With the the last episode of season one of the HBO's TV show True Blood airing last night, based on the Sookie novels written by Charlaine Harris, I thought I would do a post on the popular series.
Ms. Harris has created an alternate reality to the human world where vampires are coming out into the public. Vampires want to integrate into society and have civil rights just like normal humans do. Unfortunately, like will all new things, people are unsure and hesitant. Vampires are facing much discrimination against their kind. Sookie Stackhouse narrates the books in first person. She is a sweet, southern girl who has always felt like an outsider because she can hear peoples thoughts. When she meets Bill, a vampire, she is absolutely amazed that his thoughts are blocked to her.
I have only read the first book in this series, Dead Until Dark. I thought it was pretty good. It took me a few chapters to warm up to Sookie, but once I got a good feel on the rhythm of the book, the story really took off for me. Do you need to read the books in order? Ms. Harris states that it is more fun to read them in order. Each book is designed to stand on its own, but the backstory has gotten extensive.
Series reading order:
1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead
4. Dead to the World
5. Fairy Dust (story in anthology Powers of Detection)
6. One-Word Answer (story in anthology Bite)
7. Dead as a Doornail
8. Definitely Dead
9. All Together Dead
10. Dracula Night (story in anthology Many Bloody Returns)
11. From Dead to Worse
12. Gift Wrap (story in anthology Wolfsbane and Mistletoe)
13. Dead and Gone
14. Dead in the Family
7 comments:
Sigh, this is one of the series I never got into. I have the first 4 books and I tried and tried, but can't seem to like it :(
Is it Sookie's voice? At first it was hard for me to get into as well.
I like this series. It is not one that i buy and collect, but I get them from the library. They are fun.
Unfortunately I'm anal retentive and have to read books in order.
I was going to read this series, but I watched a few episodes on HBO and just couldn't get into it. I like Vamps, but this just wasn't doing it for me. Maybe I'll try the books instead.
They're usually better anyway ;)
Have a great weekend!
Great blog as always.
Kris, I am going to start reading these books after I catch up with Kelley Armstrong's series.
Jenny Girl, Personnally I think that the TV show and the first book are very different. There are some similarities, like the main plot stays pretty much the same. There are more characters and more interactions with them in the TV show, than the book. I liked both and definitely plan on reading the rest of the books and watching the next season of True Blood.
Oh, good grief, I KNOW I'm beginning to sound like a nag about this, but I just have to jump in here.
I didn't get this series at first either. However, once I discovered the audio books and Johanna Parker's brilliant narration, I fell in love with Sookie and her Southern charm. Really, the setting and the Southern rhythm are like characters in the books and if you aren't feeling them, then you're missing half the book.
Really, the setting and the Southern rhythm are like characters in the books and if you aren't feeling them, then you're missing half the book.
This is a great point Bev! I couldn't agree more about the rhythm of the book. That is just it. The book has an unusual rhythm and once you get used to it I found it rather charming.
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