FANFICTION REVIEW: Eric and the Witches of Shreveport by Merick (@1Merick)

I was recently invited to take part in the Fangreaders Chat.  During our session, I met a great group of fanfic writers.  I put an offer out to the writers saying that if anyone had a completed fanfic that they would like reviewed, I would be happy to do so.  One of those writers, Merick, took me up on that offer and pointed me in the direction of her story Eric and the Witches of Shreveport.
 

Eric and the Witches of Shreveport.   Hmmm….how to best put the time line placement.  Well, this story takes place after the end of Season 4 of True Blood but it is definitely a cross between the True Blood world and the Southern Vampire Mysteries world. 
 
The story opens with Eric chillin’ at Fangtasia – only the coolest bar in existence.  The opening line to this entire story is one of my favorites:

 
‘I hate witches: let me be perfectly clear about that. I hate fucking witches.’

 
Definitely has Eric Northman written all over it!  Following an internal dialog, Eric is “notified” that someone has been discovered sprawled on the hood of his car, naked and unconscious…..Sookie.  When she comes to, she has no recollection of who she is or what happened to her.
 
The roles are reversed.  This time, Eric is the one that has to piece together the puzzle that he has no doubt is aimed directly at him.  However, with Hallow and her brother both dead, who could be behind it???  You’ll have to read the story to find out!
 
I loved this fanfic!  When reading a fanfic, it’s important to remember that the writer is working with an established world, characters and character personalities.  That is not as easy as it sounds.  As much as I would love to write my own SVM fanfic, I just know that I would have to interject my own personality traits in there somewhere.  Sookie would get a little Eric in her.  Not like that!  Get your mind out of the gutter!!  I mean I would totally allow his personality to run off on her.  We see a flash of that in her in this fanfic and it….was…..AWESOME.  You want to know why?? 

 
“I have everything I need.”  She turned to me, “Kill her, Eric.”

 
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If Sookie was that much of a RAGING bad ass all the time, I would never read anything else.  That’s a lie.  I cant commit to that.  But I would love to see a fanfic of her as a vamp because I think she would just rock with no moral restrictions. 
 
Anyway, getting sidetracked.  *wink wink* 
 
Merick did a fantastic job sticking to the already established personality traits!  Eric reacts just like you’d expect him to.  Pam is herself – dry, sarcastic humor.  Sookie isn’t exactly herself but that’s kind of the point.  We see a great transition in Sookie from totally lost to at least being sure of who she desperately wants to be.  Eric has his signature flashes of searing anger and fantastic displays of devotion to Sook.  With the entire fanfic being from his point of view, the reader is exposed to his edge-of-your-seat anxiety attacks as he tries to balance falling in love with Sookie all over again and unraveling the mystery of what’s going on.  Along with his balancing act is the internal struggle of what will become of him and the Bon Temps barmaid should she get her memories back.  Will she stay?  Will she go?? 
 
That brings me to the basic mystery of the whole thing.  Very well written.  If Charlaine Harris wasn’t such a fanfic hater, she’d probably be proud of such a well woven addition to the SVM series.  The mystery itself is very well put together.  You have the stunner in chapter one that get’s you hooked and just enough detail throughout the entire “book” that it keeps ’em coming back for more. 
 
For all of you romance junkies out there, there’s LOTS of that in this fanfic.  In the fanfic community, sex scenes are referred to as “lemons”.  Well, Eric and the Witches of Shreveport should open a frikkin lemonade stand!  Definitely some hot moments between our favorite SVM couple. 
 
My only issue with this book is the ending.  Not that the ending is lacking.  There is an overabundance.  Eric and the Witches of Shreveport should have ended somewhere around Chapter 34.  The mystery was solved and wrapped up PERFECTLY.  However, we continue on from there extending all the way to Chapter 47.  We reach the end of Chapter 35 and an entire new mystery starts.  I think that if the author were to break this off at Chapter 35, polish up the ending and leave it there, Chapter 36 and on would make an excellent sequel!  That being said, I would go back and add more to that 2nd story to bring it up to the same stature that Eric and the Witches of Shreveport has. 
 
Overall, I am giving Eric and the Witches of Shreveport 4.5 stars.  On our rating system, that is somewhere between “An excellent work, this would make a great addition to your library” and “WOW, a MUST read!”  My only hangup from bumping it up to that 5 star rating is the ending. 
 
If you’d like to give Eric and the Witches of Shreveport a read, you can click here.  I also added it to the ‘My Love of FanFic’ tab. 
 
Merick – thank you for inviting me to read your story.  You are a very promising writer!