Rating:


Author: Charlaine Harris

Publication: January 1st, 2001

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Description: Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out.... 

Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a bright idea.
Via GoodReads.

My Review: 

The Sookie Stackhouse series is one of my mom's absolute favorites. Even though I stick pretty strictly to Young Adult books, she's been insisting that I read it forever. Well, I finally gave in and I'm glad I did. While I had less appreciation for the adult content of the book than my mother, I enjoyed reading Dead Until Dark because of it's interesting storyline, fast-pacing, and great writing.

A lot of paranormal books choose a path and stick to it, whether it be vampires, werewolves, or witches. Dead Until Dark, however, took a bulging handful out of the paranormal cookie jar and threw it in the mixer along with a large helping of mystery. There are vampires, shapeshifters, and the main character herself, Sookie Stackhouse, is a telepath. Instead of just focusing on these elements though, it follows Sookie as she tries to figure out who is killing people in her small home town. To put the cherry on top of the exciting storyline, the writing was great. Since the story takes place in Louisiana, of course we must expect some southern accents and slang. I was pleased to find that, rather than drowning the reader in "ya'll"s and "yer"s, Harris made the accent subtle in the writing so that it wasn't annoying to read but still obviously present. Also, Harris made the story fast-paced and filled with moments that had me cracking up, never allowing the reader to get bored.

The main character of the story, Sookie Stackhouse, is a small-time cocktail waitress living with her grandmother in her small home-town. She's pretty and sweet, but hasn't gotten too far in life (with schooling and men) because of her "disability" - her ability to read minds. Sookie is smarter than she gives herself credit for, though sometimes she does speak without thinking first. Sookie sticks up for herself and is always saying something that makes me laugh. Sookie was virtually a perfect heroine, expect when it came to Bill Compton..

I didn't like Bill. He was a vampire, which was cool and all, but he himself was a pretty one-dimensional character. I didn't like the romance with Sookie and Bill. They called it love (pretty quickly, I might add), but it was only based in the physical. Sookie was immidiately intrigued by Bill because she couldn't hear his thoughts and it was a relief not to be flooded with his thoughts like she is with humans.

"I opened my mind, let my gaurd down completely, relaxed. His silence washed over me. I stood, closed my eyes, breathed out the relief that was too profound for words.”  

As soon as she feels his silent mind, she wants to feel the rest of him too. Literally. And she quickly figures out that she can't hear the thoughts of any vampires, so it's not like she really liked Bill. They didn't spend any time talking and getting to know eachother, it was just "Hey, I like you because I can't hear your thoughts and you like me because I can read minds. Let's do it." And did it, they did. Some times in more detail than others. Nothing too explicit though. Thought I should mention that for any other YA regulars out of their element here.

What made the eye rolling romance even worse was that there were other fish in the sea ready for Sookie to catch. Like Sam, Sookie's boss at the bar. I liked him better than Bill, though he wasn't too much better because of the way he didn't really appreciate Sookie. We also meet Eric, another vampire and Bill's boss, who makes it obvious he's interested in her. He was a small part of the book, but I most certainly liked him better than Bill.

All in all, I'm glad that I decided to leave my comfort zone and read Dead Until Dark after my mom's persistant recommendation of the Sookie Stackhouse series. It was an exciting read with everything that I look for in a good book. The one and only thing that I didn't like about it was Bill, as a character and as Sookie's love interest.

Summed Up:

An entertaining read and good start to the series. It had great writing, fun storyline, good characters, and even some funny parts. I didn't like the instalove romance or the love interest, Bill, though.

Sookie Stackhouse Series

Review for #1: Dead Until Dark 
Review for #2: Living Dead In Dallas
Review for #3: Club Dead
Review for #4: Dead to the World
Review for #5: Dead as a Doornail
Review for #6: Definitely Dead
Review for #7: All Together Dead
Review for #8: From Dead to Worse
Review for #9: Dead and Gone