A Touch of Dead is a collection of Sookie Stackhouse stories from in between various novels of the series. This means they (and this review) contain spoilers for those who haven’t read the books. Since it’s an incredibly short book at less than 200 pages long, this is definitely going to fall in mini review territory, but I thought it would be appropriate for Halloween!
These are all really short stories. So short that I probably would have felt cheated if I’d bought this in hardcover – there just isn’t very much there, unlike most collections of novellas. The margins and font were both huge, so each story sped by in just a few minutes. It was a great choice for the Read-a-thon, though, because I felt I’d accomplished a lot and the stories were very easy reads.
The introduction fortunately gives us a timeline for the stories, explaining where each fits into the overall canon. I’m almost up to date on the series, so none of them spoiled anything for me, though they may for others who are not quite as far in the series. We get to discover how Sookie discovered her cousin Hadley was dead, for example, which I remember confusing me when I first read that particular book in the series. We also get to see Eric ridiculously excited over the possibility of Dracula coming to Fangtasia, which was a light-hearted change. We even get to witness Sookie’s grandfather’s idea of a Christmas gift.
These stories are a nice way to dip into the Sookie universe without getting involved in a complete book, but I’d probably only recommend them for those who are already fans. Otherwise, you’ll get spoiled for the series, and I find it unlikely that you would enjoy them as much as someone who is already versed in the world would.
I remember being confused too about Hadley — I kept thinking I had missed a book. I’ll look for this in eBook form.
Beth F´s last post …Review: The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
This might be a good way for me to try to get back to Sookie books.
bermudaonion (Kathy)´s last post …Mailbox Monday
I haven’t started the Sookie series yet, but my mom is really pushing me to get into them because she is enjoying them so much. I find this funny, because I was the one who recommended the books to her after reading such great reviews! It sounds like this one would make the perfect lighter read, and I will have to remember it. Happy Halloween!
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I started reading this series last year, but only managed to read two instalments before I got distracted with the Percy Jackson series and other books for the two challenges I joined this year. You’ve reminded me I really would like to continue with this series at some point.
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