Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Series: The Southern Vampire Mysteries, book #1

Published: May 1st 2001

Publisher: Ace

Details: Paperback, 292 pages

My rating: 2/5

My Summary:

About Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in Louisiana who meets and falls in love with vampire Bill. With a murder mystery. This is a fun light adult read. Not great but it may become better in the following books. I thought Bill was a bit dull. Eric or Sam on the other hand..let’s just say I am a bit curious to see what direction it will take.

A few chapters in:

Not sure if I’ll like this vampire series. From what I heard it’s not particularly romantic, and it may also have too much of that adult-romance stuff that I tend to avoid. But it’s mentioned just about everywhere and compared to Twilight, so I guess I have to just see for myself!

Ok, I’m 50 pages in and it’s not that bad. I saw the first season of True Blood and so reading this book is like reading the script of the series. I didn’t know it followed the books this closely! It doesn’t bother me though. The book is kind of fun, light guilty pleasures sort of reading. So far, I’m enjoying it…

After finishing the book:

Well, I finished the book last night. While it wasn’t bad it wasn’t great either. It certainly is no Twilight. Yes, it is about a human girl who falls in love with a vampire, but that’s where the similarities end. This book is sort of rawer, and as such contains more sex, violence and blood. I’m not a big fan of neither. I much more prefered the sweeter Twilight world. That being said, I still enjoyed the book, possibly because I didn’t have any high expectations. I saw it for exactly what it was, light fun read.

On a sidenote, I thought Bill the vampire was a bit dull. He never really talked that much so we never get to see any personality. I got a feeling he was interested in two things only: sex with Sookie and protecting Sookie. Not the most romantic literary character out there. But, there are two other male characters, Sam and Eric, that seem very promising. I have a feeling they might play more prominent roles in the books to come. So I will probably read the sequel Living Dead in Dallas, just out of curiosity.

The Bottom Line:

Do I recommend Dead Until Dark?

If you’re looking for fun and shallow literature that won’t require too much thought or investment – possibly something for the beach – then yes. If the other books in the series improve, then the more reason to read this first installment as well.