Book Thoughts: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

[moonshayde]

So I just finished reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris.



It was okay. It was a light read and Sookie is a likeable character. Actually, I found all the characters pretty good, and unique, and the plot was decent. But I was surprised to find that I was more disappointed with it than I thought I would be. I think she has a great casual voice and I can hear her characters having that charming southern twang. I liked the atmosphere and the characters felt real. I just didn't get as hooked on it as I thought I might, given how many people love the Sookie Stackhouse books.

Maybe it's because I'm not a big vampire fan. Don't know. I thought Bill and the vampires were fascinating characters, but I wasn't sold on the romance between Sookie and Bill. It seemed more like just sex to me. Which gets me going on another topic.

The sex scenes were non-explicit and fairly tame, but I question the need for so many of them. I'm actually not against sex scenes. 99% of the time I think they are unnecessary because they hinder the plot, but I could see a couple of these as plot driven scenes. Others just seemed there for the sake of being there. So for me, the middle of the book dragged. I just wanted to get back to the murder investigation.

Also, I don't understand why female leads have to have like a half a dozen men falling all over them. I don't like it, and I haven't liked it for a long time. I understand there was rationale for it later in the book, after she had changed somewhat after consuming vampire blood, but I picked up on that vibe early on in the book as well. I think I would enjoy a book with a female lead who didn't have a bunch of guys panting over her.

So, aside from those issues, I thought it was an enjoyable book. I would probably read another, though I don't have the rush to immediately go seek one out. I'm actually far more interested in reading more of the Dresden series, as I enjoyed the first book of Butcher's series far more than I enjoyed Harris' first book of her series. Maybe the subsequent books are better.

So whenever I get around to the next one, I'll see if I like it better. I'm definitely in no hurry though, and I'm not enticed to watch True Blood from it.

Comments

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

I found the books to be kind of fluffy fun when they first came out. I'm not a fan of vampires, but I was willing to go with it. And at first, the author started to add some potentially interesting elements, so I kept reading. But they never really seemed to go anywhere, and I got a bit tired of the Man of the Week Who is Almost Certainly a Bad Idea.


The last book I read in the series involved Sookie doing something so obviously idiotic that she should know better about I just put the book down and walked away. I mean, either she's too dumb to live, in which case I'm not interested, or she's falling into the category of "female characters who secretly want to be dominated and forced into things against their will" which *really* doesn't interest me. (it's like a zombie of a romance trope! It was dead, but then rose again to terrorize the urban fantasy genre.)

I think the author has gotten a little burned out on the series to boot.

If you want something else to try, I recommend Karen Chance. Her series really surprised me. On the surface, it seems to fit into the same genre, but then it goes and does very interesting things.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't think long running series is a good idea. I'm sure some authors can pull it off, but they scream burn out. Authors get pressured to release more and more, and it out lives the viability of the series itself, you know? Though in this case even the first book was a hard sell on me. It's a shame since I am actively looking for stuff on the lighter side. I need funny to go with my angst.

Is the Karen Chance heavy stuff or does she sway light? A mix of both?

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

I would say she's more on the adventure/humor side of things than the angst side of things. A least in the Cassie Palmer series. Dorina tends to angst a bit more, but the books are not inherently angsty; she just is.

But damn, a good deal of the Cassie books takes place in a hell-themed (and supernatural-run) casino in las vegas. Complete with zombie floor shows and an incubus-run spa.

The books are in the first person, but the author does a good job of hinting at the character's blind spots. There's a scene where she's hanging out with a bunch of vampires...and up to that point, you're just a bit wary of them because she is, but not too wary, because her wariness is more "I'm getting pulled into a game of politics, and that guy, while sexy, is undoubtedly turning on the charm in order to manipulate me" than "OMG, monsters." But then in the very same scene, there'll be things that are going on that send home the message that while she may be desensitized, there's actually freaky, horrifying stuff going on. It's well done. There are a lot of mafia comparisons, and it works. For all the 'sexy', there's no whitewashing of how awful parts of it are.

The first book was pretty good but I didn't get really hooked until the third, when some of the rougher parts of the first book (apparent dropped plot elements and a few random details) suddenly become signs of brilliance.