Dead Until Dark By Charlaine Harris- My Review
Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1) By Charlaine Harris
My Review
Introduction:
When I told my Barista, Jess, that I was looking for a long series to hold my attention, she was flabbergasted to discover I’d never read the Sookie Stackhouse novels, or seen the show True Blood, which is based off them. In between customers who had come in for their daily dose of Botany and Beans magic, she got up google and started showing me some of the ovary-busting hotness that is the male half of the True Blood cast. Colour me intrigued. I found myself downloading the first book there and then, right in the coffee shop. This is my review of the first instalment, Dead Until Dark.
About The Book:
Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1)
by Charlaine Harris
S
ynopsis
Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much - not because she's not pretty, she's a very cute bubbly blonde, or not interested in a social life - she really is ... but Sookie's got a bit of a disability. She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable.
And then along comes Bill: he's tall, he's dark and he's handsome - and Sookie can't 'hear' a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting all her life for. But Bill has a disability of his own: he's fussy about his food, he doesn't like suntans and he's never around during the day ...
Yep, Bill's a vampire. Worse than that, he hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble - of the murderous kind.
And then one of Sookie's colleagues at the bar is killed, and it's beginning to look like Sookie might be the next victim ...
My Review
My Rating:
★★★★
The Sookie Stackhouse novels follow, unshockingly, Sookie Stackhouse. A small-town waitress at Merlotte’s bar in Bon Temps. She’s a telepath, and we’re plunged right in at the deep end as the story begins right when a Vampire enters the bar where she works. Naturally, Sookie is intrigued as she can’t hear the thoughts of the Vampire, Bill Compton. A nice change for her as she tells us she’s never really had a successful relationship. According to Sookie, being a telepath makes intimacy almost impossible, hence why she seemingly pursues Bill after saving him from a couple that ambush him in the parking lot of the bar and try to drain him of blood to then sell off. The book, and the relationship between the two develops quickly, but alongside their budding romance, a serial killer stirs in the shadows. Sookie, at first, is tempted to suspect her new lover due to his undead status, but as more people start turning up dead, the suspicion is cast onto her womanizing brother, Jason, instead. The novel carries on full tilt as Sookie rushes to clear her brother’s name, and meets several undead characters in the process, as well as Eric, a striking 6-foot 5 vampire sired in the Viking Era, and Bubba, who we soon learn is Elvis, and who has been damaged irreparably when ‘brought over’ to the side of the undead.
All in all, I really liked this series, and am actually at the time of writing this about 20% into the fourth instalment of the series. It gave me twilight vibes, with a bit more maturity, but I was a little disappointed with how brushed over some of the more intimate scenes were. I felt like, after speaking to my Barista about the show, I expected more graphic spice than there was, and I felt equally frustrated by the fact that Sookie sought out a vampire to date and then seemed pissed off, shocked, or melancholy any time he demonstrated and actual vampire traits. She is angry when Bill kills to defend her, but is equally angry when she’s put in danger because of simply being with him.
I also felt as though her grandmother’s death was really underplayed. I wish I’d seen more grief from Sookie, rather than her moving into her grandmother’s bedroom only days after her death and proceeding to lose her virginity to a vampire on her dearly departed nanna’s bed shortly after.
Overall, I’d recommend this book to any vampire fan, to any twilight fan, and I’ll also say that it’s worth bearing with the series over several books because I really feel that the story doesn’t start to get going until book three. However, I was expecting, because of the hype of the series and because of the fact it was made into a television show, to be blown away by the writing style and the romance, and I simply wasn’t.
It wasn’t bad, it was a good story and the characters were believable if at times incredibly frustrating, I just think I had such high expectations going in knowing this had been adapted for television off the bat, that it fell a little flat. Because of this, and also because Sookie at times made me want to tear my freaking hair out, I give this book a sturdy four stars, with more reviews and feedback to come on the rest of series.
Dead Until Dark Aesthetic Gallery
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When I told my Barista, Jess, that I was looking for a long series to hold my attention, she was flabbergasted to discover I’d never read the Sookie Stackhouse novels, or seen the show True Blood, which is based off them. In between customers who had come in for their daily dose of Botany and Beans magic, she got up google and started showing me some of the ovary-busting hotness that is the male half of the True Blood cast. Colour me intrigued. I found myself downloading the first book there and then, right in the coffee shop. This is my review of the first instalment, Dead Until Dark.