World Famous Comics: Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 6)
Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 6)
By: Charlaine Harris Publisher: Ace Books Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 324 Publication Date: May 02, 2006 Studio: Ace Books
Definitely Good! ^ I have enjoyed everything I've read in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series and Definitely Dead does not disappoint! Harris has taken her action out of rural Bon Temps, but the story certainly doesn't suffer from being moved to New Orleans. Harris has a way of writing her setting, making it completely life-like and believable - you can hear the crickets and cicadas in the woods, feel the rain in the heaviness of the swamp, and experience the powdery yellow pollen that covers everything in the South this time of year. Reading Harris' books is a almost a physical experience.
The story in Definitely Dead is a fantastic blend of horror, humor, and romance. The twists and turns of the plot kept me reading long into the night, when I should have been asleep! But I really couldn't put the book down until I knew that Sookie was back, relatively safe and sound in Bon Temps. Don't get me wrong... Harris has left plenty "up in the air" so to speak - there's lots of material here for future books in the series - but it is nice to see a somewhat "happy ending" for Sookie and Co.
Definitely Dead has been my favorite book in the series so far. Sookie gets a little closure in this book and although it's painful, I think ultimately it will be a good thing. Definitely Dead is full of action and adventure, humor and wit, and of course, romance. Once again, Charlaine has hit the ball out of the park!
A bit dull, A bit confusing but overall not bad. ^ In book 5, I felt Harris had taken away from Sookie's character. She had left her more cynical and cranky. In book #6 it seems Sookie is back. The problems I had with the story was that one of the main points in the book was Sookie going to her cousin Hadley's apartment to take care of her things since her passing. When going through all of the explaining on Hadley's death and how Sookie came to be guardian of her stuff, I felt confused. I wondered if I was in a daze in reading the last book because I could not remember anything about that. Turns out (after reading other reviews) that all this info is in a short story that Harris produced seperately. I had no idea! Even without that information, I was able to follow along and keep going. I just wish I would have been made aware of the short story before hand. I am also starting to feel that there is a lot of flip flopping and wonder if there is an actual ending to this series. There are some series that last forever but they are also going somewhere and the ending is satisfying even though you might want more. Then there are some series that really have no where to go and keep going on and on and on. You finally just give up on them. I am hoping that this is not the case. I will be sticking with this series for a while because it is fun. I just hope it is worth the ride at the end.
Slightly Disappointing ^ While I was generally pleased with this Sookie book, there were some inconsistencies I didn't expect. For instance, we're told Sookie's absentee cousin has been killed, and at her death, she was a vampire. What? Where did this come from? It isn't mentioned in any of the precious books.
We also discover that Bill is not what he seems. Up until this book, I held out hope that he and Sookie would make it work. Now, I've changed my mind due to events in the last 1/4 of the book.
Sookie finds herself immersed in New Orleans drama as she draws closer to Quinn. I like Quinn, like that he wants to protect her--but he has an incredibly annoying habit of referring to Sookie as "babe." We finally see his tiger shift in this book, and fortunately for the human citizens of Louisiana, most of them never witness it.
As for the queen of Louisiana, there is far more to her than meets the eye. By the end of the novel, she finds herself indebted to Sookie--as she should be. But with Eric and Quinn and even Bill ready to protect her, she isn't worried about the queen's favors even though cousin Hadley was the queen's favorite lover.
All in all, as usual, I am quite pleased with this Sookie story. I only wish Harris had given us some sort of lead-in to Hadley's death and the queen's visit to Bon Temps. I felt as though a huge chunk of the story was missing with only bits and pieces left to fill in.
Politics as usual? ^ I really enjoyed this sixth outing with Sookie and her friends. I feel Harris has really nurtured what is turning out to be a several book story arc and Definitely Dead helps fill in some pieces. The machinations of the supe world have been confusing to me, but now, as the Queen of LA and the King of AR have decided to marry, one can see how this is going to give the vamps a lot of power over other local groups. Plus, as the only group that has come out to humans, they retain power that way as well. Several other reviews mention the short story detailing more about Sookie's cousin Hadley. I'm off to find it now, as I did find the beginning a bit confusing!
Slow start, should read "One Word Answer" short story first... ^ This one had a slow start, with a few too many different plotlines running through it. Once the author settled into the New Orleans plot (and dropped the others), it got much, much better. Readers should get a copy of the short story "One Word Answer" and read it first (might be available at the author's website, or read it in the "Touch of Dead" anthology), or they'll be confused about what's happening. Bill's revelation was disturbing, and Eric wasn't really "there" for this one - seemed somewhat out of character. I enjoyed Quinn, though. Overall, I think the last 2/3 of the book made up somewhat for the slow beginning, but not enough to give it 5 stars.
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