4.5 stars.Pretty much from start to finish, I adored All Together Dead. Sure the reveals in it were pretty damn glaring but I definitely was entertained. It was interesting how Harris wrote it with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It certainly brought more dire circumstances for the Louisiana group at the summit. Sookie's romantic life wasn't holding this book down at all, it's quite obvious, at least to me, who she's meant to be with. ERIC. Judging by his actions/comments and even Pam's comments, he cares deeply for Sookie. There are some telling signs from Sookie as well. Overall, I gotta say they have the best chemistry. I can't see how they wouldn't end up together, no matter that Quinn seems like a nice guy. Quinn's history is finally told, why he's so well known (and even awed) among the supes. It's pretty tragic and I do hope he gets a happy ending with his love life, that is unless Harris decides to assassinate his character or something a la Bill, LOL. Just to note, I do think he and Sookie make a nice couple but I don't think it'll work out. Bubba was not in here besides a passing mention but Pam had her largest appearance ever so that did tide me over. I continue to think it's hilarious and awesome that she backs Eric/Sookie. I mean I know it's loyalty to her master, she wants him happy but part of me thinks she believes they make perfect sense as well. Besides her interest in Sookie's love life, readers finally hear who Pam was before she turned and how she came to meet Eric. That background was long overdue, let me tell ya. Barry the bellboy from Living Dead in Dallas appears with a bigger role as telepath to Stan, the now King of Texas. He and Sookie kind of bond over their shared abilities. I thought it was nice for Sookie to have someone like him to talk to and experiment with. I enjoyed their friendship and hope they can get closer together since in this book they ended with differing choices. The different plots were great. I still believe that non-Bon Temps locations provide the more exciting and action-packed stories. New supes introduced, suicidal assassins, traitors, vampire judicial cases, misplaced caskets and luggage, a mysterious multiple vampire murder, weddings, blood exchanges...fun, fun stuff.
Rating: 3.4* of fiveThe Publisher Says: Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has her hands full dealing with every sort of undead and paranormal creature imaginable. And after being betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Sookie must not only deal with a new man in her life—the shapeshifter Quinn—but also contend with the long-planned vampire summit.The summit is a tense situation. The vampire queen of Louisiana is in a precarious position, her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans. And there are some vamps who would like to finish what nature started. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she'll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.My Review: Too many threads with too much happening and the end result is I don't have any idea what it is this entry in the series is about: Sookie and Quinn, after his early trauma is revealed? Sookie and the vamp queen, after Sookie's defense of her succeeds and is repaid with treachery? Sookie and Eric, now that she owes him another round of gratitude? Sookie detecting another of her telepathic kind, and the major events of the nightmare religious cult the Fellowship of the Sun unfold?I suppose every series has a problem with the transitional tales that need telling. Too many transitions in this one, at least for my little two-volt nervous system. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
What do You think about All Together Dead (2007)?
If Book 6 of the Sookie Stackhouse series was a turning point, then Book 7, All Together Dead, is the drawing of battle lines. Vampire politics, were politics, and an upsurge of human fanatic reaction to the undead are all in the forefront of this plot, making it arguably one of the most substantial of the Sookies to date.Sookie is called upon to join the party of the Queen of Louisiana for a vampire summit in the (fictional) city of Rhodes. Once there, she has all sorts of competing pulls for her attention. The only other telepath she's ever met, from way back in Book 2, makes another appearance here. Rumblings about a civil war among the weres are growing stronger. And the politics between not only various factions of vampires but also between vampires and humans take center stage--forcing Sookie to question whether her life can truly be "normal" again, and in fact, to which vampire she's willing to bind herself now that she's seized the Louisiana Queen's attention.There's a glaringly obvious "oh for fuck's sake" moment that gives away the intentions of the antagonists in this plot--or at least, obvious to the reader; I did wonder how exactly this escaped the attention of all of the significant characters in the book. Granted, they've all got other things on their minds at the time, but it's still enough to make one go "wait, what?"But that's the only bump in an otherwise thoroughly solid story. Three and a half stars.
—Angela
This book was too much. Too many characters, too many inconsistencies, too many descriptions.Three problems:1. Sookie is holding someone's wound to stop the bleeding. It seeps through the fabric onto her hands. Then it's time to dance and YAY! no blood on the dress. Let's boogie! Wait. Shouldn't we wash our blood soaked hands first?2. New characters from a place that doesn't even exist and they're kind of empty and useless and in one scene, they are invisible because we don't want anyone to know we need this kind of protection. Half an hour later they're visible security for an event for most of the same peeps. Huh. That's weird.3. Sookie and another person happen upon a place where something bad, bad, bad has obviously happened. It's dark and the vampire friends could easily come check it out, but Sookie and other person feel it is their responsibility. WHY? Call the immortals, ya big ding-dongs!This list could go on and on, really.I am enjoying these books for the fantasy escapism aspect of them. But Harris needs to pull back and focus. Please don't change the rules of the world. We're running into so many supernaturals that it's getting quite unbelievable that the humans wouldn't notice. We ain't that dumb!
—rachelle
Yet another of the thrilling adventures of prize bitch Sookie Stackhouse. She is certainly on form. There are half a dozen pointless descriptions of the characters’ outfits and a horrendously awful sex scene in the first 30 pages alone. Sookie continues to bitch about every other woman’s sex life and fashion sense, despite the fact that in both cases her own are questionable at best. Meanwhile what plot there is slowly stutters into life. Sookie travels to Rhodes with various ‘supes’, giving her
—Geraldine O'Hagan
