So, scattered throughout April and May, a few here, a few there, I have made my way through all the Sookie Stackhouse books published so far (the basis behind HBO’s True Blood series).
1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead
4. Dead as a Doornail
5. Definitely Dead
6. All Together Dead
7. From Dead to Worse
8. Dead and Gone (read on my iPhone/Kindle app! instead of having to buy hardcover, yay!)
They are certainly entertaining although sometimes quite predictable. Harris puts her own twist on the vampire genre by outing vampires to the real world thanks to the Japanese development of a synthetic blood drink almost as good as the real thing.
I like Sookie, although I think sometimes she is painted more vapid than others, depending on the needs of that storyline. It cracks me up that OF COURSE she begins the series as a virgin (every vampire story needs a virgin) but (again OF COURSE) soon finds sex the Best. Thing. Ever (you KNOW how good vampires are at sex. come on!). I love that while finding her a new person to sleep with in quite a few of the books, Harris continues to really underline Sookie’s naive, good-girl status.
I like the mysteries, I haven’t found them as obvious as I feared, and there are some supporting characters I really enjoy. But at their best, these are “entertaining”. And I need them to be a LOT longer.
There’s a lot of discussion (in the 365 knitter/crafter world anyway!) as to whether they’re better written than the Meyer books. I’d have to say they’re differently written / not necessarily better or worse. In terms of actual well-writtenness, I’d recommend the Cassandra Clare books over either of these sets, really.*
But it IS nice to read the Sookie books which are all clearly, despite Sookie’s protected innocent status, very much more adult comedies. Sometimes the teenybopper books can get toooo angsty. Sookie rarely keeps angst hanging around very long.
ETA: And Sookie, unlike Bella, is quite capable of taking care of herself. She is an unexpectedly self sufficient heroine, for someone so often pictured as naive in the ways of the world.
*But if you’re looking for actual very well-written adult fantasy books, then you need to be reading Patricia Briggs. They are less vampire-focused but they’re really “tight”. The Mercedes books are modern-day but if you want “fantasy medieval feelin’ worlds”, she writes those too.