Definitely Dead

For all of my disappointment with the last book, Definitely Dead more than made up for it. I loved it. I loved it more than Dead to the World. Seriously- it was that good.

My major criticism from the last book was completely alleviated. There wasn't a slew of competing males, Sookie instead chose to dwell solely on Quinn- whose entrance I'm really enjoying. I hope that he's on the show as well. While she did have the heartbreaking experience of finding out Bill's true intentions, and Eric made his customary flirty remarks, Sookie didn't go on for eons about how they were trying to win her. In fact, she essentially wrote both of them "off" in one book. Clearly that isn't going to last, but it did at least make the romance easier to swallow. I was also glad that the Debbie Pelt and Alcide dramas came to a close. While I loved Alcide initially, the whole pack life thing really alienated him as a character, and the Debbie drama just irritated me. Debbie was frustrating enough of a character in life, in death she was even worse. Note: by saying frustrating, it's not a judgement of Harris' writing, more empathy for Sookie's situation. If anything, Harris did a fabulous job of getting me to feel for Sookie and her inability to escape that wretched woman.

Ahem. Now that I've rambled... The inner dialog was great. The fight scenes were great. The descriptions of the queen and her emotions regarding Hadley? Great. I seriously loved this book, and really sped through it. I'm really annoyed that I forgot to put the next one on hold, and now I have to wait forever for it! That's how good this book was.

My only quibble? Integral information to the plot wasn't included. She apparently wrote a short story in between this book and the previous one that confused the hell out of me. I hadn't realized it existed, so I had to check a few times to make sure I was reading in the right order. It would have been nice if that storyline was included in this book, as I understand that the story is only available with other sort stories that aren't integral to understanding plots. If I had known, I would have put that on my hold shelf and read it beforehand!

(4/5 stars)