All Together Dead

For all of my disappointment with the last book, All Together Dead more than made up for it. I loved it. I was so anxious to read the book, that I didn't think I could wait a whole two weeks to get it from my local library's overdrive hold shelf. I wound up discovering a new, fantastic asset that my library offers- OneClick. While it doesn't offer e-books, it has quite a lot of titles as audiobooks. The best part has been that I have yet to encounter a single book on hold. It does have its shortcomings, unfortunately. For one thing, the actual device is extremely difficult to use. For another, it it doesn't have anywhere near as many available titles as Overdrive. Nonetheless, I was extremely excited to find this.

In terms of All Together Dead, I don't have much to say about this book, other than the fact that I sped through it. I couldn't stop listening! This was an absolutely great, fluffy, no stress book. While it did have it's somber "moments" (i.e. everything after the first third of the book), it was still suitably humorous and intriguing. I enjoyed Sookie and Quinn (who I keep picturing as Pitbull, which thoroughly entertained me), and I loved the vampire politics.

The books seem to emphasize the pomp and circumstance of vampire politics, and I love the deviousness and intrigue that goes on at all times- it reminds of the most interesting histories of European monarchy. The Fellowship subplot and Sookie's exploration of her talent only served to add to the political theme of the book. I'm particularly interested in seeing how Sookie will handle the vampires now that her powers have been 'expanded'.

The ending did disappoint me a bit, as while I'm glad it finally sunk into Sookie the effect the vampire politics are having on her life, it did feel forced. The sudden fight and make up between Sookie and Quinn's sister was a bit irritating, honestly. It didn't really seem to serve much purpose, as I suspect this is the beginning of the end of Quinn as a major romantic lead, which is disappointing as I really enjoyed Quinn. His background was a great addition to the book, as it further struck home the inhumanity of vampires- something that I'm sure Sookie will grapple with more, especially as her relationship with Eric develops.

Overall, this was a really good book! I absolutely cannot wait to read the next installment, though unfortunately I'm sure I won't get to it for quite some time. Darn all those pesky things like jobs, homework, and housework that get in the way of my fiction!

(5/5 stars)