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

[brijeana.livejournal.com]

Oooh I'm excited to hear your thoughts about the book. chatchien and I were talking about how Supernatural and True Blood both combine the supernatural with blue collar characters and working class atmosphere.

I have a friend who loves the books so I've been meaning to check them out. My sister says the show pretty much fails to capture the southern feel.

Between my Anne Rice phase and Buffy I'm kind of over vampires.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like how SPN does that and expected to like it in the Sookie books, but I just didn't. SPN has handled it much better for my enjoyment.

I haven't watched True Blood so I guess I can't really comment on that.

I'm not much of a vampire gal myself, though, so maybe that is part of the problem.