I have been really lax about writing up the book reviews for books 7-9 of the Sookie books that I read last month in order to complete the Sookie Stackhouse reading challenge.
So late that I was really tempted to forget about it. But, I hate to leave stuff incomplete, and that includes book reviews. So, here I am trying to compile my brief scribblings done while reading the books into a coherent book review.
I can then satisfactorily close the lid on the Sookie books once and for all (or at least till the next book comes out :)), without feeling any pangs of guilt. Is it crazy that I feel guilty when I don’t update my blog? Am I crazy? or do you other bloggers also feel this compulsive urge to blog?? Really would like to know that I am not the only one!
Anyway, now on to the brief summary and review…
Book 7 – All Together Dead: Sookie finally attends the vampire summit that has been referred to in all the previous books. She is still in the midst of a romance with Quinn but some cracks are starting to show in their relationship. Of course, there is a murder and some suspense. And a mind-blowing climax. I loved the ending, but that’s pretty much all I loved about this book. I found the vampire politics rather boring and petty; and everything resolves itself a bit too neatly. Also, I don’t like Quinn, so the romance falls flat in my book. I am also starting to dislike Eric. He doesn’t seem to have enough spine to stand up to the higher ups in the vampire community when their actions hurt Sookie. For all these reasons, this book is definitely not one of my favorites.
Book 8 – From Dead to Worse: Hurricane Katrina has wrecked havoc on New Orleans leaving the vampire population weakened. Queen Sophie is in a very weakened situation, and there are greedy vamps from across the border who are eye-balling her territory. There is also a war within the were community and Sookie gets involved in both the were and the vampire issues. She also discovers an interesting long-lost relative that gives her a renewed sense of self-understanding.
This book has so much stuff happening and so many storylines all squished up together that I just could not figure out which one was the main plot. Well, it turns out there is no main plot. There are 3 plots that run almost parallelly without any kind of intersection whatever. It is an interesting style of writing (almost like 3 short stories), but without an overriding plot, it all fell kind of flat. After reading book 9, I felt that this is almost a “bridge” kind of novel, really paving the way for the next book. All in all, an interesting read where a lot of loose ends are tied and events are set up nicely for the next book in the series.
Book 9 – Dead and Gone: In this book, the weres and the shifters decide to “out” themselves and reveal themselves in their true form. At first, it appears that humans are not very disturbed by their dual nature. But then, a were is murdered and Jason (Sookie’s brother) becomes the main suspect. In addition, Sookie becomes a target in a war among fairies and for once, she is the one that needs saving. Thankfully, the weres, the vampires, and the fairies are able to put their differences aside and work together to protect (and when the protection fails), rescue her.
This is one of the more violent Sookie novels filled with torture and murder. Sookie also seems to have taken up with Eric again. However, the more I read these novels, the more I feel that Eric is too self-centred to actually support and love Sookie. In spite of Bill’s betrayal, I feel that he genuinely still loves Sookie and this comes out perfectly in this book. Reading this book makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe there may be a reconciliation in the works between Sookie and Bill in the next book.
What do you think? Are you team Bill or team Eric? Or are you team Quinn? Or any other guy? What are you looking forward to happening in the next Sookie book? I”d love to know your thoughts.
And yay! One reading challenge successfully completed. I am so totally kicked about it 🙂
This series got me to read again. Every book gets better and better as the characters develop. I have switched guys throughout the series. Right now though, I am loving Eric, the match is so interesting to read. Though, I’d be okay if she went back to Alcide. I never was a big Quinn fan though.
I am sure I said this b4, but I really need to read this series. Arleast you keep on reminding me!
is the series done with 9 books. if so, good work girl!
Veens…no more reminders now, since the challenge is complete 🙂
I still haven’t managed to get my hands on the last of this series yet, but it’s good to know it’s more of a concrete plot than the eighth one was. You’re not alone in feeling guilty if you don’t blog for a while – I think we all feel that way!