Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

First of all, let me preface this book review with a quick little disclaimer. I heart vampires and vampire stories. I have a bit of an (unhealthy?) obsession with these creatures of the night. I'm not sure why, but I do. That being said, I shall proceed.

Dead Until Dark is the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I don't know why I'm just now reading these - what with my obsession with vampires and all. But I guess I was a little wary of another vampire series. I tried reading that series by Laurell K Hamilton and just wasn't able to get into them. And I enjoyed Twilight to an extent but had issues with Bella and Meyers kind of jumped the shark with the last book. So I held off on this series, but after looking for something quick, easy and fun to read, these were suggested to me (my friends know of my vampire penchant) and I've fallen in love.

But I digress. As I was saying, Dead Until Dark is the first of a series. We are introduced to Sookie Stackhouse from Bon Temps, Louisana and she has a special ability to hear people's thoughts, though she tries to block them out as much as possible. She's a waitress at a local bar and is extremely excited when they get their first vampire customer. See, vampires are "out of the closet" in this series - they are integrated with humans for the most part, but a vampire in Bon Temps is a pretty exciting deal considering how small the town is.

Sookie quickly realizes that this vampire, Bill Compton, is special - different - she can't hear his thoughts! And he realizes that she's not like most humans. So begins the love story. But it's not all sex and lame romantic stuff. No, there's murder and humour and mystery and a cameo by a supposed dead "King" (which made me laugh hysterically)...it's just a damn good story. Well, a damn good story for someone who hasn't read an actual book in almost 9 months at any rate. Plus? I actually like the heroine of this story. This is rarity with me but Sookie rocks. She has her flaws (as any good protagonist does) but she more than makes up for them.

READ THIS BOOK. Then, go watch the HBO series True Blood. The plot of season 1 basically follows this first book...loosely. And for the first time, I actually enjoyed both the book and the TV adaptation - even though the TV series has quite a bit of differences than the book I never once uttered "that didn't happen in the book!" And if you don't fall in love with Sookie and Bill (seriously, how could you not?) and all the others of Bon Temps then...well then I'm just sorry for you. But if you tire of Twilight's immaturity and Edwards creepiness and Bella's annoyance and want some good vampire stories - read this now.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just heard about this series from a friend who's totally in love with 'True Blood'... I think you've just convinced me of a reason to go to Borders this weekend. So many summer reads! :DD

Great review, SM!

Leanne said...

I love True Blood, but I had no idea it was a book series too. Great review!

Amber @ A Little Pink in the Cornfields said...

I just bought the first book today, and have the 2nd and 3rd checked out from the library. I love how these books are only $7.99, makes it nice. :)
Thanks for the review, I'm excited to get started on this series.

Amber @ A Little Pink in the Cornfields said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jennifer said...

I love love love True Blood and can't wait to sink into the Sookie Stackhouse books!

Anonymous said...

I too LOOOOOOOOOOVE the Sookie Stackhouse book series AND True Blood. After Season 1 of True Blood, I started reading the books and couldn't put them down. I can't wait for the next one to come out(Oct?). ~Melissa from Ohio ~

Anonymous said...

I used to be such a book worm, not so much lately. Very inspring for me to get back into it. Thanks for the review.

Jennifer

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Unknown said...

Oh, I think I'll pick this up and get started on it. It sounds good and I enjoyed Twilight too! So, right up my alley. Thanks!

Stopping by from SITS!

BALLET NEWS said...

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Nikola said...

I absolutely love the show, especially for its frank description of people's hypocrisies and small town America. I wonder if the book touches on this.

Irregardless, I will surely read it as soon as my TBR list is a bit shorter. Sookie does rock.

Sheila (bookjourney) said...

I have not read these and up until now didnt think I wanted to but your review is good. I didnt know about the True Blood tie in to these books...

*Must get out from under this rock*...LOL

Beth Dunn said...

I like the show but have only read the twilight series so far. xoxo