This book was awesome, and totally action packed. Charlaine Harris does a great job in all of her books of having something always going on, and keeping the readers on their toes. She's one of the few authors who manages to surprise me! I definitely enjoyed the book.
If you haven't read the preceding books in the series, I recommend that you do. The books build on one another throughout the series, and although you could read them as stand-alone pieces (each book has its own unique situation), you may not understand certain remarks in the book.

I will say I was surprised by the number of deaths in this book. I mean, there's a lot in every book, but typically obscure characters, and not ones who are very close to Sookie (the main character). Charlaine Harris makes her readers crazy by leaving a million and one loose ends at the end of her books. Most from the previous book are answered in the next one, so I'm sure all will be answered in book 10... however it'll be a while until it comes out. I hate waiting! I have a million and one unanswered questions, and that seems to be the general vibe from all the fans I've talked with in discussion boards.

I do recommend these books though... there's a lot of mystery in them, and they're fun in the sense that they deviate from the norm (Well, my norm at least). The series is all about vampires, wereanimals, witches, etc. Very interesting stuff. If you haven't read this series, and happen to go to the library or bookstore, pick up the first book, Dead Until Dark (It's only like, $6 in paperback). If you're anything like me, you'll be unable to put it down and be back looking for book 2 with a day or two! ( )

This is the last completed volume in the Sookie Stackhouse series of romance-mystery-vampire books, and so it’s a sad book for me on two levels: the fact that there are no more (for the nonce) and the fact that the story itself is sad.

The book begins with the public “coming out” of the shape-shifters, of those humans who occasionally can transform themselves into different animals. World reaction is mixed.

Most of the rest of the story concerns a war between good fairies and bad fairies (the leader of the former being Sookie’s great grandfather). The werewolf and vampire communities get involved because Sookie is in danger, and they both owe her for the times she has saved their lives.

There are some terrible deaths in this book, and some terrible losses suffered by the characters. As the book ends with the temporary resolution of the fairy war, Sookie’s great-grandfather kisses her goodbye – perhaps forever – and tells her:

"The vampire is not a bad man, and he loves you.”

Then he leaves, before Sookie can ask him whether he meant Bill or Eric.

Evaluation: I wouldn’t recommend this book as stand-alone reading without the rest of the series; there is too much that wouldn’t make sense. In the beginning of the series, Harris was able to recapitulate much of the ongoing plot for readers new to these books. But a great deal has happened now, and Harris doesn’t even try to explain most of it. As with the other books, it is must-reading if you follow the Sookie Stackhouse stories, but I do feel the fairy connection is the weakest part of the series.

Rating: 3.5/5

Series Recapitulation:

Dead Until Dark (Book 1)
Living Dead in Dallas (Book 2)
Club Dead (Book 3)
Dead to the World (Book 4)
Dead as a Doornail (Book 5)
Definitely Dead (Book 6)
All Together Dead (Book 7)
From Dead To Worse (Book 8)
Dead and Gone (Book 9) ( )

Charlaine Harris has a wonderful imagination and creates a fun world of various supernatural creatures. In most of the books, I've really enjoyed learning about all the different Supes. However, with this book, I kept yearning for her to put the focus back on the vampires. The most recent books seem to follow the same pattern: there's some sort of supernatural war, people drop like flies, and Sookie's love life is on the rocks. Although, fairly predictable, this was thoroughly enjoyable and helped me escape reality for a bit. And truthfully, that's why I enjoy these books. They are a guilty pleasure and just a lot of fun to lose yourself in. I loved the development with Eric and Sookie's relationship. But most surprising for me, I found myself liking Vampire Bill! For the entire series I kept wishing for him to "meet the sun" and now I am suddenly looking forward to seeing him in the next book. This has been an exhausting week, so I may have to re-edit to give it a better review. I can't believe I'll have to wait almost a year to find out what happens next! ( )

Wow, this book overwhelmed me. A lot of fairies in here, more blood, more Eric and Sookie. And for the first time, I started to pity Bill. Cliche (and corny) as it may sound, maybe it's true that first love never dies. Bill is boring but he's still gallant and it's plain to see he really loves Sookie. Inspite of all that, I still love Eric.It's clear to see Eric wasn't really good at expressing his feelings, not just because he's a thousand-year-old vampire, but simply because he's a guy. I can see he's a practical man, manipulative, but still dependable. I loved their moments together when he showed his vulnerable side. I'm sure this is not the end of the series and I'm hoping there'll be more of him in the next, and that maybe Charlaine Harris would take their relationship to the next level because for now, they're on a bumpy ride. They didn't really talk about their status although Eric claims Sookie as his, and his alone.Harris still has to explore on Sookie's nephew Hunter, who's also a telepath. I can't help but notice the discrepancies in the book about the family ties. Because if Niall is Claudine and Claude's grandfather, and he's Sookie's great-grandfather, wouldn't Claudine and Claude be Sookie's aunt and uncle? In here she calls them cousins, the same way she refers to Hunter as her cousin.This book was quite grim and bloody, still has a lot of mysteries but I was able to sense the culprit in the second half of the book. Again, I admire the writing style on how the other books connected with this one, new characters don't linger for long, it's either they die or they go away and in here it's a bit of both.All of the characters in this book have developed. Sam reacted badly on Sookie and Eric's "marriage" and I think that's just the supe vs vampire talking. I liked it he's a good friend who's really concerned about her. The little town of Bon Temps is not a sleepy old town, but one that's always brewing with inrigue, prospering people, and humans coexisting with vampires, shifters, and weres.The storyline was solid, the story flow was good up to the climax 'til the falling action (I hope this doesn't sound like a book report). When Niall reassured Sookie that "the vampire loves her" I think he referred to Eric because he didn't acknowledge Bill. Again, I hope the next book has more of Eric and Sookie developing a steady relationship, with mysteries on the side. ( )

I'll admit, I was a little disappointed with this book. First, not much happens in the first 2/3 of the book, 2 deaths and that's about it. A lot was stuffed into the last third, and it was pretty intense. So many people die, and the introduction of the faeries into the series is over - what was the point? I would love for them to stay in the story, but Harris has sealed them off which I find highly disappointing. I agree with others that the novel was a tad rushed. Harris usually explains developments a lot more than she did here, but now everything seems to be a blip and "oh well". Also Sookie is not as strong of a character anymore; she's confused, she dwells too much, in all honesty she's becoming more like the Sookie portrayed by Anna Paquin in True Blood, which is not a good thing, at all.
I really hope Harris does a lot better with the next book, I love this series too much for it to just fizzle out into mediocre fantasy/vampire literature. ( )