Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, #9) - Charlaine Harris

Pages: 336

Rating: 5/5

Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, know little about vamps—and nothing about weres.
Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to reveal their existence to the ordinary world. At first all goes well. Then the mutilated body of a were-panther is found near the bar where Sookie works—and she feels compelled to discover who, human or otherwise, did it.
But there’s a far greater danger threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings—older, more powerful, and more secretive than vampires or werewolves—is preparing for war. And Sookie finds herself an all-too human pawn in their battle

Sookie Sookie Sookie . How long I’ve waited to read this. Where to begin?

Well, before i forget - Ms. Harris, I like how all the books have their own unique style of jacket covers and all, but really!!! Can you make them look a wee bit better maybe. You’re killing the hot image of Eric that I’ve created in my head with that cape clad buffoon on the cover. And Bill just looks like he’s completely doped out.
Thank heavens for Alexander Skarsgård in True Blood for keeping my hopes for Eric alive.

Now considering how long I’ve waited for this book, I absolutely loved it. Didn’t have much of a choice here. Harris has added quite a few sub plots here that you have to appreciate that finally here’s a book where thing tie up at the end (not all, but at least a little. Am I still making sense? I’m still on a giddy high after having read this at a stretch with only a break for some orange juice and lots of chocolate in between. I was thinking maybe I should write the review tomorrow when i'm back to my relatively more saner self. But its amazing how the ideas whoosh by and how fast you can type on a one-too-many-bars-of-chocolate high. Really)

No, no. That didn't make sense at all. I'll have another go at this:

A lot of things are happening in this book, every chapter has some incident nor another. The Weres make their big reveal. A lot of people end up dead by the time the book is done - some of them characters i really liked. Harris didn't really address the emotional fallout from these deaths. They just were. With everything else happening, Sookie doesn't get any time to process what these deaths mean. I do hope she gets to this in the next book.

A lot of stuff from the previous books get answered - Eric tells her about the curse and why he would up near Sookie's place in Dead to the World.
Arlene and the Fellowship Of The Sun try their tricks - and i liked that Sookie finally told Arlene off and gave up on her. Been pending for a long time i think.

Quinn is back, if only for a short encounter - which actually left me a bit spooked and also supporting Quinn in his statement that Sookie is harder on him that anyone else. Although i didn't buy his reasoning for it. Never thought I'd be siding with Quinn - something about him calling her Babe all the time that just ruins it. Like he can't be bothered to remember her name. My Boyfriend used to do that. Call everyone 'darling' regardless of gender or whether he met you 10 minutes ago, so he didn't have to remember names. He knows better now. But i digress.

The main event of the book is the Fairy war with Niall and the pro-human fairies on one side and his nephew Breandan and the 'no-contact-with-Humans' fairies on the other side. And obviously Sookie in the middle - with disastrous and torturous consequences for her and her friends. That part was really horrible. Harris really has a way with writing dark stuff. Her Lily Bard Series is a good example.

I found this book had a more mature and subdued Sookie (and Jason too, for that matter). One who faces a lot of revelations. You can see the effects of it in her interaction with those around her. Specially with Eric. She's confused about her feelings and the blood bond. Their relationship changes in that Sookie seems more detached when it comes to Eric now while Eric seems to want to get closer to her. Almost like her needs her.

Then there was also the conversation after Sookie is rescued and she asks Eric why he wasn't the one who came after her and she had hoped he would, and he says “You’re killing me” Plus at the end Pam makes some comment about how Eric will live on in Sookie. So many cryptic things in this book. VERY VERY FRUSTRATING.

And BILL IS BACK!!! Who would have thought that. I mean the man really managed to redeemed himself, almost dying for her and all. Whew!!

Can i now complain about the extremely abrupt ending. After page after page of a rollercoaster ride of events, it felt like Harris got tired of writing and just left it hanging. Like i mentioned before. Frustrating.

But all in all, i still loved it.

Is now a good time to bring up how this book was only 336 pages? Its like going to wait a long awaited movie only to be shown the trailer and then asked to leave at the end of it with no movie in sight.

Well, maybe not exactly like that. But still.

Aaah well. I always seem to complain about this series. Because i love it so much.

See.
Told you.
Chocolate rush = too much writing.

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