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Title: “From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 8)”
Author: Charlaine Harris
Format: Hardcover
Number of Pages: 368
ISBN: 978-0441015894
Publisher: Ace
Date of Publication: May 6, 2008
3.5/4 stars: Good, but left with questions…
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Sorry to those who know what books are in this series, if so, skip down a bit. I try to list the previous books in a series because personally I hate it when I come upon a review which mentions being part of a series– but I can’t find what order the books go in!!
Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries: Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 1), Living Dead in Dallas (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 2), Club Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 3), Dead to the World (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 4), Dead as a Doornail (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 5), Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 6), All Together Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 7) and now From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 8
However, don’t forget about the anthologies which contain stories that are also a part of this series! There’s “Powers of Detection”~ book 4.25 in the series with a Sookie short story, “Night’s Edge”~ book 4.5ish- not a Sookie story however in that universe, “Bite”~ book 4.5 in the series with a Sookie short story, “My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding”~ book 4.75- not a Sookie story however in that universe, and “Many Bloody Returns”~ book 7.5 in the series with a Sookie short story. Also, book 8.5 “Wolfsbane and Mistletoe” will be out October 2008.
This is only the second time (The first being “Sweet and Deadly”- see my review here) I’ve been *slightly* disappointed by a book by Charlaine Harris. Considering I’ve read, hmm wow thirty books, either by Harris or containing a short story by her, I’d say that’s pretty good. I’ve mentioned earlier that Harris is one of my favorite authors, so when this book was released I read it immediately. Many others who’ve read this book had a problem with the book not going ‘anywhere’. Okay, so while Sookie and the gang doesn’t travel to Dallas or New Orleans like in previous books, I didn’t feel like that took anything away from the story. To borrow from a fellow LT member, “I see this book as a sort of week or couple of weeks in the life of Sookie.” There were plenty of things that happened, no need for them to leave town!
I really enjoyed this book, but I couldn’t give it the five stars I wanted to. I won’t spoil what happened, but one of my problems was with the way Sookie acted at a certain point in the story. I found it out of character and completely unfair to the person she was dealing with at the time. My other issue was with Jason. Something he did was (to me) also completely out of character. I actually had the opportunity to question Harris herself about these two events (via the B&N message boards), and she had this to say (regarding Jason): “…you bring up some issues that I’ve had to address while I was touring for FROM DEAD TO WORSE. The issue of why Jason …spoiler…will actually be addressed in the next book. I didn’t feel I explained it in FDTW well enough, and your question bears that out.” (I’ve taken out what Jason actually did so that nobody will be spoiled) Harris’ answer satisfies me here, although I can’t necessarily say the same for her response to my Sookie question…. but I can’t post that here without giving away major details.
As for the things I liked, there were many. Harris certainly has a way with twists and turns, and I really couldn’t put this book down until I reached the very last page. I was excited to see for example, that Sookie’s fairy ancestry is finally revealed and I look forward to reading more about that in the next books. I also was happy to see both the were and vampire communities take part in the story, as opposed to one or the other like in previous books. So would I recommend this book? Yes, definitely. Am I fair in taking away the stars I did? Maybe. She lost those stars because of the two events I mentioned above. It just didn’t flow for me. The fact is, you expect more from your favorite author, so perhaps this 3.5/4 stars for Harris would be 5 stars for somebody else.
Does anyone else grade their favorites harder?
Missed my last post? It was TUESDAY THINGERS.
Kathleen's Book Reviews... 