Twisted Kingdom

I am such a Charlaine Harris/Sookie Stackhouse fangirl. No apologies. I love this series-and I was uber-anxious for All Together Dead's release. And in a shameless plug of my own blog, here is my rundown of the previous books in the Stackhouse series.

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.

All Together Dead features more Sookie hijinks that I've come to love, and I thoroughly enjoyed this latest installment, vampire politics and all.

The series picks up after Definitely Dead, where Sookie thwarted an attempt on the Queen of Louisiana's life (by her own husband) and started dating Quinn, the weretiger. People in Bon Temps have matrimony on their minds (Sookie's brother, Jason, included) and Sookie is getting ready for the vampire summit, where she will be in the Queen's entourage (for her telepathic abilities).

As I mentioned above, ATD is very heavy on the vampire politics. There are those who wish the Queen to be punished for killing her husband (in self-defense, and it was her guard who did it) and the Fellowship of the Sun is not going to let this gathering of vampires rest in peace (pun intended-LOL).

But not to worry, there is plenty of face time for Sookie and Quinn (exactly why do so many know of and fear him?) and Eric manages to tie himself to Sookie, maybe permanently.

And Sookie shines. Her cleverness is always at odds with her naïveté, but Charlaine Harris strikes a great balance between these two characteristics in Sookie's nature. She does what needs to get done, and she's good at prioritizing (for example: after getting caught in Eric's arms by Quinn, Sookie gets into a dangerous situation, but she puts what just happens on hold, and doesn't freak out about it). Also, when disaster strikes (you know it just has to), Sookie doesn't let her feelings get in the way of saving people/vampires.

My only beef? That I waited a whole year for a book that I finished in ONE day. I should have drawn it out, but I was too eager.