I’ll admit I knew nothing about this series until an old friend mentioned it about two months ago–I believe I told her I liked the HBO series, True Blood. Anywho, I am in love with True Blood (Alan Ball is one helluva writer) so I thought there was no use prolonging the inevitable and I purchased a used, paperback version of Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. I am happy to report I’ve found yet another series I can sink my teeth into (ha ha).
I have a major soft spot for nearly all vampire stories; thus, I felt confident I would enjoy this book. Charlaine’s writing style has a really fast feeling to it, like I was being swept away by the pace and dialogue. I enjoyed the dark fantasy/horror elements of the story, but I was also drawn to the treatment of vampires like any other “person” and how some of them just wanted to “fit in.” The dialogue is so real, I can literally hear the characters’ voices in my head, which is awesome. The chemistry between Bill and Sookie is palpable–I found myself holding my breath a few times.
The only aspect I didn’t enjoy was it sometimes felt like I was being told more of the story than shown, as if I was floating above the action than down in the nitty gritty of it. But there were only a few scenes like that. Overall I found the book extremely entertaining.
My one pet peeve though is finding spelling and grammatical errors in a published book and I found five in the version I purchased. I find them in 4 out of 5 books I read so it’s not like this is an isolated incident 🙂
Now I’m trying to decide whether I want to hunt down the entire series in used hardcover or buy new paperbacks. I’m trying to turn my entire collection into hardcover…we’ll see how this collection turns out.
I will report my thoughts on the remaining books as I read them. The next one on my list (for obvious reasons) is Living Dead in Dallas.
FYI: I know these posts are not formal reviews of the Sookie Stackhouse series. For me, these posts are more of a way to track how I felt about each book, and a way for me to note anything in particular that grabbed my attention.
Aren’t they so great? I’m on Definately dead, probably will finish it tonight, and i am about to receive the next 2 books from the library. I think on the 5th of this month book 9 comes out and in oct book 10. i’m so addicted. i’m also reading new moon. Up until this year i’ve hated reading, mainly fiction, but this series has opened my eyes. I bought most of the paper backs at walmart for $6. Take care
Lee
Yep, I’ve decided to go with paperbacks since I’m so far behind in the series. Walmart has them for $5.97 each so I picked up Living Dead in Dallas last week. I would love to buy them anywhere besides Walmart but I don’t think I can find that price for a new copy anywhere else.