Randomize ME

Book Description:

The seventh Sookie Stackhouse novel from the Anthony Award-winning Southern Vampire series – and the basis for the HBO series True Blood.

Betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse must now not only deal with a possible new man in her life -the oh-so-handsome shapeshifter Quinn- but also contend with a long-planned vampire summit. With her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans, the local vampire queen is vulnerable to those hungry for a takeover. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she’ll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

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Well, I’m finally almost finished with the Sookie Stackhouse 8-copy Boxed Set (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood) by Charlaine Harris! I’m now done with book seven All Together Dead, and I’ve reached the point of having to decide whether I’ll buy or just borrow the rest of the books in the series… what would you suggest?

I’ve complained about feeling like Ms Harris’ previous two books were just all sorts of ‘filler’ in my reviews, so I’m happy to report that I didn’t get that disappointed feeling when I was reading All Together Dead. The fourth book (Dead to the World) is still my favorite in the series, but I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this one 🙂 There’s a lot of unexpected twists and turns, and I thought the storytelling here was much more exciting and entertaining than usual.

In All Together Dead, Sookie Stackhouse finally heads off to the long-awaited Rhodes vampire summit as the official ‘telepath’ of the Louisiana vampire queen Sophie-Anne. There, Sookie has a happy reunion with the only other telepath she has ever met (Barry the bellhop from Living Dead in Dallas), then more uncomfortable reunions with her ex’es Bill and Eric, and finally, a *sexually-charged reunion with the new man in her life, the were-tiger Quinn (*Harris actually veers off into soft-porn territory in one scene). As usual, Sookie is in the thick of things – from assisting at Sophie-Anne’s trial for the death of the King of Arkansas, to discovering a possible plot by the anti-vampire church group Fellowship of the Sun. There’s also a very intriguing subplot involving Eric — I really like how Eric’s character continues to grow in the series so I’m very interested to find out how this Eric subplot develops in later books (if it is developed, that is).

Another reason I liked All Together Dead is that we finally get some more info on vampire politics and government (about time!) , and how they handle disputes or hold trials. Maybe that won’t be your cup of tea, but I really liked getting the background on vampire society. I did wish that the subplot involving the Fellowship of the Sun was developed more instead of just dumping it all in one go on the reader… the ending felt very rushed to me as a result. Still, like I’ve said, I really enjoyed this book seven and I’m now looking forward to what’s ahead for Sookie!

P.S. If you’ve read the anthology Night’s Edge where Ms Harris contributed the short story “Dancers in the Dark”, you’ll enjoy the cameos of the Blue Moon dancers Sean and Layla as entertainment in the vampire summit 🙂

All Together Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel by Charlaine Harris is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition, Paperback edition, Mass Market Paperback edition, and Audible Audio Edition.

The eBook is also available at B&N, Apple iBookstore, Kobo books and Sony eBookstore.

For a second opinion – here’s some reviews of All Together Dead by other bloggers:

• Books For The Insomniac – “I’m quite disappointed with this book”
• Opinions of a Wolf – ” it isn’t quite there”
• Book Polygamist – “This isn’t my favourite of the series so far, but as always it’s a great fun read”

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