2007; 324 pages. Book 7 (out of 13) in the “Sookie Stackhouse” series. New Author? : No. Genres : Paranormal Romance; Mystery; Vampires. Overall Rating : 8*/10.
Sookie’s got a new job! But don't worry, she still has her old
waitressing one at Merlotte’s in Bon Temps, Louisiana.
The new one’s a moonlighting gig, literally.
She’s going to a giant gathering of vampires,
where a number of trials will take place, including the murder charge being
brought against Sophie-Anne Leclerq, the Vampire Queen of Louisiana. The vamps want Sookie to use her telepathic
powers to “tap into” the other humans in the crowd, most of whom will be unaware of Sookie’s
talent, and might be thinking important clues about the cases being tried.
The work should be easy
enough, but it is potentially dangerous as well. This is a large, well-publicized meeting of
the undead, and there are humans out there—most prominently, The Fellowship of the
Sun—who are vehemently anti-vampire and feel called by God to kill as many of
the fanged fiends as they can.
Even worse, the gathering may
also attract some individuals—both living and undead—who have scores to settle with
Sookie personally.
What’s To Like...
All Together Dead
is the seventh book in Charlaine Harris’s ultra-popular paranormal series,
which Amazon labels as the “Sookie Stackhouse”
series, while Wikipedia prefers to call it the “Southern
Vampire Mysteries” series. I’ve
been reading it in chronological order, so I’m now about halfway through.
The book’s main setting is new turf for Sookie, a fictional city called
Rhodes located up along Lake Michigan. I
think this is the furthest Sookie’s been away from her home state of Louisiana. As usual, the storyline is a pleasant blend
of Romance (Sookie is still mad at Bill
and currently involved with Quinn), Mystery (well you expect there’ll be some murder-&-mayhem at the
convention, right?), and Paranormal Fantasy (human and vampire interacting).
Vampires are by far the main
paranormal creatures in All Together Dead, although weretigers, werepanthers, werewolves, fairies, witches,
half-demons, and Britlingen all make
at least cameo appearances. I think the
Britlingen are new to the series, and I definitely hope to see more of them in
the remaining tales.
There were at least eight
separate plotlines to follow in the book.
All but one or two of those are tied up nicely. Charlaine Harris uses italics for the
telepathic conversations between Sookie and others, which made such dialogue
easy to keep track of. Speaking of
things to keep track of, there are a poopload of characters woven into the
storyline. Most of these are recurring
ones, and I think the author does this deliberately to provide mini-backstories for them as an aid for readers who aren’t worrying about book-order to better understand “the
bigger picture” of the series.
There are plenty of thrills-&-spills which build to an action-packed climax that's somehow both uplifting and
somber. To give details would entail
spoilers and we eschew them in these reviews, but suffice it to say, the pacing
is rapid and there are no slow spots.
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 3,375
ratings and 561 reviews.
Goodreads: 4.07*/5,
based on 197,536 ratings and 3,855 reviews.
Kewlest New Word ...
Fangbanger
(n.) : a lover and blood donor of a
vampire (slang, made-up).
Others: Catahoula (n.).
Excerpts...
“I’m going to a wedding shower
tomorrow. Not for Jason and
Crystal. Another couple.”
Pam had paused, her hand on the doorknob of
Eric’s office. She considered my
statement, her brows drawn together. “I
am not remembering what a wedding shower is, though I’ve heard of it,” she
said. She brightened. “They’ll get married in a bathroom?” (loc. 107)
Andre made a beeline for me.
“I know,” he said, “that is, Sophie-Anne
tells me that I have done wrong to you.
I’m not sorry, because I will do anything for her. Others don’t mean anything to me. But I do regret that I have not been able to
refrain from causing something that distresses you.”
If that was an apology, it was the most
half-assed one I’d ever received in my life.
It left almost everything to be desired.
All I could do was say, “I hear you.” (loc. 3600)
Kindle Details…
All
Together Dead is presently priced at $8.99 at Amazon. The rest of the 13-book series range in cost
from $2.99 (Book 1 only)
to $8.99. Charlaine Harris
has several other series for you, none of which I’ve yet started to read. The e-books in those range from $4.99
to $12.99.
“Save your drama
for your mama.” (loc.
1694)
As always, there isn’t a lot
to nitpick about in All Together Dead. The cussing is sparse—just 7 instances in the
first 20%, including one f-bomb; plus a couple of rolls-in-the-hay along the way. If you don’t like stories told in the
first-person POV, be aware that this book, and the entire series, are all told this
way.
There’s no progress on the Romance
angle. Bill, Eric, and Quinn are all
candidates to be Sookie’s true love, and I don’t expect that to be resolved anytime
soon. As already mentioned, there are gazillions of characters to meet and greet, which can get tiresome occasionally, but it's all for a good cause.
The biggest issue, as noted
by other reviewers, is the Murder-Mystery aspect. Sookie finds an ally who is also telepathic,
and the two of them set about sleuthing all the mayhem that’s afoot. Alas, while there’s plenty of intrigue and
excitement, the “great reveals” are relegated to just being dialogue in the final
chapter. It felt rather anticlimactic.
But let’s be honest, we read
this series for Sookie’s witty narration, for the interspecies interactions,
and to witness Sookie falling into an abundance of troubles, yet somehow
squirming her way out of it.
All Together Dead
succeeds nicely on all those counts.
8 Stars. About halfway through the book Sookie attends a gay wedding, a royal one to boot, and nobody blinks an eye. On a larger scale, the hypothesis being presented is that, no matter what our superficial differences are (does it really matter what humanoid species we belong to?), we need to learn to accept others as they are.
Something to contemplate as we hobnob along with Sookie and a slew of vampires.
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