Although I adore this series as a fun read(and typically read them in a day or so), it's been interesting to me how the main character Sookie is changing along with the rest of her milieau over the last few books. This book, telling what came after the explosion in the Pyramid that shook up the Vampire power structure, not least in Louisiana, and in the middle of a shake up in Were politics that rattles a tagged but not necessarily protected Sookie between the several communities she has become allied with during the other seven books brings the series into a more threatening place.

Ms. Harris does an excellent job of bringing in a sense of unease lingering from hurricane damage, social conflict, and Sookie's own regrets as she sets up future story lines. However, as you might expect from a reshuffled storyline in which the main character is being prepared for what seem to be upcoming drastic changes, the book itself passes along some of the unease to the reader. It's still a quick and fun read, but it's less of a comfortable one. I'm curious to see how far Sookie's increasing ties to the supernatural community might change her idea of herself, especially as she changes from a cheerful, "accidental" survivor to a more determined "survivalist."

Personally, I enjoy the way Ms. Harris brings in items and people from former books, giving Sookie and others the feeling of...aging isn't really the right word, but close enough. Things don't stay new and are a little less shiny in this novel, but that ups the empathy for the characters and their unique and tight community.