timeline and recap of all the books (this is a really fun read)

4) Sookie Short Stories and Related Material - Charlaine Harris explains how and why she created the short stories, etc.

5) Vampires, Two Natured and Fairies Oh My! - Charlaine Harris as Sookie discusses all the creatures she has met and there is a Sookie Stackhouse Family Tree (microscopic on Kindle)

6) Sookie Stackhouse Trivia created by Beverly Battillo and Victoria Koski (another fun read)

7) What's Cooking in Bon Temps - lots of yummy recipes from the books

8) Inside True Blood - Alan Ball is brutally honest as he answers questions about the differences between the books and the show, and his love for all things Bill and Sookie on True Blood

9) Mystery to Mayham - All the works of Charlaine Harris are listed - I thought this should have been placed last since it includes all her other works

10) Recollections around the Duckpond - Fans of Charlaine Harris and their experiences are discussed

11) Charlaine Harris Interview - the author answers questions from fans

12) World of Sookie Stackhouse - by Victoria Koski is an excellent guide to every character and term used in the books. Sort of like a Sookie Universe encyclopedia

My only quibbles are that the illustrations (maps, family tree, etc.) are microscopic on a Kindle and Beverly Battillo and Victoria Koski should have been listed as contributing editors/authors.

Other than that, Sookie Stackhouse novel fans will find this book a wonderful edition to their library.

This book has been a long time in the making, and unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations at all. The biggest problem, from my perspective, is the lack of Harris' direct involvement. Her contributions to the book are so minimal that I really have to question the judgment of the publisher in declaring the book to have been "edited by Charlaine Harris." I have read numerous "unofficial companions" to the Harry Potter series, mostly written by fans. I own, but have not yet read, the Companion to Meyer's Twilight series, and I thoroughly enjoyed Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Companion (though it is now quite dated). So, I'm not unfamiliar with this general concept, and I was very disappointed by the overall product in terms of the direct involvement of the author. If this was mainly an effort by selected fans, it should have been marketed as a fan-created tribute.

The short story/novella about Sookie's journey with Sam to attend his brother's wedding is mildly entertaining. I could not immediately discern that the events in this short story will have much of an effect on the series as a whole. Harris does not really excel in the short story format in my opinion, and like others, I am somewhat annoyed that some critical information is allegedly being imparted in these short stories. I am not a huge fan of the short story in general though, so I am perfectly willing to cut some slack on this front.

However, when I bought the Companion, I did not expect that the bulk of it was the work of several moderators on Harris' fan-page boards. If Harris did actually edit and approve Koski's summaries of the books, I am extremely disappointed in her artistic integrity. The summaries are blatantly biased, and I'm happy to see I'm not the only reviewer thus far to note the issues. If Koski had written neutral summaries of the books in the series, I wouldn't necessarily quibble about the lack of the author's direct hand in that section. However, the summaries are so over-the-top slanted in perspective as to boggle the mind. Koski is well-known in the "fandom" as a Quinn-lover. Unfortunately, her summaries have unjustifiably elevated Quinn's importance to the series (he is on the whole a very minor character), while simultaneously villainizing/diminishing/neutralizing the importance of Eric, and to a lesser extent, Bill. The Eric scenes are summarized in a flat, dispassionate manner that is often in fact misleading about the actual events being summarized. Certainly many key events don't make it into Koski's summaries if Eric is involved in the action. By contrast, Quinn's scenes are summarized in a lively, emotive, active prose that conflates his actual importance in the overall storyline.

I am also flabbergasted that Harris allowed the Bill-Eric email exchanges to be included in this Companion, when those exchanges are so clearly fanfiction. Unlike some other prominent authors, Harris has not been directly antagonistic to the fanfic community. However, she is purportedly puzzled by the conceptual basis of fanfiction and is not known to be supportive in any way. To include Koski's fanfiction contributions seems very counter to her publicly stated positions on fanfiction. Again, Koski seems to be, in a somewhat subtle way, villainizing Eric or at the very least downplaying his positive character attributes as evidenced in the actual novels. If Harris has, through her reviews of Koski's email exchanges, revised her position on the positive contributions of fanfiction, it would be an excellent idea for her to publicly make that statement. As a longstanding fan of fanfiction (and as a fanfic author), I would welcome her support. However, I still maintain that these email exchanges are so substantively biased that they don't truly qualify as proper fanfiction. If she had published these exchanges on a fanfic site, Koski would have received numerous reviews telling her that she had crossed the OOC line.

I did enjoy the interviews with both Harris and Alan Ball. I was happily surprised to see that the author/editor/publisher did not squelch the "hard" questions. Alan Ball, in particular, should have much to consider based on the questions that were posed to him for this book.

The novella, the interviews with Ball and Harris, the map of Bon Temps, the recipes, and the great attempt to re-create a believable timeline for the series are all very valuable contributions to the fans' understanding of this series. Unfortunately, the overall minimal contributions by Harris herself and the significant amount of biased material contributed by Victoria Koski make this Companion far less enjoyable than it could have been. I would have much preferred to see Harris herself take the time, after completion of the series, to do a really thorough Companion of her own. This Companion should definitely have been billed as a fan effort, with a novella contributed by Harris.

Can a companion book for a long running series that will be ending in the next one or two books really be worthwhile to a reader? I had my doubts but was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

My pre-order for this book was placed long before the release of Dead Reckoning and hearing that the series would be coming to an end. I found I was distancing myself from the characters when reading Dead Reckoning; most likely as a defense mechanism to deal with the grief. So when I got my notice that the book had been shipped, I found myself wishing I'd saved some money. But I'm glad I've got it.

This book is loaded with information ranging from the author's writing career, to separate interviews with Alan Ball (TrueBlood) and Charlaine using reader's questions, Southern Recipes (definitely found a few I want to try), an unpublished Sookie story (Sam takes Sookie to his brother's wedding) , trivia tests (and I thought I knew the series fairly well - hah!) , a greatly shortened version of each book along with added personal correspondence between Eric and Bill as it relates to the happenings in each book. Not enough? How about a map of Bon Temps, a list of every character ever mentioned in the books and who they are. There are also sections on Sookie's take on vampires, the two-natured and fairies, an explanation for the Sookie and related short stories, and a section regarding the fan club. Whew!

So did I find the entire book useful? Well no. Much of that will depend on how much you already know about the books and the author. Some of it was new to me or nice to know. Things like the "Readers Digest" version of each book wasn't necessary for me, although I did enjoy the personal communication between Eric and Bill that followed each story.

And the chances are really good you won't sit down and just read about every character ever mentioned in the books, found in the last chapter of the book. It's obvious a great deal of work went into this section that takes up a third of the book. My only complaint with the format is that if you are trying to recall a character's name in a particular book to use in a discussion, good luck. You've got over 150 pages to wade through.

The short story is definitely worth reading. Small Town Wedding takes place before Dead Reckoning and is roughly 76 pages long. It was obvious we'd missed something when reading Dead Reckoning, and the level of fear and anger that some are feeling knowing that the two-natured not only exist but live in their town is really showcased in this story and is important to the overall series.

I enjoyed much of the information provided in the book along with the short story. It was definitely a worthwhile purchase.

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