Review: Dead and Gone

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My way into the Sookie universe was through Sookie Stackhouse 8 Volume Set, a collection of the first eight books in the series, as I was looking for a new urban fantasy series. I was fairly new to urban fantasy and this was just before the HBO TV series aired (at least where I live) so I didn’t really have a clue what I got myself into. I did however fairly quickly get sucked into Harris writing style and went through the first eight books in less than three weeks. Afterwards I couldn’t really figure out the appeal of Ms Harris writing, that revelation didn’t come until I read this book. She manages to create an appealing mix of trivial details and character elements, such as how Sookie can’t wait until the first spring heat allow her to put on her bikini and soak in the sun - even if it’s no warmer than any breeze will bring out the goose bumps. Pet peeves of her house mates behaviour is mixed with paranormal death threats, ditzy mistakes are mixed with southern/christian indignation over minor slights to create a colourful setting for the story. It create a sensation of reading the diary of a fairly ordinary young woman that’s living a very unusual life.



The story of this book takes a somewhat unexpected turn, which i really liked. The following contains series spoilers, but not book spoilers, so if you haven’t read the series up until this book then avoid the following.

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I didn’t really appreciated when the fae were introduced to the Sookieverse. It was complicated enough before that and they felt like a cheep out to explain the origin of Sookies abilities, rather than trying to create something new and original.

Much of this book centres around the fae and their internal politics where a war is brewing, making Sookie a prime target as her great grandfather is one of the leaders among the fae.

</spoilers>



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