Hang Tight, It Gets Better
It was probably around July of last year that I got around to reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris all the way through. I’ll admit, it was my third try when it came to reading the book. Most people know it as the first True Blood book, but the series has gone by several different names over the years and True Blood is just the most recent of the lot. They’re also known as Southern Vampire Mysteries, Southern Vampire Chronicles, and The Sookie Stackhouse Books.
Now enough about the various names of the series and on to the back of the paperback, because that is the version I have.
“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 is. It’s just that, well, Sookie has this sort of “disability.” She can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He’s tall, dark, handsome–and Sookie can’t hear a word he’s thinking. He’s exactly the type of guy she’s been waiting for all her life…
But Bill has a disability of his own: He’s a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of–big surprise–murder. And when one of Sookie’s coworkers is killed, she fears she’s next…”
First thing is first here. This book? I kinda almost hated it. Almost. That’s why it took me three tries to read it. But here’s the good news. The books after this one are great. And at less than three-hundred pages it isn’t a long read so it won’t take long to get through.
And for people that watch the show there’s still plenty of surprises in the books. Most characters that get a lot of story on the show don’t get very much in the books because they’re from Sookie’s point of view, she doesn’t know what Jason and Lafayette are off doing while she’s not there. Some characters from the show are either dead or never existed in the books in any way. And some characters in the books aren’t allowed on the show for various reasons. Like Bubba. Bubba is absolutely fantastic and though he doesn’t show up in the first book it’s worth reading at least until you get to him. Bot for all of the changes they have made when it comes from taking a book series and turning it into a show, nothing is all that horrible. Not really, at least.
Really though, I recommend the series. Just don’t give up based on the first book.
