"All Together Dead" by Charlaine Harris

This will be my last adventure into the world of Sookie Stackhouse for a while. I promise.

I finally finished All Together Dead; book seven of the Sookie Stackhouse series, and the final volume of the boxed set that I received a little over a week ago and have been trudging through since. For those of you who have been following my reviews on Amazon (or the discussion on Book Blogs) you know that I was not impressed (or amused) by the first book in this series. Not in the slightest. I didn’t even review the book on my blog, because the things that I had to say about it were not nice at all. Better just to say nothing.

By the time I finished book four, Dead to the World, my opinion of the series had gotten better (from one star to three stars), and I grudgingly admitted that while I absolutely hated the first book, my initial impression of Sookie and Co. may have been a little off base. Having now made it this far into the series, I have to say that the little world that Charlaine Harris has created is starting to grow on me.

The plot of All Together Dead is quite a bit more complicated than its predecessors. Sookie finds herself in Michigan attending a vampire convention. She is working for the queen of Louisiana, as a telepath. Of course, all of her beaux are in attendance in one capacity or another. Bill is selling the vampire database discs he has been working on for months. Eric is there as, well, Eric. And Quinn is there running the show. In her usual style, Sookie unwittingly finds herself torn between Eric (whom she is coerced into sharing blood with for the third time), and Quinn (who she discovers has a deep, dark secret). As for Bill, he is so low on the totem pole that he is being referred to as “nameless.”

The entire convoy is staying at a vamp hotel in Michigan. Along with vamps from around the country, weres and shifters, interdimensional body guards, demons, fang-bangers, and at least one more telepath. Remember Barry the bellboy? He’s baaack.

Of course, when you get this many supes together under the same roof, you can be sure it’s going to hit the fan. Between the politics, the personal agendas, and the Fellowship of the Sun in hordes outside, there is danger around every corner. And although Sookie is good at what she does, she can only read the minds of the humans. Who, at least in this installment, are fewer and farther between than ever before.

All Together Dead ended up being my favorite book in this series so far. Some of the threads that were left hanging at the end of book six are tied up (think the death of Sophie-Anne’s King). However, there was a lot that seemed irrelevant. Like Jason’s wedding. And Tara’s. And Amelia still staying with Sookie, along with Bob, her lover-turned-cat. And the fact that Sookie still has a thing for Bill. And a thing for Eric.

Needless to say, although All Together Dead answered a few questions, it left a lot more hanging. For the Sookie faithful, I guess that’s a wonderful thing. The series is guaranteed to go on for a few more installments. Maybe it will keep getting better. One can hope. As it stands, I have to give All Together Dead three stars. It was better than the rest. But not that much better.