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Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse #9)

by Charlaine Harris

4.04 · rating details · 57,833 ratings · 3,049 reviews

Now an HBO original series, True Blood-the New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series continues.

Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, know little about vamps-and nothing about weres.

Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to reveal their existence to the ordinary world. At first all goes well. Then the mutilated body of a we...more

Hardcover, 312 pages

Published May 5th 2009 by Ace Hardcover

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Jun 01, 2010

Elizabeth rated it

Recommends it for: Pat Robertson

Shelves: 2010, in-by-of-the-americas, fairy-tales, revenge-of-the-goths, reviewed, vamps-and-other-mythical-beasts, fantasy-sci-fi, the-knights-who-say-meh

When I was eleven or twelve I read about fifty of the Sweet Valley High books. Fifty. I'm sure. I bought them all with the money I earned from my paper route and I could afford one or two books per week (this was a supplement to what I took from the school and public libraries you understand). If there wasn't a new SVH book out, I'd find something else similar with teen models or girls who formed rock bands or in a rather excellent example of the need for better supervision of children in bookst...moreWhen I was eleven or twelve I read about fifty of the Sweet Valley High books. Fifty. I'm sure. I bought them all with the money I earned from my paper route and I could afford one or two books per week (this was a supplement to what I took from the school and public libraries you understand). If there wasn't a new SVH book out, I'd find something else similar with teen models or girls who formed rock bands or in a rather excellent example of the need for better supervision of children in bookstores, I bought Lace. This isn't where I go on a long rant about how parents should pay some attention to what their daughters are reading; I'm glad I was let alone to read what I wanted and make my own mistakes, and, well, there was really no harm done, even from that scene with the goldfish, but some better recommendations (or selection) would have reduced the number of mistakes, and I wouldn't now have to admit that I've read that book and its sequel.

The Sookie Stackhouse series is really the same thing as those SVH books, with some Lace-y exploits thrown in. Sookie doesn't have a great red convertible and she isn't one of the most popular girls in high school and her biggest worry isn't who is going to ask her to the prom, but these are the same books. They fill the same space in my reading life. Girl struggles with some boy/relationship while also trying to get a tan/win the battle of the bands competition/get to know her long lost fairy great grandfather. They are topical too, just like SVH, with some little thing to make you feel like the book isn't complete make-believe, there will be a character with a problem, so you know that you can identify with the modernness of it all. These are formula books, just like all the others from my tween reading days and Harris may dress them up with some Southern in-jokes (yes, like inbreeding and serving Yankees sweet tea for the first time) but in this point it's just a formula and you could change out Charlaine Harris for any other moderately competent writer who knows how to move the plot along and when to hold the sex scene and I'm not sure anyone would notice.

There is also a little lesson in these books. Something small, not too distracting to interrupt your appreciation of how handsome yet confusing the man-of-the-moment is or to keep you from counting the trips to Wal*Mart (those just makes me cry, every time). But this time Sookie's lesson is kind of fascinating. Sookie asks herself what does it mean to be a good Christian? Is the fact that Sookie is killing beings (fairies, werewolves, and any other creature that can be researched on the internet) instead of turning the other cheek making her a bad Christian? Does her desire to live mean that she isn't living right by God? As Sookie struggles with this question by singing along, tunelessly, with some "black gospel music" in her car radio, I wondered if I still had my college copy of City of God around so I could smack her with it. I was torn between admiring Ms. Harris for bringing up the question at all and being annoyed at her for treating it in a shallow and pandering way. Her message, in the end, seemed to be that killing other beings doesn't make you a bad Christian and siding with your family against those who would hurt them, is just what any normal woman with terrible taste in clothes and a blue collar job should do. Oh, and drinking blood is cool!

Every time I read one of these books I feel like I'm looking into a completely different culture from the one I live in. It's not that they are about vampires or that everyone shops at Wal*Mart (okay, there is a little of the latter); it's really that I don't get where these ideas come from. The adverse reaction of the populace in this series to people "coming out" as a supernatural is really outside my personal experience when I can walk around my town and see the cute little Harvard boys holding hands. But the other readers of these books aren't like me. This whole question of "is Sookie a bad Christian?" probably came as a response to questions/accusations from the fan base, or those who think everything on HBO is ungodly. As frustrated as I am with how Harris takes on the question, and the weak, confused treatment she gives it; what about that twelve year old who hasn't had that question presented to her before? What about the all those readers who may be more open to other "alternatives" because of the story of Sookie and the vampire and the other vampire and the werewolf and the weretiger and the shapeshifter?(less)

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May 12, 2009

Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) rated it

Shelves: charlaine_harris, vampires, authors_i_have_met, arcs

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In the 9th Sookie book we are basically facing the fall-out from 2 revelations: That Sookie's Great-Grandfather is Fairy Royalty, and that the Were's have finally revealed themselves. Each has results ending in not very good things for Sookie, mainly kidnapping from psycho fairies who are responsible for her parents deaths (I always knew there had to be more to the flash flood) and Arlene plotting with the Fellowship to kill Sookie and string her up on a cross. There is also requisite murder th...more

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May 13, 2009

Tatiana rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, urban-fantasy, series-lost-steam

It’s not the worst book ever written as some reviewers say, but it’s not that good either. Charlaine Harris failed to deliver what we all wanted to read about and over-delivered on what we didn’t really care for.

What I mean is most of us keep reading this series primarily to find out who Sookie finally settles with. No matter what team you were on – Eric, Bill, Quinn, Sam – you expected some kind of resolution, at least temporary, to her love life. We got none of it. There was so l...more

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May 05, 2009

Suz rated it

Shelves: urban-fantasy

I just finished Dead and Gone and I must say that I loved it. I agree with previous reviews that it was much darker than previous Sookie's but I see that as a good thing. Life is changing Sookie and she is shedding some of her idealism, which is something all of us must face to some degree or another to find our own truths.

This books has many painful losses, but it also has a significant amount of growth on the parts of many of our main characters. I too am anxious for the next bo...more

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May 30, 2011

Jim rated it

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal-urban

The scattered book 8 set up for this one nicely & much was resolved. This book was more on track, as usual & about the same caliber. It should be read in order. It's a soap opera, so you need the background to appreciate how our heroine works through her various difficulties. All in all, more fun reading candy.

28May11 - re-read the HB which I now own. Teresa loaned me the new book #11 & I've 're-read' the series up to this point in audiobook format, downloaded from the local li...more

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May 06, 2009

Alisa rated it

Shelves: true-blood-twilight

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

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Jun 10, 2009

Jenn rated it

will start off by saying I love this series. I started it long before the TRUE BLOOD HBO series came out so I have been faithful from the beginning, and have always waited anxiously for the newest book in the series. I also reread the series each time a new book comes out to keep refreshing. Most were great book. A few of her more recent ones left me a little hungry for more as they didn?t really hit the spot but they were OK. I was excited for this book hoping Miss Harris would really expand u...more will start off by saying I love this series. I started it long before the TRUE BLOOD HBO series came out so I have been faithful from the beginning, and have always waited anxiously for the newest book in the series. I also reread the series each time a new book comes out to keep refreshing. Most were great book. A few of her more recent ones left me a little hungry for more as they didn?t really hit the spot but they were OK. I was excited for this book hoping Miss Harris would really expand upon the work she had done in her previous books and tie up some of the loose plot lines. Sadly, I feel this book left me feeling both disspaointed and extremely hungry because it wasn?t even an appetizer.

Without giving spoilers and ruining it for others, like some of the reviewers I felt there was simply too much going on all at once. I love exciting plotlines and twists and lots of action as much as the next reader. However, I felt in this novel it was overkill. There was not one OK BREATHE moment in the book. Miss Harris opened 20 different cans of worms at once; exciting yes, but also exhausting and confusing. My mind was still literally trying to process one "OH CRAP!" moment, when I was tossed into two more "Double Crap" and "Holy Hell!" moments. There wasn't just one climatic moment; there were about 25 so each time made you wonder if this was it-except you still have 100 pages left.

The end I felt was almost anticlimactic and a little disjointed. CRAZY ending, big show down, throw down and then it just sorta stops? Not quite a fade but you finished the book thinking huh? Should it really have ended there? The characters were just put through some horrific and really tragic events (yes you will need tissues) and a lot of moments of enlightenment and none of that was really touched upon.
Several characters appeared and disappeared like Houdini and some of the more permanent "disappearances," one in particular, really left me with a bad taste in my mouth because it was really horrific and tragic and just was not addressed one way or the other. It was sort of thrown at us and then we were left to process it. Which would have been fine had you actually HAD time to process it. But soon after you are thrown into yet more action. All I will say not to give it away is it is in regards to Jason and the Werepanthers.

I also feel Harris didn't adequately give Sookie time to make emotional sense of everything going on around her. This novel like the others is written in first person narrative and when anything happens in our lives, our minds process things at a 100 miles an hour in our minds. Yet Sookie barely touches upon any of these events with much introspection.

(SPOILER) Sookie is captured by renegade fairies and tortured grotesquely-so much so that her mind and body even with the infusions of vamp blood should be in such a fragile state, we should have really FELT it through her thoughts, her words and we don?t. It?s sorta just blah. She mentions she would never see the world again but its literally one or two sentences and all "tell" no "show" about how she suffered. The book ended shortly after.

There was some expansion to the history of Eric which was interesting, but the blood tie between Sookie and Eric from the last book was never really discussed; can it be broken, is it permanent, etc. I am also a LEETLE BIT concerned with the introduction of the blood bond with Eric that makes Sookie feel always peaceful, almost complacent around him. Miss Harris added a new dynamic to that in this book that I wont ruin for you, and it just made me go..OYE...I am REALLY hoping she doesn't go the route that LKH went with the Anita Blake and the ardeur (compulsions to ?make" her do things)... LKH uses it a cope out and a crutch and Harris is simply too good a writer to go that route so I hope she steers back.

(SPOILER) I also felt the new "relationship" between Sookie and Eric was sorta baloney?we didn?t feel the tension that had been there in previous books because now Sookieis unsure whether her feelings are real or a result of the blood bond. So when she sleeps with him again we get the lust factor but not much else. She seems very detached almost clinical. she seems to WANT him but not need him anymore. And now he needs and wants her, but she is almost acting as if they are buddies with benefits and not much more

(Spoiler) And though she was hoping Eric would come and save her when she is tortured, one of her few coherent thoughts is of Sam, wishing he were there so she could be in the presence of someone who loved her; very odd. But there wasn?t much interaction with Sam in the rest of the book as per usual so it seemed disjointed. I did find Eric's quote of "You?re killing me.." after he spoke to Sookie following her rescue, interesting. He seemed obviously upset about not being able to rescue her himself...very interesting. Another layer of mystery but it was abruptly abandoned as well.

am going to give this 3 stars because it has promise. If Harris can get it together for the next book and write something LENGTHIER than this (this was a short book) and really tie up some loose ends and give us better character development and relationship building and expansion, it will be amazing. I am just HOPING that the next books bring back the storytelling and plot structure we've come to expect from Charlaine Harris.
(less)

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May 07, 2009

Jennifer rated it

Shelves: 2009

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

Harris certainly didn't hold back with this one! (And I'm happy to say that the taint of the awful Aurora Teagarden series I read to tide me over until this book was released is finally gone!) I can confidently say this is probably in the Top Three books of the series. Here are a few random thoughts.

- Eric continues to be a delight. I love him and Sookie together. And other than Sookie, I think Eric is the character that has developed the most over the ...more

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Mar 17, 2010

Heather G Gentle rated it

Overall these books were decent. The first couple made me think I wasn't going to be able to read this series but things picked up for me around book 3. I thought 3-5 were the best. I have gotten a bit attached to some of the characters but it took a while. Pam is probably my favorite- everytime she's in a scene I end up laughing. I like some of the jams Sookie gets herself into and the mystery part of the books. What I don't care for is the attempt at romance in these books. That's when I...more

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May 09, 2010

Lauren rated it

Shelves: fiction, guilty-pleasures

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

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Oct 16, 2011

Andreea Daia rated it

Shelves: mystery, read-2011, low-fantasy

Dead and Gone compares to Dead Until Dark like heavy-load work days compare to Sundays in the Caribbean: it is a dark, sorrow-haunted novel. That would have been maybe all right if it wasn't for a major editing mistake that I can't ignore. The whole premise of the novel is that a rebel fraction of the fairies tries to murder Sookie, after Niall's visits made them aware of her existence. Niall himself says so in at least a couple of instances. But at the end of the book, while Sookie is tortured,...moreDead and Gone compares to Dead Until Dark like heavy-load work days compare to Sundays in the Caribbean: it is a dark, sorrow-haunted novel. That would have been maybe all right if it wasn't for a major editing mistake that I can't ignore. The whole premise of the novel is that a rebel fraction of the fairies tries to murder Sookie, after Niall's visits made them aware of her existence. Niall himself says so in at least a couple of instances. But at the end of the book, while Sookie is tortured, her tormentors say that they knew very well of her existence, since they are the ones who killed her parents.

I simply cannot believe that such a huge mistake went through (how many versions of) editing unnoticed. Over the time, I closed my eyes to small discrepancies that other readers complained about. But I simply cannot accept when the grounds of the plot has such a colossal "hole" in it.

As far as the character development goes, Sookie's emotion feels genuine and Ms. Harris's ability to convince the reader that she suffers deserves thumbs up: each morning Sookie wakes up wishing only to be able to make it to the end of the day. I believe that if Ms. Harris were able to channel the misery into Sookie's character alone, it would have been the best novel in the series. But unfortunately the desperation ran into Eric's character too, and Sam's, and Jason's, and Calvin's, and pretty much everyone else.

The storyline is not bad at all but the plot fades completely in face of the bleakness. That Sookie is overwhelmed by the threat to her persona is understandable. But Eric is not Eric anymore: he used to be Mr. Sunshine, always enjoying life 100 percent and laughing in face of the danger. But in Dead and Gone the omnipotent Viking who made it through more than a thousand years of human wars, supes wars (which are mentioned now and then), regime changes, and so on, is mentally crushed because he has a new boss. I simply find this a very-very-hard-to-swallow pill! I do believe that characters should evolve; but when you deal with "players" like the vampires who by definition lived through so many events that became extra-tough, I believe that evolution and change should have a much more serious cause.

Same goes for Sam who lost all his vitality and charm and Claudine who lost her playfulness. This was not the follow up that I expected and hoped for.(less)

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May 12, 2009

Sarah rated it

Shelves: being-used-as-toilet-paper-in-the-9

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

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Dec 09, 2009

Anna rated it

Shelves: female-protaganist, paranormal-urban-fantasy, mystery, read-in-2009

I was so exited to read this book and I wasn't disappointed. However it doesn't get the 5 stars because some things happened that I didn't enjoy reading about.

***Little spoiler*****

Also I think that there might be a regression on Sookie and Bill's relationship.

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May 15, 2009

Chanele rated it

This is probably my least favorite of the Sookie novels, but that is not to say that I didn't enjoy it. Harris is back with her witty dialogue and elaborate cast of characters, but as the story arcs away from the vampires, it loses something.

The last 50 or so pages move so quickly and there are too many references left open for the future. I like that the previous Sookie books could stand alone. This one gave me the sensation that Harris is just priming us for the next book, which w...more

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May 02, 2011

Jen (Red Hot Books) rated it

Shelves: sookie, urban-fantasy

They've been talking about it for a while, but now the weres of the world are revealing themselves. And they're getting mixed reaction. Most of the folks at Merlottes are accepting (except Arlene and her friends from the Fellowship of the Sun.) But Sam's step-father freaked out when his mom revealed herself and he shot her, which means Sam has to leave town to deal with family business.

Sookie is taking care of the bar, when (view spoiler) turns up dead. Tha...more

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Aug 10, 2011

Lindsey rated it

The best thing about this book was that Eric was in it. Other than that, I felt it should have stayed at the editor's a bit longer. I usually don't go in to these books with very high expectations, but even so I found the plot far too meandering, with too much focus on minor characters that needn't have been a part of the storyline at all.

The shifters "coming out" was a huge thing! And yet, how many chapters actually dealt with the repercussions of such an event? Most of what we, the r...more

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Jan 02, 2010

~~~Heather S.~~~ rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Absolutely love this series, need to buy it so I can reread over and over! Sookie is a strong, smartass, beautiful character that I can't get enough of and her escapades are always entertaining. Waiting to see if she's going to choose Eric, but at the end of this book, she remembers her feelings for Bill and doesn't know who her great-grandfather was speaking of when he said that vampire is a good man and he loves you, was it Bill or Eric? It could be either one, of course I'm hoping it's Eri...more

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Oct 08, 2009

Elizabeth rated it

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (pp. 320)

Charlaine Harris’s ninth Sookie Stackhouse novel is more of what fans expect minus some face time from fan favorite Bill. Again the books tend to take on the feel of a prime time TV series. There first part of the book wraps up more loose ends and story lines from previous books. There’s more of Jason being a murder suspect, again. And the shape shifters follow the vampire example and come out into the mainstream. And we get more fantasy...more

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May 06, 2009

Theresa rated it

I don't request many books for review specifically, but I never miss an opportunity to read Charlaine Harris. Ever. I'm not sure what it is that draws me to her fiction, but if I had to guess I'd say it's the "voice" of her characters: Sookie Stackhouse in particular.

I know I'm not the only person who has found Harris' brand of fiction to be particularly appealing. Last year HBO created a series based on Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries called True Blood, and if any of yo...moreI don't request many books for review specifically, but I never miss an opportunity to read Charlaine Harris. Ever. I'm not sure what it is that draws me to her fiction, but if I had to guess I'd say it's the "voice" of her characters: Sookie Stackhouse in particular.

I know I'm not the only person who has found Harris' brand of fiction to be particularly appealing. Last year HBO created a series based on Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries called True Blood, and if any of you have seen it, you've probably gone out and picked up one of Harris' books. But if you haven't, let me tell you what you're missing.

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress in a bar in Bon Temps Louisiana who just so happens to be a telepath. Not knowing where she gets her "disability" Sookie makes do as best she can, but it's not easy when you're bombarded with unwanted thoughts all day. Until, unexpectedly, a vampire walks into the bar and Sookie realizes she can't hear his thoughts.

Thanks to a synthetic blood developed by the Japanese, vampires no longer need to live on human blood to survive, and that development has prompted them to come forward and announce their existence to the rest of the world. The vampires claim that their condition is the result of a virus that results in severe anemia and an allergy to garlic, but it's hardly that simple. Many vampires are still monsters who don't see humans as much more than a convenient source of nourishment. But Sookie finds herself drawn to Bill Compton, a 170+ year old vampire who becomes her first real boyfriend.

Over the course of The Southern Vampire Mysteries Sookie becomes intimately involved in the world of the "supes" as she calls them, including vampires, Weres, fairies, witches and other assorted creatures. Most people aren't aware of any supernatural creatures other than vampires but there is a vast world that exists beneath the surface and Sookie, because of her unusual ability, can't seem to escape. Sookie has fallen in and out of love with a vampire and had a fling with a were-tiger. She's also been the victim of incredible violence and seen how monstrous and inhuman the supernatural world can be.

The first five or six books of the series mostly took place in Bon Temps, then Sookie found herself anywhere from Dallas to New Orleans. A lot of new characters were introduced and the series seemed to be in a transitional period for awhile; not a bad thing, but the series did lose some of it's consistency. But Dead and Gone takes Sookie back to Bon Temps and in this book, the ninth in the series, it feels as if Sookie has settled back where she belongs.

After observing how the public responded to the revelation that vampires exist, the Weres have decided to come out. Like the vampires, the Weres make the announcement on live television, demonstrating their abilities in real time. Predictably the reception is mixed. Some people respond with excitement and others with revulsion. But overall it seems as if the vampires have paved the way to a smooth transition. That is, until a Were is killed in a very gruesome manner in Bon Temps. Compounding Sookie's worry is the fact that her brother Jason is a recently turned Were himself. And if that wasn't enough, Sookie's great-grandfather, a literal fairy prince, is at war with a faction of anti-human fairies and Sookie has become a target.

Like all of Harris' books, "Dead and Gone" is just over 300 pages. Short, sweet and action packed. And while The Southern Vampire Mysteries aren't meant to be deep, they still manage to make some firm statements about the costs of prejudice and the dangers of naïvité; lessons Sookie has learned the hard way.

I won't go so far as to say "Dead and Gone" is the best book in the series, but it's the best one to come along in awhile. The last two books seemed to be looking for something but I'm not sure what. I think in a way they were necessary for the character development but the new characters never fully gelled the way the original cast of did. So this time around I really enjoyed seeing Sookie come home.

But really, it isn't the action or even the supernatural elements that make the series special. It's Sookie. If you watch "True Blood" I think you'd get the same impression. Anna Paquin has really impressed me with her ability to tap into Sookie's sweet but feisty character. She's full of Southern manners and sass but most importantly she has steel core that makes her one of my favorite fictional characters. And that's saying something. I don't know that this series would appeal to everyone the same way it has to me. But I do know that there are a lot of people who have really enjoyed authors like Patricia Briggs, Kelley Armstrong and Kim Harrison, and if you're one of those people, you have to pick up Harris. If you like Mercy Thompson or Elena Michaels-- you'll love Sookie Stackhouse.(less)

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May 08, 2009

Allison (The Allure of Books) rated it

Shelves: series_sookie-stackhouse, own-it, 2009, setting_thesouth, adult-paranormal

***Spoilers***

Well, I am thrilled that Eric and Sookie's relationship is back, sorta. But nothing is really ever how it appears in this series, and none of their time together seemed 100% normal to me, like there was something important we still need to know. The more blood they exchanged the more I worried that Eric will end up dying at some point. I hope not :( Although he is controlling to a degree that would piss me off royally in the real world...it fits his personality and job ...more

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May 07, 2009

Lynn rated it

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Dec 10, 2009

Rude Chick rated it

Shelves: 2009, harris-c, wishlist

(Sookie Stackhouse,#9) Awesome book! This time around Sookie finds herself in the middle of a fairy war, shifters make their mark on society, and good & bad characters die. I loved the uncomplicated setting, the familiar characters, and all the action. I feel like Sookie’s bond with Eric needs some backbone, some more clarification or something… And don’t get me started on Bill! Time to MOVE ON Sookie! Also, I sensed something between Sam & Sookie, maybe?

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May 13, 2009

The Library Lady rated it

Shelves: adult-fiction, mindless-fluff

More brain candy from Harris. The TV series is a lot (sorry) meatier, but this will help to pass the time until the new season in June.

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May 18, 2009

Janepelle rated it

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Sep 09, 2011

Myfavoritegeorgie rated it

Recommends it for: hardcore fans only

Shelves: own-have-read, paranormal, and, vampires

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

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Aug 11, 2011

Andi added it

A VERY enjoyable outing for Sookie and the gang, and a definite step up from the 'transitional' From Dead to Worse.

The sexual and romantic tension between Eric and Sookie is still the hallmark of the series for me, and this was a good one for them. Their relationship takes some dramatic steps forward... and by the way: Team Eric!

The pacing was dramatic, the misleads mostly well done, and the ending was about as climactic as it gets. Loved it. The story and characters have gotten much darker, bu...more

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Jan 11, 2012

Amanda rated it

On one level I did enjoy DEAD AND GONE as it was just as totally addictive, sit-up-all-night-to-finish-it as the earlier books in the series, but afterwards I had misgivings that niggled away at me, so I'm airing them here. Maybe it's only because I know what standards Charlaine is capable of that stops me from totally enjoying DEAD AND GONE, and I would love it is a less experianced author wrote it...

First of all; The weres coming out should be as major as when the vamps did, bu...moreOn one level I did enjoy DEAD AND GONE as it was just as totally addictive, sit-up-all-night-to-finish-it as the earlier books in the series, but afterwards I had misgivings that niggled away at me, so I'm airing them here. Maybe it's only because I know what standards Charlaine is capable of that stops me from totally enjoying DEAD AND GONE, and I would love it is a less experianced author wrote it...

First of all; The weres coming out should be as major as when the vamps did, but we hardly get a glimpse at the ruptions it would undoubtedly have caused around the world; We just get to skim though newspapers with Sookie and only see how it affects her and have a small side-story via Sam to learn about some of the fall-out. This should have had it's own book; s it is, it's just a waste.

Was anyone surprised at the who-did-it aspect? It was obvious and I became irritated at the characters for not figuring it out sooner.

The fey war is a story thread that we didn't really need. It mostly take's place behind the scenes and just serves to trim the character list down and add non-gripping 'will Sookie make it out of this one?' moments, when we all know full well she will as there's more books on the way.

Which nicely brings me to my main problem with the book: The number of characters cheerfully killed off in it and the way that another couple of characters decide to suddenly up and leave. It is fairly obvious Ms Harris has only done it to tidy up the character list to try to keep it similar to True Blood. However I've been a huge fan of 'The Southern Vampire Mysteries' [I don't care if they've re-packaged it as the 'True Blood' series] and the short stories for the seven years before True Blood started on TV, so the way the author is suddenly trying to reverse the years to bring the books and the programme into evenish balance is obvious to me. It totally ruins all of the character progressions they've made over the years.

Also; Nine books into the series and Sookie is still unsure of which love interest she wants?! In the books she's clearly always been favouring Eric, but all of a sudden she's back to going misty eyed over Bill, when his past actions in the books have been awful and completely unforgivable. If Sookie were a real person I'd lecture her on self respect. And then throttle her. Oh, and Quinn turns up for a grand total of one pointless scene, which adds nothing to the story.

While I'm ranting about pointless scenes; The author now feels the need to write Tara into a scene too, so she and Sookie can have a heart to heart. In the good ole 'The Southern Vampire Mysteries' days Tara was a rarely mentioned old school friend of Sookie's and was a very minor character, with no mention of an alcoholic mother. Now they're suddenly BFFs...
(less)

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Dec 26, 2011

Arinn Dembo rated it

Shelves: paranormal-romance

This is another page-turning little novel which continues the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse, a small-town girl with big time problems. The core of the plot revolves around the protagonist's relationship to the Fey; she is the great-granddaughter of a full blooded Prince of Faerie, and in this book the negative consequences of that relationship come to roost.

I give the book three stars because this is the minimum rating I can give to a book that I actually liked. Nothing has happene...moreThis is another page-turning little novel which continues the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse, a small-town girl with big time problems. The core of the plot revolves around the protagonist's relationship to the Fey; she is the great-granddaughter of a full blooded Prince of Faerie, and in this book the negative consequences of that relationship come to roost.

I give the book three stars because this is the minimum rating I can give to a book that I actually liked. Nothing has happened to eiminate my sympathy or identification with Sookie; she remains at core a decent person struggling to physically and spiritually survive in extraordinary circumstances, and she continues to navigate this World of the Weird with commendable grace. The problem is that Harris apparently wasn't really ready to write this book, and to deal with some of the gruesome events that made it into her plot outline.

Sookie Stackhouse is subjected to an extended torture session in this novel, which receives very little "screen-time" as text. It's clear after tha fact what sort of physical damage that has been inflicted, and a little lip service is paid to the psychological effects of the suffering she has to endure, but it simply isn't enough to bring these events home and make them believable. There are also two or three deaths or near-deaths of important and sympathetic characters in the series which are also handled off-screen. The protagonist neither witnesses nor reconstructs these killings, even when they represented a heroic sacrifice.

This kind of thing is just plain bad craftsmanship. I have nothing but respect for Harris and her skill at hammering together a novel, but if she wasn't willing to inflict the full weight of these deaths on her audience and her protagonist, then she shouldn't have scribbled them into that plot outline. As it stands she killed one of the more charming characters in her series for very little reason and to very little effect--unless we're going to find out later that the woman in question is fine and dandy and faked her death, this is pretty disappointing. Similarly, having a random under-developed stranger hammer one of your antagonistic characters to a cross is a poor substitute for dealing with the unresolved relationship problems that they represent in the lives of the central cast.

I'm hardly going to stop reading Sookie Stackhouse novels over this one, but I certainly hope that this lapse of discipline doesn't become a steady decline in quality in future installments in the series. That would be a shame. (less)

· see review

Dec 03, 2011

Richard rated it

Rating: 3.75* of five

The Book Report: Sookie Stackhouse, Bon Temps, Louisiana. That's all the address you'll ever need to mail off a big box of Pandora's leftover troubles. I suspect that, even though it's a fictional place, the parcel will arrive and be oh-so-generously distributed.

THIS time, the Sookster is beset by the murder of a family member in a grisly, quasi-religious way; the end of a long-time friendship; the loss and near-loss of some of her nearest and dearest sup...moreRating: 3.75* of five

The Book Report: Sookie Stackhouse, Bon Temps, Louisiana. That's all the address you'll ever need to mail off a big box of Pandora's leftover troubles. I suspect that, even though it's a fictional place, the parcel will arrive and be oh-so-generously distributed.

THIS time, the Sookster is beset by the murder of a family member in a grisly, quasi-religious way; the end of a long-time friendship; the loss and near-loss of some of her nearest and dearest supernatural beloveds; and horribly confusingly, a radical, radical change in her relationship to Eric Northman, Viking vampire and sheriff of Sookie's home turf, that she's either thrilled about or horrified by, depending on the day.

My Review: I recently rented the second season of True Blood, the HBO show based on Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels. The show is more inspired by the milieu of the books than a faithful rendering of them. Coming back to literary Bon Temps after two rapid-fire season viewings, I can't say I think one is better than the other, but rather that each has its merits.

This outing is a solid novel, more than I could say about the previous one ([All Together Dead]), wherein events transpire that make this book's painful lessons for Sookie seem like overkill. The series is mature, which is often a cue to stop reading it for a while so as to judge if can or will recover some of the energy and momentum of the first books. Not so much a problem here, truthfully; energy and momentum the books have got. The question is, is the written series going places you as a reader want to go?

I begin to suspect it is not headed my way. I'm not ready to say “piffle-winkin'-ptui” and walk away, but I am now more interested now in the HBO series. The second season focuses on a one-book character of the Maenad, played by the worth-going-straight-for hottie deluxe Michelle Forbes (“Ensign Ro” on ST:TNG). Her presence in Bon Temps brings back Sam's memories of his childhood, wildly different from the one given him in the books. We see Sam Trammell, who plays Sam Merlotte, naked a good bit, which is nice. We don't see Jason Stackhouse, played by the smokin'-hot Ryan Kwanten, naked this season, though shirtless fairly often. Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, the leads Sookie and Bill Compton, do some serious sexin' this season too, which is nice for all y'all straight people, I suppose.

But the big surprise here is Bill's newly made vampire, Jessica. She's completely new. Nothin' like this in the books! But what a great character she is. All the way around, the series is surprising me, and the books are not, so I am trending away from print in this case.

And that makes me sad. (less)

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Nov 25, 2011

Kirsti rated it

Another great book in the series, and one of my favorites (Eric factor again!) This time, Sookie is trying to avoid answering the FBI's questions regarding the work Barry and herself performed while searching for people trapped under the hotel rubble. She's trying to find out who killed her sister in law, Crystal, and the unborn child. She's avoiding the Fellowship of the sun, and coming to terms with her Faerie heritage and her part in the upcoming fey war.

But, most importantly in m...more

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About Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over twenty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she grew up in the middle of a cotton field. Now she lives in southern Arkansas with her husband, her three children, three dogs, and a duck. The duck stays outside.

Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Char...moreCharlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over twenty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she grew up in the middle of a cotton field. Now she lives in southern Arkansas with her husband, her three children, three dogs, and a duck. The duck stays outside.

Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Charlaine was writing poetry and plays. After holding down some low-level jobs, she had the opportunity to stay home and write, and the resulting two stand-alones were published by Houghton Mifflin. After a child-producing sabbatical, Charlaine latched on to the trend of writing mystery series, and soon had her own traditional books about a Georgia librarian, Aurora Teagarden. Her first Teagarden, Real Murders, garnered an Agatha nomination.

Soon Charlaine was looking for another challenge, and the result was the much darker Lily Bard series. The books, set in Shakespeare, Arkansas, feature a heroine who has survived a terrible attack and is learning to live with its consequences.

When Charlaine began to realize that neither of those series was ever going to set the literary world on fire, she regrouped and decided to write the book she’d always wanted to write. Not a traditional mystery, nor yet pure science fiction or romance, Dead Until Dark broke genre boundaries to appeal to a wide audience of people who just enjoy a good adventure. Each subsequent book about Sookie Stackhouse, telepathic Louisiana barmaid and friend to vampires, werewolves, and various other odd creatures, has drawn more readers. The Southern Vampire books are published in Japan, Great Britain, Greece, Germany, Thailand, Spain, France, and Russia.

In addition to Sookie, Charlaine has another heroine with a strange ability. Harper Connelly, lightning-struck and strange, can find corpses… and that’s how she makes her living.

In addition to her work as a writer, Charlaine is the past senior warden of St. James Episcopal Church, a board member of Mystery Writers of America, a past board member of Sisters in Crime, a member of the American Crime Writers League, and past president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance. She spends her "spare" time reading, watching her daughter play sports, traveling, and going to the movies. (less)

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Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse #9)

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