Thursday, December 16, 2010

Dead To The World: Sookie Stackhouse Series #4

         Dead to the World is the fourth installment in the Sookie Stackhouse Series, or is the fourth series in the HBO Original Series, True Blood. If you are a fan of True Blod and have not read the books or want to know what's going to happed next, you may want to stop reading now. This book has two plots in which in one part, Eric is cursed and can't remember who he is, and the other where Jason goes missing and no one knows where he is. I will discuss the plot of Eric and the curse.



    This book has the Hero with a THousand Faces, or the hero's journey within the book in a huge way. We first will start with the Departure, the Initiation then finally the Return.

    The Call to Adventure begins when Sookie is driving home from the bar, Merlotte's on New Year's Day and sees a naked man running down the road. That naked man, turns out to be Eric Northman, Sheriff of Area 5. What surprises Sookie mmore is that he doesnt remember who he is. The Refusal of the Call is when Sookie tries to call Pam, his second-in-command to come and get him. She says she will have to come tomorrow night to see him. For the night, Eric spends the night at Sookie's in the "hidey-hole" she'd built for Bill when they were still together. The Supernatral Aid is when Pam arrives and tries to explain what might've happened to Eric which is he is cursed by witches. Jason is around to ask that they pay Sookie for keeping Eric. The Crossing of the First Threshold is when Sookie goes to Holly, another barmaid from Merlotte's because although she is not a witch, she is a Wiccan. She helps Sookie by telling her there was a small coven located near Shreveport, which is the area where Eric's bar, Fangtasia, is located. Sh also finds out the same day that her brother has gone missing. His truck  Sookie then walks in the Belly of the Whale by going into Fangtasia, and notices something is off. She steps inside and sees the fangbanger, Belinda inside on the floor bleeding. Sookie runs up to her and says that everyone fought to the death. The witches put a spell on Belinda to where her leg muscle had expanded to be longer than what it was so that she would recieve a horrible, horrible cramp. The same was done for another fangbanger, Ginger, but she hit her head on the lip of the sink and died. Sookie then is told it was a witch named Hallow who broke in and set the curses. She explained how she was as strong as a vampire and proved it by taking a dolly and bending it to a u-shape. 

    We then get into the second part of the journey which is the Initiation. The Initiation is where, in my opinion, where all the biggest events happen.
    The Road of Trials begins when she call Alcide Herveaux to ask for his help and she goes with him to meet with the pack leader to gain some support and help. They go to a woman named Addabelle who is the "vice-president" of the pack, worried that she wasn't around the night before, to ask for some help but they see in front of her bridal shop her mother's car. When they step to the door, they find Addabelle's dead body with blood splattered all over a dress. When the cops come tp investigate, Alcide and Sookie have to lie and say they were engaged so that way, they had a legitimate reason to be at the bridal shop instead  of what the real reason was. As Sookie heads home, she meets with the "Goddess", whom that is Eric, and she then deals with the Goddess as the Temptress. Sookie explains to Eric that she had a bad day and needed a shower. As she showers, Eric joins her and continues on by washing her. The night goes on with the two of them having sex. The Atonement with the father is when Hallow walks into the bar while Sookie is working, and cannot deny this is her. Hallow proceeds to put up posters of Eric in the bar to have anyone contact her if someone sees him. Sam has a meeting with Hallow who speaks to Sookie, and she makes up a story like she has seen him before, but he was just another pretty face.