From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 8)

published	May 6th 2008 by Ace Hardcover
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0441015891 (isbn13: 9780441015894)
characters	Sookie Stackhouse
setting	United States
description	After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the man-made explosion at the vampire summit, everyone -- human and otherwise -- is stressed, ...more [close] After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the man-made explosion at the vampire summit, everyone -- human and otherwise -- is stressed, including Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who is trying to cope with the fact that her boyfriend Quinn has gone missing. It's clear that things are changing whether the weres and vamps of her corner of Louisiana like it or not. And Sookie -- Friend to the Pack and blood-bonded to Eric Northman, leader of the local vampire community -- is caught up in the changes. In the ensuing battles, Sookie faces danger, death, and once more, betrayal by someone she loves. And when the fur has finished flying and the cold blood finished flowing, her world will be forever altered. [close]
date added	11-25-07 edit book

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Chellie rated it:

05/13/08

bookshelves: fantasy

Read in May, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I read an interview with CH saying she had started this book, got off an tangent, and realized she'd finished the book not just the tangent. This book has that feel... like it's really just 3 or 4 tangents and not a fully developed, interwoven novel. CH is an amazing author so I don't fault her. I chalk it up to this is the 8th book in a series of first person narrative that has gotten so complex with so many overlapping story-lines, it was bound to happen. This is, to me, a wrap-up book. T...more

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Seth rated it:

05/17/08

bookshelves: modernfantasy

NOTE: I didn't mark this review as containing spoilers, but it does discuss general plot direction. It reveals the general tone of the last half of the book. Spoiler purists may want to hold off. Most people will be fine.

A fine addition to the Sookie Stackhouse books, Dead to Worse sees Sookie dealing with the continuing aftermath of the debacle in New Orleans. Her boyfriend is still missing, the witch she picked up as a roommate is still complicating her life, her real grand...more NOTE: I didn't mark this review as containing spoilers, but it does discuss general plot direction. It reveals the general tone of the last half of the book. Spoiler purists may want to hold off. Most people will be fine.

A fine addition to the Sookie Stackhouse books, Dead to Worse sees Sookie dealing with the continuing aftermath of the debacle in New Orleans. Her boyfriend is still missing, the witch she picked up as a roommate is still complicating her life, her real grandfather wants to talk to her and all of Louisiana's supernatural communities are reeling from the devastation brought by hurricane Katrina.

In Poppy Z. Brite's parlance, this is a "post-K" book, the sort every Louisina author (or author setting material in Louisiana) has to deal with. The overall mood is devastation and the themes are change and uncertainty. The physical, social, and economic restructuring from Katrina is mirrored in the supernatural community as well as in the personal lives of the major characters.

The book is roughly split in two sections: the first deals with the Shreveport werewolves and the second with the vampire hierarchy. Both power structures are up for grabs with the current power holders weakened by the results of the previous two books. Both call on Sookie as a stabilizing influence, whether she wants it or not.

The contrast, or lack of contrast, is interesting. The werewolf conflict is bloody and short. It begins with random-seeming murders and Sookie steps in (in a quintessentially Sookie moment: calling the pack leader and asking, "why are you trying to have me killed?") and plays mediator. Well, she plays lie-detector. As a result, the occasional murders turn into a full-fledged war with fur and death all around. And both sides of the pack hierarchy thank her for it.

The vampire conflict seems more civil at the start, with an established order to maintain and a structure for negotiations and agreements, but in the end it is at least as brutal. Sookie provides the framework for the solution, but the vampires themselves have to solve it.

In each case, there is an outside agitator element and the locals have to decide, regardless of their local relationships, whether they are loyal to their friends, their community, or themselves. In particular, Eric has to choose between his queen, his position, his club (and staff), and his pride.

Another recurring element of the book is Sookie standing up and doing something hard. She hasn't been good at that in previous books and it's nice to see that the events and growth of the last year or so are taking hold. Not really something developed in Worse but we're shown how it affects her.

Not a huge amount of character growth or any expansion of the world--although the ongoing "will the shapeshifters come out of the closet" question gets some discussion--but a nice breather to let the changes in the world and characters settle in.

A fun one-sitting read and a fine addition to the series....less

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From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 8)

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